The Royal Sea Aquarium Resort

Great little hotel close to Mambo Beach in Curacao! There's a small private beach attached to the hotel with sun loungers, and this beach was great! Calm and clean, with enough space to actually swim in the water. There's not that many loungers in the shade though so you might end up sitting in the sun if you're there too late. The pool area is also nice, there's two large pools and plenty of sun loungers as well. As for the room, we found it up to standard; the beds were very comfortable and the AC in the bedroom was very good. There's also a microwave, coffee maker, and a small fridge in the room. The hotel premises felt safe and clean to walk around in, so no issues there, overall the area was pretty quiet and calm at night time too (but this might be different during tourist peak season on the island). The restaurant located by the hotel (called Olas y Copas) had great food! We had breakfast there and chose to eat dinner there a few nights as well, and everything was delicious! One favorite thing about this hotel is that there is a shuttle offered from the hotel to a supermarket everyday, as well as a shuttle to downtown Willemsted on weekdays. Some days there was also an extra shuttle to go to various tourist attractions (such as Jan Thiel beach and the Chobolobo distillery). This was super-convenient and we used the shuttle a lot, so that was very good! Otherwise, the hotel is walking distance (15 min-ish) from Mambo Beach with shops, restaurants, and beach clubs, which is also pretty useful, as well as next door to the Aquarium if you want to go there for an afternoon! In conclusion, a pretty good hotel for people who want to swim but also take time to see things around the area and the town!

There were a few things that we were a bit disappointed in; firstly, the breakfast offered through the restaurant is not a buffet, but you get to select from a menu of dishes, which is fine, however only one beverage was included so you could choose between coffee or juice, but not both (you'd have to pay extra). And then it was only one small cup of coffee included, and if you wanted another, you'd have to pay extra, which we found a bit greedy. In the room, the AC doesn't quite reach the bathroom and hallway area, which the hotel has solved by putting a smaller dehumidifier in that space. This is fine, but it meant we had to empty out the water from it by ourselves twice a day, and still this space in the apartment wasn't as fresh and cold as the main bedroom. Again, I do think that this is slightly below the standard of a hotel claiming to be top notch, considering what we pay for a room there. Also, the suites in the hotel are timeshare pieces, and at check-in we were informed that we might have to switch rooms if needed due to this, and we weren't too happy with this either, which is information that should be given a lot earlier before booking. Finally, the most disappointing thing was regarding late check-out. We asked for late check-out about three days before departure, and staff was terrible at communicating with us regarding this, and we had to wait until literally a couple of hours before checking out to be told they could accommodate us with only an extra hour (after we had chased them asking for updates and being nonchalantly told they didn't know yet). Here, better communication and a more helpful attitude from staff would've been better when dealing with a request for late check-out.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Royal Sea Aquarium Resort. We arrived in the evening, and the check-in was excellent. Even though there was only one staff member available at the time, she was extremely kind and attentive. She personally accompanied us to our room, showed us everything, and gave us all the information we needed. The resort is quite large, but our room was spacious, beautiful and very comfortable. The air conditioning was already on when we arrived, and everything we needed was available. The following day, because of my leg problems, I asked if it would be possible to change rooms, as there were quite a lot of stairs and distances to walk, even with the elevator. The staff were incredibly understanding and helpful. They arranged a room for us on the ground floor, with the same excellent standard as our original room. What we appreciated most was the way they welcomed us and, especially, how they handled our situation with such kindness and understanding. We truly felt cared for and supported. Thank you for making our stay so comfortable and special. We would definitely be happy to stay here again!

The breakfast could be better.

We really enjoyed relaxing by the swimming pool. The beach was a bonus! The resort is very close to numerous restaurants which we didn't realise until our 2nd day there. We visited Willemstad and Jahn Thiel beach as well as the supermarket with the resort's transport.

The accommodation was spotlessly clean but perhaps a little dated and showing signs of wear and tear. The towels that we had for the beach were threadbare.

Room size and location.

THERE IS NO GYM IN THE HOTEL. You can buy a weekly pass for 70 USD. The gym is 5 min walking distance. Based on the pictures I thought the gym was in the hotel !!! Front desk did not give us full details during our check in, we were not informed of shuttles, etc. It is not worth getting the breakfast option with the room. It is a menu anyways at the hotel restaurant.