Marriott's Aruba Surf Club — Hotel in Aruba

Pros: *Good for families - many, many families here so the children were able to play with other children in the pools and beach. Volleyball was very popular and there were activities galore. *Good room size, nice kitchen, access to washer/dryer *Proximity to where most of the restaurants you'll want to visit are *Housekeeping was really great (other than day 1 when we arrived to a bathroom full of body hair that was very promptly dealt with) *People - almost every person we interacted with was delightful (see story at end) Cons: *Run down, much of the furniture is very weathered, dated and in need of repair and refreshing. Carpets were stained in many places, walls were dirty or in need of paint in bathrooms. Doors show signs of water damage. Very dated bathrooms. The pool and common areas were often dirty. Pool was full of napkins, food wrappers, beer cans, you name it. I think this is partly that the wind is so strong that lots of things just find their ways into the pool. I didn't see a single employee in the entire week that i was there picking up garbage that had made its way into the pool. Gave the pool a real yuck factor. Same situation with the beach, lots of discard in the sand. Felt sort of yucky. *The beach location is not really amazing. The beach is located right next to a very busy pier that boats come in and out of throughout the day. Does not lend to a serene beach atmosphere. *pool chairs and palapas- believe what you read. Either you wake up to put your chair tags on pool chairs at 7am on the dot or you will be seated in a corner with zero view of the pools (and your children).We were able to get a palapa each time we tried but the beach and the entire process was pretty disappointing. you better be on your phone at 5:30 PM or 7AM on the dot unless you want to be back by the hotel but the truth is that the closest palapas at the beach are not that amazing either... in front of the hotel palapas and chairs are orange chairs and umbrellas that are sold by another non Marriott company. *Long lines in lobby - they are simply too understaffed *Dirty elevators, they were always pretty gross Important story: ... So, this hotel is a timeshare property. I think most people either know that or figure it out during the booking process. On day 2 or 3 of our stay we received a call from Emily at the "welcome desk" which was really the sales desk. I picked up the phone in our bedroom and my husband picked up the phone in the kitchen. Emily proceeded to tell me that she was just calling me to remind me to pick up my welcome gift at her desk (and give her a chance to try and sell me a timeshare). At this point my husband hears that i have the call covered and hangs up the phone. There was an audible click from his receiver but I was still on the phone ready to tell Emily thank you so much but no, thank you. Emily seemed to think that I had hung up the phone on me to which she responded into the phone (and my ear) - " YOU FING BH" i responded and said excuse me??? she then hung up the phone on me. I immediately called the front desk and reported this. A few minutes later Emily's supervisor, Ingrid who is the director of marketing called me. She was beside herself with embarrassment and was very apologetic. She was quite lovely and really did her best to apologize for her employee's egregious behavior. The hotel sent up a bottle of wine and some local lotions, it was a very nice gesture. I was on my way to a massage the morning the Emily insulted me and was so upset and angry that I did not make the massage, I just could not go and enjoy myself. Ingrid and the hotel insisted that I go to a massage while in Aruba and paid for and upgraded what I was going to do for myself. Ingrid came in person to the spa the day of my massage to apologize in person. She was again quite lovely and really handled the issue diplomatically. I would not be back...

