Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino

This is my review for the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino. My wife and I stayed at this property from 10-June-2026 through 13-June-2026 with our two daughters, ages 17 and 18. Although we stayed in The Westerly building, this particular review is being done for the areas outside of that building, which are part of the Hilton Aruba. As such, it’s more appropriate to address my thoughts on the resort overall separately from that of The Westerly. I did a separate review for The Westerly. Now for the review…. As in my previous reviews, I am going to start my review by talking about what is important to me - the pool cabanas and craft beers/IPAs. - Beer Let's start with the beer. There are no craft beers or IPAs available, not even session IPAs, on this property. This Hilton is 100% lacking in quality beer, whether it be on tap, in a bottle, or in a can. As expected, they carry the Balashi beers. They also had Bud Light, Coors, Heineken, Miller Lite, Corona, Michelob Ultra and Modelo. However, if you prefer a quality brew to enjoy on vacation, you will need to swing by Super Food or one of the other local markets and stock up. The absence of a quality IPA is surprising to me, especially given the fact that there was empty space in some of the coolers in Tradewinds. Perfect spot, kid!!! I was told by one of the cabana attendants that they used to stock some Coronado IPAs, but they weren’t selling. Considering the large number of rooms at this Hilton property (the Hilton advertises 358 guestrooms, while The Westerly has another 161, putting the total at over 500 rooms), I find it hard to believe there is not enough of a demand for quality beer, such that stocking it could possibly be considered a waste of already-empty cooler space. - Pool Cabanas Because the sun is ridiculously strong in Aruba, just as it is in most places where we would be vacationing, our family prefers to have guaranteed shade, or at least a better chance of having a shady place to relax. Having never been to this property previously, I didn’t really know much about the cabanas at the Hilton. In addition, there was very little information online regarding the cabanas and, it seems, that none of the reviews of the Hilton Aruba Caribbean Resort & Casino specifically talked about what the cabana includes. Further, I couldn’t find any videos on YouTube that showed very much about the cabanas, other than quick glances at them as the person did a quick walkthrough of the pool areas. - Booking Cabanas, Palapas and other seating The standard way that Hilton guests typically book cabanas, palapas and other premium pool/beach seating, would be by going to the Hilton Aruba Beach Services website (accurate as of June 2026) and doing this online prior to your stay. Sure, you can always wing it and try to book your seating after you have arrived on property, but booking in advance, especially if you’re trying to book a cabana or premium beach seating during the peak season, would likely need to be done ahead of time. On the Hilton Aruba Beach Services website there currently seem to be three different booking windows, for the different seating options offered. One of the prior Questions and Answers on Tripadvisor, said that the pool cabanas and palapas could be booked “several months in advance by logging onto the Hilton Aruba beach services site.” The timing of that question-and-answer on TA shows “over a year ago”. That information is not consistent with my current research. The only seating that you can book well in advance (2 months prior to use) seems to be the Power Beach Lounging Experience (basically a palapa with a power outlet) and the Handicap-Accessible Beach Lounging Experience. The next group includes the Standard Beach Seating and Services, the Oceanfront Beach Lounging Experience, the Ocean view Beach Lounging Experience and the Partial Ocean view Beach Lounging Experience; all of which are palapas on the beach. In addition, this group contains the Pool Palapas. Those are available to book at 12 AM, 15 days in advance. The final group includes only the Pool Cabanas. Those are available to book 14 days prior to use. NOTE: If you login at midnight and see that the seating that you are trying to book is already taken, guests of The Westerly have priority access and can book through The Westerly concierge 21 days prior. - Pools, Layout of the Pools and Cabanas The North Pool and the South Pool are both zero entry pools. The South Pool has a few areas where there are alternate entry points, with steps along the sides and a small step-down area at the end of the South Pool over by The Westerly. The North Pool has similar entry steps at the north end of it, over by the Shore Club, and a ladder-type access on each side of that pool. Both of the pools were warm, clean and were probably in the lower to mid-80°F range. Both pools are open from 6 AM to 10 PM daily. That’s huge! We had been staying somewhere else where the pools had much more limited hours. That said, the cabanas are open from 9 AM until 5:30 PM, but nobody bothered us when we either