Marriott's Aruba Surf Club, A Marriott Vacation Club Resort

The pools, lazy river, jacuzzis, water slide and beachfront were great and clean, and the staff was super friendly and helpful, as were many of the guests. The location is very good. There are a large number of off site restaurants and shops within a mile of the hotel. There is always pretty immediate access to taxis. The room was very clean and had some nice amenities, like a decent sized mini fridge and a microwave, as well as a small set of dishes and silverware. The bathroom was clean and comfortable, with plenty of storage space in the vanity.

They consider any room where you can see any little sliver of the ocean to be "Ocean View", whereas any other resort I've stayed at would have called it a partial ocean view. In the first room, we had a view of the pool and lazy river, and if we leaned out over the balcony and looked right, we could see a little slice of ocean. I complained and they moved us, but the next view was only somewhat better. Several staff members admitted to me that they get that complaint a lot. For the size of the rooms, the limited view, and how outdated they were, I wish I'd have spent a little extra and stayed at the Hyatt. We were also called every day of our stay, trying to get us to come to a time share demonstration. This was a bit annoying. The bed was uncomfortable, but I have back issues, and almost every bed but my own bothers my back. My husband also complained of being uncomfortable. The room was very small for the price. There is only one restaurant on site, unless you include those at the Ocean Club and Stellaris Casino. We didn't go there because my husband had some mobility issues, and it was a bit far for him to walk. So we ate at the Galley several times for lunch. The food was ok. One day, it made us both pretty sick.