I don't know if I could say enough things about this place! The room was amazing, the staff was friendly and helpful in all situations, and we were steps to the most beautiful beach and relaxation heaven! My only complaint is that the food and drinks there is a bit overpriced, so make sure that you go to the grocery store to stock up!

The pool is awesome, the people are friendly and the food is pretty good. The little grill out by the pool has great wraps! The Mambo Beach bar just down the beach has a great night life, a younger crowd, and Amstel Bright a must-try for beer lovers!

We didn't rent a car (after seeing how the locals drive, I don't want to be a part of it!), so we walked to the restaurants we went to and got a cab a couple times. Make sure you try Smokin Joe's Argentian BBQ!! Also, I think the best part of the trip was our day on the Jolly Pirate which launched from down the beach. It was soooo much fun and for $50/person, you will have the best day! And drinks are included :)

Don't hesitate to stay here unless you are looking to be entertained the whole time. If you are looking for a relaxing vacation with an awesome pool and beautiful beach, you will be in 7th heaven!

Tips: Make sure you try a slippery monkey from the pool bar!

My friend and I recently stayed in a one room bedroom villa at the Marriott's Ocean Club in Aruba. Above all, Aruba is absolutely stunning when you are sick and tired of the cold and gray winters Buffalo can bring. With that said our stay at the Ocean Club was pleasent and enjoyable. The breakdown:

The Good....

Crowding is not an issue here, at least during our week April 11 - April 18th. We never had a problem getting a pool chair, cabana hut on the beach or swimming in the pool. This was beautiful considering the crowding going on at the Surf Club.

CLEAN! Our villa was absolutely stunning. There is a no smoking policy enforced throughout the Surf and Ocean Clubs which is wonderful when it comes to the smell of your room. Smoking is allowed on balconies but not in the room itself....NICE.

FULLY STOCKED VILLA...not with food, but everything you could ever need to prepare a meal. keep in mind you do have to purchase salt/pepper and aluminum foil..things i feel should be in the room already, but that is just my thought. grocery store is about 10 mins away by cab and is very nice.

SERVICE....was great. In the owners manual that was in our room, it indicated you had to pay for maid service to give you new bath towles and to clean up. On day 3 we came back to find our room made up and new towels that we did not ask for. Hopefully...this won't be an incidental charge on my credit card.

Also everyone is super friendly and it doesn't hurt to speak some spanish or papiemento once you learn the few key words...they appreciate the effort.

LOCATION....you really cannot beat it...downtown Oranjestad is about 15 mins away by cab or 25 by bus. Either option is great and if you are trying to save some cash it will only cost you about $1.25 US each way on the bus which is also a small mini-van. Also..the Marriott sister hotels are located at the very far end of the high rise hotels. This is nice because if you need to get away from it all, walking down the beach towards the California Lighthouse is one of the best things there is in Aruba. You almost feel as if its your own island because there are not crazy hotels all around you. On the flipside....if you go south toward the hotels, there are a nice variety of bars, restaurants and hotels you can pop in and out of just for curiosity sake.

The Bad....

THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT....NO sharing with the Surf Club pool. When we booked we were told we could use the surf club's pools with the exception of the lazy river...FINE! BUT, when we arrived that was not the case and we were disppointed even at 30 yrs old.

POLICY...According to the Ocean Club's printed policies online and through Interval International check in time is 4pm...NOT SO...our room was not ready until 5pm and there was this sort of deal with it attitude from the front desk. Once we were allowed to check in at 5pm, the front desk person failed to meniton the $500 hold on my credit card for incidentials and the pending taxes for just staying in aruba. Don't worry, daily taxes on the room are minimal, appx $7.00US per day...BUT its something we should have been told.

DOOR LOCK...We did have a problem with our door lock...apparently the batteries were old and they needed to be replaced. We could not get into our room. It took about 30 minutes from the time we called the front desk. Not good when you had reservations somewhere else in 45 mins... BUT The staff and maid service were very attentive during this time and offered their help by continously calling down to the front desk telling someone to come up. DANKI!

$$$...everything at the Ocean Club is ridicoulsly expensive. Mixed drinks run about $10 and a hot dog $9.00....US DOLLARs....so be forwarned. Also, bring tons of sunblock with you...being so close to the equator, you run through it like water. It too is very expensive...in the hotel $21.00 for 4 oz tube of hawaiian tropic...ouch!

