Had a great trip.

Resort was very clean and well looked after. Room was ready and always cleaned/stocked. Enjoyed all of the al la carte restaurants. Booking in the Royal level made restaurant reservations easy. Only issue we really had was the shortage of pool/beach loungers and shade. The pool was especially bad with all chairs taken with towels very early in the morning. I was hoping there would be a separate area for royal level, but there wasn't really.

Welcoming Resort

Hotel is nice rooms are a little small and a bit tired looking, but very clean. Food is good, but the buffet was not good. Restaurants are nicely themed and food was good. Grounds were kept very nice and tidy, pool was very clean could use a bit of updating, and room service is not included , which is unheard of in an all inclusive. Beach was gorgeous, but definately not enough towels. Overall I give it a seven out of ten

Too Loud and very commercialized.

Staff are amazing! The room was ok. Getting in and out of the tub/shower was a nightmare. I kind of fell the first time I went in. I heard this complaint from several other guests. Apparently, there are walk in showers available but I was unaware of them until a later date. I expected better because of the Royal upgrade we purchased. We stayed at Barcelo Bavaro in Punta Cana, at the Premium level 2X and the views, hotel and room at Bavaro were much better. All premium level rooms, have ocean fro [... read more]nt views and a hot tub on your balcony. In Aruba, I had to ask for a room overlooking the pool and ocean. I was lucky enough to get that as some Royal level guests are overlooking the parking lot with a partial ocean view. Food was ok. Be aware, if you want a pool or beach chair, you have to get up between 5:30am and 6:30am to claim one with your beach towels. Outside of our hotel was a strip full of shops, restaurants and bars. Sun to Thu the music is blaring until 1am. Fri & Sat until 3am. Because of the way the hotel is situated, the music is caught right in the middle of the buildings. I did speak to the concierge when checking out and she informed us that they are in court and trying to stop the music from blaring so late. It was extremely loud. Aruba is beautiful, but very expensive and commercialized. I'm glad I experienced Aruba but if I were to go back, I would probably stay at the other end of the island where it's quieter. Although, I think I will try somewhere else next time.

Amazing

Absolutely beautiful hotel, Very friendly staff and amazing beach, pool , restaurants etc Food was great especially the Japanese restaurant. The weather was awesome and the trips we decided on were excellent too. Thank you Kevin Dupius for helping us book this awesome vacation.

Not a good experience, not even close to other Barcelo resorts

It's the first time ever I write a negative review, but I've felt it's in the travelers' interest to know about our bad experience with Barcelo Aruba. I would pass on the fact that the hotel is outdated, the beach crowded, and you have to wake up early for a spot in the shade. Worth mentioning that buffet food has no variety. But what I can't accept is spending 3 nights at 18 deg Celsius, that got us almost sick. After the first night, when we tried to adjust the temperature manually, automati [... read more]cally, turn it off, etc, we complained at reception. A mechanic was sent to fix the problem, but he was unsuccessful. After a second night we complained to management, and they moved us to another room. Needless to saying that the same issue re-occurred in this new room, and another mechanic was sent to verify the air conditioning. He confirmed what we expected that there is a problem with the system. A team of 2 mechanics showed up on the 4th day, and fixed the issue, a solenoid valve. Spending 3 nights in a refrigerator in Aruba is un-unacceptable and we are very dissatisfied with two managers, they know who they are; their service and approach on solving this concern was very poor. One showed a visible mistrust and miscontent when we mentioned that the second room we moved in has the same concern, and the other gave us a geography lesson about Aruba being near Ecuador and subject to high humidity, requiring a specific air-conditioning system. Really dissapointing.

Not a great hotel to stay

The hotel is very outdated and I was not impressed at all. We had issues with the air conditioning and it took 2 days to figure it out, and then change the room. The a la carte restaurants were super good but the buffet same food every day. The beach is nice and clean and people are nice but very slow on addressing our concerns.

