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Surf Club 7/22-29 Report - Long
This was my 4th trip to Aruba. In the past I stayed at the Wyndham, now I belive it is called the Aruba Spa, Resort and Casino. We stayed at the Surf Club because we were able to pay $599 for 7 nights and with that we also received $100 in vouchers. Obviously we had to sit through a 90 minute timeshare presentation but for the price, why not.
The good of course is that this is Aruba. Generally great weather, but it did rain for two days, and I mean real get inside rain. The people are nice, the beach is beautiful. By now everybody knows that Aruba is worth the visit, where to stay is still up in the air for further discussion.
If I had paid the going rate for our stay, currently about $250 a night for the lock off unit that we had, I would have been very unhappy. Most of the units at the surf club are two bedroom. They can be locked off which means that one person gets a gorgous one bedroom unit with full kitcher, washer/dryer, living room and separate bedroom and another person, in this case me, gets what is basically a hotel room. A bed, sleeper sofa, microwave, small fridge, bathroom and small balcony with 2 chairs and a table. While the unit was smaller than the typical hotel room at the Wyndham it was in pristine condition. We did see the full two bedroom unit and it is superb. First class all the way.
The Surf Club does have some significant disadvantages. This “club” is adjacent to the Ocean Club which is next door to the Marriott Stellaris Hotel. The Surf Club currently has two buildings in operation with two more under construction. The Surf Club buildings are huge, each is 13 stories and each has about 125 two bedroom units (there may be some 3 bedroom units in there as well). The Ocean Club which is fully operational next door has three six story buildings. The Surf Club is building two more buildings which will both be 13 stories and have about 125 more units in total when done at the end of 2007. At the end of the day the Surf club which has about 250 units now will have about 375 units. One draw to the Surf Club is the pool. There is a “lazy river” that you can float on all day if you wish. Along with that are two areas, on each side of the lazy river that are typical Marriott Pools. Waterfall, nice swim up bar, etc.
The first problem with the Surf Club is the construction. It seems to me that for at least the next few months the noise will continue. The pool area is adjacent to the construction and the noise is constant. Once they have the sides of the new buildings finished and the windows/doors are in I am sure the noise will be tolerable. Right now this is not the place to be if you want a quiet vacation. Coupled with the noise at the pool is the noise at the beach. Separating the pool area from the beach was a concrete “fisherman’s hut”. Not a hut but a true concrete building. As part of renovations this was torn down and a new structure will be built a few hundred feet to the side of the old structure. This will allow a straight view from the pool area to the beach as well as a straight walk from the pool area to the beach. Right now it is a real hike around this construction area to the beach. While we were there the old building was finally demolished and concrete carted away. This was noisy and dusty if you were on the beach. The new building is going up and it is not noisy from that construction. The other noise comes from the beach. Directly in front of the old fisherman’s hut were a quantity of fishing piers for the local boats. This is not a long pier with a restaurant; it is a real dock for dozens of boats. Construction is ongoing which will move the piers a few hundred feet to the side which will be directly in front of the new fisherman’s hut (this will be a restaurant) that is under construction. Moving these docks entails driving 40 foot steel pilings into the sand. This is ongoing and it is noisy.
The current layout of the Surf Club is horrible at the present time. The construction of the new fisherman’s building and the move of the docks means that when you walk out of the buildings you are at the pool area. If you try and walk directly towards the beach you hit the construction fence. You have a significant walk around the construction to get to the beach. The beach along this area has roped off sections for swimming. These areas are designated with buoys. You should not go in the water except in these areas as the boats for parasailing, etc. have ready access to all areas that are not roped off. This presents the next problem. The huts that the Surf Club has are in front of the old docks that have to be moved. The only swimming area is in front of the Ocean Club which is next door. While the Surf Club has their own huts there is no water access directly in front of these huts.
I see the largest issue the problem of the crowds. While we were there they instituted a wrist band system for all guests at the Surf Club and the Ocean Club. You have to have a wrist band in order to use the pool at the Surf Club (that great lazy river and Ocean Club guests are allowed). I am sorry but wrist bands are tacky, all inclusive things, that bring down the Marriott name. Unless you were at the pool by 9:00 am there were no lounge chairs. You had to be down by 8:00 am to have any chance of getting a chair under an umbrella around the pool. The chairs are the loungers with the vinyl straps that are uncomfortable. Most of the other hotels either have pads for the chairs or use canvas instead of the vinyl. Even if this does not both you I don’t know what you are supposed to do if you come to the pool at 10:00 am and there is not a chair to be found. The chairs are set up side by side, literally touching each other. It forces you to know your neighbor. Once the new buildings at the Surf Club open in 2007/08 there will be 50% more people and no more pool space.
The bottom line is that if you look at the Ocean Club you see a well thought plan. Since the beach was so much closer to the Ocean Club than the Surf Club we used the Ocean Club pool. There were always chairs to be had, even under umbrellas at the Ocean Club. It also appeared that there were empty huts all day long at the Ocean Club and at the Surf Club all huts were taken at 7:45 each morning.
It is apparent that Marriott recognizes this problem. I say this for two reasons. One is the implementation of the wrist bands for the Surf Club pool. The only reason for this is because the pool is too crowded. Everyone at the Marriott Club has a color coded towel. From what I saw the people at the Surf Club pool belonged there and the wrist band system will not empty out the pool. The second confirmation of the crowding problem is the reservation system for the huts. If you want to pay $10 to $15 a day you can reserve a hut for a max of 2 days if you are staying at the Surf Club but you can reserve for 3 days if you are staying at the Ocean Club. Obviously the Ocean Club has more huts per unit available then the Surf Club does and the Ocean Club is not expanding by 50% as the Surf Club is.
My last rant is that you should be aware that the Ocean and the Surf Club are not hotels. At the Surf club there is a typical hotel gift shop with food, etc. There is food available at the pool bar area. That is it. No room service, no indoor restaurant at the Surf Club, nada. If you want a restaurant you have to walk over to the Ocean Club or to the Marriott Stellaris Hotel. In the other direction, just next door to the Surf Club is Moomba Beach which has a nice breakfast buffet. All of the major restaurants are in this same direction. The problem is that due to the construction there is no way to easily walk from the Surf Club to these restaurants (towards the Holiday Inn). The only path is a circuitous one that is along the beach next to the construction fence. The area along this fence is a few hundred feet long and is pitch black at night. You would think that the Marriott would install a few lights along this path.
In summary, the Surf Club rooms are gorgeous. The staff are excellent. Many, many guests with well behaved children. Not the place for a honeymoon or romantic vacation. The pool area is inadequate for the number of guests and this will simply get worse.
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