Guest User
June 28, 2025
My party of 10 (consisting mostly of family including young children and teenagers) spent a week in Aruba and while we were unsure of he vibe when we arrived, we ended up loving every part of it. Chi-chi checked us in and anticipated our needs. She was very thorough in explaining the resort rules and processes as it was our first time staying at the Surf Club. All the staff we encountered were friendly and was proactive about being helpful. This resort is great for families especially children. There is always something to do at the resort including the lazy river, hot tubs, pools (one has a slide), beach or even fishing! The kids were never bored. There is a process for reserving palapas and getting your pool towels, but once you adjust to the routine everything was smooth for us. I read the complaints about waking up at 7am to reserve a palapa, but I am surprised that no one mentions you can also reserve them at 5:30 pm the day before. Granted most of them were gone within minutes, but I did not have any issues reserving 2 palapas each day at 5:30pm. This allowed me to sleep in each morning. We stayed in two 2 bedroom villas for the week. They are very similar to other Marriott vacation club villas. We loved the kitchen and washer/dryers. While the furnishings were not brand new, it was not as tired as others made it out to be. It was honestly fine and functional. The villas were ready and clean when we arrived. We could have used a few extra USB ports throughout the villa. They could only be found at the alarm clock next to the bed. We made use of 2 different delivery apps. Aruba to You works very similar to Uber Eats. Food arrives in about an hour. Customer service will call you or WhatsApp you if an item is not available and you can substitute or ask for a partial refund. Food-Aw only worked in the evening and had more selections. The only option for payment is upon delivery and can be cash, debit or credit card. I opted for credit card and the delivery person arrived with a credit card machine. I was quite impressed. If anyone in your party likes fishing, please bring some fishing gear. You can fish right off the dock by the hotel. My nephew caught many snapper and grouper which we were able to cook and eat. The restaurant can also cook them (I heard others say for $20). If you don't bring any gear, you can go downtown to a bait and tackle shop to pick up a rod for about $45. You can also charter a boat. I heard a charter is about $450 for 3 hours. We also liked that the lazy river closes late (at 10pm)! Tubes are not required after 6pm. You can bring your own tubes or grab a free one from people who leave them behind in a bin near where the air hoses are for filling tubes. Tubes are also sold in the market place. The lazy river is an oval and not as impressive as the lazy river at Hyatt Vacation Club at Bonita Springs. It's definitely still nice to have when you want a change of pace from a regular pool. The resort is also very