Aruba Surf Club tips and tricks help?

[RookWDW]

Howdy group. Hope it's okay to post here, the Caribbean forum is pretty slow and since it's a MVC resort I figure you all are the best to ask.

My fam (well most, me tWife and 15 yo daughter - college boy has to work) are heading to the Surf Club in Early June for a week, Friday to Friday, and we added two paid nights via Marriot direct. This is our first trip to Aruba. I've watched all of Dioxide's excellent videos on the Surf and Beach Clubs already; and tried watching some other youtubers but some of them are painful.

Both are showing as Ocean View so hopefully we won't have to move rooms. Any tips on the best room request and how best to potentially get the room request we want? I know higher floor. We usually are not sticklers about room locations as long as we have a good balcony for morning coffee and late night wine winedowns.

General tips on best restaurants to visit? I need Marty to head to Aruba and give me an exhaustive review - LOL. Generally, we prefer to not prebook too many restaurants as we like to be casual and flexible. We also tend to prefer casual restaurants, but then will do one or two nicer places. Are there any "must-do" restaurants that we should get reservations for? I know there is a ton in walking distance to the Surf Club.

We usually rent a car, I'm thinking to NOT rent a car this trip. We are looking for mostly a beach / pool / relax trip and might not go exploring too much. We will go down to Oranjestad at least one day for a shopping trip. I don't expect to go exploring other beaches too much since we have a nice beach in walking distance, and a couple others that are not too far of a walk. Will we regret not getting a rental car?

For activities we plan to scuba at least once, maybe twice; snorkel trip; catamaran sail; then rent some beach toys a few times like parasailing, kayaks, jet skis, Hobie cat, sail boards, etc. I'm considering doing one of the island jeep tour trips to see the east side but I'm not certain on that. Any other must-dos that we will regret missing?

I'm debatting on just getting a palapa reserved for our entire stay. I know they are toward the back but it seems easier than reserving every day to try and get a more front location. Toward the back is also closer to the pool so we can go back and forth without fighting for pool loungers.

I know we cannot use the pools at the Ocean Club, but we can use any other amenities, right?

Of course, any other general tips and tricks are much appreciated.

 

[amsunshine]

I don’t think you need a rental car - the taxis are plentiful. As far as palapa rentals - I didn’t realize they offered weekly rentals. We didn’t have a problem using their app to reserve palapas each day when we stayed at the Ocean Club next door a couple years ago. Perhaps the Surf Club is a little different.

I can’t help with your other questions but I’m sure there are others here who can answer them. Enjoy your trip!!

Eta: the beach in front of the Marriotts is lovely but we actually loved the other side of the island at Eagle Beach, I believe it’s called? Don’t limit yourself to Palm Beach!

 

[RookWDW]

I don’t think you need a rental car - the taxis are plentiful. As far as palapa rentals - I didn’t realize they offered weekly rentals. We didn’t have a problem using their app to reserve palapas each day when we stayed at the Ocean Club next door a couple years ago. Perhaps the Surf Club is a little different.

I can’t help with your other questions but I’m sure there are others here who can answer them. Enjoy your trip!!

Eta: the beach in front of the Marriotts is lovely but we actually loved the other side of the island at Eagle Beach, I believe it’s called? Don’t limit yourself to Palm Beach!

Thanks. I know there are quite a bit more palapas at Ocean Club per room than at Surf Club. I think Dioxide's statement was 1.9 rooms per palapa at OC and 2.9 per palapa at SC. It seems like we should be able to walk down to Eagle Beach - roughly an hour's walk.

 

[amsunshine]

Thanks. I know there are quite a bit more palapas at Ocean Club per room than at Surf Club. I think Dioxide's statement was 1.9 rooms per palapa at OC and 2.9 per palapa at SC. It seems like we should be able to walk down to Eagle Beach - roughly an hour's walk.

LOL. You can taxi to Eagle Beach. Just make sure to have a dry change of clothes for your way back. The taxi drivers will let you know they don't want you to get into their taxi with wet suits. (We never did that, but apparently lots of others do, so the taxi drivers seemed a little paranoid about it.)

 

[m61376]

My favorite place
A list of restaurants we like to frequent: Barefoot (sunset reservations for a table on the beach is a must every trip). Yemanja, Calabria, Azzurro's for pasta in the wheel and beautiful sunsets but food otherwise better at Calabria or Terrazzo Italiano, Quinta del Carmen, Oak, haven't gone to Wilhelmina but will next trip; not my faves but friends love Chalet Swiss and Madame Janette. Wacky Wahoo is a good casual place. People like Patrizia's but I'm not a fan of it at home so not bothering to try it. Passions has a beautiful ambiance and good food, but if the wind is in the wrong direction can get a sewage odor so have avoided it the last several years. Flying Fishbone is a long taxi ride so I'd opt for Barefoot for that dinner on the beach ambiance.

We always rent a car for convenience, although with taxis being relatively inexpensive and car rentals increasing I'm not sure it actually pays, but we like the convenience. But many just use cabs, and there are a lot of restaurants you can simply walk to also.

For beach activities I'd recommend. talking to John in the morning (another guy mans the booth during the day)- he's the vendor in the middle hut- he has the orange umbrellas in front. Very reliable and will give you good advice. He contracts with one of the better jet ski providers with newer machines. For wind surfing, kite surfing, hydro foils, etc., walk North about half a mile or so- will see the guys just N or the Ritz. Can also arrange with a bike shop in town if you want to go for a ride, but recommend early morning (they'll deliver the bikes the day before so you can head out by 7-7:30.

I prefer to lounge at the beach and got tired of the palapa reservations, although now with the online system it is much easier. My treat to myself is to rent an umbrella for the week, which I do beforehand for $50/day, with the lounges, set up in front of the palapas. I reserve from John in advance- you can message him at Mary John Leo.

 

[cindyandjp]

Double check if there are any renovations going on bc the noise is very loud and you don't want to reserve a palapa/chairs near any building being renovated. Next time I would request a room closer to the elevator because the hallways are Looooong and it was a far walk.
We booked a snorkel boat trip through Marriott when we arrived and it was really great. The 2pm trip only had 15 people on it and it felt like we had the boat to ourselves. The trip right after us looked like it had a 100 people on it and would have been a very different experience. We also did a jeep tour/snorkel and we had a blast. Nothing can prepare you for how bumpy the trip is so if you have a bad back don't do it.
We also rented kayaks (not a guided tour, just the rental) and had them delivered across from sea glass island. We spent an hour on the island looking at all the glass and that was worth the trip and you are allowed to bring sea glass home from Aruba.
We did rent a car and it was nice to drive to the grocery store so we could cook breakfast in the room, heat up leftovers and have snacks. Dinner we ate out a few times but also cooked steaks on the grill. We loved MooMba Beach Restaurant which is casual with tables on the beach right near the Surf Club. Madame Jeanettes was excellent but we did have to drive there and it was pricey.
We alternated between sitting at chairs by the pool and renting a palapa on the beach.

 

[amycurl]

We really love Papiamento. If we do rent a car, we do so for just one day for exploring. The Arubus is great, too.


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