Returned from a 6 night stay at the Marriott in early December. The hotel is very well maintained. The rooms are large and the balconies don’t feel cramped. The staff is very friendly. Everyone seems to go out of their way to open a door or help out. I was concerned about the beach because other reviews had expressed concern over seaweed or the ocean seeming not up to Aruba standards. We did see a small amount on the beach half way through our stay (it comes and goes), but it didn’t create any problems during our stay. We walked the beach as far down as the Radisson and honestly didn’t notice much of a difference.
As for the room views we upgraded several levels to a premium ocean view but based on what I could see of the other rooms sight lines there are no “bad” rooms at the Marriott. They are currently constructing another hotel just to the west and I believe all the rooms on that side are discounted for “construction”. All the other rooms either face the main pool courtyard with views to the ocean or face the adult pool on the east side. Any “non-construction” room above the 3rd floor should have a pretty good view regardless of what you pay.
The Marriott is at the far end of the beach so it really is better if you have a rental car which we had. If you are going to rely on walking to eat you’ll be better off at the Radisson which has a lot more restaurants and shops in the immediate area.
We ate breakfast in the main restaurant only once and found it very expensive. Its much better to grab some juice at a store and buy pastries in the hotel lobby daily (very good and reasonably priced). Then eat out on your balcony.
All said I feel the Marriott was a good deal for the money (about 20% less than the Radisson and Hyatt which are comparable. I’d go back again.

This was our second trip to Aruba, we love the weather which is almost always sunny with a breeze that keeps you cool. We have stayed at the Hyatt which was very nice, although the rooms were small. This time we tried the Stellaris Resort and Casino and stayed on their Tradewinds Floor, which is adult only. The hotel is not the same grade as a Ritz, as it is a Marriott. However the Tradewinds Floor is a fantastic place if you are traveling without kids. The food throughout the day is very good and the open bar at night starts the night out nicely. The casino is not as good as the Hyatt, no craps tables at all, but the adult pool and beach area are large and very easy to find a seat at. The staff and service was always excellent and the main pool is large and in a very nice setting. Overall, it is a very nice hotel.

My wife and I began our search last June for a 7 night vacation somewhere in the Caribbean during the month of December. After days of research on tripadvisor.com, we settled on the island of Aruba. We initially selected Bucatti because of their top Tripadvisor hotel rating. We were very interested in an adults only vacation experience. In September, I found what I thought was a pretty good vacation package at the Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino. The adults only "Tradewinds sail into luxury" package included an ocean view room located on the top(8th) floor of the resort. After reading all of the positive Tradewinds reviews, we chose to spend the extra cost to upgrade and stay at the Marriott. We were so happy that we made this decision.
After a short $28 taxi ride, we were greeted in the hotel lobby and escorted to the 8th floor Tradewinds lounge to check in. Margaret welcomed us and spent the next 5 minutes educating on what to expect during our stay.
The spacious lounge with two balconies overlooking the ocean and adjacent Ritz Carlton never felt crowded during our stay. Buffet style breakfast, lunch, late afternoon snacks and heavy appetizers was included, along with unlimited soft drinks, juices, bottled water, Corona and Balashi beer. Breakfast was from 7-9. Coffee, cappuccino machine, juices, various breakfast meats, eggs, oatmeal, pastries and breads. Lunch 12-2 included a soup of the day, various small finger sandwiches, salad bar and an assortment of deserts. High tea 3-5 included fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, nut bread and mixed nuts. Cocktail hour 6-7 included two to three heavy appetizer selections along with assorted sushi rolls and deserts. Wine, champagne and most of the popular spirits were available for consumption from 6-9.
The location of the Marriott Resort is perfectly located at the northern most end of the hotels, so the beach was much quieter with fewer beach goers.
The northern most section on the beach with 12 palapas( large thatched umbrella) was reserved for tradwinds guests. The only minor draw back was the first come first serve requirement to sign in starting at 7am to reserve a palapas. The waiting line generally started forming between 6:30 and 6:45. Only 3 palapas were located on the ocean and these were always the first to be reserved. There really weren't any bad palapas locations. They were well spaced, allowing for some privacy and ocean views. We, as did all of the Tradewinds guests who spent time at the beach were treated like royalty by Hermina and her Marriott staff. Hermina would set up our chairs with two towels and hold our palapas for at least 2 hours while we ate breakfast. Two rafts would be placed by chairs upon our arrival. Hermina treated us throughout the day with cold bottled water and iced/eucalyptus scented face towels. We were free to come and go as we pleased without worrying about losing our palapas. Hermina was diligent about keeping an eye on all of our gear while we spent time in the ocean. The coral sand was bright white and very soft. The buoy marked swimming area was more than big enough to spread out while floating on the rafts. The calm ocean water was warm and silky smooth. The weather was warm and humid,however the strong tradewinds countered the humidity.
Running-The location of the Marriott is located at the north end of the high rise hotels. I would take my early morning run north to the lighthouse. The out and back route is 6 miles. I ran on the road with very little traffic. I had great views of all of the popular beach and ocean sites. The last segment of road leading up to the lighthouse was not lit. The view from the the lighthouse of both side of the island were spectacular and well worth the slight pain of running in 80+ degree temps. I carried water on all of my runs. Running on the beach is also an option, however the sand is soft and the length of beach is limited.
Adult pool-the pool with bar was very beautiful. We would often swing by late in the afternoon for the 2 for 1 happy hour drink specials. The pool area was very quite and picturesque. With drinks in hand we sat in the pool and watched the sun slowly set into the Caribbean.
Service-It's difficult to single out any one staff member for quality of service. Everyone of Marriott's staff were exceptionally friendly and accommodating.
Room and resort. We were very impressed with the cleanliness of the island and specifically the Marriott resort. The lawns, planter beds and beach area were all well maintained and in pristine condition. Our room was more than large enough for us and very clean. The room had the appearance of being recently renovated. Our king size bed and duvet was very comfortable. Internet service was free for tradewinds' guests. We were able to access the Internet throughout the resort and on the beach.
The shopping center was only a 15 minute walk or $6 cab ride from the Marriott. We chose to ride the local Arbus into ......for only $2.35 per person each way.

