The Ren ARuba is weird as half of it is in the city and half of it is sort of across the street.....I also thought the rooms in the tower part in town were very small....overall the place was less relaxing...but it IS in the thick of things...however, we loved the Marriott there though...and hopping into town on the AruBus was easy. (the cruise ships dock basically across the street from the Ren and IIRC they sell day passes to their beach!)

As for Curacao...hmm...the Ren just opened so some of the not so glowing reviews seem to be due to THAT...seems like a good location though as you can probably walk into town....but it looks like the cruise ships dock right there...SO...that may not make you happy....

Curacao was lovely but it seems like there are a lot of refineries interspersed with the hotels....

BUT it was one of our favorite islands so i'd go back (and the Curacao liqour they make there is 10,000 times better than that sugar syrupy stuff here!)