We were last at Marriott's Aruba Surf Club in 2018, pre-pandemic. When we got to the airport we weren't really sure we would make it as we failed to complete the Aruba ED Card online. Easy enough, we did it from our phone about 5 hours before arrival. No one checked for it and when we got to Aruba they said it was tied to our passport number, so they didn't even want the QR code.
As for the resort, everything seems to be in top condition. I had heard some complaints about the rooms seeming to ba little tired, but that isn't our experience. We are in a third floor Spyglass 2BR. No view, but we don't hang out on the balcony even when we have the best views. In our case, a good view is just good for the videos. One thing we noticed about Spyglass is that there is no AC in the hallway. The elevator corridor is air conditioned, but the hallways are HOT. They also turn off the AC near the elevators in the evening and overnight.
The wind seems to be pretty heavy this week, but perhaps that is just me forgetting how bad it usually is. I know Aruba has tradewinds, but there are some bad wind tunnel areas around the resort. The lazy river is great and it doesn't seem overly crowded. I didn't remember there being a beach bar (Flip Flops), is that relatively new? I also noticed those spray sunscreen machines have been removed. Reserving a Palapa was easy online, but they do get booked fast. A few do open up sometime after 10am due to no shows. So if you don't get one, check back in. I noticed that they didn't release them right at 10am.
As for groceries. This time we went to Ling & Sons IGA. Just happened to be driving by it. The last time we went there many years ago I remember it being kinda worn out and run down. We were actually quite surprised, it looks like they have done a full renovation and it was a much more pleasurable shopping experience than Super Food which is always crammed with people and very busy. We will be going back to Ling and Sons IGA on future trips. Mainly to avoid the mayhem at Super Food. If you go to Ling & Sons, also sign up for their club and tell them you are a timeshare owner at checkout for 5% off.
We haven't eat or drank anything from any of the onsite restaurants at the Surf Club but did go to the new Campeones at the Ocean Club. This used to be Champions but that closed and it was converted to a Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurant. We were quite surprised as it was fairly good. They have a chips and salsa bar (tortilla chips, pico de gallo, sour cream, salsa verde and another salsa) which is included. The salsa bar however it was often out of most items. We asked for them to refill some and they did, but they never brought out more sour cream. The restaurant seemed fairly busy and we got there around 9pm (open 5pm-9pm). The main issue we had though was that they seemed like they were trying to close the place while we were there. The lack of them replenishing the salsa bar to being told there weren't any tables when they had several empty ones that couldn't be used because that section was already closed for the night. It seemed strange.
If anyone has any other questions about the property, let me know and I will try to answer them.
