Review: Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club

November 2, 2015

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This article is part of a broader Aruba & NYC trip report from October.

This time last year we were visiting the US Virgin Islands and staying at Marriott’s Frenchman’s Cove in St Thomas. This year we went back to a place Joanna and I know pretty well – Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club on Palm Beach…Aruba (unsurprisingly!).

As I mentioned in the introduction to this trip report, we own a timeshare at Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club so it’s somewhere we’ve visited quite a few times….and we still enjoy coming back. Aruba and The US Virgin Islands are two very different locations and the Marriott properties are equally different so, if you’re trying to decide between the two, take a look at this comparison of the resorts.

Location

Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club sits on a prime part of Palm Beach on Aruba’s west coast in, what is called, the “high-rise” area of Aruba.

Screenshot from Google Maps

The high-rise area is exactly what it sounds like – the area of Aruba where the larger hotels and resorts are to be found (the low-rise area is found on Eagle Beach, a mile-or-so south of Palm Beach).

The advantage of the high-rise area is that there are a lot of shops, restaurants and bars within quick (5 minute) walking distance so you never have to go very far if you’re going out for the evening. The disadvantage is that it’s the most popular (and therefore the most crowded) part of Aruba – especially during peak times of the year.

Palm Beach varies in width (distance between the resort and the sea) depending which hotel/resort you’re at and the Surf Club is blessed with being situated on the widest part of Palm Beach so there’s quite a bit of room for Palapas (thatched umbrellas) for guests to sit under. This photo from our room should give you an idea of what I mean:

First Impressions & Check-In

As we’ve visited so many times before this wasn’t really a “first impression” but I still like to imagine what a first-timer to the resort would think upon arrival.

The resort is big. Actually, big doesn’t do it justice, it’s huge and has 450 large rooms. Having said that, as the resort is set back from the main road, you don’t really get a full idea of the scale of the place until you’ve had a look around – but you’re still not going to mistake it for a boutique hotel!

October isn’t peak season in Aruba so there was no line at check-in (things would have been very different if we had been visiting in the summer months or in February/March). The front-desk staff were very friendly and check-in didn’t take too long. It had been a long, tiring trip from London but the tiredness was fast forgotten when we were told that we’d been allocated a room on the very top floor. As the unit we own guarantees us an Ocean Front location the top floor was just about as good as it gets for us 🙂

The Room

The majority of the units at the Surf Club are 2-bedroom units which can then be sub-divided into a 1-bed unit and a studio unit which can be used at different times. For this trip we didn’t need the full 2-bedroom unit so we had reserved the 1-bedroom portion. This gave us a bedroom, an en suite bathroom, a separate living/dining area and a full kitchen at our disposal.

Floor Plan – Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club 2-Bedroom Unit (red outline shows 1-bedroom portion)

Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club celebrated its tenth birthday last year and, when you’re a Marriott Vacation Club Resort, a tenth birthday means a make over…most of which was complete by December 2014. However, this being the Caribbean, we found that they were still working on the outside of the resort. Specifically they were painting balconies and repairing/painting window frames which, although our unit had been completed, meant we had ropes going past our windows and balcony which held the workers’ hoist. Hardly a major issue, although it was hard to get a panoramic picture without the ropes in the shot!

The room itself was a great size and the sofa bed in the living area meant that we could have accommodated more people had we needed to:

As you can probably see from the floor plan, the living area forms part of an open-plan room which includes a dining area and the kitchen:

And the dining area will seat 6 people in comfort with space to squeeze a couple more people in if they’re small.

The kitchen is very well equipped and looks considerably more modern following the 10-year make-over:

Stainless Steel refrigerator, microwave, oven….

…even a stainless steel dishwasher:

The kitchen also comes fully stocked with just about most implements you’d need to cook a good meal (click on the thumbnails to expand the pictures):

Other amenities include a toaster, blender and a coffee maker, all of which are under a year old.

For some reason I forgot to take a picture of all the crockery that’s provided so you’ll just have to trust me that Marriott doesn’t expect you to bring your own!

The resort even provides a small starter pack of coffee to get you going on your first morning:

The bedroom is spacious and comes with a king-size bed, two nightstands, a good sized wardrobe and chest of drawers – so there’s plenty of storage space:

To one side of the bedroom is a large soaking-tub (no water jets so this isn’t a Jacuzzi)…..

….and the first of two sinks:

Adjoining the bedroom is the master en suite:

The shower cubicle is enormous and a great place to rinse off all the beach items at the end of the day.

