My Husband, 18, 16, and 12 year old and myself stayed at the Aruba Surf Club, July 1st through July 8th. We all had an awesome time. The pool was great, the beach was awesome, always got help from the employees at the beach, helping out with chairs and making sure we had enough chairs for all of us.
The buffet for breakfast at the hotel was delicious, big variety for all!! We went to Moomba Beach at the Surf Club, it was okay, also went to Amasonia, this restaraunt was amazing, they came to our table and carved the meat right in front of us, the food was awesome!! Also went to El Gouchos, if you like steak, this is the place to go, unbelievable steaks!!
We went on the 8 hour jeep excursion with ABS tours. It is a guided tour in a jeep, they let you drive your own jeep if you want to, my Husband drove our jeep, what an experience!! They took us to the lighthouse, the church, bat caves, baby beach (a must see) the ostrich farm, ( one place I did not want to go to, but really enjoyed it) the natural bridge and the natural pool. If you want to see some or all, this is the tour for you.
This was our first trip to Aruba, we have been to alot of islands in the caribbean, but this resort and Island was the best!!
The employees were verry friendly always willing to help and answer any questions we had.
Bring your own tubes for the lazy river and the beach, they have a pump near the towel hut to blow up all your tubes. Also a collapsable cooler for the beach.
There is also Ling and Sons for groceries, reasonably priced.
Lots of shopping !!
Go and have fun, please don't listen to the negative, this resort is top notch!!

We just returned from a family vacation at the Surf Club. The property is very nice with lots of amenities. We really enjoyed going back and forth to the Stellaris for brunch and shopping at the Ocean Club. The kids loved the lazy river and the bar food and drinks were marvelous. My only complaint....people seem to go to the pool very, very early and hog up all the lounge chairs by placing their towels in the chairs. If you attempt to come down to the pool at 10 am to find a place to sit or lay good luck! The worst thing is that half of those people never seem to even come to the pool and the Marriott needs to do more to curb this behavior. It made it very hard to find a place near the pool to watch my son who isn't a great swimmer.
We bought groceries at Ling and Sons- you really don't need a car here, the taxis are affordable and many restaurants are within waling distance. Ask the resort about the walk way from the resort over to the Playa Linda area....good dining at Smokey Joes (great for kids and affordable), loved Texas de Brazil but expect to pay $45.00 per person...children 6-12 are 1/2 price. Also definitely sign kids up for parents nite out if you want a nice dinner at Ruth Chris without the kids at the Stellaris.

Just got back last night(July3) from a 5 day stay at the Surf Club. I will start at the beginning of my journey. I read every single review when it cameto the Surf Club, so I was a little leery about things( my husband also said I was getting crazy). We had bus service already set up through the travel agent, so the bus had to drop off other people at their hotels, so it took a little longer to get to our hotel. We finallly arrive and they tell us our room has to be inspected by a supervisor. I thought that was a little strange, so we took the kids 3 and 6 to the pool area. When the room was finally ready , We went upstairs and I was very happy until I opend my balcony and in order to see the beach, I had to lean overthe railing. Well thats not what I paid for. I went down to the front desk, to speak to a manager.I had an Ocean View is what I was told. Well I told him, the room was considered a partial island partial ocean view. He said they didnt have anything that night , but they would try to accomodate me with another view the next day. WELL when they told me the new room was ready, I was very happy. We had a room on the 6th floor room7623 overlooking the lazy river and the ocean. When you read about bringing your own floats, its true. They have an air pump by the pool house to inflate them. Some people had those big gigantic floats, which were too large. There is a sign posted if its larger than 36in you have to use them at the other pool.
*SUN BLOCK - is a must I had 70 on the kids (aveeno and neutrogena sell it)and I must have missed reapplying because they both burned a little around their eyes. Dont go less than 50 on the kids
*THE LAZY RIVER was a little noisy at times but there are a lot of kids so what else would you expect. The wind is incredible. Be sure to hold on to your drinks,floats,hats and everything else. we saw a chair or two wind up in the pool. We also did some night swimming with the kids. This seemed to be the best time, because it was not crowded like in the day time.
* THE CHAIRS. Dont expect to rise at 6 or so and leave towels on the chairs. Security will just remove them before 7:30. The best
chairs are the ones with the canopy on top. They are great if the kids want to nap. We went to the beach a couple of days and my husband went down around 6:30 or 7 and put some towels on the front palapas right in front of the beach. When walking into the water, it is a little rocky so be careful and then there is a little dip and the sand is fine. I get a little weird about stepping on things I dont know, so I had on my beach shoes.We had no problems and once again the wind is crazy down there also. without the wind it would be unbearable.
*FOOD- I brought some snack foods from home(boxed cereal, breakfst bars, fruit cups, etc and checked it in with the other luggage. Things are very expensive down there I went where everyone said to go (lings and sons) for water and beer. No you should go where the locals go, I think it was called kong supermarket. The taxi was $9 each way, this seems to be a regulated price. We ate dinner out everynight. We tried tony romas- good, Moomba- horrible dinner then we tried to give them a second chance for breakfast and that sucked also. The kids wanted to go to TGI fridays and that was good(fast service). Texas de brazil is excellent for adults and children who like meats. The meats were very salty but they will i guess soak it if its too salty for you. There were no prices so you know what that means $$$ Me personally, I dont like to send food back. Simply fish was another good restaurant $$$. We ate breakfast at the Marriott stellaris buffet $20 for adults. it was very good. Hadicuraci we wanted to try, but my son has a peanut and shrimp allergy and they didnt seem to know if things were made in peanut oil or if they made chicken fingers in the same oil that they made the shrimp in, so we didnt want to chance it and left. We heard that The lighthouse restaurant was great but we returned our car already.
WE rented a car from the hotel for a day $40 or you can have it for $90 for 3days. I went into town because I saw Louis Vuitton and other shops, but the prices were the same as in the US. They do have a lot of fake coach, fendi and Gucci stuff at the flea markets, but You really have to look it over. I have a real gucci bag and I bought a fake wallet to go with it, I didnt see a difference and NO one is going to look in my pocket book (smile). The butterfly farm was full of very beautiful butterflies but it is outside and very hot.
*THE PEOPLE- It seemed that I was the one who had to say good morning first, and not a lot of them were very smiley, but who cares right? The Manager who accomodated me was named Ceasar very nice person.
The shops and market place at the ocean club are better than the Surf club. Oh I forgot the Iguana's are every where. Big ones and small ones.
We took a taxi when we left to avoid all the stops, that the charter bus would have made. $20.00 We had I think 3 or 4 checkstops in the airport, so you will need at least 2 hours especially if you get stopped at customs for something.
Over all I had a great time and I would go back to Aruba again. I picked the Surf club for the lazy river, but I think i will try the Ocean Club or another hotel next time, when my kids get a little older.

Nice place but too many children. The kids are running around a great deal and this is really a family resort. If you have a family you will love it. Otherwise, you find yourself headed for the strip of restaurants and bars which are nice but the same as we have at home (Hooters, Fridays, etc).

You have to pay for internet access with your credit card. The maid service comes in the afternoon. Really not what I expected from Marriott as a reward member.

I would not recommend for singles or couples without children. There is basically no nightlife other than gambling and the casino. You have to go off property for real nightlife and entertainment.

The drinks are overpriced and the food is just okay. During happy hour there are just 3 featured drinks.