After a long debate that may have been harder than any one piece of the wedding planning process, in which ideas from Europe to Mexico were tossed aside, my husband and I decided to honeymoon in Aruba. I think we made a perfect decision. I’ve now been back to reality for 2 weeks, and it has been one of the hardest transitions I’ve ever had to make!

There is so much to share about my trip, and also hopefully as a resource for future honeymooners, that I’ll break my recap up into a series of posts. This first one will focus on what we focused on most during the honeymoon… the food!

When planning the honeymoon, one of the questions we had a hard time answering was whether or not it was worth it to go to an all-inclusive resort. We priced out options both ways, and finally came to the conclusion that we would rather “rough it” in Aruba so we could go explore places all around the island, and not just what our hotel had to offer, without racking up huge charges. To anyone considering a trip to Aruba in the future: I highly recommend you do what we did. There are so many AMAZING places to eat around the island; you would really be missing out by sticking to the dining at your own resort.

The dining was one of the only elements of our trip that we really planned out when we first arrived at the hotel. We made reservations with the concierge for each of the places that had been recommended to us or that we had read about and wanted to try. Ranging from “authentic island cuisine” at Papiamento to grilled specialties at Pinchos, we had so many great meals I can’t even begin to describe all of them.

This post is going to focus on our favorite dinner, which is also a staple of any island honeymoon, the right-on-the-beach dining experience. There were several to choose from in Aruba, but based on a recommendation from our friends who also honeymooned in Aruba, we chose Passions at the Amsterdam hotel.

The first thing that was striking about Passions was the atmosphere. Between the striking effect of the sun setting over the water, and the beautiful straw umbrellas lined with sparkling white lights, it was one of the most gorgeous and romantic places I’ve ever seen. It just felt magical right as we stepped out of the cab.

Of course, I would never judge a restaurant solely on its atmosphere… and luckily, Passions held up to my first impression and did not disappoint in any other way. The food and the service were both amazing. And an added perk: to maintain the amazing romantic atmosphere and not ruin it with too much lighting, the menus lit up when you opened them so you could still read them! That was a big perk for my husband, who really likes shiny things. But I have to admit, I really enjoyed it too.

To top off an amazing meal, when we got the dessert menu we noticed that there was something called a “sparkling surprise” romantic dessert for two. It sounded way too fun to pass up, so we gave it a shot…

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