showed up early to our cabana or stayed a little bit late in our cabana. The North Pool, which I had read in other reviews and now personally observed, seems to be the livelier pool with a lot more younger kids. That pool has 11 cabanas; 8 (A-H) on the side of the pool closest to the Hilton buildings and another 3 (I-K) on the beach-side of the North Pool. There are 3 additional cabanas (L, M and N) which are kind of tucked away in, what seemed to be, a more private area on the beach-side of the South Pool. These are not directly at the pool; rather, there is some foliage and a little pathway in between those three cabanas and the pool. I saw this area get roped off for a private event on one afternoon. The South Pool, which was the more serene pool, has another 10 cabanas surrounding it. On the beach-side of the South Pool there are 6 cabanas in two groups. There is a group of 4 adjacent cabanas (O-R) and another group of 2 cabanas (S & T). On the hotel-side of the South Pool, there are 4 additional cabanas arranged into 2 groups of 2, with cabanas U & V being closest to The Westerly and cabanas W & X being just slightly further away from The Westerly. I posted a video on YouTube showing what the shade situation was in some of these just before 10am. Just search for, “The Hilton - Westerly Aruba South Pool Cabana Walkthrough”. Oddity: As of 22-June-2026, the maps on both the Hilton Aruba Beach Services and Resort Map on the Aruba Hilton’s website, still show an active area of construction/closed pool just south of the footbridge that crosses the South Pool. It’s odd that they haven’t updated that picture to show the entire South Pool, including cabanas S-X, especially given the well-expressed online concerns, which pretty much everyone considering this resort has had over the last 1+year, regarding construction. Even the Westerly concierge shared a similar photo with me, in an email prior to our arrival, showing construction over the South Pool. When I received that pic, I had to ask for clarification as to whether South Pool was actually fully open or not. They confirmed, and I can confirm as well, that the South Pool is fully open. It's strange to me that updated information regarding The Westerly's construction, its impact on the rest of the Hilton property, and the opening status of the South Pool was so difficult to obtain from official sources. Oddity: In May of 2026, when I was trying to figure out the cabana situation at this resort, Pool Cabanas (S, T, U, V, W and X) were consistently only available to book one day prior to their day of usage, whereas all of the other cabanas could have been booked, as I stated previously, 14 days prior to their use. Coincidentally, those particular cabanas are the ones which are closest to The Westerly and were all in those same areas shown as still being under construction on the resort maps. With no explanation for the different booking timeframes online, I reached out to the Westerly concierge team for clarity and was told that they were currently unavailable for booking because the property had been hosting an event and those cabanas had been reserved for that purpose. In our case, we are trying to book a pool cabana as close to The Westerly building as possible because of my wife’s recent knee surgery and her difficulties ambulating. Although not initially available to us, the concierge was able to book Cabana V for us for the duration of our stay. - Cabana Amenities All of the pool cabanas are pretty much identical. They all include a round cooler-type table stocked with ice and water, chair towel coverings, two chaise lounge chairs inside the cabana, and two additional sitting chairs positioned at the foot of the lounge chairs. While walking through the 2 pool areas, the only difference we noticed is that the cooler-type table was slightly different at a couple of the cabanas at the North Pool. Each day, our cabana was already stocked with water and ice in the cooler. As we arrived, we would put our outside drinks, beers and food in them. The cabanas all have the same fabric-type of shade system. Although these are adjustable, using the spring-loaded rods that anchor the fabric location on the right and left-hand sides, they seem to already be set up for optimum shade based on the particular cabana’s location. As such, there is no need to adjust that fabric. The Beach Services stock photo of the cabana shows the shade as being evenly positioned over the top and sides of the cabana. Ours was set so that our fabric shade was skewed towards the north side. We never had to move that at all. The cabanas all have a wooden-slatted back that allows for a really good balance of shade while still allowing for good circulatory flow of the island’s balmy breezes. In addition, they all have a metal desk-type piece of furniture that has an additional storage area with a closing door underneath it. Ours had extra towels in that storage area, but there was enough room for us to store some personal items in there that we preferred to have out of sight. The cabinet doesn’t lock but, frankly, we didn’t see any reason that there would be a need for a locking