CruiserCLE

Hi all!

What's the latest pulse on Marriott Plat upgrades at this property? From what I can gather reading the thread (and personal experiences at Ritz), I shouldn't expect the club or anything but an UG to a full ocean view from the standard partial view I have booked with points would be really nice.

Also, is there a good amount of dining options off property/nearby/short cab ride? I don't mind eating at the resort restaurants but would like to get out at least a few of our 5 nights.

Thanks in advance!

hockeyinsider

I think upgrades at any Caribbean or Mexican property in February or March are probably going to be difficult because this is basically high season. Still, I wouldn't be afraid to push back against the front desk, especially if Marriott.com is showing a better category of rooms available at the time of arrival and check-in. Just be prepared to have the terms and conditions saved.

Amy28

Anyone know how strict they are with the four to a room policy? We have three kids and obviously getting a second room at these points would be ridiculous. Our kids are fine with two sharing a sleeper sofa and one on a small air mattress we bring with. Just wondering if we can just show up with a fifth and play dumb.

Gadot

the coastal view is better than the full ocean. you are right over the ocen in the coastal and over the pool with the ocean in the background with the ocean view

Gadot

The rules say NO. At a ritz (DC and CA) that I stayed at several times a month while daughters were in school, I was - but not because of my plat status but because I stayed so often

Amy28

Hi, going to be staying here with the family for a 7 nights in a few weeks and wanted to know whether we should rent a car for the trip or not. We more than likely will eat breakfast/lunch at the resort but want to go off resort for dinner. Are any restaurants walkable from the resort? Is there any type of shuttle offered? As there are 5 of us, I assume we would need two taxis so thought maybe a rental car made more sense. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

hockeyinsider

Depending on what type of food you like and what you like to do and see, the answer is yes and no. There are a lot of restaurants, admittedly chains, within walking distance of the Ritz-Carlton. The Ritz-Carlton itself has three or four in-house restaurants. Nearby is the Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino (maybe 5 to 7 minutes by foot), which includes a Ruth's Chris restaurant.

As best I recall from my 2017 visits, taxis in Aruba were not cheap.

arlflyer

I would suggest that you rent a car for at least a portion of the time. You're otherwise going to probably go pretty stir-crazy unless you can truly just lay on a hotel beach for a week, and you'll miss out on most of what there is to see on the island, including national parks, hiking, some scenic geological formations and ruins, etc. as well as some of the better beaches, e.g. Baby Beach in the south. Aside from named beaches, there are a lot of "informal" ones - basically any place with sand and a spot to pull a car over is fair game.

As far as restaurant options, I recall there to be a few within walking distance on the main inland road, but again if you have a car it will give you much more flexibility. If you want to stock up on anything, go to Super Food a few km south of the Ritz.

I don't recall rental cars in Aruba being notably expensive, and hopefully that would be the case for you as well since you're going at a non-peak time. You'd probably make up the cost in averted taxi fares pretty quickly, plus have a lot more flexibility.

Mr. Vker

If you could fit in one car-I'd tell you to check out Tropic Car Rental. VERY cheap and good service. Since you need something larger, I'd check out Royal Car Rental. We use both at least once a year. Round trip taxis to the airport plus one more trip almost cover the cost of car rental. We love the RC. Have fun!

hockeyinsider

Two restaurants worth leaving the Ritz-Carlton and surrounding hotels for are Flying Fishbone -- think sunset dinner on the beach -- and Quinta Del Carmen.

Amy28

Wanted to give a little report on our trip.

We were two families of five traveling together. Between us we got three rooms. We used points, they used AmEx rewards. They got free breakfast for two adults as part of their points package. We got...nothing. Haha. No free breakfast for titaniums, but we knew that going in from research.

