Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino

Just back from Aruba. Let's start with at the airport. At the airport after you get your luggage there is a beverage store. The prices will be cheaper here than by the stores near the hotels. Arrived at the hotel after a 20 min bus ride with majestic shuttle. A welcome drink of rum punch was offered. It was delicious. We had 2 rooms. 1 was ready the other was not. We were on the 7th fl. with an ocean and pool view. You will need your room key to access your floor every single time you go up. Although my room faced the ocean & pool. We still heard noise from the lobby area. Ear plugs are needed for light sleepers as the music goes until after 10 then you have in considered people yelling as they walked past the rooms. Room-The room was nice and cleaned. The bathroom shower is very slippery i suggest putting down a towel. It contained a mini fridge. They provide 3 water bottles per day. A lot of people brought their own cups Yeti, reusable bottles etc. Housekeeping will clean the room every 3rd day. Pool/Beach- As in everywhere you go, the pool chairs with umbrellas fill up before 7am. At that point you can still find a chair. If you sit under a palm tree you may experience a bird or iguana pooping on you. (my husband experienced this 1st hand). There is an adult only pool, and you will need to access this area with a room key unless someone leaves the door opened. The main pool has music playing and has a swim up bar. The beach has the palapas. There is an app to go on the night before to request one. If they are sold out, you can wait on the right side of the towel hut after 10am. They will then give you the palapas that no one claimed before 10am. The beach is roped off in the ocean. It is very calm no waves unless a boat goes passed. The sea floor is very muddy. There is a hut going to the right of the towel hut to rent lounge mats (free until 430. The same place will rent kayaks & paddle boards for an hr. at a time. You can bring your own floats for the ocean. Nighttime entertainment- They don't have much. Just sitting in the lobby listening to a DJ. You have the casino as well. Taxis are regulated about 15-20 dollars. If you walk into town there are more restaurants. As you walk into the town and see shopping huts, they are pricier keep waking and there are more stores further down that are cheaper. Everything is very pricey. A large cranberry juice at one store was 11.00 here in the states you would get it for 4. We ate at Ruth Chris one night, In town other nights. We went to Faro for dinner, it was just ehh. The view was amazing. We had to check out Patrizia's because we frequent the ones in NY a lot. Overall, a great trip. I strongly suggest using sunscreen a lot. The hotel should try doing like a trivia night or bingo or something at night for guests.

Currently here and first of all, they already had my name on the booking wrong because they combined my middle name and last name..and STILL spelt my last name wrong, so every time they tried to look me up in the system, they couldn't find my reservation. I actually spoke to someone from the hotel in advance before arriving asking if they could correct it, but the lady on the phone said that I was going to 'show my ID anyway so it should be fine since part of my name is in there'. Very unprofessional that they expect me to just go with them changing my name. Kind of not looking forward to this trip with a bad start.

