The Ocean Club at the Marriott Aruba is the best for all-young old and in between. The accomodations are great! The staff is great! Construction on Ocean Club will start next year so we are not going back until it is done. Momma Beach breakfeast is great. Scream Eagle restaurant at Eagle Beach is great. My wife and I love the island and when we get home, we want to go back.
Rest and Relaxation on the Happy Island is the motto for Aruba
You can't go wrong!
Mr. & Mrs. DK

I had read all of the reviews before we went and I was not quite sure what to expect; some good, some bad. However, it is a Marriott and you usually know what you get with a Marriott; a nice hotel. I booked the trip back in April and we rented the lockdown (smaller) room. We went from Friday to Friday and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic! What is better then a beach/pool vacation to kick off the summer?
The Room was clean and surprisingly large for the lockdown. I have been to many Marriott timeshare hotels and the lockdown side is usually long and skinny. This one seemed to be the size of a regular hotel room. You had a mini kitchen area with a coffee pot, microwave, toaster, sink and refridgerator. A very comfortable queen size bed and a couch that opened into a bed. We had an ocean view room on the 4th floor. Room 5438.
The weather was fantastic. 85 degrees every day with a breeze. The first three days the sky was blue. The rest of the trip it was overcast but it was enjoyable because that sun can be deadly. I brought 12 cans of spray suntan lotion (45 spf) for the four of us and no joke, we went through 8 cans! Believe me, you can not apply enough even when it's cloudy. Make sure you bring your own suntan lotion. If you don't, be prepared to pay up to 25.00 US dollars a can at the resort.

We rented a car from ecomony (corolla - more than big enough for the four of us) and did take the insurance because I didn't want to deal with any issues if there were any to arise. We drove all around the island. The car was a nice convenience to have. We went to baby beach, the light house, the natural bridge and the old church along with shopping in town a few nights. I have to say the island is beautiful. One side is where all the beaches and resorts are and the other side (where the natural bridge is ) is like you are on the moon yet in a desert. Cactus and Lava Rock everywhere. Can't explain it, just odd.

I brought all the breakfast food and snacks in the luggage. This worked out great since we didn't have a full kitchen. We also went to the IGA Ling and Sons on the first day and bought cases of soda, water and beer along with cheese and crackers for happy hours back at the room. The drinks at the swim up bar are 10.00 US each. So it really only makes sense to buy them when it's happy hour when they are 2 for 1.

The food at the pavillion is VERY expensive. For a family of 4 for lunch; without drinks cost us 60.00 plus. We did that twice because it was convenient but the other days we went to Subway and brought back sandwiches. One day we even went to McDonalds to get a happy meal for my son.

We also went on the Jolly Pirates excursion. My husband and step-daughter had fun (she is 17). However, I was left on the boat with my 3 1/2 year old and there really wasn't anything for him to do. I assumed there would be activities besides drinking but I managed to keep him busy. If you don't have a little one, I highly recommend the Jolly Pirates.
As far as clothing...There is no need to dress up. Bathing suits all day and shorts/capris and nice shirts at night.

The only complaint I have about the Marriott was in regards to maid service. Since I rented through interval international (my friend owns a timeshare) maid service wasn't included for the week. Because it's a timeshare, you get 1 complimentary maid service. If you want the maid to come other days, it's 20.00 a day. If you choose not to have maid service, you can still exchange your towels each day. That's what I did since I couldn't see paying a maid 20.00 to make the bed. I think if I were an owner, I'd be quite upset about being billed for maid service since from what I hear Marriott timeshares are one of the most expensive and maid service should be included.

The kids activities were great. Feeding the iguanas (yes there are a lot of them and they sometimes fall in the pool); tie dye t-shirts etc. My son had a $5.00 a day habit of getting ice cream from the shop inside the hotel. The kids game room is in the hotel next door (Surf Club).

Overall I really enjoyed the Ocean Club. It is a quieter, older crowd than at the Surf Club. The pool was very nice. As mentioned in other reviews, you can not share the pools. The surf club wears bracelets and the ocean club does not. The pool towels are different also so if you try to go from one to the other, don't bring your towel. Security is in force and if they see that you are "sharing" the pool, they will kindly ask you to leave.

Some places we ate that we really enjoyed:
Smokey Joe's - Ribs are terrific (went twice for dinner)
Inguana Joe's - Mexican (went twice - once for lunch and once for dinner)
Champions - American (went for dinner) - limited menu but food was fare
Simply Fish at the Marriott - food was delicious however, a bit pricey; but being on the beach and watching the sunset was fabulous.

I would definitely stay at the Ocean Club again. Next time I would probably get the bigger room so that I would have the option of cooking eggs and bacon for breakfast instead of having muffins, cereal and oatmeal. I would have also have liked to have had an ice maker. In the smaller room, there isn't a way to make ice and you have to call the main desk for ice. I had brought a collapsable cooler so that we could bring our drinks to the beach and pool.

This was our first time in Aruba and the Ocean Club. From the moment we arrived until the time we departed our stay was awesome! The one bedroom suite with full kitchen was wonderful and clean. The people, pool area, beach(outstanding) , food was excellent. My husband and I will defintely be back and we will stay at the Ocean Club again. Aruba is everything my friends had been telling me. We can't wait to return. Valerie from MA

My husband & I stayed at the Ocean Club May 16-23. We loved it! Very relaxing time. Upon arrival, we were given a room that we could not see the ocean at all. I called down to the reception desk and asked to be changed to another room. they accomodated us by changing our room so we could see atleast a bit of the ocean from our balcony.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous everyday. Great beach, plenty of palapas available. We never reserved in advance-just got one that morning without any trouble. There are places right in front of the ocean club to rent floats, kayaks, etc. & to book parasailing & dinner cruises. I rented a float all day for $5.00-well worth it.
Plenty of places to eat in the Marriott resorts & places within walking distance. Simply Fish was great. Great food, great sunset view. We also enjoyed Moomba beach bar-right on the beach, very relaxed atmosphere and decent food. We DID NOT enjoy Tony Romas. TERRIBLE service!! decent food though.
The marketplace inside the Ocean club was very expensive, we ended up going to one of the grocery stores for our week of supplies. Also, at ocean club the drinks were very expensive. Even happy hour-2 for 1 drinks $10.00
Overall, a very good experience, would definitely recommend.