Marriott's Aruba Surf Club

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.