So just got back from aruba April/08 and here is what I have to say about the island and all the things I experienced there. Trip advisor was very helpful in helping me plan my vacation so I hope this will help you. I went there with My girlfriend and we had an overall very good time. so I will give teh Pros and Cons on stuff. I stayed for 7 days 6 nights and it is my first visit. probably last too.
Hotel: Marriott Ocean
Positives: Room was excellent we overlooked pool and beach and it was great. nothing bad to say quiet, even next to the pool. Cleaned it 1 time during the week and staff working for hotel was excellent very helpful. Pool was great and workout room very nice.
Negatives;
Hotel was great but the SPA at the hotel was horrible. I went there two times to get my gf a massage and both times they were very rude and didnt appear to understand what I was asking for. Upon checkout we found they actually billed us twice and Marriott manager couldnt do anything about it as the spa is a seperate business from the marriott. This was bad because we checked out at 530 am and were still waiting to hear from the hotel about what can be done. BEWARE the SPA NAZIs.
The Massage itself was good my gf says but not worth the hassle and def. not worth being charged 200dollar. plenty of better spas esp. if you want to get a massage on the beach.

Outdoor Activities.
Advice: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY WITH DE PALM TOURS!!!
that being said heres why.
Renting a Jeep; $74 dollars a day, with insurance, another guy I was talking too said they were going to charge him an extra 100 dollars to take the top off, mine had a removable but boy it gets hot and no A/C. anyways a car rental is 54 dollars a day. I rented a jeep 2 days and a car 1 day to just tool around downtown.
Pros:
Car was nice for getting to and from the downtown area. Oh and a typical cab ride is 15-25 dollars each way, you do the math. Great value. Get the Insurance. My Credit card wouldnt cover jeeps and dont know how usa policy does in aruba. insurance is 10 dollars a day extra.
COn:
Jeep; no A/c, no protection for your stuff so your going to be lugging anything valuable everywhere you go.
Advice:
Rent the jeep and go to the national park, so much fun, but beware we saw A DEPALM tour truck overturned it is very dangerous. Get some experience in the park go to the caves etc.
The Natural Pool; a bit overrated, but GF liked it a lot. BeCAREFUL going to this is dangerous esp. if your not used to doing off roading in a jeep. Easy to get into trouble. GO SLOW and or take the DEPALM TOUR, however if your confident with your skills you can make it there and its cheaper then going with a tour. P.s. the tour came while we were there. 25 people jump into the pool for 1/2 hr and then the guy yells at them to lets go, it was horrible, so glad I didnt do the tour.
the Caves are a MUST SEE fun lots of bats, be prepared to TIP EVERYONE IN ARUBA even the "park rangers" asked for money, dont know what kind of rangers they were but gave a bit of info.

Snorkling, not the place to find a lot of nice coral, mostly all dead, but a bunch of small fish and easy access from the beaches. We brought our own snorkle equipment and with renting the car we got to all the same sites that the depalm tours take you too. The best place to snokel was baby beach and malmok beach. we were going to take the ferry over to De Palm island but they wanted 70 dollars a person wouldnt let us just go over even though we dont drink and had our own equipment. Silly trying to rip off tourists. Bring some bread and put it in the water and a million fish will come around. Renting the car made it easy to go and find less crowded beachs towards the west end of the island.

Restaurantsl;
we had some nice meals;
Best: Flying Fish Bone, great meal were from chicago and it was comparable to any restaurant in chicago. good food, atmosphere and service were excellent. Make reservations and ask to be on the beach very cool. People get a bit crazy with pictures during sunset but otherwise excellent.
Moomba Beach (might be wrong spelling)
its about 2 blocks west of marriott hotel on beach. Its the best, service was good not great but close. The food was excellent for what it was. and the atmosphere is very relaxed again get reservations for the Beach.
*** BEWARE*** most restaurants include tip I almost gave people 35% tip because i wasnt checking, CHECK YOUR CHECK and dont get scammed out of money, one place had an 18% gratuity.
AMAZONIA-- Horrible
thats being nice, service was horrible and we were 2 of 15 people in the place, cant imagine if it was busy, the steak was all well done and very chewy. I wouldnt feed my dog the crap they were pawning off as steak. DONT GO HERE...
Smokey Joes-- food -OK Service --Horrible
this place gets crowded so they try to jam as many people in as possible. we got sat at a table for 4 and next thing we know the waitress says the owner wont let me sit you here, so we have to move ( i wanted to leave gf didnt) should have!! another guy comes up asks us why we moved we tell him and he says that it wasnt true, the service was AWFUL took forever to get food and ask for the bill as soon as you order maybe you wont wait an extra 1/2 hr. dont go here!!!!

Highlights:
Caves
Off ROading
Dinner on the Beach
marriott
natural pool


Low Points:
Shopping for junk in downtown
Dinners mentioned.
Marriott SPA (Mandara) Spelling??

Becareful of the sun it was very windy and felt great but you can burn in 15 min. no joke.
****Get to Airport Early on departure, they say that the checkin gait closes 60min prior to boarding!!!!! ******* we got there 90 min prior to boarding and it took 89 min to get to the plane no kidding. And it wasnt a very busy time, I would allow 2 -2.5 hrs if I ever went again.
Brin g lots of sunscreen we went through 3 bottles of 50 30 and 15
their alovera products are awasome apply everyday and you will barely peel
** bring your own snorkel equipt. and rent a jeep it will be easier.


