Aquarius - Oranjestad

The Renaissance resort in Aruba is known for mainly one thing... Renaissance island a.k.a. flamingo island a.k.a. iguana beach. Tickets for the ferry ride to the island $125 apiece...or the resort is $250 a night... But you must book at least two nights. There maybe tickets for non-guests... But you must be in line by 6 AM to find out and there are no guarantees. The resort itself is lovely and attached to a high-end mall of who could tour clothing. It is located in an urban setting, and the traffic jams, gasoline smell and car emissions surrounding the resort can be strong. For me personally, the biggest drawback was the ice cold temperature of the room. We turned the fans and air conditioning off as soon as we got there... But were still freezing cold two days later. We even tried opening the door to the view of the lobby...Just to let some warm air in the room. A mere few hours of this literally made it rain in our room... but it was still freezing. (The whole ceiling was covered in water and dripped all over our laptop, phones and beds. I guess that's why they have to keep the rooms so cold! I ended up with the most severe heat stroke of my life... And have to wonder if part of the problem was going from being way too hot outside to being way too cold inside. All I know is I spent the whole night fully clothed, plus a robe, under all the covers... And still shivering hard enough to shake the whole bed. THE DEAL: The Renaissance resort is a bucket list Destiination that is worth the trip simply to experience flamingo island. The six flamingo residents are fully accustomed to people and will eat right out of your hand!

I stayed here about 14 years ago, then 7 years ago, and this year. You can see how much they've put into renovations. The rooms and lobby are beautiful. The pool area is huge. It is a unique property in that they don't have access to the beach. They've built a small lake type beach which is fine to sun bathe by. But you also have access to their private beach. There is a small boat that takes you to a secluded beach just a few minutes away. It's split into an adults side and a family side. Both sides are gorgeous white sand beaches. Flamingos walk throughout the beach adding some fun to the day. It's never crowded and boats run to and from the resort constantly. The resort is also situated on the marina which is a perfect place to watch the sunset. It's near plenty of restaurants and shopping, as well as 2 casinos. It's a 5 min cab ride from the airport. A great location and great resort.

Not sure why this place has so many negative reviews on Yelp but positive on most other sites. I've never been so excited to post a review and provide pictures so others can share the wonderful experience! Location- honestly the best. Both places are located in the middle of downtown! TONS of restaurants, totally walkable, and I felt completely safe throughout. Everyone was friendly and happy! One Happy Island for sure Resort- The resort has an adult only with a nice pool and bar and a adult/kids hotel with beach access, swim up bar/pool and restaurants at both. Both hotels are within 5 min walking distance from each other but there is also a golf cart that drives you. Wait, it gets better... they have their own private island 10 min away with flamingos and iguanas with a small boat shuttle that will take you there for free! There's two places at the hotel to catch the boat to the island Amenities: there's something for everyone. Whether it be pool, beach, private island with flamingos and iguanas, free snorkeling on the island (bring your own gear) and a bar/restaurant, you can even reserve your own cabana with a net over the water! Convenient, nice view of the harbor, and great restaurants (inside resort and surrounding area), casino (we didn't do that), and even the big Aruba sign you can take a pic in front of! Overall, everything was pretty affordable and what you would expect at a resort. My only complaint is the hotel exterior seemed to be a little outdated but we had a positive experience and it was clean. I would highly recommend and would go back in a heartbeat

A Tale of Two Rooms It was the best of rooms, it was the worst of rooms. It was the age of ocean views, it was the age of parking lot views. Now that Dickens is rolling over in his grave, I 'll try to offer a balanced perspective on this resort, which ranges from an easy 4 stars to a problematic 2 star ranking. This resort has a lot to offer: 1. Two buildings to choose from, an adult only building and a bayfront suite building. 2. The adult building is across the street from the ocean, with a small hip pool and large lobby, fitness center, in town location, boat shuttle to their private island, casino, Starbucks, upscale shopping mall, restaurants and more. 3. The Ocean Suites building is part timeshare and part hotel. It offers suites with separate bedrooms (no windows in the bedrooms), a relaxing and large white sand bayfront beach, two large pools, restaurants and boat shuttle to the private island. It 's adjacent to a very nice Renaissance shopping plaza and casino. 4. Private island, one beach for adults only, the other for families. The island has a restaurant, nature walk, captive flamingos, fitness center and awesome, albeit expensive, cabanas. 5. In town location, with many shops and restaurants to choose from. With so much to offer, how can this resort range from an unhappy 2 stars to a solid 4 stars? It 's all about the room and the room view. When we checked in, we were told the resort was essentially full, and we were placed in the Ocean Suites building. Our room overlooked an ugly parking lot (see the photo) and a stack of building materials next to a shed. At night, a large spotlight beamed into our room like an angry lighthouse with a vendetta against our vacation. The next morning, I asked to be moved to a better room, and the Renaissance accommodated this, by moving us to a poolside room on the 5th floor. Our view morphed from terrible to awesome! Our balcony had a wonderful view of the pool, grounds, bay and ocean. Note that I am a lifetime Marriott Titanium level rewards member (I kid you not, Marriott changed the name of the Platinum level to Titanium lol), so any Marriott property will go out of their way to accommodate us with the best room available. The private island is a beautiful and fun venue to visit, a short 10 minute boat ride from the hotel. You must have a key to catch the boat shuttles which run every 15 minutes. We walked the length of the island and the nature trail, which combined take about 20 minutes. There is a well chilled, fully equipped fitness center at one end of the island. And the island has two beaches, one for adults and one for families, both of which are protected and good for swimming. We rented a cabana for one day, as they are very difficult to reserve. There are only nine cabanas on the island. And if you happen to reserve one, you 'll likely find them, in a word, decadent. They are directly on, and partially over the water. There is a large hammock big enough to accommodate four, and two lounge chairs to the right of the cabana in the sun. Under the thatched roof of the cabana, you 'll find a three seat couch, and comfortable cushioned chair, a large coffee table, and a cooler filled with still and sparkling water, and a bottle of Champaign. In case that is insufficient, they bring fresh strawberries and hot chocolate sauce mid morning, and the service throughout the day is excellent. Just raise your flag, and your butler appears promptly. They also provide floats and full face mask snorkel gear. There are steps from the cabana into the awaiting aqua colored Caribbean waters. The price for the day is only $345, but that includes your name printed on the sand in your private cabana welcoming you to your 8 hours of paradise! Back at the hotel, the Marina Suites has their own beach, which is large and relatively uncrowded. There is a protected salt water cover which is shallow and swimmable, and two large fresh water pools. There is also a bar with a small restaurant, and Frescoes, which is a very nice alfresco restaurant serving breakfast and dinner. We really enjoyed this venue and used this beach almost every day. It offers beautiful views and is quite a quiet and peaceful place to hang out and enjoy the sun. Overall, we had a great time at the Renaissance, and would be happy to return. It 's an easy 4 stars from the vantage point of our 5th floor suite. However, buyer beware, you don 't want to get a room overlooking the parking lot!

3 part property including an adult hotel (with casino , a family hotel and a private island. We did an all inclusive package. Pros- Friendly service Nice to have 3 options in terms of location Beaches on the island are nice Many restaurant choices, Italian restaurant and steakhouse good Cons- Dated, in need of remodel All service on island time- while this is to be expected at many locations, I shouldn't have to wait 15 mins to get a beer at the pool bar Food gets old after a week, seafood restaurant disappointing Kids club is very subpar (they had wine bottles sitting on the shelves? Pools are allright, but unexciting The beaches at the hotels themselves are unusable, need to go to island