Scuba Diving Vacation at the Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort

We were happy to get away for a week of diving in Curaçao, where we stayed at the Marriott Beach Resort. While not a dive resort as such, the Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort does have an on-site dive shop and is well located to hit the popular dive sites.

For sure, dive resorts like Buddy Dive in Bonaire, Anthony’s Key in Roatan or Compass Point in Grand Cayman’s East End really cater to divers and know what divers need. There are ample hooks and plugs and often a kitchen and even a washer and dryer.

The Marriott is more of a beach resort than all that and while it was very comfortable and the room amenities were great, we did have to get creative to find places to hang our gear to dry and charge all our batteries between dives. Good thing we brought our multi-plug adaptor.

That said, the Marriott Beach Resort is a wonderful property and centrally located close to Willemstad and the airport. With two pools (one for adults only), three restaurants, two bars, a full gym and spa it’s really a five-star high-end hotel experience.

There are also benefits such as cancellation a couple of days prior if things don’t work out (quite practical in this day of ever changing covid rules).

Scuba diving and dive shop

On the property you’ll find Goby Divers the local dive shop. They are literally on the beach in front of the resort. You can get tanks for diving the local house reef or buy boat dives and guided shore dives.

They have a great formula for the shore dives where they bring you out in their van to the various sites on the island. We were intent on doing the Tugboat site (we heard there were frogfish!) and sure enough, their guide came along and even spotted one next to the tugboat! Very cool.

The crew at this small shop were great, and while they didn’t always have enough divers to take out the boat, there was always good diving to be done. See our write-up on Curaçao diving to learn more about the sites we did in our post: Diving the Clear Waters of Curaçao

More about the Marriott

A five-star resort experience not specifically catered to divers but a formula that can work well for a high-end luxury dive holiday. Also great for those with non-diver friends and family that want a good beach and on-site amenities.

Location

Close enough to town the Marriott is centrally located making it about an hour’s drive to the easternmost and westernmost spots on the island. The location is good to explore the islands dive sites and attractions. It is conveniently located near the airport and not far from Willemstad.

Rooms

We were fortunate to have been upgraded to an oceanfront room with a shaded balcony. The top (4th) floor had larger sunny balconies but the sun so close to the equator was brutal and we were glad to have the shade. Beware that we also saw courtyard-facing rooms that literally looked out upon the morning buffet area, so splurge for an upgrade if you can.

We were also close to the dive shop making it an easy walk with our gear. Goby Divers did offer to store our dive gear overnight in their locker but we found it didn’t dry as well as it did in our room. Nice to have dry boots and dry wetsuits for the first dive of the day!

The room was modern and nice. A good sized safe, lots of storage, and even a Nespresso machine. There was an ample sized mini fridge for our post dive drinks and snacks. The bathroom was roomy with a large shower. No bath for rinsing gear but the dive shop had bins and we rinsed at the shop before bringing our gear back to the room. Like a typical high-end hotel with everything you’d need, we even had a 50-inch flat screen television to enjoy movie nights.

For those with non-diver friends or family, the Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort would be a good option as the nice sandy beach and activities desk give non-divers lots of things to do.

The hotel is located right on a private beach and has a large sandy area with great swimming and snorkeling close to shore. Divers just swim out a little further to the drop-off to enjoy the house reef.

Other amenities

The property had free parking and it was nice to have the flexibility of having our own car. We explored the island and got to pick up our snacks at grocery stores and have a few delicious meals outside of the resort.

Being elite and having status got us a free breakfast buffet (usually $30) and access to their lounge for even more free drinks and snacks. You can also get breakfast in the lounge, but the buffet spread was plentiful. We usually made it through to dinner (those post dive snacks don’t count, do they?).

There are two huge pools at the resort. One is made up of all kinds of small, interconnected sections making it seem almost like a bunch of private plunge pools. Very nice and next to the snack bar/grille with ample chairs facing the ocean just a few steps away.

The second pool is an adult only lap pool with an infinity pool at the end. Very nice and a great place to do some laps. Again, the beach is just steps away and there is a shower and foot rinse pool as you come in off the sand. In typical resort-style you can have service across the property with waitrons ready to bring you drinks and snacks on the beach or by the pool.

The beach itself is lovely and sandy. There were plenty of chairs (although I think the property was less than half full) and lots of large umbrellas for shade. You can rent all kinds of water sports equipment from the dive shop.

Multiple restaurants

There was a sushi restaurant that was actually quite good in the lobby area. Despite a fairly limited selection we enjoyed our meal. The same menu also offered international selections like burgers and ribs. We were less impressed, maybe because we did live in Texas for a few years and got to know great BBQ!

Downstairs the breakfast buffet area was transformed into a Caribbean restaurant at night. We enjoyed this menu, and the service was the best.

We didn’t try the poolside grill, but we did see a lot of other guests enjoying the pizzas.

We would also encourage you to get out and try some of the local hot spots for a change. Spread out some of those vacation dollars and get a better sense of the island and what the locals like to eat and do.

Just next door to the Marriott was a popular fish and shrimp spot (De Visserij Piscadera) open only on weekends. It’s so popular there is always a lineup, but it was worth the wait.

The gym

There was also a good-sized gym that was well equipped. Since we were diving every day, we didn’t partake but this looked like a good spot to work off those buffet breakfasts for the non-divers.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that dollar for dollar the Curaçao Marriott Beach Resort would end up costing more than many of the specialized dive resorts that have inclusive packages.

We basically had everything à la carte with a separate car rental, dive package and meals. We have had more economical dive vacations in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Bonaire, and Roatan which included diving and meals and sometimes even a car.

That said you can’t beat the flexibility, the upgrade perks and the five-star experience of the resort. If you can get to stay on points or find a good, discounted rate like we did, you can definitely build a nice dive holiday around a stay here at the Marriott.

What’s also good is that it leaves you open to make arrangements with any of the islands dive operators and lets you have more flexibility in how and where you dive and eat.

We also enjoyed some land activities on Curaçao including the national parks and caves. Read more about our top side activities exploring Curaçao in our post: 5 Land-Based Activities to Do in Curaçao

We had a great time and we’re glad to have had the chance to dive and explore Curaçao. We did some great diving and got to meet some very nice people.