My party of 10 (consisting mostly of family including young children and teenagers) spent a week in Aruba and while we were unsure of he vibe when we arrived, we ended up loving every part of it.||Chi-chi checked us in and anticipated our needs. She was very thorough in explaining the resort rules and processes as it was our first time staying at the Surf Club. All the staff we encountered were friendly and was proactive about being helpful.||This resort is great for families especially children. There is always something to do at the resort including the lazy river, hot tubs, pools (one has a slide), beach or even fishing! The kids were never bored. ||There is a process for reserving palapas and getting your pool towels, but once you adjust to the routine everything was smooth for us. I read the complaints about waking up at 7am to reserve a palapa, but I am surprised that no one mentions you can also reserve them at 5:30 pm the day before. Granted most of them were gone within minutes, but I did not have any issues reserving 2 palapas each day at 5:30pm. This allowed me to sleep in each morning.||We stayed in two 2 bedroom villas for the week. They are very similar to other Marriott vacation club villas. We loved the kitchen and washer/dryers. While the furnishings were not brand new, it was not as tired as others made it out to be. It was honestly fine and functional. The villas were ready and clean when we arrived. We could have used a few extra USB ports throughout the villa. They could only be found at the alarm clock next to the bed.||We made use of 2 different delivery apps. Aruba to You works very similar to Uber Eats. Food arrives in about an hour. Customer service will call you or WhatsApp you if an item is not available and you can substitute or ask for a partial refund. Food-Aw only worked in the evening and had more selections. The only option for payment is upon delivery and can be cash, debit or credit card. I opted for credit card and the delivery person arrived with a credit card machine. I was quite impressed.||If anyone in your party likes fishing, please bring some fishing gear. You can fish right off the dock by the hotel. My nephew caught many snapper and grouper which we were able to cook and eat. The restaurant can also cook them (I heard others say for $20). If you don't bring any gear, you can go downtown to a bait and tackle shop to pick up a rod for about $45. You can also charter a boat. I heard a charter is about $450 for 3 hours.||We also liked that the lazy river closes late (at 10pm)! Tubes are not required after 6pm. You can bring your own tubes or grab a free one from people who leave them behind in a bin near where the air hoses are for filling tubes. Tubes are also sold in the market place. The lazy river is an oval and not as impressive as the lazy river at Hyatt Vacation Club at Bonita Springs. It's definitely still nice to have when you want a change of pace from a regular pool. ||The resort is also very walkable to a mall/ strip of restaurants and shops, which was only a few minutes away. We walked there for dessert and breakfast. It was also a good place to pick up souvenirs.||They were right, this won't be our last visit to this One...

We are Marriott Vacation Club owners and booked the trip over a year ago. We didn't have enough points for the Ocean club so we chose the Surf club which is more family oriented with a lazy river pool and plenty of kids activities to keep the kids entertained.

We do not have kids and prefer to stay away from the rugrats. We never felt invaded by them as there are plenty of things to do.

We were here for a week and spent 2 days at the beach, 2 days at the Adults only pool and 2 days by the lazy river.

Lets do the Beach. You need to reserve the palapas (permanent hut umbrellas) either the night before at 4pm or first thing in the morning at 7am. There is always a line. There is not a bad spot so instead of staring at the page for 5 minutes, just choose the one closest to the beach that is available.

The adult pool is nice as you dont have to listen to kids screaming or fighting or frustrated parents. The iguanas and geckos live in the bushes and hang out at all of the pools. Really cool hanging out with them.

Drinks are a bit pricey unless it's happy hour. Since all rooms have a fridge, stop at a grocery store on the way in and get your beverage of choice. We also packed a small softside cooler that we brought with us everyday.

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so we headed over to the Sands at the Ocean club next door. Definitely try the 7 Layer Dip (basically nachos) with chicken. They were pretty tasty! We tried the beef option the 2nd day and it wasn't as good. Our waitress gave us a 15% off coupon for dinner. Marriott Vacation owners get 10% off food.

The Moomba Bar was hoppin at night but we only stopped in for drinks. The Mudslides were great, but the Bloody Mary's were bland (and I love Bloody's).

For breakfast we tried the buffet at the Surf's pool and it was terrible for $17 a person. Should have paid attention that no other people were really there eating it! We decided the next day to walk over to the Ocean and get a quick breakfast egg croissant and fresh fruit to go from the deli stand and it was delicious, far better than the buffet.

We also walked over to the Pelican Pier for lunch. The Mermaid Trio was amazing with the incredible chimichurry sauce. Views were great as we sat right on the pier with great views all around.

At night the Stellaris casino in the Marriott was fun. We had a free voucher to use. Only problem was our sinuses don't do well in smoky areas and the casino is definitely smoky. (In Illinois, everything is smoke-free).

One night we headed over to Champions in the Ocean. Sports bar with tons of TVs and they have UFC too. Food was decent, went with a burger (could have used a little seasoning) ans the steak salad.

Aruba is beautiful and the Marriot's property has something for everyone. Highly recommend...