We stayed for 2 weeks late May, early June '07. Check in was a breeze, and the welcome glass of champagne a nice surprise.
The hotel room was very clean and comfortable, no smell of mustiness whatsoever. Our towels were changed regularly - the notice in the bathroom advises guests to put towels in the bath when fresh towels are needed.We were given a room overlooking the garden, but we still had a good view of the ocean as well. Rising early is a must at this resort - not just for the palapa by the pool - but to see sunrise from the magnificent beach. Walking along the seashore each morning before breakfast was magical, as was sunset in the evening.
We enjoyed all of the speciality restaurants other than Desire, where the service was reasonably good, but the food was not great. The self service buffet had ample choice to satisfy all tastes; having to queue was a chore, but the staff were readily available for coffee, water, drinks etc.
Lobby bar, Sound lounge and the bar staff were excellent, even when the places were jam packed. We were only served branded spirits and the measures were more than generous.
We found the reception staff polite and most helpful. My husband had a problem with a tooth whilst we were there and reception booked him into a dentist and arranged a taxi without any fuss. We had a great time, and were sorry to leave. Aruba is truly a beautiful island, and the Occidental a fine place to stay..

I'm writing this review on my last full day here at the Occidental and my husband and I are having a wonderful honeymoon. We decided to do the Royal Club upgrade and the honeymoon upgrade and were given two free 30 minute massages which were excellent, a free bottle of champagne and a fruit basket, and we can eat in the Royal Club restaurant for breakfast and lunch without reservations.. just walk in and take a seat.

The Royal Club restaurant is very nice and quiet .. usually there are no more than one or two other couples in there... and the service is excellent. Everyone took great care of us. We only have eaten at Zen (the asian restaurant) and the Italian restaurant. At Zen I enjoyed my meals and we ordered sushi which we both loved, but my husband wasn't so thrilled with his meals saying that the sauces on both could have been better. Our waitress both nights at Zen though was so sweet and she remembered us the second time. At the Italian restaurant my husband ordered the Risotto which was amazing and I had pasta with truffle sauce which was good as well. We didn't eat at the Mexican or Carribean because we were told by two other couples that they weren't good restaurants. We only made reservations for our first three dinners when we arrived and then made reservations for the other nights as we went and had no problems getting the reservations we wanted.. I'm suspecting that's because we are in the Royal Club.

We did go on the Island to eat at the Flying Fishbone which was excellent and a bit pricey.. but so worth it. The atmosphere alone there is amazing and romantic. Go if you're celebrating something special like a honeymoon, anniversary, or birthday... heck, even just because!

When we first arrived at the hotel (by way of the bus) there was a LONG line at the front desk to check in and for the first 5 - 7 minutes no one was even there to check anyone in! Finally two people came but they kept walking behind the desk and back again and check in was going slow... we waited a good 20 minutes before we got to the front desk and they told us because we were royal club we had to go to the ninth floor to check in... I wish someone had told us sooner or they had a sign or something... once we got to the ninth floor and checked in with Sandra, everything went smoothly from then on in.

Our room is big and the beds are comfortable. The television gets plenty of channels ... hbo, showtime, tbs, etc..etc. You do have to place your towels around the pool early to get a seat but we never did... we just went swimming in the pool and placed our stuff on the seats by the ocean... no one bothered our things and then we just layed out by the ocean. It does seem like more people like to be by the pool which baffled us because you can go swimming in a pool anywhere! We swam in the ocean too which my husband loved because he could actually float thanks to the salt water! At night we took romantic strolls down the beach and there was never anyone else out there! It was really romantic and again we wondered why no one else would be out on the beach at night.

We didn't see any of the "shows" at the hotel but other couples told us they were "okay" and probably what you'd expect. We didnt' do the casino either.

Our couples massage on the beach was wonderful and I had a facial at the spa in the lobby which was absolutely heavenly! Go get one if you have the extra cash to spend.. it was my first facial ever. I also got a pedicure and had the spa remove my acrylic tips (nails) ... everyone in the spa was very, very nice and friendly. I felt like they really knew me there I was down there so much!

