Renaissance Wind Creek Aruba Resort — Hotel in Oranjestad (city)

Just completed a stay at the RWCAR. The moment I walked in I was greeted by the lovely Yessica Arias, she was so kind and informative and helped answer questions I had at check in. She heard it was my daughter's birthday and despite us checking in late in the day surprised us with the yummiest chocolate mousse cake and balloons! Talk about going above and beyond! In addition, as we were going to the island the next day, she and her amazing manager Albert helped arrange for a convience room for when we return from Island. Their genuine care and professionalism was what made the start of our stay outstanding!! Even when we came down later that evening Yessica made it a point to greet us or come check on us. The lobby is open air so it's a bit warm but beautiful. The pool has two seperate areas and an outdoor swim up bar which is open late. Also a mini waterslide for the kids. There aren't many reviews about the two bedroom presidential suite so let me tell you.. it's gorgeous! When you walk in there is a large two bedroom with large closet and dresser + attached washroom (which also has an exterior door to the hallway). Like another review stated there is not a window in this room but it is a reasonably sized room. If you continue on in the suite you reach the living area.. then to the right is a kitchen with a microwave, beverage fridge (lots of complimentary water)… mini fridge, sink complete with dish soap and sponge/paper towel + all cups/ plates cutlery, coffee machine (pods)/tea. Also a nice size dining table which has views of the water though walk out balcony and a window. Continuing around the other side of the suite is the 2nd bedroom which you take a small hallway to find.. when you enter there are double doors... You can either now go to bedroom (left) or straight.. walk in closet with robes/slippers, iron, clothes steamer, safe.. or to the left for a large washroom - seperate toilet area, his and hers sinks with lots of amenities (mouthwash, lotion, vanity set, shower cap), blow dryer ...ample towels and a clear walk in shower which has two seperate sides for showering (rain shower + hand held on each side, + seating all the way across - which makes for easy showering for the kids so you don't have to bend down. Now the Island. We stayed at the family friendly side (ocean suites). From the pool area there is a five min walk from the hotel to get to the dock where you take the boat. It comes every 15 min or so and can take 25 at a time. We took the boat around 930am and had no trouble with boat being full. When you reach the island we instantly saw the flamingos!! No need for us to stress to only go to Adult side from 10-11am as they seemed to hang around the shop area and the food feeder (bring us quarters). They are comfy with humans and it doesn't hurt when you feed them.. they turn their beaks to take the feed from your hand. We rented two Cabanas for the day. There is a breakfast menu and a lunch menu. We ordered at 10:47am for lunch and it still took about an hr to receive (no biggie). Drinks came quickly. We recieved in each cabana: two each of Voss spring and sparkling water, sparkling wine, cold glasses.. later fruit tray with two containers of nuts. The ice cream others said they recieved I asked for later in the afternoon. There is a netted over water at each cabana, and a fresh water shower at each one too + two sun loungers. I highly recommend the Cabanas if you can get one...makes it easier to stay a longer period. The beach water is waist high and soft with some random rocks (I stepped on a sea shell which still had life Inside, we safely put it back in the water). Reco water shoes + water proof phone case for all those amazing photos! Be prepared for birds to come into your cabana along with Iggy's. I would put all drinks on cooler when not using unless you want to share your drinks with the birds :) All in all an amazing stay!! Thank you again Yessica and Albert, I hope you are recognized for how well you treat the guests of the hotel and your genuine...

We stayed as a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 school-age children) for 5 days and 4 nights on the Ocean Suites side of the resort in July 2023.

Parking: free for our rental care, directly in front of the hotel, super easy to move our luggage through the parking lot and into the hotel lobby.

Check-in: we were greeted by a hotel employee with ice cold bottles of water, which was quite welcome after our long flight! The check-in process was super smooth, and the front desk staff moved us up from the 2nd to the 5th floor upon request with efficiency and a smile on her face. The elevators are fast enough that I never felt like I was waiting a long time for one.

Room: The room was quite spacious, which 2 mini-fridges and cookware in the kitchenette. The sofa bed in the living room was comfortable for the kids, and the balcony felt quite safe for even our 6 year-old to hang out on it. There are 2 big screen TVs that actually have big screens, each with Netflix and Prime Video apps to connect to for streaming. The shower was large and had multiple showerheads, and the water heated up quickly and with excellent water pressure. There are 2 sinks in the bathroom, which is very helpful when multiple people are trying to get ready. The bed in the bedroom was very comfortable, and we had a hard time getting out of it some mornings as a result! There’s a two-level catch-all shelf across from the kitchenette that we used for sunglasses, hats, room keys, snacks, and drinks that were not refrigerated.

