Marriott's Aruba Surf Club

Great location albeit a bit windy!! We enjoyed a week here in April and had no trouble getting a palapa but the usual trouble of all vacation properties, around the pool is a challenge unless you want to start everyday at 7am or sooner.. Their system of tags is great and should be used in the hawaiian hotels in this brand to save a lot of unhappy customers.
We had breakfast at the Marriott Lobby Cafe and enjoyed dinners in the local area.
Super location, unbelievably friendly staff and great rooms. We were on the 12th floor of the Spyglass tower and the view was spectacular.

My family stayed here in June it was not busy you could get a chair at the pool or on the beach never had to save a seat with our tags. The place is by far the best place I've stayed at on Aruba. The family went for 2 birthdays both in June 16 and 18 year olds the 18 year old had fun in the casinos on the island and the 16 year old had fun on the beach (girl) she loved the sun and ocean. The 16 year old wants to go back for her 18th birthday so we will be staying here again in 2 years we all cant wait to go back to this resort. The food was great short walk to a mall and other restaurants would highly recommend the surf club. The view from our room was one of the best around we had 2 balconies from the 11th floor best view

They like their rules!

Bring your own tube for the lazy river, and make sure it is 36" or smaller. They do have pumps to blow them up.

Save a chair for yourself early, but don't be gone longer than 2 hours or you will have to find your stuff and a new chair.

Being your own sunscreen and after sun lotion. Have seen it priced up to $21 a bottle here.

You can get new beach towels, but only the number you turn in...they count.

Wear your wrist band. Security is ever vigilant.

His may sound negative, but the resort is beautiful and runs smoothly. I have stayed at Marriott's that haven't followed their own rules and people have been terrible. So I guess it is warranted.

This is a lovely resort. You get used to the wind and the high prices for food. Marriott burger is $16.95. I would highly recommend a vaca here!

Great accommodations, clean and comfortable. Beds are wonderful as expected with Marriott. We had lots of options for pool side chairs. Service was great, everyone happy and friendly!

We had a lovely vacation with friends at the Surf Club! So family oriented. The property is clean, secure and easy to get around. The health club is lovely although at 9 AM there are never enough machines so I learned quickly to avoid the busy hours. We loved the lazy river. When we returned home we realized we had left my IPOD in the room. Housekeeping had returned it from the room to security and it was returned to me quickly. Thank you to all that were helpful to me during and after my vacation!

We love the Marriott Surf Club. The accomodations are spacious and comfortable. The staff is so friendly! We love the lazy river, swim up bar, adult serinity pool and hot tubs. Have revisited 3 times in a row. Will be back again soon!!

The location was great. The beach was perfect and always well maintained and clean with a number of huts and beach chairs available on a first come first served basis. The pool was wonderful with pool chairs available on a first come first served basis. Lots of activities for the young and old alike. The staff, especially housekeeping were great and took excellent care of our need. A little courtesy to the staff goes a long way in being treated well. The security at this facility was outstanding 24 hours a day. The hotel is just a short walk down the beach or along the main road to a shopping mall and a good selection of restaurants and casinos. We had a guest room which was all we needed, but they do have villas which are larger and have a full kitchen. Many children are at this property since it is family oriented. If you don't want to hear children you might want to stay next door at the Ocean Club. Also both the Ocean Club and the Surf Club are time share properties however, there is no pressure to attend any presentations.

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in Aruba.(6/27-7/2) We love Aruba and plan to return in March. The island, the people, the food...all came together to make our trip memorable. My initial thoughts about the Surf Club are that it is too large and too crowded for the property. There are a good number of people that are squeezed into that corner of paradise. There are not nearly enough beach chairs and pool chairs too accommodate the number of guests staying at the Surf Club. The system for reserving/tagging chairs does not necessarily bring out the best in the guests at the resort. Many mornings I came down at 7am to jog and ALL of the pool and beach chairs were already tagged. We observed people in the afternoon swiping tags to apparently use for themselves the next day. The resort CLAIMS to police the chairs and release them if they are not used in 2 hours...we never observed this during the days were were on the beach. The Surf Club is clean, the staff was very friendly and eager to help, the gardens and landscaping were beautiful...in spite of the overcrowding we had a delightful trip to Aruba. The Surf Club does have beautiful ocean views. Be prepared to vacation with lots of young children and iguanas!

This resort always rises to the occasion. I avoid the weeks when too many kids are off from school (like President's week) but even this past March 28th to April 4th when more kids than I would have liked were there, the resort was still outstanding. I've been there enough to see the vacationer habits, such as the people who occupy the chairs at "reader's row" who just sit and read and eat all day. True, there are the families who just have too many people in a 2 bedroom unit, but given the cost of vacations, that's understandable. The bottom line is the Surf Club staff and they are the BEST. We have always received personalized treatment despite the number of guests there during a given week. This makes all the difference, and our family would not stay anywhere else BUT Surf Club !!

I agree with John D. We were at Marriott Surf Club in February 2008 and it was overcrowded and not enough chairs, umbrellas and palapa's (grass umbrellas). At the site meeting, Marriott reps said they were adding more but it is still a problem. If they are going to build and sell so many timeshares they really need to offer enough amenities. But it is a beautiful facility, staff is pleasant and helpful and we had a great time on the island.

Overall, The Marriott Surf Club is a very good resort but things have changed in the last two years.

1. The Marriott has done very poor planning with regards to capacity planning. There are way too many people for the two pools and the overflow from the Ocean Clubs make it impossible to enjoy the lazy river with 1200 people packed in the space for 700.

2. Keep in mind that the other building is not complete and that will add another 1000 people to an already crowded space. That will be a disaster.

3. The service is still top notch which includes the staff and maintenence but again, the amount of people inflow is too great to accomodate the hotel's resources. All of this will suffer in the near future.

4. The Aruban government has been way too lax in allowing more building all throughout the island. The island is really beginning to lose its charm and is starting to look like a cheap mall in Northern NJ. Keep in mind, we are from NJ and do not want to vacation at a mall surrounded by a beach and desert.

5. Since 2005 I have noticed that it not as quite a "Happy Island" like it used to be. I think that has a lot to do with the Natalee Holloway incidence, the excessive number of people moving to the island and the general lack of the Aruban citizens to getting a fair deal from the government. This is definitely reflected in their new and not so nice mood.

I think that Aruba is a wonderful and beautiful place that needs more control from its government and the Dutch influence. Things have changed dramatically in the last two years and it makes us wonder what will occur here in the future.

Keep Aruba Clean.

Morris and Bettina Hoover

This Marriot property is excellent in all respects but one: the pool and beach chairs are in such limited supply that people are arguing over them and on a couple of occasions when we were there the disputes almost came to fist fights. In order to get a poolside or beach chaise lounge you need to get up very early each morning and go down to claim a chair for yourself. And then they are packed so tightly it is uncomfortable. The hotel can't handle their customers now, yet Marriott is building new units there which will create even more crowded conditions.

We purchased at the Surf club in 2004 and stayed there in July 2004. The construction noise is not bothersome in any way. Presently some amenities are shared with the hotel and Ocean club.The suites are great.