The Royal Sea Aquarium Resort Reviews & Ratings

I have owned at the Royal Sea Aquarium for 20 years. Excellent resort; small, quiet, and intimate; superb location. The world famous Mambo Beach is just across the lagoon from the resort. Excellent restaurants and shopping dot the Mambo Beach avenue. Rent a car and explore the island. From Jan Thiel in the south, to Willemstad in the middle, to Westpunt in the north, there is so much to experience on this wonderful Dutch island.

Beautiful, small, friendly resort with its own small beach and adjacent to Mambo Beach and the Dolphin Academy. There are a wide variety of shops, bars and restaurants along Mambo beach within close walking distance. The staff treats everyone like family.

My favorite place to travel. The people are friendly and always helpful and the island is beautiful and part of the Netherland Antilles. It is the island next to Aruba but larger and less populated. The resort shares a small separate island with the Curacao Sea Aquarium. Always the option to do something or do absolutely nothing!

Lovely Vacation resort especially relevant to scuba and snorkeling fans with a full-service dive center and the Curacao Sea Aquarium right next door. Selling as we are getting older and one of us can no longer dive safely due to health reasons. Otherwise we love this place. Not looking to make much money off the sale since we have had many wonderful years here until recently, but need to cover expenses and this year's maintenance, which we will pay. Reasonable offers fully considered.

We have owned here since 2006 mainly for the grands. Grands have gotten older now, doing their own thing. Good resort for family, Safe!! Aquarium next to Resort. Free Admission. Transportation to shopping for groceries and, trips downtown to Punda.

Beautiful small resort in Curaçao. Pool and beach.

Wonderful location with snorkeling and diving on site. Beach on site facing lagoon. Walk to many restaurants. Shuttle to town and grocery. Exceptional staff. Rooms, suites, villas continually updated and have everything you need. Several pools and hot tub. Exercise classes in pool. Breakfast on site. Small resort. Well cared for.

I have stayed at many timeshares over the years but this was definitely my favorite. I loved watching the Sea Lions being fed while I sipped my morning coffee on my balcony and walking over to the Sea Aquarium at any point in the day to see a show or exhibit. The resort was very comfortable with lots of activities and friendly staff. The unit was very clean and comfortable. The island was laid back and breath-taking and much cheaper than Aruba. I can't wait to go back!

We have owned at the Sea Aquarium since 2004 and just came back from our 4th visit. We have two other timeshares that we think are great, one in the Turks (Alexandra) and one in Cabo San Lucas (Pueblo Bonito Rose).

The 32 unit resort is fabulous. Small, quiet, but always with nice visitors we've found. The rooms are on par with the several other Royals we've visited. Can't beat the Dolphin Academy next door, with shows viewable from the B Building balconies and A101, A201 and A301 (ours). Across the bridge walk (on the way in/out) is the Ocean Encounters PADI Dive Shop - first class (see previous post). They have numerous sites and you can just shore dive from the resort. Snorkelers can enjoy the reef right at the resort.

Best pricey restaurants for us have been Fort Nassau and the Bistro de Clochard. Excellent less expensive places are numerous. For a hoot and a good meal on the Westpundt, try the local landmark "Janchies", and a new resort there, the Kura Hulanda, has three restaurants which we found excellent.

To explore the island we recommend a rental car which offer pretty good rates for the islands. Recommend you compare - this time Budget had the best deal and we had a nice new car. The caves, Mount Christoffel Park, and views from the Westpundt are popular. For a sail outing try the Insulinde (Captain Phil and Laara) or the Bounty for neat excursions.

Owners and interested parties can also check out a Yahoo Interest Group just starting at http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/seaaquarium

Anyone can view or post-just need a free yahoo account.

Bon Bini!

We just returned from our second year at the Sea Aquarium. We really enjoyed the special Thanksgiving dinner at the resort's restaurant and the great people that we met this year! Our view of the aquarium from our 3rd floor penthouse (A301) is spectacular, in fact we bought two more weeks to have three consecutive November weeks. The resort is wonderful and the quaintness of it makes it very special. The weather was hot and the water was nice and cool. My teenage daughter actually enjoyed herself as well, and you must know how diffucult that is. Had some trouble with the A/C but maintenance took care of it immediately. The villas are large and kept very clean. The oceanview is absolutely the best especially when the cruise ships come by! The mattress was a bit too soft for me for I could sleep on bricks. What a great way to spend the holiday!! I can't wait until next November to visit again!

The Sea Aquarium Resort is a very nice, clean, small and beautiful resort on its own small little island. It is beautifully situated if you are interested in relaxing, diving, or your family is interested in animals.

We are Marriott owners, and this is the second Royal Resort we have traded to. Although much smaller than in Mexico the same quality appointments and staffing are evident.

The only “constructive” comments I would make regarding the resort is that our master bedroom mattress was very very firm. (A bit too firm and uncomfortable for my wife.) Also, there was only one washer and dryer for the whole resort.

I'm also a diver, and on this trip my 10 year old daughter and my 13 year old son obtain their PADI Open water Certification through Ocean Encounters. I can't make enough positive comments regarding Ocean Encounters. It is a family run operation that is top notch from… top to bottom. (No pun intended) It is right across the causeway from the resort. If you or someone in your family are looking to get certified, you might ask for Sherman. He is very experienced, very patient, and in short... very good. Although getting certified is not easy (especially for kids) he made the whole experience fun and enjoyable.

