Just got back from Aruba Surf Club. Some good things, some bad. We are not time share owners but were coming to see about purchasing time share but were amazed at the lines upon check in. Nothing like check in at a hotel and nothing like we had ever seen before anywhere and we travel all the time, everyone was complaining. Checking in Saturday at 4 pm was probably not a good time but having a lobby full of people and lines out the door was not a good way to start the vacation especially after the long flight from the U.S. Hotel staff was ok, not particularly friendly or unfriendly, just ok.

Once checked in we were off to the room. We were in a one bedroom suite, the accomodations were fine. Room was very large, clean, and air conditioning worked well which was obviously important. The room had a colonial decorating feel to it which was odd for a beach hotel (unlike Harborside in Bahamas which had very tropical decor) but it was fine. We were on the 10th floor, with ocean/pool view, view was nice but listening to kids yelling in the pool from morning until night was a bit tedious. The sound really carried and have no idea why rooms were not more soundproof. Heard no inside noise from neighbors though which was a good thing.

Beach/pool experience was not great. Lots of yelling kids and adults at pool and beach and just really busy since winding walk paths were right next to chairs. Suggest if you want quieter experience go to lay out at other Marriott properties which were right next door. Far less noise. Casino at Stelleris was fine if you are a gambler although very smoky, especially late at night.

Could not comment on food at hotel as we brought breakfast/lunch food from supermarket and dined around island for dinner every night. We did rent car and there was ample parking available at Surf Club at all times.

Overall it was ok experience although seemed better if you were there with kids, not really a good place for adults to vacation. We were there 4 days and that was more than enough since every day really was the same. Would suggest renting car as we did as enabled you to get off of property and experience island and more varied food choices. Aruba is really a pretty place and the weather was great just think would have had a more adult upscale vacation at another hotel. If you have small children though this might be the place for you. It sounded like the kids were having a very good time.

I was approached at the Aruba airport if I wanted to buy a package to stay at the Aruba Marriott Surf Club in the future and it would only $489 for 5 nights, it's normally $390 a night in a one bedroom suite, so I thought it was a great deal. I bought the package and then booked my future dates with them for October 2008, well I got home and booked my airfare and everything was OK. Then 9 months later, American Airlines decided to cancel my flight due to cost of fuel so high and offered me a full refund and then I got laid off that same week, I called the Marriott and they told me that they would not refund my package back to me because it's non-refundable, BUT in order to go to the timeshare showing there that you HAVE TO attend for 90 minutes, you have to make over a certain amount of money, well since I got laid off and I have NO WAY of flying out there on those dates du to canceled airfare, I don't qualify to even go to the timeshare showing because I have no income coming in, so they want me to go but I don't qualify to go cuz of my lack of income??? So if I go, they'll charge me full boat for the whole package but if I don't go they won't refund it back to me??? Non of this is my fault and when I called 12 times in 2 weeks, I got different answers from different peole and the ONLY supervisor they have in Aruba is away all the time, THEY RIP YOU OFF, DON'T BUY A PREPAID TIMESHARE PACKAGE EVER!!! I hope they read this, I am [-]!

My husband and I just returned from our vacation in Aruba from June 5-12. We stayed the first night at the Marriott Stellaris and Casino Hotel (beautiful room) and the remaining 6 nights in a two bedroom villa at the Marriot Surf Club. I had some concerns about my selection of the Surf Club based on some previous reviews, but the Surf Club, its staff and grounds were fantastic! We have stayed at luxurious hotels and great timeshares, we are owners with Marriott in Orlando and Westgate in Vegas. I don't think it is fair to compare full service hotels with timeshares, as some have done in their reviews...they both have their benefits and disadvantages. We enjoy timeshare stays and will often combine stays with hotels and timeshares during our vacations. The Marriott remains our top choice for timeshares. The rooms are well appointed, spacious, immaculate, and the service is great. Such was the case at the Surf Club. I am 52 and my husband is 62 and we were glad that we stayed at the Surf Club instead of the Ocean Club. We visited the Ocean Club for the timeshare presentation, (which was a low key, no pressure presentation.) Although we did not purchase in Aruba, we learned more about how to best use our Orlando timeshare and earned 175 Marriot bucks to boot. Although there were many more families with kids at the Surf club, there were also older couples, singles...a lot of excitement, activity and flavor....such that the Ocean Club, by comparison, felt more like a retirement home. We stayed on the 9th floor of the Lighthouse Towers, which are closest to the Ocean. We were first given a room on the third floor, but requested a move higher to get the ocean view that we had initially requested when we traded our timeshare. the Ocean view was awesome! We had an even numbered room, which faced the Ocean club side, so you would need to be at least on the 6th floor to not have the ocean view blocked by the Ocean Club building. We did not experience the great crowds, and had no problems getting covered chairs near the lazy river, which was very relaxing...perhaps things were slower during the time of our visit. We rented a car, purchased groceries at Ling and Son's, which greatly reduced our eating expenses. I love to cook and rarely get a chance to do so with our busy work schedules. We typically eat out a lot, so we really appreciate having the time to sit together in a home setting over a homecooked meal. Madame Jeanettes was closed for vacation, I was told until the third week in June. We had a great meal at the Amazonia, a nice sunset cruise with Red Sun, and Baby Beach and the Lighthouse areas were great. the nightlife at the Hyatt, Radison, and Renaissance were great and the shopping was a lot less expensive in downtown Oranjested (sp?).

We were a little disappointed at first upon our arrival in Aruba, which was our first time. We had viewed website photos of the large resorts and was told by someone at the airport that it was more beautiful than Hawaii and that the people were more friendly. If you have been to the Hawaiian Islands and this is your first time in Aruba, you should appreciate that the former are tropical islands and Aruba is more of a desert island. Therefore, everything was brown and parched except around the maintained areas, such as the high rise resort areas. We also found the Aruban townspeople that we met to be fairly inhospitable and even rude in some cases. They seemed rarely to smile, except at the resort areas, especially the Marriot. We enjoyed coming back 'home' to the Marriot where we were made to feel welcomed.

All in all, we had a great time in Aruba, would highly recommend the Surf club to families, singles, and older adults who enjoy the benefits of having all of the conveniences of home in a top-notch time share communtiy.

We traded our Marriott Myrtle Beach timeshare for a 2 bedroom unit at the Aruba Surf Club. The beach was the reason we went. We had expected the ocean beach water to be crystal clear. Instead, the swimming area beach for the Aruba Surf Club had a very slimy, murky, bottom. I suspect it is because the small, roped off area for the Surf Club swimming area is bordered on both sides by businesses that rent activities that require motor boats to pull up to the beach. We tried to use the next beach area owned by the Marriott Ocean Club but were forced by Marriott security to leave --- even though the Marriott web sites say you can use the other property.

Another problem we encountered was a very musty smelling unit. It took 2 days for them to change the air filter and then we lived with pine scented air for the rest of our stay.

We did enjoy Aruba but never again at the Surf Club.