This post is specifically about why you should stay in a timeshare to travel Aruba with kids. I focus on the Marriott Aruba Surf Club because that’s what I have the most experience with, but I think most of it can be extrapolated to timeshare traveling in general.
My husband and I have a now 4.5 year old. We have been taking him to Aruba since he was a year old. Adventure traveling is awesome, but sometimes you just need vacation to be easy.
1. Timeshares have Kitchens
Or kitchenettes if you’re in a Studio (kitchenette has place settings, sink, microwave, mini-fridge, coffee maker)
There are grocery stores near the Surf Club. We like Superfoods. 10 minute car ride.
You can keep snacks, fresh fruit, and things that need to be refrigerated for your kids.
You can buy what they like to eat so you know they won’t starve, especially if they refuse restaurant food or they need to eat earlier than everybody else. We used to scramble up an egg before we went out to dinner, (that was when our son ate eggs). No more cajoling at the restaurant. Eat, don’t eat, we’re in Aruba! We always bring snacks to dinner to keep him occupied so the rest of us can relax.
You can make breakfast and lunch in the room – cheaper, faster, and easier for picky eaters. Who wants to eat 3 meals a day out with a toddler?
2. Timeshares have Bathtubs
There’s a regular size bathtub in the Surf Club Studio or 2nd bedroom and a deep soaker style tub in the 1,2 & 3 Master Bedrooms. Our son loved playing with his cousins & toys in the giant tub. Gotta scrub that sunscreen off every night, right?
3. Timeshares have Laundry
In the room at the Surf Club if you’re in a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom and at the end of the hall if you’re in the Ocean Club. (If you’re sharing a 1 bedroom or beyond, the Studio has access too.)
This helps with packing and you don’t have to worry about the spills and messiness that are definitely coming.
4. Timeshares have a separate bedroom for Naps
If you’re in a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom.
Of course your kid can nap in a hotel room, but then you are stuck in there with him/her being super quiet. In a timeshare, your kid can nap in the bedroom while you putter around the living room or kitchen. All the rooms at the Surf & Ocean Clubs have a balcony, so parents can read a book and/or have drinks in the 80+ degree weather while your bundle of joy is sleeping at naptime and in the evening.
5. Timeshares cater to kids
Depends where it is of course, but the Surf Club certainly does! There’s an activity center for parents & tots & older kids to go by themselves, zero depth pools, a new zero depth pool with spray guns that my son loved. What kid doesn’t like getting other people wet?
It also has a palm tree that dumps buckets of water. He did not love that, but lots of other kids did.
The Surf has a Lazy River that is perfect for little ones who can’t swim yet. Just plop them in a tube and you can just hold on and the current will take both of you…
There is also a super fun waterslide at the Surf Club. My kid went down with my husband maybe a thousand times.
Do you have anything to add about traveling Aruba with kids?