The check in was pretty quick and painless, although no one there told anyone about the “Premium” check in which was around the corner from the main reception. I only knew to check there after reading other reviews here, so a big GRACIAS to those that mentioned it!!!. Of course our rooms were not ready until 3pm but we were poolside and enjoying ourselves within 20-30 minutes of arrival. We were located in Building 10 on the top floor overlooking the pool. I was concerned as it was right beside the entertainment area, and was concerned about the noise, but it ended up being just fine as they always finished by 11 and then it was quiet. It was a very spacious room with high vaulted ceilings, 2 comfortable beds with 4 pillows to choose from, what decadence. The bathroom was quite large and spotless and we had trouble getting hot water the first night, but I think that was because the hotel was so full as we had no problem after that. Another nice touch to the Premium package was we had a bottle of rum and fruit tray waiting in the room; we also got snacks left, it wasn’t much but some days that chocolate and chips were just perfect and we also got turndown service and fresh towels each night. We encountered a problem right away with our room or rather with the door to our room, the deadbolt lock would not lock. I’m not sure if it was from humidity or what, but we got one of the room maids that was in the hallway and she put in a call to maintenance, and he was there in no time and fixed the door. I was impressed with such quick service, so in the first few hours they really set the tone for the service we were to receive the whole week there. The staff was just awesome, friendly, accommodating and really made the resort!!! The bartenders were awesome: Front lobby- Roman and Aristalco who made “mi bibidos especial” every day; Swim up bar -Leo; Pool bar – Placido & Jeffrey and I can’t forget Nelson the chef at the pool snack bar. He greeted up with hugs/kisses everyday and told us what was on the menu for lunch and would search high & low for salsa picante for us. Faustino down at the beach bar/restaurant was always there to fill up our drink or water glasses at lunch.
I thought the resort was nicely laid out, with gardens, walkways, especially down to the beach there was a lovely fountain area. The pool & surrounding area was one of the nicest I’ve been to. The pool itself was huge and kept clean, and it was easily accessible with the sloped in area, a great swim up bar and even a waterfall. There always seemed to be plenty of chairs around, and yes I did reserve chairs at 6am, but I wanted good positioned chairs in the sun, I didn’t’ want to be anywhere near the palapas. It was also nice that the deck around the pool didn’t get so hot in the afternoon, you could still walk around in barefeet.
As far as the restaurants they were all very nicely decorated, clean etc. The buffet I found was fine for breakfast with the usual fair, but for dinner I found the food so so, I didn’t’ find as much choice there as I have other places. I sure didn’t starve, but some nights I found there was way too much fish and not enough other choices. The beach restaurant was nice at lunch if it wasn’t too windy. They had a simple buffet with soup, fries, hotdogs/hamburgs, a veggie, pasta, meat of some sort and usually a paella. They also had the breads, cold cuts, cheeses, ice cream & desserts. The pool snack bar had a good choice for lunches with the usual hotdogs/hamburgs, fries, some days fried chicken or some other meat. The Brazilian restaurant was not the best, the night we went, there were quite a few of us that left part way through as the meat was dry & tough and not very enjoyable. The Oriental however was very good. You got a nice tray of appetizers with the hottest hot sauce I’ve every tried. We had the chicken chowmein and there was so much there, more than we could eat. The pizzeria was nice, outside up over the buffet and you didn’t need a reservation there, you just showed up and placed your order and they were pretty quick getting it out to you. The entertainment staff were really friendly and tried to get people to participate but they did take a no gracias and left you alone. The nightly entertainment was some of the best I’ve seen in quite some time. The music, the dancers, the costumes, they really went all out. They had a band that played nightly and it was kind of funny, they looked miserable playing old American lounge music, but later when they played meringue, bachata, boy did they rock, it was awesome. We were there for Easter and we had a great time. I know some people don’t like going over Easter, but we did not have a problem at all. There were quite a few locals in and they were just there to have fun too. There were extra security around and they kept the youngsters in check around the pool, didn’t let them get to rowdy.
We sure had a great time here and will certainly return and recommend it to others. The one thing that would have been nice would be water coolers around the resort to refill your bottles, it would be much more convenient that having to bother them at the bars for it.