Great holiday at the Barcelo Aruba

We stayed at the Barcelo Aruba in early January 2020. We had a pool/ocean view room with two double beds. We had our two children with us (13 and 12). PROS: very clean, excellent service, great location, hotel is a nice size - not too big, not too small, lovely beach, big pool, a la carte restaurants are very good (we ate at all of them and had no problem getting reservations which we made the day after we arrived, including the teppanaki at Kyoto - all the a la cartes were good but the Mex [... read more]ican and Japanese were really good), buffet was also good - always had fresh grill on the go for eggs, omelettes, fresh grilled meats and fish, and a pasta bar - you could always find something, nice lobby bar area, decent shopping and restaurants in walking distance to hotel, very safe (this goes for the entire island - you can walk the beach or in town in the evening and have no concerns). CONS: hotel rooms and their balconies are a little small, music at pool was sometimes really loud, small plastic glasses for drinks (take an insulated cup - you can get a bigger drink and it is better for the environment - kudos to Barcelo as they are at least using paper straws but the cups and the trash generated from those cups is insane - I think hotels should start providing an insulated, branded cup at check in for each guest to re-use during their stay), need more chairs at pool, hard to get palapa at beach, needs a casual takeout type of restaurant as even the beach grill is a sit down restaurant. What truly makes this resort a good choice is the staff. From the bar and restaurant staff to the front desk to the beach to housekeeping, we had wonderful experiences with all. Thank you to the Barcelo staff for a great holiday!

Barcelo Aruba

The hotel is a very average one. The food was below average, the coffee in a bar was horrible. The room was OK, quite clean, however I heard everything from the corridor - all talks, discussions, etc. The sound isolation of the room was bad. I would not go there again, and I would not recommend this hotel to my relatives or friends.

Fantastic Vacation

Together with another couple we booked an Air Canada two week all-inclusive vacation at Barcelo Aruba and it couldn’t have been more pleasant. The seats on the plane were comfortable, with plenty of leg room - a big step up from your usual charter flights. We were met at the Aruba airport by an Air Canada rep and taken to our resort by bus. Same good service back to the airport and checked in. Christian was amazing. When we arrived at the hotel, our check-in was efficiently completed. [... read more] We weren’t happy with the rooms assigned to us so the next day we were moved to rooms with a nicer view of the beach. Service was always with a smile, the food was good, the beach perfect and the beds super comfortable. We loved the lively aquafit class in the pool each day. The wifi was available in the lobby area only, and usually slow. Thankfully we weren’t there to net-surf. We were there to spend our time on the beautiful white sand and in the warm ocean. The usual problem of the 5 am "reserving" of loungers was alive and well but we were always able to find loungers on a far end of the beach. We just had to move them regularly to be shaded by a palm. Loraine, one of our happy servers in the buffet gave us extra special treatment - thx Loraine. Yenith S. kept our rooms organized and shiny clean for our two week stay - she was amazing. We'd definitely return.

My Barcelo experience

The beach was beautiful as to be expected in Aruba! And we enjoyed sunshine every day. I am a very seasoned traveller and have stayed at many all-inclusives throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. I was extremely surprised and disappointed with the food at the Barcelo Aruba resort. The restaurants were just ok with limited food selections but the buffet restaurant was the worst. There was very little variety and the food quality was mediocre. And it seemed to get worse as the week progressed [... read more]! There is really no excuse for this lack of attention to food from the hotel management! The island of Aruba has the most amazing restaurants and clearly availability and supply of quality and fresh food should not be an issue. For this reason, we will never return to this resort or any Barcelo hotel. Also to note, the beach was very busy and you have to go down at 6 am to secure your chair if you want any shade.

Fantastic Lively Resort!!

Dec 8-15, 2018. The grounds of resort are very nicely manicured and kept very clean. Bathrooms on resort are kept clean as well as the pool area and beach. Both buffet restaurants were very clean and nicely decorated. Our room was nice, bed and bedding very comfy and cleaned everyday. We found the staff excellent!! Great job!! We loved the lobby where they had live music daily and nice club chairs to gather in as well as the bar area. We give the hotel a 4.5 star, beach a 5 star, and food a [... read more] 4 star. The location of hotel was fantastic with shopping and restaurants and bars right outside front doors. Overall value we believe it was priced a little high as we have been to another resort in Aruba last year with fabulous food and a couple hundred $$ less. Overall we really liked the resort!!

