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Re: Marriott Surf Club versus the Ocean Club

We love Aruba. However we don’t like the Surf Club. June 23-July 9, 2007 If you have young children and love the Disney pool atmosphere you will enjoy the Surf Club. If you have manners, love the beach, enjoy swimming in the ocean without touching the slimy bottom, paying $5 -$10 per day on a hut and would like to read with rude children constantly screaming while their parents drink beer from their coolers you will not have an enjoyable vacation unless you lock yourself in your room. We have been vacationing in Aruba for many years. We bought a timeshare in the Ocean Club five years ago and love it there, then got talked into buying another at the Surf Club preconstruction 3 years ago which we strongly regret. I wished we had bought another at the Ocean Club. The salespeople mislead you by telling you how wonderful it will be. The rooms are wonderful I have to give them that but… It is so overcrowded now and it will be a nightmare when the two other buildings are completed. The staff is not so friendly probably because they have to deal with people complaining all day, the beach is horrible even if you are willing to pay for a hut they are so close together there is no breeze, its hot as hell, the ocean floor is so slimy,yuk, it smells so fishy because the fishing/boating pier is a few yards away, there are no bathrooms on the beach you have to walk all the way back to the Surf to pee, the beach attendants watch you from a shaded hut while you drag chairs to the waters edge. No one is enforcing the no smoking policy, there is supposed to be a smoking section but its empty because people are smoking wherever they want and when I approached a staff member about this issue they said they didn’t want guests to get angry at them. The only plus to the Surf Club vs. the Ocean Club is having a washer and dryer in your room. Be careful if you are interested in buying a timeshare at the Surf Club from Marriott unless you want points or want to trade your property. If you love Aruba and enjoy the Surf Club and plan on vacationing there every year you can save up to $10,000 by buying one privately, resale’s. Just look in the local newspaper or timeshare resale’s on the net. The only drawback is you can’t trade for other properties and you don’t get the points. The points that is another joke people are so impressed by the points big deal it gets you some airline tickets and 7 nights at a hotel. You can save so thousands of dollars buying one privately. The salespeople tell you can trade for all these exotic places but the reality is, it is so hard unless you are retired and can vacation anytime to get the week you want. I tried to trade one year in advance for Hawaii and lost 2 weeks in Aruba because it never came through. All in all like I said we love Aruba but hate the Surf Club. Book a few days at the Ocean Club then the Surf Club then you decide.