Our ambassador was able to secure us an ocean-view king room with an adjoining room with two queens. The other family was supposed to have a two queen room, but there was a problem. Upon check in they said they only had a king room and hotel was completely sold out (it was the week before Easter). We nicely asked for a rollaway bed as the other room would have a teenager in it. They demurred, saying it was against code. We asked nicely if there was some way to get around this as they had specifically requested two beds. The man came back a short while later and said they could add a rollaway to the room. Wonderful. We enjoyed our free glass of champagne at the front desk and met the on-duty manager, who was a lovely woman. We theorized that they may have bent the rules because we were already getting three rooms for 10 people. They may not have been as accommodating for five in one room.

Our rooms were great. Clean, spacious, big bathrooms, large balconies facing the sunset. We hung out on the balcony every night with a few drinks and snacks before heading to dinner.

Beach was definitely not as crowded as the Marriott next door or the other hotels a short walk down the beach. But those hotels had cheaper snacks and drinks. Obviously, this is a RC so we knew prices would be a bit high. But $26 for a dozen chicken wings and $40 for nachos (meat added upped the price) was cray. They charge $14 for a non-alcoholic pina colada! It was only $16 with alcohol. Seems a bit insane for a blended drink with no alcohol. Our kids were sad but we walked a couple hundred feet down the beach to a great little smoothie place that only charged $5 for a larger drink.

As breakfast was not included, we hit the local super grocery down the road (we rented a car) and got croissants, muffins, yogurts and cereal for the kids. They also had the hotel buffet two days as it was only $15 for kids. That was somewhat reasonable. It was a very nice buffet with lots to choose from. We also picked up beer (Chill is the local beer and decent) and some snacks at the store. Glad we had the car to do this. We rented from Sixt (economy car) and the trunk fit four carry-ons and our backpacks. Kids sat three across in the back. It was fine as we didn't go on any long trips, just to meals. We were very lazy this trip.

The other thing to note is that it is a bit of a situation to get beach chairs, especially ones with shade. We got up at 6:45 am to get seats every morning (granted we were a group of 10) but that's just silly. And there were about 20 other people doing the same thing. Not sure what time chairs at the adult pool were gone, as we had kids with us, so didn't sit there. The water is cystal-clear and VERY calm. Despite the unrelenting wind, there are no waves on this part of the beach. You can walk out at last 50-75 yards and it's only about 3.5 feet deep. Water is refreshing, not cold. The pool water is warmer than the ocean, which I liked.

The RC offers SPF50 sunscreen (lotion) and SPF8 (spray). After the first day, we were not sure the provided sunscreen was doing its job. There was no label, it was just in large white pumps. We stuck with our Target spray that will probably take 13 years off our life expectancy but that our kids will actually put on and not complain. But the sun there is no joke. Because it's windy, you can't tell how hot it is. And you're practically in South America, so the sun is intense. Wear a hat, even in the water, and reapply once an hour. Make your kids wear sun shirts. It's really intense sun.

They have free stand-up paddle boards and kayaks. There were also two circular float things that could hold about six kids at once. Ours liked jumping off the floats and just hanging out on them. Our friends did a Hobie sail cruise one morning, we did parasailing and two of us tried kitesurfing. The kitesurfing was just north of the RC on the beach, the Hobie and parasailing was just south of the RC on the beach. Very easy, cash only.

We walked down the beach several days for smoothies and lunch. We saw many RC guests walking back from the Marriott next door with Starbucks cups. Right outside the Playa Linda resort, just up from the sand, are a few quick-service restaurants. We tried Scott's Brats, Kouzina (gyros) and Eduardos (smoothies, poke). We also ate at Garden Fresh Cafe, which is outside the front of the hotel. It was about a 15-minute walk. Nice way to get away from the beach chair for some exercise and cheaper prices.