The housekeeping staff came by our room at least twice a day.. sometimes it seemed like more... to clean the room and make the bed... to offer us more towels... to give us our turndown service and leave little hershey kisses on the bed.. I liked that they came so often but other guests that we talked to here didn't like it so much.... they also will turn the air conditioner on full blast when they come in the room so prepare for a freezing room when you come back in from swimming!!! Our refrigerator was refilled every third day and once my husband told the guy that we only wanted water, not beer or soda.. and when we checked the next time our fridge was FULL of full sized bottles of water which was great.

We rented a car one day and drove downtown which wasn't really our favorite thing... it's mostly expensive jewelry shops and then shops with cheap nick knack souiveneers like shot glasses and tee shirts. It was pretty hot down there too and not as breezy and cool as by the water. We didn't stay downtown long. We did drive around the south east side of the island when looking for the flying fishbone and I LOVED driving through the residental areas where the locals live and looking at all the brightly colored homes.... that was one of my most favorite things about the trip... cruising the island where the real Arubans live!

all in all we've had a great time here.. we're going to miss the buffet breakfast at the Royal club and waking up every morning to the perfect weather and great view from our room. You'll have a wonderful time here if you're laid back and not looking for *COMPLETE* perfection. The beach and pool are amazing, the rooms are nice, and the food is decent to good... what more could you ask for? We would come back to Aruba... we might stay at another hotel just to try other places out but I would not have any problems with staying at the Occidental again. By the way, stay away from the iguanas/lizards that hang out by the pool area... I swear one of them spit at me! :D

We stayed at the hotel 14-28th August, 2007. Very worried before departure after reading negative reviews but decided not to cancel as we have been in this position before. - - can't please everyone. Our room was excellent, very clean and we had no problems with towels or toiletries as these were replenished every day. Fridge was restocked every two days,
The restaurants in the hotel were very good - actually felt as though you were 'going out for a meal' as they were very individual and the food we had was excellent. We had no problems booking all our allocation of 8 visits. What a wonderful system - much better than other All inclusive hotels where you have to queue every day to get to booking. The buffet was also very good. In the two weeks we were there we only queued one morning for breakfast - about 10 minutes. Obviously avoided 9 am after that!! We found the food well cooked and a good choice. I particularly liked the fact that it was not allowed to become 'messy' - quickly replaced. I really don't like buffet meals but I had no problems. The staff in all areas of the hotel were very friendly and helpful. Drinks - again we had no problems either being served or getting brand names.
Outside the pool area was rather small for the number of guests at the height of the season and it was annoying that some people left towels on chairs very early in the morning but didn't turn up to use them until almost mid-day. This does need sorting. Plenty of room on the beach - wonderful.
Evening entertainment - we did see all the shows and some were better than others. However, we found them very enjoyable and let's be honest you can't expect West End performances! I would certainly recommend trying the shows.
Overall we had a really good holiday and would love to return.

My husband and I stayed at the Occidental the week of Aug 29th-Sept. 2. The hotel is well kept , the rooms are clean, the beach is beautiful but the service is AWFUL. We were there with friends and were very disappointed when they told us that because we were only staying 4 nights, we could only book 2 dinner reservations. Priority is given to those that are staying a week and more. We were forced to eat at the buffet on those occasions and the food was average at best.

The storm on sunday, which by the way was over by 12pm, caused the hotel management to panic. No drinks were served at any bar or in any store. All the premium restaurants were closed down for the night and the entire body of guests had to eat at the buffet. Talk about paying for all- inclusive...we were cheated. The exercise room was flooded and unavailable, and the sound lounge whose DJ was not very good at getting the guests up, was closed for the night. Meanwhile, the pool bar at the Hyatt was up and running by 2pm.

The real reason that we will never stay here again is that when our flight to NY was cancelled, the hotel offered us a lower rate to stay there and said to only book one night at a time until we could get a flight out. The next day, we were still unable to book a flight and by Monday needed a room again. We were told that there were no rooms available and if they become available we would have to pay an over $400 rate. Management pretty much kept telling us to come back to the front desk and every time we went back there was another story to be told---no rooms , high rates - it was terrible. One couple marched right up to their hotel room and booked online for less than the front desk. Talk about customer service! We were treated like castaways.

After being left in the lobby by a manager for 40 minutes while we were told that they would make arrangements for us, we were moved to the Hyatt at a special rate ( it was on the floor where renovations were being done ), This was the best thing that happened to us- it was such a relief to get away from the Occidental .