Marriott provides some toiletries although, if there’s more than two of you visiting, you’ll probably need to bring your own:

The unit also comes with its own washer and dryer meaning that you can pack a lot lighter than if you were visiting a regular hotel – very useful with the ever increasing cost of checked luggage.

Lastly there’s the balcony…..

….with beautiful views over Palm Beach and the Caribbean:

The full 2-bedroom unit has two balconies in total so, if you had the full unit, you’d have even more outdoor space.

Connectivity

Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club has made giant strides in what they offer over the last few years to the extent where now the whole resort has free WiFi. More impressively, they’ve extended the range of the WiFi to the beach area so that people like me (who get bored after 20 minutes on a sun lounger) can get some work done while still spending time with their better halves 🙂

Another improvement, that’s only recently come about, is that the bedside lamps now come with power points so there’s no shortage of somewhere to plug in your electronics when you head to bed. In addition to these, there are numerous power sockets all around the unit (including a very convenient socket for anyone wishing to use their laptop at the kitchen bar).

Aruba uses US style power points so, if you’re heading over from the US, you won’t need any kind of adapter. If you’re coming from elsewhere, bring a US adapter for your electronics.

Dining

First and foremost the Surf Club is a timeshare resort, which means that it’s primarily set up for self-catering. Despite this there are numerous dining options for guests to choose from:

On-site pool-side bar/grill (Captain’s Galley) which serves breakfast in the morning….

…snacks and typical pool/bar food in the afternoon and various themed dinner options in the evening:

Marriott’s part of Palm Beach doesn’t end with the Surf Club – there’s a the Ocean Club (next door to the Surf Club), the Aruba Marriott Hotel (next to the Ocean Club) and the Ritz-Carlton (next to the Aruba Marriott Hotel) all of which have good dining options and all of which (possibly with the exception of the Ritz-Carlton) allow you to charge to your room at the Surf Club.

At Marriott’s Aruba Ocean Club there’s a sports bar (Champions) which has also just had a makeover:

and, if you’re into your sports, you may want to try out the booths with their own TV screens:

The food here is exactly what you’d expect from a sports bar so, as long as you’re not looking for gourmet dining or hoping to watch your waistline, you’ll be fine.

For a more refined experience the Marriott Hotel has, amongst other eateries, a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and Simply Fish (which sits on the beach in front of the Ocean club) serves fantastic seafood right on the waterfront.

Other Hotel Amenities:

The Surf Club has one major draw that families seem to love – a lazy river. In fact , the whole pool complex at the Surf Club is huge:

There are two main pool areas.

One towards the rear of the complex:

And one towards the front of the complex (nearer the beach):

In between the two, the lazy river winds its way from the back of the complex towards the main pool area closer to the beach:

At the point where the main pool areas end and the beach starts is the adult (over 21) pool area:

If you like pools, this is definitely the resort for you.

Past the pool areas is a wide section of beach (which you’ve already seen in the photos of the view from the room) dotted with Palapas (the thatched umbrellas) that you can book (either for free from 7am on the day in question or for a fee if you want to book in advance).

If you feel the need to exercise while you’re on vacation, the resort has you covered with one of the best equipped gyms I’ve seen at a hotel for years (click the thumbnails to view):

The last major amenity of note are the outdoor grills that are mainly located on the right-hand-side of the complex (as you look at the beach):

Compared to Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club (for example) there really aren’t that many grills around but, had we wanted to use one, there seemed to always be one available (although this will no doubt change during peak times of year).

Overall

If you’re traveling as a family (especially one with kids) this is a great resort to visit – it has just about everything you’ll need on site and there’s plenty to keep the kids entertained. On the other hand, if you’re traveling as a couple, you’ll probably prefer the quieter Marriott Ocean Club next door.

The Surf Club can get very busy during peak times and space on the beach becomes harder to get in front of the resort. The Ocean Club is smaller and doesn’t get quite so busy so that should be taken into consideration when choosing where to stay.

The facilities at the Surf Club are great and having a full kitchen and a washer/dryer not only makes the vacation cheaper but also, for us, more convenient. It’s really nice to be able to wake up and just wander into the kitchen for a bowl of cereal rather than having to get dressed each-and-every-morning just to get something to eat. Besides, given a choice of the balcony we had and a hotel restaurant I know where I’d rather start my day!

Clearly I’m a fan of Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club otherwise we wouldn’t own a timeshare there but I do realize that it will work better for some than for others. If you don’t like too many people around you the Surf Club probably isn’t for you…heck, Palm Beach probably isn’t for you. But if you’re ok with a few crowds then the resort really is one of the better ones on Aruba and the smiling, helpful, staff give the place a really nice atmosphere in which to stay.