My husband and I stayed there in April of 04 and it was a great central location to the sights and restaurants.The service was good also.They have there on private island which was wonderful.If I were you..I would not do AI on Aruba as the restaurant choices are great.If you stay at the Renaissance stay at the Marina towers..it is in the middle of a nice shopping mall and the islands only 24 hr casino.

Also there is a bartender that works at the martini bar "Blue", his name is Raffi, he was really nice and gave great suggestions of places to eat dinner.Cafe Brasserie, in the marina towers has a great lunch and dinner buffet.Have a great trip!!

tropicaldreamer2 summed it up for you very nicely. The Renaissance is a great hotel. Here's my review of it:

[url]http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147248-d147644-r3337252-Renaissance_Aruba_Resort_Casino-Oranjestad_Aruba.html[/url]

If that link doesn't show up just copy and paste the address without the [url] and the [/url] into your browser. I'm not sure if this forum supports VBB code or not.

newenglander-I would recommend that you take an offshore snorkeling excursion as the beach snorkeling was not that good.We heard good things about De Palm tours wish that we would have done one :) Also islandhopper did one but I forgot the name of the company he used. De Palm tours has a desk in the Renaissance lobby ( if I remember right??)

I was wondering the same thing about all-inclusive -- write to this address: Reservations@arubarenaissance.com and they will send you a price list along with a break-down of all the restuarants includes. I think it's $115/per person/per day for all inclusive. From what I've read on this website, I think it's better to go standard and eat when/where you want -

I hate to be the downer but this Marriott did not live up to our expectations on the food side. We stayed for 2 nights (it was supposed to be a week but we moved to the Hyatt on day 3) and had the breakfast package. The food for the "marriott breakfast" wasn't what we were used to. We've stayed in Marriotts in NYC, DC, Maui, Scottsdale you name it and the food is usually very consistent. The Renaissance in Aruba did not meet those expectations. We ate out most evenings on Palm Beach. The taxis run about $10 each way and when you add that on to a dinner and wine you'll probably hit the all inclusive rate. It really depends on what type of food you want to enjoy, if you crave variety and if you want to save money.

I will mention that the Renaissance is in DOWNTOWN Oranjestad. In the afternoon there is a slew of cars sitting at the traffic light in front of the pool at the hotel. It reminded us too much of home. They have another block of rooms that are "beach front" that were being renovated when we were there that seem much more tropical than urban. But the majority of the restauraunts were in the main "downtown" segment of the hotel. You can walk from one part of the hotel to another through Oranjestad but it is "island urban" if you will. Lots of cars, people and shops. If you enjoy being within walking distance of grocery stores, shopping and traffic than this is very centrally located. But we found more peace and quiet at the Hyatt. More expensive but well worth it.

On a positive note, the private island is by far and away the best that the Aruba Rennaissance has to offer. It is truly amazing. They speedboat you out from the lobby of the main hotel to the private island (~15 minutes) to be greeted by iguanas on the dock and pink flamingos on the beach. It's truly unique and quite frankly amazing. There are two very separate beaches: the family beach and the adult beach. We found the penninsulas that jett out from the beach to be a santuary where you could sunbathe topless (on the adult beach) among palm trees and surrounded by waves on 3 sides. My husband and I loved this aspect of the resort and truly "un-wound" those 3 days we spent on their island. However, the drinks were weak, the service was poor, the rooms were below grade, and location was urban. Those factors drove us to the Hyatt which was amazing all around.

Don't despair, the great thing about Aruba is you can bop around to wherever you want and despite by "braty-ness" about the Renaissance you have the ability to explore the island for what it is and enjoy all beaches and restauraunts. Palm Beach offers far more water sports: snorkeling, diving, parasailing, jet-skis, tubgin, dinner crusises, "booze" cruises. And you can always drive or taxi over there for any of that.

Best of luck and enjoy your trip. Remember you are on vacation and anywhere in Aruba is better that here right?!?!?