Anyways if you have anyother questions email me be happy to help if I can. Aruba is a cool place but probably wont go back. Once is enough to see it.

My wife, daughter and I stayed at the Ocean Club over our daughter's school break. We arrived on Easter Sunday for a week long stay.

We are Marriott owners in St. Kitts and we got this week because we were unable to use our St. Kitts property last year. We deposited the week with Interval International along with a list of requested resorts in the Caribbean. We got the Ocean Club and we were happy that we did.

Friends of ours stayed at the Surf Club around Christmas time and loved it. I'm glad that we didn't get the Surf Club because it was packed Easter week. We went over a couple of days to use the lazy river (which technically we were not permitted to do) and the pool area was a madhouse. It was packed with barely enough room to negotiate between the chairs.

By comparison, the Ocean Club was a little more spread out and not nearly as crowded. We are early risers and never had a problem finding a pool chair with an umbrella or a palapa close to the fromt row.

During our week, security was definitely enforcing the no sharing rule between the Surf and Ocean Club properties. They identified guests by their beach towel color. If you are an Ocean Club guest and want to use the lazy river at Surf Club, don't take your towel with you.

The rooms in the Ocean Club consistent with the other Vacation Club property we've stayed at to date. They were clean, spacious and nicely appointed. Granted, the furniture is getting a little dated (nicks, dings and some stains), but these are easy things to fix. We had no problems with the safe as I've seen in other reviews. We had a 1 bedroom 3rd floor room overlooking the Iguana Sanctuary between the Ocean and Surf Club. It was partial ocean view, so we were satisfied with that. The one thing we were most disappointed in was the lack of a washer/dryer in the room. Also, the location of the laundry room was clear on the other side of the building.

The staff was very accomodating and friendly. We never ran into a problem with the service and we've come to expect this level of service at every Mariott. The conceirge gave us some good dinner suggestions. We were also provided clean bath towels three times during our stay without even asking. A surprise since many reviews mentioned that they had to ask for them.

The only restaurants we ate at on the property was the Pavillion and La Vista. The red snapper sandwich at Pavilion is of the best fish sandwiches I've ever had. The breakfast buffet at La Vista (in Stellaris) is pretty good, like any buffet, but expensive. You can also order a la carte. Our dinners were all off the resort and for our breakfasts and lunches we bought food at the Ling and Sons.

The drink prices at the pool bar were outrageous. I couldn't even justify the 2 for 1 drinks at happy hour. $10 for a mixed drink $5 for a beer. This is the one thing I just don't understand. At a timeshare resort, people have the option of buying their own alcohol or beer, so why drive people away with the high prices. I would think you would get more people to drink there by making them more reasonable. Now, there was no shortage of people drinking at the bar, so Marriott must be simply taking advantage of the guests that do not opt to buy their food and alcohol off premises.

I highly recommend the following restaurants in Aruba:
* Casa Tua - Great thin crust pizza, also great veal oso bucco (ate there twice)
* Salt and Pepper - great tapas for a light meal
* Smokey Joe's - excellent ribs
* El Gaucho - went there 10 years ago and it was every bit as good as I remembered it. Great Gaucho Steak and chimichuri.
* Madame Janette's - didn't quite live up to the hype, but was very good nonetheless.
*Moomba Beach Bar - had a light lunch here
AVOID:
*Le Petit Cafe - If you like your food burned on a brick and not cooked all the way through, then go here.

Renting a car is a good way to get around the island. We rented a Yaris for about $115 for 4 days from Economy in the Marriott lobby. Cabs are readily available, but in our 3 experiences with cabs, the prices were not consistent at all.

We only did a couple of excursions, but both were worth the price. We did the Jolly Pirates full day cruise with lunch and snorkelling. The crew is great. Very entertaining. Loved the rope swing. Our other excursion was a sunset cruise with DePalm tours. Typical sunset cruise, but we love being on the catamarans during that time of day.

We did the timeshare presentation to get our Marriott points. There was no pressure to buy, but he was sure hard selling the Surf Club and benefits of owning in Aruba. We met a man outside the cafe that owns 2 weeks at Ocean Club and one week at Surf. He is selling his week at the Surf Club for another at Ocean because of the overcrowding. We were told that they intend on putting an adults only pool between the Ocean and Surf Club, but it was unclear whether the pool would be available to both resorts or just Surf Club.

Overall, we were very pleased with our stay at the Ocean Club. We liked that it was quieter and less crowded than the Surf Club and would recommend staying there despite it beginning to show its age a little.