LDMN

Hi all!
Thanks in advance for ideas and opinions...

I am going to aruba with my husband at the beginning of March for 4 days for my 30th and we are finding difficulty choosing a hotel. We have been to Aruba once and stayed at Bucuti which we were happy with but not thrilled to the point we want to go back. We are hoping to stay in the Palm Beach area this time and cant decide between some of those hotels: Radisson and the 2 Marriots (surf and ocean). Those seem to be within a (somewhat) reasonable price range but it would be great if anyone has opinions..

Our plan is to hang out at the beach and the pool most of the time with a little shopping on the side and going into town (most likely) for dinners- we do plan to rent a car. So, that said, among the most important thing for us is the pool- we are hoping to find a great pool with, preferably, a swim up bar, and lots of seating so we arent fighting for a chaise...

Any ideas and opinions would be welcome!!!

Thanks again!

Weadles

We'll be in Aruba at the same time. We have a family reunion scheduled for end of Feb/early March, and are staying again at The Radisson. I also researched the two Marriotts for the occasion, but wasn't able to get the pricing we needed, and I'd read online that there is some ongoing construction there ( I think mostly at The Surf Club).

A few years ago, we stayed at The Marriott Ocean Club during President's Week, and while we liked our accomodations, the pool and beach were extremely crowded and zooey.

Back to The Radisson... we got great rates online because they were having a "winter sale" I think through end of March or April. We like the property because it tends to be a little quieter/less chaotic than some of the other big hotels, and although we've had to line up to get a palapa on the beach, it's never been an issue to find chairs in the sun.

I can't remember much about the pool since we are always on the beach, but I think there is a swim-up bar.

OceanBreeze1

The 2 Marriott timeshare properties (Ocean Club & Surf Club) are extremely crowded w/ Surf Club being more crowded than Ocean Club. We were @ Ocean Club last Feb, 2009 & had to fight everyday for a place to sit even though we had reserved palapas in advance.
I would go with Radisson or maybe Riu. We have friends who stayed @ Riu in July. They loved it & went back again for Christmas. It's a beautiful property.

Knowing

If we were to ever go back to Aruba, we would never stay at the Radisson again. The hotel was rated at 4 stars, I think. All I can say is that on any other island, it would not be so. It's not even close. This is not a top shelf resort. It is laid out funny, and architecturally just is not attractive. The rooms are small and the bathroom is very small. We woke up every morning with sore backs from the beds as did our neighbors around us. We became very friendly with several of them and every morning we were all rubbing our backs. The halls are on the dark side and just look cheap. Every day when we went to get towels, there was a huge line and we spent 30 minutes there. It was really about poor attitude on the staff's part and we saw it over and over again throughout the resort. Every day we were served by unfriendly waitresses for breakfast and lunch. Couldn't wait to go out to dinner at night and have a friendly face serve us. At Gilligan's, we got stuck with the same waitress every day who wanted us to tell management about her and how good she was. We almost reached a point where we just wanted to skip lunch as she was so annoying. The same thing with the Concierge services. They did have a nice beach and zero entry pool - no swim-up bar, but those were really the only positive things we could say about the place.

OceanBreeze1

Knowing, this is good to know. Thanks for posting. I guess the Aruba Radisson has gone waaay downhill & if so, then I retract my original recommendation.
When did you stay there? If you do go back to Aruba, where wld you stay?

Barbara1

I stayed in the Aruba Radisson in October and absolutely loved it.
I thought it was a very nice hotel. The grounds are beautiful.
The room was small but had a cute little balcony. I am a very sensitive sleeper and found the beds very comfortable.
The staff ..all of them..were delightful.. they bent over backwards to help and they always had a smile and a greeting for us.
The friendliness of the staff made us feel very comfortable there.
I would go back there in a minute.
a different experience from Knowing, I guess.

Weadles

Very strange how different my experience was at the Radisson from Knowing. We thought it was a fantastic hotel in every way, from our ocean view rooms to the lovely concierge at the front desk,to the relatively uncrowded and beautiful beachfront. As I said above, we liked it so much, that we are returning with seven family members at the end of February. I think much of a hotel experience depends on timing, so I am wondering when Knowing visited, because if it was during the peak weeks-school vacation etc- it could have been a totally different experience than the one we had. Anyway, I will post back after our return in March, and hope to find things just as good as they were a year and a half ago.

OceanBreeze1

I was wondering the same things.
Knowing?

Knowing

In all fairness, it was a few years ago. And yes, some things can and do change. I doubt that they have changed the way the hotel is laid out. I'm sure the rooms are still quite small, as are the bathrooms, and yes, we also had a small balcony. Little more than a Juliet one, however. Perhaps they have changed out the beds. We went with friends, who chose to stay at another hotel, but we made friends with the people on the sides of us and the people across the hall and ALL of us complained about the beds. People can also be fired and new staff can come in. If they have made changes, great! I would applaud them then. We were there during the beginning of Feb. High season, but we have been to over a dozen Caribbean islands, during that same time period, and have only had problems with one other hotel. Maybe we just discovered that some of the other islands (and their hotels)are a better fit for us. We've been to some delightful places and places that we have really enjoyed. We just disn't love the Radisson.
If we go back again, it will be to stay at Bucuti.

OceanBreeze1

Thanks, Knowing. The Hyatt has Juliet balconies but I thought that all of the Rad rooms had "real balconies". Guess not.

LDMN

Thanks for everyone's opinions!

Based on this and other research, people's experiences seem to be all over the place..so we decided that we would be happy if we could get a 4 star hotel in the Palm Beach area- no matter which one so we purchased through Hotwire and got a nice discount...we ended up with the Westin- which Im sure we will be good with- especially for 219 per night!

Happy travels!

OceanBreeze1

LDMN,Westin will be great!
Have fun...beginning of March is soooo close!


One of our favorite places for dinner is Simply Fish @ the Marriott.....tables set at the water's edge, kick off your sandals, wiggle your toes in the sand.....candlelight, white linen table cloths & if you are lucky, a starry night & full moon. An unbelievably romantic setting!