We have always stayed at the Marriott Stellaris at the end of Palm Beach. We love it there. This year we ended up having to stay at the Renaissance Hotel downtown. The hotel was nice, the people were great (as they all are in Aruba) but I'm not impressed with the "beach" there. It's more of a lagoon, you're not directly on the beach like down on Eagle Beach or Palm Beach. Granted, they have the private island which is nice but there was one day that we went over there and were attacked by mosquitos. They were horrible! (And we're from Texas, we're used to mosquitos - ha!) We immediately came back to the hotel. One of the waitresses told us that when there is an overcast day, the next day will be like that on the island. So, if we'd have known that we could have planned around it.
Also, when you're at the Renaissance you hear the airplanes landing and taking off all the time. (which you don't down at Marriott Stellaris) The Renaissance is also right next to the "port" so when ships come in and dock, they kind of block the view of the sunset. Other side of that is that it's really cool for the kids to see a ship that close! So, "six of one....half a dozen the other". Palm Beach on the other hand is awesome. Nothing to block your sunset....beach is calm and perfect for little ones. I do agree with what someone else said about the Marriott Surf Club (I think is what it's called) being more kid oriented because of the lazy river and slide, etc. Again, Renaissance wasn't bad by any means....just not our choice for the next time around.