area on that, as the resort is really safe itself. None of the cabanas, at least that I saw, had power outlets. At some point during the day, one of the cabana attendants comes over and gives you a snack. During the three days that we were in the cabana, the food/snack we were given was 1) oatmeal raisin cookies 2) fresh-cut pineapple cups and finally 3) fresh-cut watermelon cups. On the Beach Services website, it clearly states, “Amenities are provided for 2 persons”, but there were 4 of us and we were always given 4 of everything. - Arriving at the Cabanas After checking into the hotel, but not into our room as we had arrived at the property at 9 AM, we simply checked our luggage with the Bellman and walked down to our cabana. Everything had already been set up by the attendants. The chaise lounges and the small pillows on them were already covered with towels. There were extra towels already on top of the storage desk and there were even more extra towels inside of the storage cabinet. In addition, and at the request of our concierge, 2 extra chaise lounge chairs had been pulled over and placed in front of our cabana because there were 4 of us. Those 2 extra lounges had the same towel coverings on them as well. That was an extra nice touch on the part of the concierge and cabana attendants. A resort staff member approached us, at some point after we began using the cabana, to make sure that we had checked in at the main Towel Hut. I had not, and didn’t know that was something I should have done, so I went over and spoke with the staff there. Basically, they just wanted to confirm who I was, get my room number and have me sign into the cabana. This is something I only had to do on the first day and did not have to do on subsequent days. Nice Touch - in addition to asking for my name and room number, the woman at the towel hut was interested in my Hilton Honors status, I believe so that they could apply any available discounts to the cabana rental. I did not have any, but I appreciated their attention to that. The cabana rentals automatically have an additional 15% service charge on top of the rental fee. As frequent travelers to Aruba are aware, the service charges are split evenly among the workers, not just the ones who are attending to you. Not having been informed of that additional service charge and only finding out later, I now realize that I over-tipped the cabana attendants. Although worse things have happened, it would’ve been nice to know that ahead of time. There are no cabanas, or other seating, that are specifically reserved for guests of The Westerly. But there is a difference in all of the pool lounge chairs beginning immediately on The Westerly side of the footbridge that crosses the South Pool, whereby the lounge chairs south of that bridge, I’m talking about the ones outside of the cabanas, all have the same extra plush cushions as the ones inside all of the cabanas. The pool lounge chairs along the North Pool and along the part of the South Pool that is north of the footbridge do NOT have those cushions. I covered that in one of my vids. On our final day, our cabana’s cooler had ice and water bottles in it, but the cabana had not been fully set up as it had on the prior days. I’m not sure what happened on that day. I went over to the towel hut and requested some towels for our use. We then used the extra towels that had been in the storage cabinet in our cabana to cover the cushions on the chaise lounges, but we were never able to get the towels set up as well as the attendants had on the previous days. Unfortunately, I failed to pay attention to how those towels had been arranged/tucked in (and didn’t think to look at the videos I had already taken), so our towels just kind of blew around that day. That said, the two gentlemen, who were the cabana attendants in the time that we were there, were working tirelessly from right around 6am until well into the afternoon. I got a good chance to watch them from our balcony at The Westerly while I enjoyed my morning espresso. Those guys were constantly setting up cabanas, cleaning, power washing the fabric coverings on the cabanas, power washing the pool decks, power washing the cushions and pool furniture, setting up umbrellas and filling cabana coolers with ice and water. Those guys were busy all day. - Beach and Ocean Prior to our arrival at The Westerly, we had been staying at another resort on Palm Beach, a resort which claims, like most of the hotels/resorts down there, to have the “best beach in Aruba”. I had previously done a review of that resort, so I’m not going to name it here. If you’re interested, you can just look in my profile. The ocean quality at The Hilton property was noticeably better than what I had experienced previously in the Palm Beach area of Aruba. The ocean floor has a sandy bottom and there is no disgusting mud-like, lake bottom grossness which I personally observed at other resorts just north of here on Palm Beach. There is a little bit of seagrass in a tiny bit of seaweed as you venture out deeper towards the outer part of the swim area, near the buoys that demarcate the boating area from