My daughter is an animal lover. The Sea Aquarium next door was just fabulous. After reading the Red Week reviews, I had requested a room overlooking the dolphin pens. It was much better than I could have imagined. My daughter watched the dolphin show every day during lunch from our balcony. The room you want is B304. It overlooks both the dolphin pens and the ocean. She was in heaven.

As a hotel guest you get free admission to the Sea Aquarium. It is certainly not to the level of a US Aquarium, but still very nice. Look for the program guide at the entrance to the Aquarium. It will list every feeding, training, demonstration, and show that takes place all day every day. We also chose to purchase a Sea Lion snorkel for $69 and a dolphin swim for $149. Both were great!!!

The Sea Lion snorkel includes a training encounter where my kids met a new friend… Sarah (the sea lion). The dolphin swim also is more than just a swim, and they learned dolphin anatomy as well as certain training commands… which they used with Bonnie and Teresa. The professional pictures they took... as you can imagine... were simply spectacular. (and as expected lightened my wallet considerably.)

We like to eat out when we travel so we tried several restaurants. Prices were not as bad as I was expecting… even though the exchange rate was not favorable. I was dropping $110 to $150 for 4 including drinks. The Blue Ocean is the resorts restaurant… and it is ok… we ate there twice. Hemmingway’s is very close just across the causeway and was also ok. We very much enjoyed Kontiki Beach which is about a 10 minute walk down the beach. It is private table interspersed in a tropical garden. Very nice atmosphere and the food was very good as well. Our favorite restaurant this trip was The Rib Factory. It is a small local restaurant about 15minnutes from the resort. It is a very small place but they do have some really good ribs with three very good homemade rib sauces… I had to try all three. If you like spice like I do, then you might try the “hot”. In the room their was also a restaurant guide called the Big Red Restaurant Guide which as very good when coupled with the recommendations form the folks at Ocean Encounters.

All in all, my family considers this trip to be one of the best we have gone on. Without reservation, we can recommend the Royal Sea Aquarium resort.

I am an owner and have stayed at the Sea Aquarium 5 times and LOVE it! This is one of the best resorts in the Caribbean. There is great snorkeling available right from the resort--a healthy reef and a fantastic variety of fish (I teach tropical ecology and oceanography at a university and have surveyed reefs all around the Caribbean). Programs and activities at the Sea Aquarium are educational and a lot of fun. My husband (also a university biology professor) and I never tire of watching the animals. We especially enjoy watching the trainers take the dolphins for a swim each morning in the open ocean right outside our unit. The island is fun to explore and driving is totally safe. If you can trade into this resort, do it! There is something for everyone to enjoy.

Incredible place to go. Just returned (3/26/05) Our family of 6 had an awesome time. Swam with the Dolphins, petted the Sea Lions, Scuba Diving, hanging out at the Beach under the coconut palms, Hair Braided. We enjoyed not only the place but the entire staff was superb. Casino nearby at Breezes was fun too. The Resort building is new and well maintained with 2 pools, hot tub, kiddie pool. The breeze was pleasant and the beaches nice and clean. Very secure environment. Visited in town to Punda and Otrabanda where the cruise ships come in on Wed and Fri., street vendors were nice. There is a floating bridge which moves to allow the ships into the harbor area. When the bridge is opened you can cross from one shopping area to the other. Dining out was not what it is in America but not bad. Stick to the major hotels (Marriot, Hilton, etc) and you'll be fine, most places don't open til 7pm. All serve the cuisine of the Island which I personally thought was good but others in my party commented differently. A strong Dutch influence is appearant.

At the Resort, the little restaurant was reasonable with the proprietor there to help out and cook. He was attentive to the needs of the guests. He makes an incredible Pasta Putinesca upon request. You can ask him to make you an Italian dish and he'll do his best to serve you. On the Island, your American coins have no value to them, they want your dollars. Your change back from your purchase is in their coin. At the time of our visit, their 1 Florin was equal to about 56 cents. The Casinos and larger hotels will deal in either currency. Overall excellent visit with a laid back way. If you want a faster pace with a greater variety of choices, you'll need to go to Aruba, Curaco is very relaxed and stress free. It's the best place to go to just kick back and unwind.

Excellent accomidations and part of the Royal Resort group with exchange into other resorts. Interval International 5 star rateing. Still in early phase of development. Quite cozy with ocean front views that are beautiful. The staff is the best, most helpful and attentive that I have ever come in contact with.

The resort is next to the Curacao Sea Aquariumwhich has unlimited opportunities included with the accomidations to play and swim with the daulphins and view various sea life.. For those who like to Scuba or snorkel that this place is the best is well known.

There is a beautiful beach just adjacent to the property protected by a natural sea wall. Unique restruants and shops abound in one of the most interesting and colorful countries in the Carribean.

We have been owners at this resort since 2003. We have had the privilege of vacationing here almost every year since then. We have raised our children, bringing them here, and we all love it.

This resort is ideal for families and for adults without children. There are multiple pools to relax by and the private beach next to the lagoon is perfect for reading a book, taking a nap, or swimming.

The shopping center and other restaurants and hotels across the lagoon are great to visit for drinks, dinner, or dancing.

I would stay here more often than two weeks per year if I could.

Property is on top floor with amazing view of the Ocean. There is elevator on site. Located with free access to aquarium with all its shows and activities

This a small resort with updated suites and excellent customer service. It is well located and close to shopping and restaurants, not to mention the Royal Sea Aquarium. I highly recommend it.

great intimate resort with private beach, restaurant and access to the Sea Aquarium. Excellent staff and service.