We had a wonderful vacation in aruba staying at the Surf Club from 12/15-22. The rooms/service/ocean view is awsome. We love the pool & the crazy river. It's crowded after 11am, but we had no problem finding chairs. We felt very safe walking around at night.

Food in Aruba is excellent. We had dinner at Mme Jeannette, Screaming Eagle, Driftwood & Le Petit Cafe (wonderful grouper /filet mignon grilled on hot stone).

We had a great time scuba diving with Mermaids Divers. They have a big,nice boat and very experienced divemasters. Diving in Aruba is much better than I expected, many schools of fish & nice Antila wreck. we also spent a day at DePalms Island to snorkel & did the Seatrek. It has a nice reef with lots of fish & huge blue parrot fishes.,lots of fun.

I always check with trip advisor before booking a trip & find this site a great source of infos. We love Aruba & the Marriott Surf club & hope to come back soon.

Great place...for families. It's amazing the negativity people put out there. It's probably how they live their lives...never satisfied with anything. If you want the Four Seasons, stay at the Four Seasons in Nevis. If you're a couple w/o kids, this might not be your place...unless you love kids! Otherwise, this is a terrific property (2nd visit). My kids would rather come back here than spend the holidays with family next year (I took an informal poll in the jacuzzi).

Yes it's busy during high season, but so what? I got 4 pool chairs every morning at 7...eat lunch early and book your dinner reservations before you leave. Rent a private boat on the beach for a couple hours of swimming and snorkeling(worth it).

Have fun!

" my fiance and i stayed at the surf club from Dec 15-23rd in a time share studio and suite with his family, There was 5 of us in total and had more than enough room to spare. ( you could have slept 8 people)

Hotel: The rooms are excellent, very clean as they are new, the lobby was a hot spot for wifi access, and the marketplace has all the things you forgot. The gym was busy but that is to be expeced with 400+ rooms. The staff were very helpful, and polite.

Pool: The pool was busy, as this hotel has a kids club. Lots of people want to lay by the pool as there is a bar and a restaurant. We did not spend much time around the pool but did take a dip to cool off. The lazy river is great.... very relaxing, and enjoyable.
I have read complaints about the busyness and the lack or beds by the pool, we did see this, however went to Aruba for sand and surf not concrete and chlorine.

Beach: Yes, the sand is not as soft as the other side of the island or even down by the Holiday Inn, but it is not something to complain about. The sand was soft enough to play, play and walk in so what more do you want.
There are some rocky parts of the water, as the boat dock. Once you were about 5 steps on it was soft and mushy, but did not prevent us from taking a dip.

Food: We only had one snack at the hotel the rest of the time we went out to eat. Food in Aruba was amazing, we did not have one bad meal there. Recommendations-- Que Pasa, very good. Salt and Pepper more casual but also very good. Next to salt and pepper is a pizza place that was good also.

People: The people in Aruba were all very nice and more than happy to help in anyway they can. We enjoyed our time there. If you are looking to Scuba Dive, we went to Jads which is at Baby Beach- very nice people- this is for first timers or experienced/certified divers. It is worth the drive...
Baby Beach is great for snorkeling or just getting away from the masses.

All in all, the 9 days we spent in Aruba were wonderful, I do not have a single complaint.
As one person said before if you are from New York, New Jersey then you will feel at home as the majority of the visitors were from the area.

Enjoy.

Went to the Marriott Surf Club the week of Dec. 9-16. After reading tons of reviews, many apparently with an agenda, here's the real scoop:

The Beach: many reviewers called it smelly, rocky, squishy, etc. These all had a ring of truth but they leave one with the wrong impression. As a result, the beach was better than I thought it would be. The smell came and went and it was an oceany smell which didnt seem out of place. The rocks are only where the waves break (good shell hunting for kids) and after that there are areas that feel more like mud than sand. Go in with water shoes and you'll be fine. The beach itself is sort of hard, as if that deep white sand that you expect to see in the carribean had just blown away. Although the water is a nice color (the folks at Benjamin Moore would probably call it Harbor Haze or something like that), it's not crystal clear; at about waist level, you can't see your feet.

The Hotel: Again, not as crowded as I was expecting. Although we didn't go during a peak week, I was told they were at full capacity. Since its brand new, everything is sparking and clean, great landscaping, lobby, etc. Of course everything is expensive, so we sometimes brought fast food (Subway, Wendy's) to the pool . Disappointed in the size of our studio lockout, it was basically a glorified hotel room with a small fridge, coffee maker and microwave.

The Good: pool area - free form, zero entry, pool bar, waterfall, slide, lazy river, two kiddie pools, two jacuzzis, all spread out among beautiful landscaping so even if its crowded you dont really feel it. Daily activities for the whole family will keep you from being bored.

The Bad: the beach is not the best, studio was small, People all come from generally the northeast USA (Noo Yawk, Joisey) so if that's where you're from (like us) you really don't feel like you "got away". But that's really Aruba in general - less carribean than Miami Beach, but its even more so at the Marriott time shares. This familiarity is good for some, bad for others.

The ugly: getting up at 6:30 to reserve a palapa is a joke. They can be rented for 15$ per day but only 2 days in a row. Getting up at 7:30 to get pool chairs, the cost of everything.

Dining: Loved Screaming Eagle, Gianni's (I'm still dreaming about their linguini parmesean special) and Simply Fish (don't forget the bug spray!) for the grownups. The kids liked Iguana Joe's and Smokey Joes. Didn't get to Madame J's but the idea of hanging out in a hot backyard doesn't appeal to me anyway.

Other: rent a car and explore, we went to DePalm island which was the kid's favorite day.

Bottom line - this hotel is great for families with kids.