We had an unexpected extra night in Aruba and ended up at the Marriott Hotel Resort and Stellaris Casino. This was due to a flight cancellation, and we arrived late in the evening and left early in the morning so did not experience much of the resort.
The Marriott is considered one of the finest hotels on the island and is located on Palm Beach on the west of the island and North of the Westin where we had stayed (see here). Access from the front is level and there is no problem moving around the large lobby.
The Room
We were assigned a handicapped adapted room with two queen beds. The room was reasonably sized, with a large balcony and a partial ocean view. Once we had added a crib into the room, moving around in the chair became tricky - there was just too much furniture. The Queen bed was slightly higher than the wheelchair cushion but presented no real difficulty in transfer. The work desk was easy to sit at and had a panel within easy reach for power, network, and connections to the TV monitor if you wanted to use that for your computer. You need to supply the necessary cables yourself, but this is a nice touch as it allows you to play DVDs on your computer or whatever.
The bathroom was a comfortable size with knee space under the sink. The toilet seemed to be lightly raised compared to a normal toilet and grab rails were well positioned. Towels were hung on the grab rails within easy reach of a wheelie. Our room had an awkwardly designed roll-in shower. It was located in a walled cubby hole off the main bathroom. The shower hose is a hand-held with wall-mounted rail at the correct height. There was a fold up sturdy wooden shower seat permanently attached to the wall. The shower controls were easy to reach from the seat. Getting on to the seat could be a bit of a challenge though, as it is impossible to get your chair to 90 degrees to it. However, I was able to angle my chair up beside it at 45 degrees or so and slide onto the seat. Not the easiest transfer. There is nowhere in the shower to place shampoo and soap and so on.
Other Notes
The pool area has many steps and in a very brief reconassaince I could not see how to access it. We ate breakfast in the restaurant by the pool which is accessible, although the ramp is located a long way from the door and I wheeled right past it without noticing. Toilets by the pool were accessible and had a handicapped cubicle.
We were at the Marriott for such a short time, and under such stressful conditions, that I did not have time to research any other aspects of the resort.
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