Our family of 3 had a great stay at the Marriott Resort & Stellaris. Our vacation was for 5 nights. I would not hesitate to book again at this location. The staff in all aspects were very helpful and accommodating. Our room was clean as was the entire resort. The location is excellent and within walking distance of many shops and restaurants. There are plenty of activities on the beach. Some cost as they are run by separate vendors, but the Marriott did supply paddle boards and kayaks for free. TIP - bring your own floaties for the beach or buy one your first day there. I believe there it’s a pump at the beach hut. I bought one for $24 at the Marriott Beach Club which is right next to the Stellaris. Otherwise, it costs $10 a day to rent one from a vendor. The Marriott does have those long ones you can lay on but you only get it for an hour I believe and I did not see any in the pool. RESERVING PALAPAS - We used a palapa 2 of the 4 full days we were there. We never had an issue securing one. However, we were never actually able to reserve one for free. There are actually 4 ways you do it. First, you need to download the BON BINI! App and click on “Beach Chair Setup”. 1. You can pay to reserve the palapa you choose. This is probably the easiest way to ensure you get one. We never used this option. 2. Use the app at 5PM the day before to reserve one for free. We logged on at 5:03PM and nothing was available. 3. Use the app at 8AM the day of to reserve a palapa for free. We logged on at 8:10AM and nothing was available. 4. Stand in line at the hut near the beach the day of at 10AM. They have a list of unused palapas and will give them out on a first come basis (reserved palapas must be used by this time). This option is free. This is what I ended you doing with no issue securing a palapa close to the water. I was in line with maybe 10 other people and pretty sure everyone secured a palapa. The staff started assigning palapas promptly at 10AM and got through the line very quickly. Beach staff set up the chairs. POOL There are two pools. One is the adult pool that closed at 7AM. This was relatively quiet and not crowded. I believe the main pool closes later (check the time). Both pools were well maintained and had bars. Never had an issue getting drinks. The main pool has a swim up bar whereas the adult pool the bar is separate. Watch for happy hour where you can get 2 for 1 drinks. The one day we wanted to sit by the pool I walked down around 10:30AM and had no issue finding chairs for the 3 of us. In fact, any day we walked to the pool there were chairs available. The staff was quick to point us to open chairs and setup up umbrellas where available (there needs to be a spot on the ground for the umbrella). RESTAURANTS This Marriott has several restaurants to choose from that were all excellent. We didn’t do the Ruth’s Chris since we live 5 minutes from one back in the states. We ate lunch everyday at the Waves Bar and Grill as it was very convenient and tables were always available. Mercat was excellent our first night there. They also have a dining experience on the beach and in the lobby. We did not do those but I would not hesitate the next time we return. The reality is the Marriott is in a great location and within very easy walking distance to many dining options. We wanted to try a few other options off site as well. CAR RENTAL Hertz is on site and car rental was very easy. We were able to secure a car for the day to explore the island, EXCURSIONS We booked a UTV tour ourselves. But, there was plenty off information on site as to what tours were available. Most of the tours pick you up at the hotel. SNORKELING You can’t really snorkel off the beach as sand is getting kicked up from everyone else. You need to book an excursion to snorkel. We did use our car rental to drive to some spots close by. TIP - some spots you need water shoes due to rocks. Overall, that was a nice relaxing stay with no stress (which is what we all need!). Would definitely go back and highly recommend.

This is a great place to stay in Aruba. The property was clean and well maintained. There are plenty of restaurants in the hotel as well as within walking distance nearby. The beach is gorgeous, and you can reserve beach chairs & palapas daily at 5pm for the following day free of charge. This is a random assignment, but you can also pay $30 if you want to pick a spot. It’s easy to grab a pool seat at the main pool before about 9-10 am, but after that it can be a bit tough. I would highly recommend staying here and feel confident we will be back again in the future!

We absolutely love the Marriott Stellaris in Aruba! It truly is our favorite place on earth. Our most recent visit was just as wonderful as our very first. What makes this resort so special? Without a doubt, it’s the exceptional hospitality and genuine kindness of the staff. Beverly Morris is nothing short of AMAZING! She is always a pleasure to see and work with. If she had a fan club, we’d be the first to sign up. We also always look forward to seeing Ludwig and Arsenio. They are consistently warm, friendly, and make every visit even more enjoyable. This trip, we had the pleasure of meeting Charles Barran, who was professional, attentive, and excellent at his job. We also met Mergy, whose work ethic truly stood out. She worked tirelessly on the beach all day with a smile on her face. After all these years, she still hustles like it’s her very first day. She is an incredible asset to your team. Our newly renovated room was beautiful and had a wonderful view. While we felt the food isn’t quite as exceptional as it was 11 years ago, it’s still very good. We also love the convenience of having the casino right on the property, and it was easy to find chairs on the beach every day. Once again, we had a relaxing, memorable vacation. We will definitely be back soon and will always have a special place in our hearts for this property. We highly recommend the Marriott Stellaris to anyone visiting Aruba!