The Ritz-Carlton, Aruba

Great place for a family vacation!

10.0

Our family spent a week on this property and had a fantastic stay. The property was excellent and service five star. We will definitely come here again.

No Rizz at the Ritz

6.0

Only after staying here I can see why this is not the preferred hotel at the palm beach. The check-in service and the staff at check-in (especially Timothy who was wonderful) is where the hotel peaked. After that it’s been one big disappointment! Perhaps because I paid that much more and it has the Ritz branding I expected it to be better in some ways but it’s disappointing in every way. 1) the reviews that said there is no lounge wars are way off. Yes if you want to sit at the back where you just see umbrellas sure, but it is 7:10am and I cannot get anything in the front row (all have covers I.e. taken) and the first day the supervisor who can help me book for the next day did not even show up till 7:30am and by the time he did the first two rows were gone- he didn’t apologize and nonchalantly said I should get the app and book there and that he had an interview - then staff tried to upsell me the cabanas…so tacky! Umm so yes if you’re a morning person who can get up to book through the app or run down before 7am then great but if not then this is not for you..the cortisol elevation alone is not worth this! The umbrellas are tiny and nothing can be moved so at some point you will leave because there is no respite from the sun. They were out of kids toys at 7 and told us the shop opens at 8 and we can buy it there…2) The food is of course over priced but sadly isn’t great- I only tried casa nonna but I’d much rather go to Gianni’s in town at least your 150$ meal is memorable…the breakfast is okay though. 3) nice clean rooms and bathrooms (a bit dated) with decent basic products but literally no toiletries in the bathroom beyond the basic- not even face wash or cotton balls…The chocolates are the only nice touch but the fancy chocolates you see in the reviews are only for guests in the suites - in the 800$ rooms you only get the basic chocolates 4) live music and the general vibes in the evening have been so underwhelming - I have never been more disappointed. 5) kids don’t eat free - if you get the buffet then yes under 4 eat free otherwise you even pay for a small bowl of fruit- they hand out a slice of fruit at the beach and pool in the afternoons - a nice touch but even there if they run out they will just give you the two pieces left and say sorry it’s finished - it doesn’t matter if there are 3 kids and one is having a breakdown that he didn’t get any…so if you have money to burn sure go ahead it’s certainly got an overall luxury exterior and clean large rooms- it’s a solid hotel but I’d categorize it as “no frills”.

Family vacation

10.0

We had an exceptional stay at the Ritz Carlton Aruba. Every person we encountered was friendly and helpful. They made us feel welcomed. The hotel and grounds are beautiful. Our room was spacious with great views. The food was great. The service is above and beyond our expectations. Rulger stopped by each day on the beach to make sure our stay was going well. He is very friendly and personable. Ellie was our server on the beach each day. She went above and beyond taking care of us! She made our stay fantastic. We will definitely return the next time we visit Aruba.

Exceptional stay

10.0

This was our 2nd visit to the Ritz Carlton Aruba. From the moment you arrive you feel so welcomed. We honestly did not think our second visit could come close to how wonderful our trip in November was, but it exceeded our expectations. We did have a small disappointment in our room location as we had booked through Delta Dream Vacations, so the view was not as great as we expected, however, the front desk staff did their best to offer a replacement. In the end it really didn't matter. The stay was perfect. We ate lunch every day from the beach and no request was denied; it was truly unbelievable. No checking with anyone to see if it could happen, they just say yes and it appears. If you have a chance eat at the sushi restaurant in the bar area, it is fantastic! Since this was our second visit, we were so happy to see some familiar faces and again this is a testament to the service you receive at this hotel. Even though there are places very close that you could have a less expensive meal, you really cannot beat the truly exceptional service you get from the staff at the Ritz. There are so many people we interacted with that were wonderful. Eric & Rutger made several stops by us over the week to just check in and see how our stay was. A Special thanks to Dilwyn (our 2nd experience with him and just WOW!) and Eduardo for exceptional food service at the beach, Hazler who helped us with beach chairs, Melissa for always making sure we had our frozen cappuccino! She is amazing. Lastly a special thanks to Zevon. We had met him setting up our beach chairs and then a storm came out of nowhere and just soaked everything. While the storm passed my husband talked to him about how much we loved the Papaya hot sauce and were going to walk in to town to find it. He offered to go on his break and buy it for us if we did not get any when in town! When we returned (with our hot sauce) he followed us over replaced all the wet towels and from that moment on he stopped by our chairs daily to check on us to see if there was anything we needed. I know this is long, but I hope these messages get to this amazing staff and they know that in such little ways they truly made our visit the wonderful and will not be our last. Until next year! Michael & Missy

Your search for a place to stay in Aruba drops here. This one’s it.

10.0

We have been to this property seven times in the last 10 years. We didn’t go during Covid obviously but we would have if we could have. My husband and I are discerning travelers and we enjoy wonderful service, good food and above average rooms with friendly and attentive staff. All of that said, the Ritz Carlton surpassed all of our expectations in spades and honestly, for a very reasonable price We could not think of a better place to go in Aruba. We book every year and we will continue to do so. The staff feel like family; or really really good friends at the very least. . They recognize our names when we come!. They greet us with open arms and go above and beyond to make our trip even better than the last one. We spend our days at the pool hanging out having cocktails and relaxing. Gregory our pool server is far and away the best server we have ever seen. I can’t give him enough accolades. There isn’t enough room or time for me to sit here and tell you how great he is. He is so friendly, so attentive and makes sure your every need is met. Mitchell is another wonderful employee. He makes a certain that our pool chairs are set up every morning and again, tends to our every need with a genuine smile and genuine kindness. As a sidenote, if you’re pleasant and nice to the employees it goes a long long way. They work so incredibly hard we appreciate that and respect it. We can honestly say that they are our friends And I believe we are theirs. If there is something you want it need, you will have it. The rooms are absolutely pristine. You want for absolutely nothing, they are clean, and there are no bad views of the ocean. We are not gambling, but once a year, we budget a little cash to spend time in the casino, and if you have never been to a casino, it’s a really fun experience! If you are new, the dealers go out of their way to teach you and guide you in every game. It’s not like they’re trying to take your money and send you on your way. They get to know you I make a point to call you by your name, because they actually want to do that. If you are a veteran, they treat you with respect and give you all of the attention you deserve as a veteran gambler. lol. Marshall, Marvin, Romar and Sandra are so welcoming and funny and friendly. They all rotate around the tables every 20 minutes or so so we get to see all of them most of the night. There are others whose names escape me right now, but you won’t find any of the dealers who are unpleasant, or who have attitudes. As well We actually had some really great nights and were up! A lot! I feel should mention that no one paid us to leave this review and I was not incentive to leave it. We leave this review, organically out of sheer satisfaction with this property and all of its employees. We highly recommend it!!!

We will return. No doubt about it.

10.0

Everything was excellent. Food, facilities and service.

− Literally nothing.