We just returned from 11 days at the Aruba Marriott.

I used the welcoming email from the property prior to arrival to start a dialog about updates, etc. The first pass was an offer to upgrade to the Tradewinds for $130/night. I passed on that but continued trying to see what I could get.

At check-in, we were upgraded to an ocean-view room on the Tradewinds floor for free but without access to the lounge. The room was nice and located on the north-east side facing the Ritz and the beach. We tailgated into the lounge the first night to check it out. It's nothing more than a normal concierge lounge with free booze. Definitely not worth $130 much less $175 a night. The free booze isn't that enticing. I saw some people taking handfuls of beer out of the lounge to the pools. That doesn't seem like fun to keep beers cold all afternoon.

The food at the pools was good. A little pricey like all resorts. They have two happy hours a day. The first is 12pm-1pm with 2 for 1. The second is 3-5 (3-4:30 at the adult pool) when drinks are 2 for $15. The catch is both drinks have to be the same. But if you're nice and a good tipper, the bar staff will make them as you're ready for them.

We liked the adults only pool. The cabanas there are a good deal. They charge you $75/day but if you purchase at least $50 of food/drinks they'll only charge you $25 for the cabana. You have to go to the health club to reserve but they start really early in the morning so it's not hard to get one. The palapas seem to be a waste of time. They starting booking at 4pm for the next day. We never seemed to be around to get one. The bar at the family pool was fun as always. Our only complaint was that some of the staff tended to mess around with the music and play what they wanted to hear. This resulted in some heavy hip hop and world music that just wasn't all that interesting in a resort pool setting.

Dinner at Simply Fish watching the sunset was great. It's expensive but worth the experience. Make sure you ask which fish are locally caught. I noticed that they have swai (Vietnamese cheap catfish) on the menu. Snapper, mahi and grouper are usually local.

The lobby bar has some really good bartenders. The drinks are expensive but the quality is excellent. The rum runner is the best I've had anywhere. I Also recommend the Ron Zacapa XO 25 year old Guatemalan rum. Avoid the Old Parr scotch. It's some export only stuff they don't bother selling in the UK.

We did eat breakfast at the buffet which was okay. We avoided the seafood buffet which was ridiculously priced, even with the discounts they print on receipts. Ruth Chris was decent. They had a good 3 course special for $110/couple that included salad or soup, a selection of entrees, two sides and dessert. We were also told to ask for a 10% discount on food at any of the hotel's food service locations. It came in handy for Simply Fish.

There are a lot of good places to eat on the Aruba. The best is Papiamiento. For what you get and the quality, it's a good deal and great atmosphere. There's a new place called the West Deck. It's an open air restaurant just past the bridge towards the airport. Menu has a nice combination of small plates and entrees. One of their specialties is a whole fried 1.5 lb. red snapper for $25. It's shareable.

Other places we liked were Taste of Belgium for breakfast, De Suikerthun for lunch (or breakfast), Rembrandt Café and even Hooters. We ate at Gianni's. It's not bad but paying $22 for a plate of pasta isn't that appealing but the New Yorkers seemed to like it.

There were two nightspots we liked. One was Gusto with an all-Dutch bartending staff and early evening happy hour. Another was Sand at the Brickell Bay.