Westin met my expectations. Staff was friendly and outgoing. Great beach. Food was pricey but there are ways around that. Overall a great experience.

The Westin Aruba is an older hotel with some recent upgrades but not a full renovation. The lobby looks great but the rooms have an old, musty feel although the furniture and carpeting appears to be new. Not sure if it is a real problem but I found several small ants on the night table a couple of times but I did leave a finished pepsi can there. With the exception of the casino, the hotel is smoke-free indoors including all guest rooms.

I reserved an island view room and as a Platinum Starwood guest received an upgrade to an ocean view suite. The room had a separate living room with a 50"+ flat panel TV, two balconies with beach views and maybe a 32" flat panel TV in the bedroom. The bed was very comfortable - heavenly bed. The bath room had double sinks, large walk-in closet but small shower and an old marked up separate tub. We received only one Westin Heavenly towel during the entire stay. The other towels were smaller and not nearly as soft and may be left over from the Wyndham.

The service in the hotel was mostly good. The front desk and doorman were very nice and helpful. Housekeeping responding quickly late one night when we needed the pullout couch made for our nephews who decided to sleep over. But the bartenders by the pool where you might spend a lot of your time were rude. The woman at the desk at the spa was also rude.

The spa was disappointing. You are given a robe and a bag to put all your belongings. Although there are lockers, for some reason you can't use them and have to carry your bag/clothes to the waiting room. The locker room was small without a sauna or hot-tub but there is a steam room. I went for a deep tissue massage but the masseuse did not apply enough pressure - it was relaxing but not a deep tissue massage. My girlfriend got a hot stone massage and got burnt by some of the stones. The room was also cold which is fine for me but not my girlfriend.

We didn't try any of the restaurants except for by the pool for lunch. The fajitas were good but anything else we had was just OK. The prices were average but 8-oz Balashi beers seem pricy at $5.50.

If you want a beach palapa, you can reserve in advance for $60 or go wait on line at 7am. Typically as a platinum SPG you can reserve in advance and/or receive a discount but not at the Westin Aruba. We were able to find shade at the pool at 10:30 but most chairs are in direct sun. The pool was not crowded during our stay and there are lots of chairs.

Aruba is a small island and the hotel is close to anywhere you'll want to go. The beach is maybe a little nicer than further down by the Hyatt or Marriott where it is narrower and more crowded. In comparison to other hotels, I'm not sure if you will do much better anywhere else with some tradeoffs. If I were to go back to Aruba, I probably would stay at the Westin again for the room upgrade and Starwood points loyalty unless something better is built - there doesn't appear to be a real 5-star hotel on the island today. Where ever you stay, you'll most likely have a nice beach and good weather.

K,! Soooo, just got back 5/1/08. I booked a 5 day stay at the Westin via a Starwoods Promo. We got a really good price! I thought it would be a nice little "Sis" get-away. We had no plans to "conquer" the island as we only had 5 days. We wanted to just take in the beautiful beach, eat good fresh carribbean seafood, and have a nice place to stay. Now, the room was nice, comfy, and we had a beautiful view of the island and the beach. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The Pina Coladas were Awesome at the beach bar! They are the kind that are poured frozen from a Slushie Machine with the rum swirled in seperate....Yum! However, a few problems arose along the way and getting anything corrected took atleast two requests to correct EVERY SINGLE TIME!! That got really old!!!!!! By far the biggest disappointment was the food! Ya just take it for granted the food would be abundantly fresh with a native carribbean flare. Uhhhhh Wrong!!!! We tried several places on Westin Property. We were starving when we arrived so we went to Blossoms and had Sushi. It was o.k.. For dinner we only had a couple of choices so we went to Baci. It was Italian (not what we wanted in the carribbean) . The food was very oily, mediocre quality. The Terrace for lunch. Your choices were hotdogs, hamburgers, assorted chicken choices but, nothing authentic. We ordered the Conch Chowder which was obviously canned and awful! The food was way overpriced for the quality with a nice 17% service charge added to it. To make things more "EMBARRASSINGLY TACKY" at the bottom of the bill was a note stating "Addtional gratuities are greatly appreciated". Personally speaking.....I've been to many, many, resorts and have never experienced quite the "OVERKILL" in price gauging! Over all, what was good wasn't that good to go back! Sorry!

Beth & Kristin

We had a really nice family vacation at the Westin Aruba 4/15-4/20. We also had the great price of $649 for 6 days & $100 resort credit. We travel quite a bit. We usually do all-inclusive. After much reviews/debates we decided that we would NOT do AI. I'm glad we made this choice. Yes, it is expensive to eat/drink in Aruba. I think if you do research for a vacation in Aruba, you will know this & expect this. With that being, said, I had anticipated spending around $1500 for food/drinks. That amount was pretty accurate. This included going to Ling & Sons for some snacks/drinks & the $100 resort credit off our bill at the end. It also included the 17% service charge & tax plus we gave an additional tip to the server when we felt the service was very good.

I apologize for the lengthy review, I do it every time!

Since this was our first time (besides St. Thomas) not AI, I was leery. We normally vacation at resorts that are not close by, to anything on the island. In Aruba, it was refreshing to just walk out the resort to go have dinner. It was very safe. I was actually surprised with the low taxi prices. In St. Thomas taxis are expensive! If you don’t want to walk, grab a taxi. Which is exactly what we did for places further away.

