There’s threads like the Grand Wailea that seem to get a lot of attention on here … I’m surprised with how amazing is resort was that it only have 9 pages of discussion!

Please see the following review, let me know if anyone has any questions


Reason I Came Here
Came for my Honeymoon and was looking for the place with a Hilton to redeem points and that had the most blue / turquoise beach that I could find.



Stay Summary
I booked on points, combined with 5 night free. Stayed over Christmas that was a premium cost, but not premium points so it was a tremendous value
We went back on forth on the idea and ultimately rented a car which turned out to be the best decision ever
We stayed for 2 nights at the Marriott Renaissance after checking out, to go to their private island with the flamingos. That was cool too.


Diamond Benefits
Did not get an upgraded room
Got free continental breakfast
2 bottles of water a day, (don’t laugh, bottles of water were expensive on the island, putting into the fridge and getting restocked daily was quite nice)
2 free drinks at any bar (great benefit!)

My impressions of the hotel
It seems this hotel was built in 1959? So the bones are quite old but the rooms appear to be remodeled not that long ago.
The bathroom was great. (Huge vanity, enough room to put all your stuff out.) Shower was modern and clean
Only room complaint was that it seems the carpet is pretty old, if they simply replaced that I think it would have a totally different wow factor
Grounds are beautiful. I mean it’s not the Grand Wailea but in a similar way it has lots of pools, and a tropic look.
There’s 3 towers, the Aruba tower is supposed to be the best but we received the furthest away Bonaire Tower. At first I thought this was a negative but it turned out to be great. # 1 is was the closest to the breakfast restaurant and # 2 we could park our rental car basically right next to the elevators and this smaller side-lot had almost no cars in it. Totally avoided the main lobby area. Very nice

The Palm beach area itself is great. Across the street you have so many food choices (steak, Italian, tacos, etc.)


Breakfast
Free breakfast isn’t a big deal to me but I was very satisfied with the options
The restaurant is indoors and outdoors but mostly outdoor seating with views of their Koi pond. It was very nice.
The free option was nice, you get coffee, juice, breads, fruit, etc. On a day we wanted to be light, having a coffee, pastry, and plate of fruit was just fine
For $8 PP you can upgrade to the “endless breakfast” which did 3 things. # 1 you can get the hot food at the buffet (ex. Egg station, bacon, sausage) but you can also order from the menu (ex. Steak and eggs, Benedict, etc.) and with the name endless they actually let you order literally as much as you want. # 3 you get mimosas. (Pretty bitter, not the best but I mean it’s endless for $8 so can’t complain!)

Pools and Beach
After staying at the Grand Wailea a few months prior, I was just blown away with the quality of the beach/water in Aruba.
The sand was absolutely white and the water was just clear blue/turquoise
Water temp was perfect, waves were very little… it was just perfect
We didn’t spend much time at the pools but they were nice


Beach Palapas: Their “Palapas”. Or beach hut/umbrellas however were kind of a joke that frustrated me as a money grab.
You go to a website and reserve them the day before at 12:30 PM. They have a few “free” ones but when they fill up you have to pay to get a closer one.
In theory, pre-reserved chairs sound like a great idea… but it totally seemed like a scam to me.
One day we forgot to reserve and went to get one that morning and the free ones were gone.
You go down to the beach and over half the Palapas (assumed reserved?) were completely empty
So if you played by the rules and didn’t steal one, you’d be forced to pay for one. Just seems wrong to make you pay for a chair, while free ones are sitting unused.
With the price point of the hotel, it just seems a little dirty to me that they intentionally limit free beach chairs to upsell you on a paid one knowing the free ones won’t fill up.
Ideally they should just have the front row be “VIP” and pay/reserve, and the rest should just be first come first serve. Literally makes no sense to me to not have any walk-up first come first serve chairs for the beach



Dining
Albeit a little pricey, ($195) we did the sunset dinner on the beach and I have to say it was amazing.
You got 4 courses which were really good, choice of a bottle of wine, a table on the sand, candles around the cable, and a server willing to take photos of you unlimited!
There were only 3 couples having dinner at this time so it was somewhat private and just overall amazing
Sunset Grill - We ate there on X-mas day, steak was great and reasonably priced. Grew view of the lagoon/koi pond areas.

Rental Car
We were 50-50 on renting a car, oh boy are we glad we did. We only paid $225 for 7 days, out the door with all fees included
#1 - Ride to/from the airport, and free parking at the hotel
#2 - As much as the hotel and Palm Beach are great, it was fun to drive to the other beaches (Baby Beach, Arishi beach, Eagle beach).


Conclusion
I haven’t been to that many Hilton resorts in the Carribean to compare, but comparing to the Grand Wailea and South Beach Miami, I’m blown away with the overall experience of Aruba.
If the Grand Wailea is a 9 or 10 on a scale, I say the scale goes to 20 and this place is a 18.

Just in general I was surprised that everything was paid in $ USD even cash, and it just felt like being in a cross between in a SW State (Arizona?) and Florida… not another country. And the fact that you can drive places and not be resort-locked to 1 place is a huge plus.


Curious if any others that have been there share or disagree with my opinions, let me know if anyone has any questions