Aruba Aloe Factory
- April 3, 2006
- Rated 3 of 5 by
LauriBeth from Kansas City, Missouri
As we found at other destinations in Aruba, when we arrived at the Aloe factory, the tour price was $8. In further research since I've been home, I found that you can get a free tour by presenting The Aruba Aloe Experience card (obtained from www.arubaaloe.com) or $1.00 discount with a Visit Aruba Advantage card ($10 + s&h from www.visitaruba.com). We arrived at about 9am for a tour (information listed tours as Monday-Saturday 9am-4pm) We had to wait for a tour bus to arrive before the tour began. Cash was required for the entrance fee, although when we arrived without cash, we were allowed to purchase tickets in the gift shop with our credit card. I asked if I could tour the small museum while we waited for the guided tour to begin, but I was not allowed to enter before the actual tour. We felt that the price was excessive for what we got. Although the tour was interesting, it seemed like we could have blended in with the tour bus, if we had not made our presence known before the bus arrived.
The tour started with a demonstration of how the leaves are cut to release the gel. We also received information about the uses of the plant and the changes in usage over the years. Then we were led through the museum (with no time to look at the exhibits) up a flight of stairs to the observation area of the actual factory. Here the processes were explained. After this I was able to go back to the museum area. Upon request, a movie was shown in this area. However, people wanting to use the restrooms had to walk in front of the viewing area to reach the facilities.
The only samples available were from trial bottles in the gift shop. No samples of the sunscreen product was available.
From journal Touring Aruba