The Ritz-Carlton, Aruba

Just got back from trip to Ritz Aruba with the family. I’m a Marriot titanium Elite member and last time I visited this hotel was 8 years ago prior to this trip. The hotel was sold out this past weekend and week for presidents week so it was very busy. I got down to the beach at 7:30am sharp the first morning to get beach chairs. By that time they were all reserved except for the last row furthest from the ocean, about 10 rows deep. I was advised they were opening the section to left which was empty so I grabbed some chairs there. I later found out that the locals bring their own chairs there and a Dj sets up all day there as well. In addition, the Ritz waiters SERVES the locals food and drinks as long as they pay with credit cards, so they were treated as guests just as we were, paying $1500 per night, unable to get beach chairs in the main section of the hotel!!!! I was livid. The little huts closest to the ocean are &250 per day for 4 chairs and have to be reserved in advance but were sold out for the Week!!!!!! I was advised, if we wanted chairs in the main section of the hotel to be down between 6:15am-7am!! What type of vacation is this?? We won’t be returning sadly during a holiday or school break.

My ring was stolen off my night stand. I made a mistake by taking it off before showering for dinner. I rushed back to the room as soon as I noticed my naked finger but it was too late. The turn down crew was still in the hallway. I called guest services. They told me to look in lost snd found the next day. Sure. Yes use the safe, but better yet keep the privacy sign on the door and skip the lousy chocolate they drop on the comforter while slipping your goods into their pockets.

My wife and I spent 3 days and four nights at the Ritz Carlton Aruba. Aruba gets little rain, and weeds are everywhere on the island. The island is very ratty looking. With all of the revenue generated from hotel taxes, the island should look better. Money must be getting diverted. Parts of Oranjestad, the Capitol, are nice. Most other parts of the island are not very nice. Some roads are horrible. Even the areas on the opposite side of the street from the hotels look terrible. The weather is why people go to Aruba. THE RITZ CARLTON ARUBA IS A VERY NICE HOTEL. The staff is very friendly. The outside live music at night was excellent! My wife and I had a deluxe ocean front suite. It was expensive. The room was great except for the jack hammering sound coming from the living room AC that drove me crazy and could not get fixed despite repeated requests. The Club Level was excellent. The food was very good. The hotel hallway carpeting had debris on them that didn’t get picked up. Nobody is supervising. The elevator floor numbers are hard to read as you wait for the elevators to arrive. You have to make sure to call for housekeeping. They bed pillows are too large. They need to give guests some smaller pillows too. The pool and beach areas are great. We rented a pool cabana. It was very annoying that the hotel can’t figure out a system to tie the sides down on the cabana. It was windy in Aruba while were there and the cabana sides kept blowing in and up. It was annoying. We had to tie the sides of the cabana to furniture. We hired a company called First Class Experience Aruba to meet us at the airport upon arrival. They never met us. The Ritz Carlton is partially to blame for this. First Class Experience Aruba had the wrong date of our arrival. We found out First Class Experience Aruba is not needed for arrival, but definitely needed for departure. It is a nightmare leaving Aruba. Long lines upon arrival at the airport. Two baggage check points for Customs. We arrived at the airport very early and again there was no representative from First Class Experience Aruba to meet us. Once again, they had the time screwed up. I had the Ritz confirm the time with First Class Experience Aruba so we didn’t have problems and we had problems anyway. We were lucky we knew our driver from taking us on a 3 ½ tour of the island. It took him 20 minutes to find a First Class Experience Aruba representative. That person took us to the front of the line at all of the different check points. As part of the package we were able to use the VIP lounge at the very crowded airport. The lounge was great! They served free food and alcohol and had very nice seats to sit in. It was perfect not having to wait on all of the lines. We will never go back to Aruba. It is too far away. The island is not that nice. The government needs to do a better job.

This is our 3rd time staying at this property. This time we were part of a conference. The check in process was not quite as smooth this time as we had booked within the conference block. The other times we had booked via Amex Fine Hotel & Resorts. There was a problem with our oceanfront king room availability upon our late arrival. The house manager, Eric, was phenomenal at finding us an alternative and bent over backwards to make sure it was adequate until our booked room type was available. The staff sent us champagne and chocolates with a note of apology. Eric and the staff took what could have been a disappointing issue and made sure we were satisfied with the outcome. We were moved, as promised, the next day and continued to enjoy our stay. This is a fine example of the exact reason I have sent my own medical office staff to Ritz Carlton Hospitality Training in the past.

Love Aruba, but will never travel and stay at the Ritz in mid January ever again! It was totally spring break gone wild! Over run with wild teens! The poor staff lost control of the resort. It ruined our trip , we left and went home early! If this was our first time experience, I would never travel to Aruba again! It wasn’t “Our happy little Island”, so sad! Hope it’s t becoming the norm. We will try again next year at a different time .