Great Resort for our kind of vacation

We return to this resort year after year at this time of year (Jan/Feb) as we know that the weather is always great with lots of sun and hardly ever any rain. We have always booked the Royal Club for the extra amenities (brand name liquor, concierge service and priority booking to all restaurants (the Royal Lounge included) as many times as we like). We like the beach area and going in the ocean. The beach area seems to be the nicest without any sea weed which is in the water at some of the h [... read more]otels. The pool is very nice and has the swim up bar. The buffets have always been fine for us. There is the main buffet which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the beach buffet open for lunch from 12:00 to 5:00. There is live evening entertainment (live music in the evening in the lobby lounge with a dance floor and live shows in the ballroom). We like the closed in reception and lobby so we can sit in air conditioning if needed to get relief from the heat and breezes. There is plenty of seating for relaxing away from your room. (Most of the other hotels in the highrise area have lobbies open to the heat and breezes and your only relief is in your air conditioned rooms or the restaurants. The staff have always been very friendly and helpful. We feel safe here and like that we can walk out of the hotel at night and there are shops and restaurants open for sightseeing and there is access to all the casinos in the other hotels. It is a short and safe bus ride into Oranjestad if desired to shop.

Great Resort

This was our 5th visit to Aruba and this "all inclusive" resort. It was previously the Occidental Grand and just recently changed to a Barceló resort. We have always booked the "Royal Club/Level" which allows access to the Royal Level lounge where breakfast, lunch and dinner can be ordered a la carte. It also includes priority check in on the 9th floor, name brand liquor for drinks and priority reservations at the four specialty restaurants and a concierge service to assist you during your s [... read more]tay. Meals can still be had at all the buffets if desired. The hotel has been going through some upgrades and the bar area was enlarged and now has a lot of seating and a large dance floor area where there is live music nightly. The casino was removed from the hotel but they are setting up a small area with some slot machines in the bar area. There are casinos available at all the other hotels on the strip. The rooms have always been very clean and seem to be getting some upgrades. The shower heads were upgraded to rain shower heads with an added shower head for the front of your body. The only downside might be that rooms that have the shower in the bathtub might be difficult for older guests to climb into as the side seems very high. As with other resorts there is always a first come first served system for lounges around the pool and at the beach. The first come seem to go out very early in the morning to reserve their lounges. If you don't mind paying for a lounge (with an umbrella or palapas for shade) there are vendors on the beach by the hotel who allow you to reserve lounges each day. We have done this each year as you really need the shade as the sun is very hot! The hotel is situated in an area which is very nice for walking out at night. There are lots of restaurants and touristy type shopping. The casinos in the other hotels are all easy walking distance and at the back of the hotels on the beach side there is a walkway that is lit up and you can walk along the back of the hotels at night. Oranjestad is a short bus ride from the high rise hotel area. All in all we have been very happy at this resort and plan to return again next year.

Great resort

The Occidental Grand was a good hotel for the most part. Visually, it was very beautiful. The pool was great but the hot tub was more like a warm tub. The beach was not at its best because a hurricane was nearby so there was a lot of seaweed and mucky water. Obviously not the hotels fault. They did do a good job at cleaning up the seaweed as quickly as possible though. I traveled with a group of 10 and everyone's room was beautiful. It was only my room that had some minor issues such as the lock [... read more] on the door stopped working twice so we had to call security to come and fix it. The 2nd time they came,  they changed the battery so it didn't happen anymore. Also, we didn't have hot water in our room. We had to call maintenance on two separate occasions to get them to fix it. The cleaning ladies were great. They did a good job on our room everyday and nothing went missing. Some days they came very late though. Around 4pm but not a big deal. Almost all of the staff were extremely helpful all of the time and always had a smile on their faces. They gave my group free upgraded rooms and wifi. Out of everyone there, I only found that 2 of the bartenders were miserable but the rest of the bartenders were awesome. The only real complaint I would make towards the staff is when my group of 10 rented jeeps to tour the island, we spoke to the front desk a day prior and they said they would pack us lunches and to come get them the next morning before we departed for our adventure. Well that morning when we went to get them the front desk said "sorry they forgot". So from 8am until 7pm most of my group didn't eat because they couldn't fathom spending money on the ridiculously overpriced food. But to top it off, that same night we had an A La Carte booked for Japanese to do the cooking show and our reservation somehow magically got canceled in the system. We didn't get our lunches. We didn't get our cooking show. We still ate in the restaurant but they weren't prepared for us so the food was overcooked. The waiting service was bad and the manager didn't even offer us something complementary for all of our troubles that they created. Other than that everything else was great. Italian and Mexico were fabulous. The Seafood restaurant was just okay. Overall we had a great week. We made friends with other happy travelers and played lots of volleyball in the pool. I would definitely recommend the hotel.