We found the entire staff at the Westin to be nice & friendly. Patrick (at check in) was very helpful to my requests. I requested a refrigerator & they had it to me within minutes! Concierge was also very helpful. The room is your standard room, recently renovated. No issues with smells. I would have liked to have a separate sink area from the bathroom, but we did fine with their accommodations. We got upgraded to a pool/ocean view, even number room (thanks TA reviews). The view was fantastic. The sunsets were just amazing. I looked forward to them every evening. Truly beautiful. I took pictures to use for our Christmas card. I wrote Merry Christmas in the sand by the girls (see photo). Got that idea from friends who vacationed with us at Beaches Turks & Caicos, she brought Santa hats for her daughters, which they wore in bathing suits, really nice idea!

Beach….one of the nicest we have been to. My all time favorite is St. Johns, loved T&C but Aruba was really a close tie with them except for that wind! While it is nice most of the time, when it picks up & sand belts you in the face, that is another story. Did it ruin my vacation, absolutely not! I would still take that wind, then being home & working! With that wind, Aruba is a great place to buy a sunscreen booth that we are selling! Don’t you think it would be so convenient to step in a booth & get sprayed with 2oz of sunscreen in 10 seconds? I know my daughters dislike having to get sunscreen on but they would enjoy this & save me the hassle. We talked with Mr. Roy & gave him information about it. So hopefully, this could be a new amenity to the Westin & other resorts. We loved the water & jumping off the floating deck. As for the palapas, I totally expected not to have one because of all the reviews. I’m not a person to get up at the crack of dawn to get one. So I was so pleasantly surprised we got one everyday for free. This was after 8am! Maybe it was a total fluke we got one that late, who knows but I can honestly say it was not a problem for us. Girls liked the pool. Again, no problems getting a chair. Rent a blue float chair lounger. I loved floating on that & reading my book. I must say that was a first for me on vacation, not reading a book but reading a book while floating on the beautiful water. They even have cup holders! If you’re a reader, it doesn’t get better than that. We brought rafts from the dollar store & sand toys & just gave them to someone before we left. My husband also rented a jet ski & took the girls. They really liked that! Water was so calm & perfect for that.

We did one excursion, the Atlantis submarine. We enjoyed it & I’m glad we did it. Took Dramamine prior, just in case. Booked online for a better rate. Walked around town a bit & ate at Rumba, great chicken cheese rancher sandwich.

We walked along the beach for breakfast. We ate at Basi Ruti (Play Linda Beach Resort), Moomba & also one day at the buffet at the Westin. They also have a grab & go section, which was convenient too.

For lunch, we enjoyed the convenience of the Terrace at the Westin & also a short walk to Palm Pier to Bugaloe (girls loved the Bugaloe Curly Fries & cheeseburgers) and also Gilligans at the Radisson. They had great salads, pizza & chicken fingers.

For dinner, we ate at Café Baci at the Westin. This is Italian & enjoyed by all. Texas De Brazil was our favorite. My hubby was in heaven! He is a steak man & they had nice selections of any kind of meat you want. The girls really liked it too. Very nice atmosphere & service was amazing! Before you go, register on the website for coupons or deals. Girls were half price & we got $20 gift certificate from the website. We also ate at the Buccaneers. While the service was nice, the food wasn’t. We enjoyed the atmosphere & the girls really like the aquariums & sea life, right at the table. However, they did not eat their chicken nuggets & they are not picky eaters. I also did not like my entrée & did not finish it. My hubby finished his but it was not to his liking either. We still tipped nice because the people were so nice & friendly. We also went to Giann’s (another Italian place), very very good food. Service was slower, but since immigration was there, hauling the staff out of the kitchen, I guess that was to be expected!! Nothing like seeing staff getting lead out the restaurant in hand cuffs. Our waiter said, he didn’t have papers either; I joked with him & said, “could you bring our meal first before you leave”. Girls had something different to right in their journals that night! El Gaucho’s was an experience. Everyone loved their meal but me. I had short ribs & they were returned once for not being done enough & then I kindly asked the server to remove my meal. It was not edible. He was so nice & kept apologizing. Manager (Jose Luis) came over; I explained I could not eat my meal. Without great detail, he was very rude & unprofessional. I brought this to the attention of the owner when we were leaving. She was very nice & professional. She actually had him apologize for his behavior & they gave me credit for my meal. I applaud the way she handled a really bad experience with an employee. So if you go, don’t order the short ribs & you will be fine. Like I said, everyone else really enjoyed what they ordered. I’m not discouraging anyone from going there.

Vacation is what you make it. I embrace the different cultures/language when we vacation. We are always in a hurry or rushing or thinking about what needs to be done at home. Vacation is just the opposite of that. We find it refreshing to go out to eat & not rush. I don’t mind the time it takes for my food to come. It gives you time to relax & enjoy talking to your family! Not rushing through your meal to get them to soccer. Vacation is what you make of it. Take any negative moment & turn it into a positive one.

When we vacation we also like to give back. We actually went to an orphanage in T&C to give them money, gifts & clothing. It was a memorable experience that made us all appreciate what we have. We donate to a local orphanage on every vacation. We want our daughters to understand there is more to a vacation, then just a beautiful resort. To give & make a difference. We also donated to local schools with supplies. In Aruba, we donated to the Casa Cana Orphanage. Mr. Roy was kind enough to make sure they received the check. Just imagine, if every traveler would donate just $1 to a local charity in the area they are vacationing at, what a difference we could make in peoples lives. I encourage if you can, to think about donating to Casa Cana Orphanage or another charity of your choice.

We like to travel to new places each vacation. If I would return to Aruba, I would stay at the Westin again for a good deal. I liked the beach area better than the others. I also thought the pool area had space. The RIU's pool, next door, reminded me of being on a cruise ship deck/pool area. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Have a great vacation!