Sunsets are spectacular at the RC. We did a few on the beach and a few on the balcony. They have live music every night, so it was nice to sit on our balcony with a bottle of wine and listen to the music and watch the sun set. (We checked bags and brought wine with us, huge cost savings.) The hotel felt very safe, kids able to explore on their own (14, 13, 12, 12, 11, 9) without worry. There were a ton of families there (obviously as it was spring break for many) and everyone was from Boston. Really. If you live in Boston, you were the only people who were not at the RC Aruba that week. We also had some celebrity sightings: Zach Levine from the Bulls (we live in Chicago so recognized him) and one of his teammates and a Kid Rock encounter on the sand. There was also a former Patriots player, but I didn't know who he was but heard him talking.

For dinner, we ate at Madame Jeanette's, Pappillon, Pincho's and Papiamento. All were recommended by a foodie friend and all were excellent. Would recommend them all. Pincho's is out on a pier and quite lovely, even after sunset when it was already dark.

Hope this helps anyone planning a trip to the RC Aruba. It was a perfect family vacation!

svo242

Wondering if anyone can compare this property to the Ritz Grand Cayman? The things I like about this property are the separate adult pool (will be all adults who want to relax in quiet, and not having to wake up early for chairs hopefully), the hotel isn't separated across the road so we wouldn't have a long walk to the main pool/beach, and the club lounge is oceanfront. But, I have read some reviews saying the property is not up to the caliber of the Ritz Grand Cayman. Any insight would be appreciated!

FlyingFrZ

Answered myself below
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FlyingFrZ

Wanted to post a small post-covid review of this property for anyone, including US Citizens, looking for an international excursion

Spent 5 amazing nights in Aruba at the Ritz. Everything about the island was so magical and gratifying. There are some added steps required to enter Aruba, but well worth the effort.

Went to a local clinic for a covid test couple days before the flight. Uploaded the neg test on the Aruba portal and paid the needed health insurance cost ($15 a day). Arriving at the airport was a mess. For some reason, they required people to show their full test results, as opposed to the QR code they had initially been using. This caused MAJOR delays and we were in a long snaking line for almost 2hrs. MAKE SURE you save your full test results and all docs on your phone.

We rented a Jeep from More4Less rentals. I highly recommend going through one of the local car rental agencies such as M4L over Hertz or Avis. Renting the Jeep was the BEST decision we made as it allowed us to explore the entire island at our own pace. We even went offroading to reach the natural pool and it was quite a thrilling experience

Keep in mind, you have to self park at the Ritz since the valet is not moving vehicles at the moment.

We were upgraded to a fifth floor Exec Suite (from the most basic room) by virtue of my Titanium status. I imagine this was due to the hotel occupancy being so low. The room itself was fantastic. The decor wasn't exactly my taste, but everything was clean and fresh. For an oceanfront property, it is a very well kept hotel. The staff were also phenomenal. I can't think of one person we interacted with that wasn't warm and hospitable. It was a true 5 Star experience.

The hotel pool is mere steps from the ocean and Palm Beach is one of the best. As with most of the island, the crowds were extremely light and it made for a relaxing and peaceful experience. All the facilities, including restaurants and the casino were open, but they all seemed to close rather early.

We didn't eat much at hotel apart from room service, but Atardi down the beach at the Marriott was by far our favorite. Flying Fishbone and Zeerover were excellent too. We tried madame janette, but have to admit it was a letdown in terms of the food, especially compared to Atardi. Dutch pancakes at the Dutch Pancake House in Oranjestad were excellent, and we preferred it to Lindas Pancakes.

Leaving Aruba wasn't nearly as congested as entering the country, but be mindful, you do US Customs Clearance in Aruba so even with no crowds, there are several checkpoints and procedures you must go through which need extra time.

Overall Aruba exceeding all of our very high expectations. If you need a beach getaway, I can't recommend this island enough.

If anyone has specific questions, would be happy to answer them

OhDoctor

Looks like there hasn't been any activity here for several years. We're staying at the Stellaris in March and I keep considering switching to the Ritz since the prices are comparable; however, it seems like consensus is that the rooms/grounds/pool/beach area at the Ritz are not significantly better than at the Stellaris, and the only real difference is a (modest) bump up in service. Is that a fair summary?