Great family vacation spot

Just returned from a family vacation October 1-8, 2016. We arrived only a couple days following hurricane Matthew which did not leave much to be desired with regards to the beach/ocean. Alot of seaweed in the water and also on the beach. Although the ocean was very warm, the water was not Crystal clear as anticipated. I rated the ocean with 4 stars because it certainly has the potential under normal weather conditions. The pool was amazing. They offered aqua fit with an instructor each morning [... read more], dance lessons poolside, and bingo in the pool every afternoon. We enjoyed playing water volleyball. Many fellow resort guests joined in making it super fun. Needless to say, the convenience of the swim up bar was awesome. The staff were wonderful; greeted you with warm smiles each day and promptly responded to requests to ensure your needs were met. The buffet had such a variety and was tasty for the most part. The Italian a la carte was our favorite by far. Highly recommended. We booked (family of 10) an a la carte for the japanese cooking show, however, we arrived only to find out it had been mysteriously cancelled. Although we did not see the show, the manager was extremely apologetic and took accountability. The host seated and served us despite the confusion. The seafood ,a la carte, food was very tasty. Unfortunately, all of the meals were cold when served. The service was great at the Mexican a la carte; the food was good. The rooms are a hit and a miss. We had 4 separate rooms; two of them were great 1722 and 1623 and two of them 1807 (alot of noise due to having a restaurant/bar above) and 1711 (alot of condensation, wet floor, dripping ceiling which in turn meant damp bed linen and clothing) not so much. Yet all rooms had a fabulous view of the ocean. We went on the catamaran excursion (4 hours) which was alot of fun; friendly staff, music, and an open bar. The downside was the snorkeling, but again,that was due to the after math of the hurricane. We also rented jeeps for the day and toured the Arubian Island ourselves which was much cheaper, financially, than booking an island tour excursion plus our time at each attraction was not limited. Overall it was a great experience and an enjoyable trip.

Great stay...great location :)

First nite front desk was kind and friendly...had our morning Air Canada meeting and won a free tour of the island..food was good..we went out to eat at local restaurants bc everything is close by..such a great vacation..will definitely be returning but want to try new resorts even though beach is public n we visited the Hyatt and won extra money at the casino..

Resort Required Updating

Staff was friendly, food was good. Pool & Beach was very crowded. Pool area was "tired" and needs an upgrade to compete with surrounding beach hotels. Drinks were pre-mixed flavoured rather than fresh blended fruit.

Awesome Hotel!

The part of the hotel I stayed in was old but very well maintained. The staff were amazing and oh so helpful. A call to the front desk brought an immediate response. The hotel was dated but very well maintained.

Amazing resort

All aspect of the resort were amazing. The Room was clean and bright, food was wonderful, all staff were very helpful, all expectations were met. Nightly entertainment was enjoyable. We would definitely revisit.

Ok resort

Beaches beautiful, food so so.. check in very slow, had to wait for the room for few hours and nobody really could do anything to speed up the process because it was.. Saturday! Who knew, Saturday is not their best day to do the business. Ocean view room that we paid extra for was not that much of the ocean view unless we looked on the side.. rather the pool view. Would I go back there? Yes, only because I love Aruba and their beaches, restaurant and shopping..