Just returned from a trip to Aruba November 10th – 18th. We stayed at both the Marriott Stellaris and the Renaissance Ocean Suites. Below is a complete review of Aruba, hotels and other items I was wondering about before going to Aruba for the first time.
Weather forecasts:
Since this was our first time to Aruba and since we went in November which is their rainy season, I was obsessed with the weather reports. A week before our departure the weather reports looked bleak calling for rain almost every day with 70% chance. A few days before our trip the weather reports improved with about a 30 – 50% chance of rain most days.
You will see this on many other reviews and I am living proof. Do not worry about the weather reports. In fact, as many people advise, don’t even look at them. This is a small island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. It is almost impossible to predict the weather. Also, as many people have commented, when it does rain in Aruba, it is mostly late at night and will not affect your day. We were there for 8 days with weather reports of rain every day. It only rained once when we were there for one night between about 9pm – 10pm. It may have rained other times when we were sleeping but it never affected our day or night. I will say that during the month of November and maybe for the entire “rainy” season it does get cloudy at times. We had one day when it was mostly cloudy. We still went on the beach and it was always very warm but it would have been nice to see some sun that day. The water feels cold when the sun is behind clouds. The other days our trip it was intermittent clouds which most times you welcomed because if it was complete sun all day, you would beg for some relief. Bottom line, the weather was great and I would not let the weather reports or “rainy” season stop me from going.
Marriott Stellaris
This is just an awesome hotel. Everything was great. I am a Platinum Marriott member and we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a partial ocean view room from the garden view room. The view was excellent and the room was fantastic. A little bigger than a normal Marriott room. The bathroom and walk in closet are great. The balcony is very large and it was great to be able to sit out there in the morning and night. You will not be disappointed in this hotel no matter what kind of view you have.
We never had a problem getting chairs on the beach or at the pool and we are not morning people on vacation so we never came down until late morning. We did reserve and pay for a reserved palapa on three days. If you want to pay $25 you can reserve up to three days and they do not have to be consecutive days. This was worth it to us to not have to worry about coming down early in the morning to get the best spots. The palapa's are free on a first come first serve basis for any palapa that is not reserved so you could chance it and would have no problem finding a palapa but probably not in the first couple of rows closest to the beach.
The food at this Marriott is outstanding! We ate lunch almost every day at the Waves bar outside. The grouper sandwich is fantastic as well as the Marriott burger and fish tacos. The café in the lobby also has great food. We would buy oatmeal and yogurt every day and an occasional late night sandwich and it was always great.
Tradewinds
This was another obsession of mine. I held two different reservations right up until the last day before I could cancel without charge. I used Marriott points for my room and could not decide if it was worth the extra $175 a day to upgrade to the Tradewinds level. Note, it is not just the $175 upgrade fee because you also may more in taxes and resort fees so it is actually about $188 more a day. At the last minute we decided it was not worth it and canceled the Tradewinds room. Now that I have actually stayed in the hotel I am so glad I did not pay to stay in the Tradewinds rooms. There is no way I would have received enough value from it to make it worthwhile. We would not have come up from the beach during the short time period for lunch and while we would have ate breakfast there. It would not be worth the $188. The rooms are exactly the same except that they are on the top floor with a little better view. I can’t imagine staying there and not having the flexibility to eat where we want when we want. Breakfast at the café in the lobby costs us maybe $10 - $15 for both of us a day and we enjoyed the lunches at the Waves restaurant so much so that we would have skipped the lunches at the Tradewinds lounge even if we did pay to stay there.
Marriott Platinum members:
If you are wondering if you will receive an automatic upgrade, I would not count on it. I had to fight a little to get an upgrade from the garden view room to the partial ocean view room and this was during a period when this hotel was offering a special for anyone that used points. I think it will be based on their occupancy rate but to be honest, all of the rooms are great. I was placed over the main pool on the 5th floor with was fine. I would have preferred to be over the adult pool area since that is a quieter location but I am not complaining at all. I would not worry about the room. If you have a garden view, it will still be a great room. If you absolutely want to be sure you have an ocean view room I would not count on an upgrade and book what you want. Like all Marriott resorts, there is no free breakfast for Platinum members and you will not have access to the Tradewinds lounge without paying to stay on that floor. You are however given free internet in your room and $50 total in free phone calls to the U.S. I will warn you though that the $50 is based on the Marriott rate at $4 a minute so you get about 10 minutes in total for your stay. We never needed it since there are so many other free ways to communicate back to the U.S.
Food and drinks:
The food is expensive as many people have said but the food is excellent everywhere you go in Aruba. The food prices are typical of any resort location including other Marriott resorts. It is worth it in my opinion.
To save money on drinks, we brought a folding cooler with us to Aruba. On the way out of the Aruba airport we stopped in the duty free shop and purchased bottles wine. They also have cheap rum, cigarettes etc.. We had the cab driver stop on the way to the hotel at a supermarket and purchased some beer which worked out great. We brought the cooler down to the beach every day. They do have a great happy hour with two drinks for $14 and they have a discounted bucket of beer price of I think $28.
The great thing about Aruba is it is very much Americanized. You can find any kind of restaurant you want and any kind of beer you want including Coors, Guinness, Budweiser etc.. However, the local beer is actually very good. There are two kings, Chill that is similar to a Corona and Belashi (sp?). Both beers are great and cheaper. If you stop at a supermarket you can buy a six pack of the local beer for $3.5 U.S.
You do not need to exchange your money. In fact, they prefer the U.S. Dollar and everything will be listed in U.S. dollars and you will receive U.S. change.
We tried many different restaurants in Aruba and they were all GREAT! There is also a local bar/restaurant close to the Marriott, Mambo or something like that. Great place.
Marriott is a little farther from the main strip but is still an easy walk or if you prefer a cab for about $9 each way to the middle of the trip.
Other tips:
I highly recommend you purchase a mini-router. They cost about $15 - $20. They only have hard wired internet in your room. The mini-router worked great and made our room completely wireless so we could use our phone, Kindle, etc.. They do have free wireless internet access in the lobby and at the Waves bar. Almost all of the restaurants and bars we visited in Aruba had free wireless so we had access everywhere we went.
Highly recommend downloading the HeyWire app on your phone and/or I Pad or kindle. We used this to text back to the U.S. over wireless internet and it worked great! We were able to text just like normal for free whenever we had wireless internet access which was everywhere.
Also recommend renting a phone in Aruba. We used Discount Cell. For $50 Trees came to our hotel and brought a cell phone that included $50 worth of calls to the U.S. which was about 90 minutes worth. Well worth it. Between the HeyWire texting, Facebook access over the free wireless internet and this rental phone, it was never a problem communicating back home to the U.S. I would never pay Verizon for their international plans. That’s crazy.
Stellaris vs Renaissance
I will post a separate review of the Renaissance but we enjoyed both hotels. However, there is no question that if you were deciding between the two, the Stellaris is the hands down the better hotel and better location. If you can split up your trip and stay one or two nights at the Renaissance then I would recommend It. Just make sure you spend the majority of your time at the Marriott Stellaris.
I guess I better end this long review. Aruba is a great place. We are hooked and will be back every year. The Marriott Stellaris is a great hotel and I highly recommend it. The service was outstanding. The room was great and loved the beach and pools. You won’t be sorry.
Room Tip: I think all rooms are great !
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
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