Renaissance Island: the boats run every 15 minutes or so, and it takes 7-10 minutes to get from the resort over to the private island. The island has a gym, restaurant, and multiple bathrooms, so you could hang out there all day long if you wanted. The seats closest to the water fill up by 10 a.m. or so, so get out there early if you want an unobstructed view. The flamingoes hang out on both the adult side and family side, so bring your quarters to get the flamingo feed and have them eat right out of your hands! You can rent cabanas as well, which are ideal for bachelor/bachelorette parties, but we didn’t need them as a family with small children. Your reservation includes pool floats upon request, and they keep towels well stocked on the island, so you don’t have to bring them from the resort side. We did avail ourselves of Spa Cove with their 2.5-hour Sunset package including a 75-minute couple’s massage, fresh fruit platter, and frozen drinks, highly recommended!

Restaurants: We paid for the all-inclusive breakfast package only ($22/adult, $11/child), which covered the breakfast buffet in either of the hotel buildings or specific menu items at Papagayo Grill on Renaissance Island. The portions were substantial, and we often had leftovers that we bagged up and used as snacks later in the day. While we’d highly recommend the breakfast package, we did run into an issue where the boats to Renaissance Island were running a little behind, so even though we made it to the pier at 10:30 on one morning, the boat didn’t drop us off until 11:01 a.m. On the island, we were told that we couldn’t get breakfast (at 11:03 a.m.) since it was after 11 a.m., but the chef was still able to get us bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs along with the pastries that didn’t require any additional preparation. They mistakenly charged us for lunch on that day, but I noticed it prior to checkout, and they removed the extra charge before we left. The bar has a daily happy hour from 4-6 pm where the drinks are half-priced. There are several restaurants in the marketplace next door, as well as L.G. Smith Steakhouse on the adults-only side, so it is totally possible to enjoy the island without a rental car and still have lots of variety with your food options within walking distance.

The pools were also warm and well-lit, and the kids availed themselves of both pools every day that we were in Aruba!

This is my second time staying at the Renaissance Wind Creek, and I promise that when I return to Aruba, I’ll be staying there...

Our room was nice and comfortable, the bed has big fluffy pillows. It faced inside the hotel but was nice because we can still see water from the canal. We also appreciated the turn down service, though it wasn’t reliable. Some nights they would make the bed, give us towels and chocolates and other times just the bed was made or just towels where given. So that wasn’t consistent. The Starbucks in the lobby was convenient as well as having a mall in the hotel and across the street.

I love all the events offered and activities you can book from work out classes to bingo, dance lessons and SUP. The BBQ night at ocean suites and dinner under the stars at the island were highlights to our trip.

Having flamingo island at your fingertips is a big benefit as well as the ocean suites hotel across the street.

The pools at both hotels are open to 11pm which was amazing so every night we would go to the pool and gaze out at the stars and grab a drink. The pool at ocean suites is huge and has a swim up bar, a small slide and a basketball net on the pool. We played pool basketball every night and it was so fun.

Snorkeling is amazing. We saw an octopus eating a conch while snorkeling at flamingo beach. Also there is a ship wreck right behind the rock wall. They have it roped off but if you’re a good swimmer use your best judgment. We went when the tide wasn’t bad and had no issues. You will see a boat stop there all the time and people jump off to snorkel there. Def bring your own snorkel equipment and flippers as they don’t provide flippers and their snorkels are crap.

I loved the outdoor workout classes but the gyms need a remodel. Old equipment that doesn’t work all the time. Technogym is a good brand and I was excited to see that there but I couldn’t load any of the treadmill sessions and it wouldn’t let me connect my account. Also only 2 treadmills were working.

The island is everything as advertised, two big beaches and flamingos roaming around as well as iguanas. There are a couple improvements that could have made our trips to the island better. When we take the floaties that are given out we give the attendant our room number and they marked down the number of the floatie. a situation arose where someone returned our floaties instead so we came back empty handed and was told we have to pay for them. We didn’t steal them or do anything wrong. If you write down the number of the floatie you should check the floatie numbers coming back and they don’t. So you really can just bring any floatie back and it doesn’t matter. We didn’t want to just take someone else’s. Eventually the attendant looked in the back and confirmed the ones they loaned to us are there. She had a bad attitude and the system they use caused this problem. Another thing is there should be a mosquito warning sign on the nature hike and it should be advertised that the hut has bug spray to use. Instead we were given tree leaves to wack thousands of mosquitos away. I left with 40 bites and I’m not exaggerating. Why weren’t we given bug spray if it was available? I have no idea.

Also I got food poisoning from Aquarius restaurant sushi.

Room walls are really thin you can hear everything, we def heard some noises if you know what I mean. Especially from the hallway you can hear what’s happening in the rooms.

Other than that our stay was really great and the location being far away from the high rise hotels we liked. We liked the vibe of the area and even hopped on a bus to go to different parts of the island. There was plenty to do and we were never board. I loved just laying on the beach, snorkeling and going to the pool in the evening. Skip the food at the hotel walk to the amazing nearby restaurants around like whilemnia...