the swim area, but the water is crystal clear and doesn’t smell bad. I was able to get some nice underwater videos of fish and some videos that showed how unbelievably great the beach/ocean is in front of the Hilton. - Next Level Cleanliness I think it has to be mentioned how pristine this resort was everywhere. I could not believe the amount of people at this resort who were cleaning constantly. There was no debris anywhere on the resort. The pools were immaculate. The grounds amazing. The crew at the Hilton strives for Disney-level cleanliness and they probably are even exceeding that. Absolutely amazing how clean this place was. - Restaurants & Shops -- Shore Club – We had lunch one day at the Shore Club. The service was fantastic. The staff were all smiles. The drinks were amazing. The food and drinks were great. This place is pretty expensive, but it had such a great vibe and was so incredibly convenient that I wish we had eaten here more. Check out the pictures of the burger, tacos, spring rolls, salad and desserts associated with this review. You must try this place! -- Sunset Bar – We had a light dinner here on the evening before our departure. Food was good. We didn’t have drinks that evening because we were traveling the next day. We sat at a high top near the bar. The warm breezes coming through here were absolutely amazing. It was a great endcap to our trip. That said, this place has a very odd high-top table set up. There is no way on earth that the chairs and the tables were ordered together. I’m over 6 feet tall. When I was sitting at a high-top table, the level of the table is right around the middle of my chest. Either the chairs are way too short or the table is way too tall. It was actually kind of comical for the kids and my wife. The table was up by their upper chest areas. Had that been done at the bar, at least they could claim that it had been done intentionally, just because they ‘set the bar really high’ at this property. That would be funny. -Oscar’s Market They sell soda, soft drinks, seltzers, waters, wine, champagne and beer. Noticeably missing, at least for me, they don’t have any IPAs or craft beer. That was so disappointing for me. Not offering good beer, even in a can or bottle form, forces people who actually want to drink a decent beer to buy it off campus. Pretty much every other hotel in that area at least had a selection of one or two IPAs in their stores, usually the ones from Coronado brewing in San Diego, but anything would’ve sufficed. I spoke to someone who said that the IPAs weren’t selling, so they stopped carrying them. I’m sure they’re still carrying a lot of stuff that doesn’t sell great, but that’s a huge oversight. That forced me to go to Uni Casa Supermarket, up at the Rotary, and back over to Super Food when I needed to restock my supply. Oscar’s has snacks, sandwiches, chips, salads, baked goods, coffee, etc. The big thing here, at least for my kids, was the gelato. They have a pretty good offering of flavors and my girls said it was delicious. -Tradewinds This store was great! If you forgot something for your trip, they had it. They had a slightly bigger selection of beers than Oscar’s, but still no IPAs or anything I would drink. They had liquor, a bigger wine selection, sunglasses, sunscreen, all high-end stuff. Great store and really attentive staff. -Beach Bites We did not utilize the Beach Bites service from our cabana. That said, the people in the chairs near us did use it. Their food looked great. I saw the pool and beach servers walking around checking on everybody, including us, several times throughout the day. They were all over the place. They were down on the beach taking excellent care of the people in the palapas. If you’re coming to this resort, have no fear, you will be taken care of.

Overall good experience but they keep raising resort fees. Also the cab drivers keep playing games with fees. We’ve been coming here for years and it’s always $35 from airport. We were just here in December and still $35. One the way to hotel $41 and that was the long way. On the way back it was $45 which is ridiculous. The didn’t want to argue at the moment but I can’t stand when can drivers take advantage to f people. Do better.

Clean, spacious, quiet rooms. Impeccable service. Club reservations a must! Breakfast spread extensive and yummy. Midday offers snacks that sub for a light meal. Happy hour also has snacks. Drinks are okay - wine/beer better option. Spa is delightful. Rent a palapa for best beach experience - recommend first or second row.

Beware: Serious Health Hazard I contracted Salmonella at this hotel and was hospitalized for three days upon returning to the United States, suffering acute kidney failure due to severe dehydration. Despite the severity of my illness, management denied all knowledge and accepted zero responsibility. They couldn’t care less about the health and safety of their guests. Third world treatment. Avoid this contaminated hotel.

Wonderful stay, got special service every morning with a big smile from Lilliana at Laguna restaurant. She makes the morning even brighter at a pretty spectacular place.