blū - 15109

The clubhouse amenities were great, with a nice warm pool and super friendly people. The Airbnb is close to the beach but still felt private and secluded. Fantastic stay!

We really liked the house, Salty and Sweet. It was comfortable, clean, had plenty of beds, and the bathrooms were clean with good water pressure. I wish we'd known there were no potholders, since we hadn't brought any. The pool areas need more attention. They're open around the clock, which leaves 15 hours without an employee on shift. That might give families freedom, but the area gets dirty fast. I saw empty beer cans and other debris, plus bugs and bird poop floating in the water. I never saw the filtration running. I asked an employee for a skimmer so I could clear the pool myself, but they didn't have one. Pools are a big draw for families, and we want our kids swimming in clean water. The bird house by the slides was disgusting. Kids have to walk through a lot of bird poop to get to the slides, and we saw birds deliberately poop into the pool. There were lots of pigeons and droppings in the pool by the business center too. I hear management knows and is looking into fixes, but it's a serious issue. A ping pong table would be a good addition. The pickleball court is cool, but it's very hot in summer and there's no fence, so the ball often rolls away. Having both would be nice.

We love the location at Aruba Bay and the Whalecome Inn unit feels like home. Its furnishings and household supplies are just right. We've stayed there for three years, but the public areas and amenities really disappointed us this time. The first year, they had organized s'mores and dock fishing activities that our kids looked forward to when we returned the next year, but those activities had stopped. The slide pool is too small for the property and badly overcrowded, possibly with people who aren't guests. We usually went to the smaller pool to get away from the crowd, profanity, and loud music. This year both pools were dirty, with hairballs and other things floating in them. The waterline tile was extremely grimy, like it hadn't been cleaned in months. Beach sunscreen may make cleaning difficult, but it hasn't looked this way in past years. My kids were so grossed out that we left. The birds nesting in the slides are an even worse problem now. There was bird poop all over the area and on top of the slides, exposing guests to diseases birds can carry. Some limestone bricks were missing from the slide pillars, with lots of mold or algae growing on them. The pool bathroom smelled so strongly of urine that we couldn't use it and had to go back to the unit. We may not return to Aruba Bay or another Padre Escapes property. It feels like standards for rule enforcement and maintenance have gone downhill.

The views were good, it's close to the beach, and my kids enjoyed the kid-friendly pool. There's also a deck for fishing. But the pool isn't big enough for a complex this size, especially with non-guests using it and parties making it super crowded. Wristbands and monitoring the recreation areas would help. Pigeons nest above the slides and poop into the pool all day. You can see it landing on kids in the water.