Marriott Beach Resort – Curacao

Sandy

The Marriott did turn out to be a nice place. The room was good sized and clean. The staff stayed on top of things which was good because we had some issues with the toilet. The food there was pretty good. They had a few restaurants which was a good thing. The menus where not extensive but it kind of forced you to eat at each one for variety. We had the buffet breakfast our second morning. The buffet was GRAND. TONS of food, anything you could possibly want.

Robyn

The hotel - the service was wonderful, the rooms were very nice, grounds nice - our room was over the sump- but we didn't mind because we could still see the water & awesome sunsets to the side - plus we spent most evenings on a waterfront balcony. The food was all very good at the hotel, although a bit expensive. We got breakfast at their deli most mornings and found their breakfast buffet was nothing special and a bit overpriced. One thing we found- is not to ask anyone about other local options (like where to buy some snacks for the room or other restaurants). They all acted like there was nothing around but we found some other spots in walking distance. The lounge had live entertainment nightly which we enjoyed. As for the casino, I stopped in to spend a few dollars in the slots. The casino was very small- and a bit confusing because the slots paid vouchers, not money. They had a shuttle to town twice a day which always filled up unless reserved well in advance (the taxi ride was $15 for 4 people - so not too bad) The dive shop was good, but not awesome. They were all very nice, helpful and professional- but I found a couple practices annoying: they would not let us hang out in 20' of water after the dive to explore if we had air left and we had to stay in a group controlled by the first person to reach 1500psi is when we turn back. The real annoying thing is that after the dive when we were floating in a swell (no current) they wanted us to hook up in some strange scuba conga-line by holding someone's first stage. This resulted in kicking and dunking each other and the divemaster's were a bit frustrated when we refused to follow the request. Most frustrating is that we did not do any of the dives up north, which from my research and from local knowledge are the better dive sites. No Mushroom Forest, no Watamula, etc.-very disappointing. One nice thing they did do is stop to let a bunch of us jump off on the way back from a dive to swim the reef back in.

Jeff

The Marriott was good: we got upgraded to two ocean front rooms near the dive shop. The $50/day per room credit was terrific. The restaurants served excellent to OK food, but very slow service. Marriott staff was very helpful. The dive operation was OK, but rigid: everyone on the surface until the DM was in the water and signaled OK to dive, 45 minute max dive time, no matter how much air was left. OK DM's. Also, dive package was only for the two morning dives each day; no substitution for an afternoon dive. You should warn others about this. Every day they picked up divers at the Hilton dock since there are only two dive operations left on Curacao. The trip to Mushroom Forest was great, since it was on their boat: took one hour each way. Wreck dive to the Superior Producer was good, but it may be removed soon for another cruise ship mooring.

Donna

We had a WONDERFUL vacation, and really enjoyed the trip. Lots of diving, boat trips, sightseeing and relaxing. Stayed at the Marriott, and while the rooms are not sensational, the rest of the hotel complex and beach area is lovely, and the staff was very attentive to our needs.