From Justina who checked us in, to Crystal who signed us up for our time share meeting, to the rest of the staff and house keeping. EVERYONE was incredibly pleasant and took the time to look us in the eye with a smile and a greeting.

ROOMS - Highly recommend a room above the 5th floor as that is just high enough to see over the palms and get a good ocean view. South tower was our preference as we wanted to stay as far away from the Ritz construction to the North of our resort (Construction noise was very minimal when we were there - even walking the beach in front of the Ritz)
Our room over looked the adult pool (Quiet) and the decks have just enough of an angle towards the ocean that you can sit outside with your honey and watch the sunset over the ocean - Fantastic!
Rooms clean and wonderful!

POOLS - We mostly stayed at the adult pool which was beautiful and relaxing (Don't forget your room key to get in and out of the pool). Though most of the pool chairs get taken by 9:30am, it never seemed too crowded. Plenty of shady spots and we always seemed lucky enough to get a pair of chairs. Our luck maybe..
- The family pool looked nice as well. Waterfalls, walk up bar, a little more crowded, but they make it work. It was more of a romantic trip for us, so we stuck with the adult pool, but both are great.

BEACH - You will probably hear about the problems getting chairs or Palapas, but if you start your day at a decent time, you can at least find a shady spot from some palms and enjoy the sand that way. We rented a palapa for two days right up front (someone had canceled theirs) and it was wonderful! You can also wait in line each day (I think around 4pm) to reserve the selected few palapas that they give out for free. They also set out a bunch of chairs in the sun right near the water and we saw people come and go throughout the day. This was the only downside to our stay under the front row palapas, as we would have loved a view of just the ocean and not people sitting in front of us, but its a busy beach and that was to be expected so we enjoyed it regardless.
At night, the beach is not too busy and you will have it to yourselves at times, but we always felt safe if we were walking to the shops or walking to dinner.

CASINO - This was probably the only downside to the Marriott for us. The place was very busy, but it seemed outdated and a little rundown. We only visited it once, but we just were not impressed. They didn't have a Craps table, which surprised us, but no biggie.

GYM - More than enough equipment and was kept in really good shape (pardon the pun).

DINING - The lobby cafe wasn't cheap, but more reasonable then most. We made it work for us though by splitting sandwiches and such as the portion sizes were decent. Nice selection. Busy at times. Good all around.
We ate our dinners away from the resort quite a bit just to check out some other places, but you could eat at the resort and find some good choices.

BARS - (at the pools and in the lobby) Drinks are pricey ($10-$11 each), but it's the Caribbean so we expected this. We did learn some fun tricks though to save some cash. Each day, each respected bar had its own happy hour where drinks were discounted or buy two for the price of one.
Bonus - if you are lounging at the adult pool and want to save some $$, take a very short walk to the neighboring Marriott (follow the path South past the outdoor pool table and life-size chess game) you will find a bar that serves frozen drinks all day for only $5 each. Nifty little trick we had fun using. Apparently, they had some construction going on, so I'm not sure how long it will last, but it is worth taking a look to see. Oh, and the drinks were excellent! CHEERS!

SHOPPING - This was a little tricky to learn, but we think we figured it out by the end of our trip. Certainly, Taxi is the easiest way to travel there ($8 - $9 per trip). Local bus would be second, but we didn't see a lot of tourists on the local bus, mostly what looked like workers going home or to work. Still felt safe and it was reasonably priced ($2.50 per trip).
We opted to walk a couple of nights. It's doable, but plan on getting a little exercise. 20-30 minutes each way. We walked the Marriott paths until we got to Moomba (the place with the music and colorful lights - you won't miss it), then took the beach down until about the Holiday inn, then took their path. If you cut through right after the Holiday Inn, you will hit your first set of shops (souvenirs, ice cream, dining), if you keep walking the beachside paths and cut through the Radisson, you will hit your second set of shops (more souvenirs, ice cream and dining). This was as far as we walked, which really wasn't horrible, but then we don't mind our long strolls at night. We picked up a lot of great gifts for friends and family for the holidays and everyone loved what they received.
Hope you have a great trip, Enjoy!