Having been to Aruba 15 years ago staying at a hotel that will remain unmentioned - this vacation surpassed my expectations in all ways. This hotel is gorgeous, the staff is incredibly friendly, there is no shortage of places to eat, and the pool and beach are impeccably maintained. I had one minor problem that was quickly addressed and fixed (wrong view). There is construction going on (north wing - so ask to stay in the middle of the hotel so you will not face the construction) - however noise was minimal. Place is a bit pricey, but coming from NY - nothing that really floored me (except the $5/bag potato chips that usually = 99 cents). Have your cab driver make a stop at a supermarket/grocery store and stock up on cereal/milk/box juices/snacks, etc. to save some $ as the cost of food is quite high here. Overall, the Aruba Marriott Stellaris is wonderful place that I will definitely be returning to (got a package from Jet Blue - no other way to fly, trust me...)

We stayed here for our honeymoon and it was absolutely delightful. Excellent location at the end of the high-rise hotel strip and on an picturesque beach, we had such a great time.

The hotel staff was very very nice, accomodating and thorough. Anything we asked for was taken care of immediately. We had a faulty drain in the tub that wouldn't work, the maintenence guy was up in less than 5 minutes to replace it. The housekeeping staff was so nice and personal and kept our room sparkling, and didn't move all our stuff around.

The food around the resort is sumptuous, but very expensive. The only inconvenenience is there is no place nearby to get a low-cost meal, which can be annoying if you're not a big spender or have a large family. The casino was great too, and the largest one in Aruba, very Vegas like.

The renovation construction didn't bother us one bit! It was actually nice because one whole tower was closed and made it much less crowded than normal. The finishings were so modern, so sleek and so nice. The atmosphere was very nice, and a great mix of people: lots of honeymooners, families, groups of friends, etc... Everyone got along fine!

The hotel is rather open air, so if there is a lot of noise in lobby you can hear it in your room, which can be annoying if you're trying to get to bed early and theres a wedding or something. Can get loud.

All in all, we had an excellent experience at this resort and it's totally worth a stay, especially now that it's freshy renovated. It's like a brand new hotel, very very nice!!

We arrived at the Stellaris with a bit of trepidation because there was construction going on (renovation of North Tower). Upon entering the lobby we did not see one sign of construction anywhere. We were overjoyed when we received an upgrade to a ocean view deluxe room (not sure if it is because I am an elite Marriott Rewards member or not). It was a wonderful surprise. Room was large, newly renovated, the balcony was oversized and overlooked paradise! Happy first day!.
The pool is not the most luxurious but quite adequate, we spent most of our time under a palapa on the beach. Staff were exceptionally nice and accommodating. We did experience some construction noise one afternoon but nothing horrific. One surprise was that the concierge one evening was not helpful at all. I asked for a few dining ideas, mentioned some restaurants I had seen advertised on this site and she did not know anything about them nor did not make any attempt to look them up. She acted as if she had more important things to do than talk to us.
There is not much to do in the evening with kids (ages 14 & 10)-more of a nightclub and gambling island. Water park is still under construction.
Aruba is beautiful and would recommend for a nice, quiet vacation. Marriott is a beautiful hotel.

We just returned from a 5 day trip to Aruba yesterday and we had a wonderful time. The Marriott property is clean and mostly updated, with a gorgeous beach. The construction noise was periodically distracting, but you sort of forgot about it after a while. They are still working on the hotel so we lost a/c for a few hours and our phones didn't work for a day, but oh well. The hotel is less crowded than its time share counterparts, which I appreciated. We had dinner twice at Ruth's Chris on the property and it was a great experience. We also ate at a few offsite restaurants. Gasparito's had authentic, tasty Aruban food and I would recommend it. We also went to Brisas del Mar down on the other end of the island past the downtown and that was fabulous - what a great view and creole sauce! We also ate at Papiamento (sp?) and while the setting is lovely I thought the food was somewhat blah compared to the other two restaurants I just mentioned. We did a morning snorkeling tour over the WW II wreck and some other sites; the water wasn't terribly clear and it was pretty rough compared to other times we've been snorkeling elsewhere in the world. In any case, we really liked to hotel and the setting, and thought Aruba made for a relaxing 5 day vacation.