We are ready to go home. In fact, we envy our family and friends that have already left. The AC in room 3309 is still broken. The bugs in 3308 are still there. They never left. I believe they are permanent as they are coming through the caulking and from behind the shower head. I go out onto our balcony where we had our breakfast after the wedding (only time you can get room service) and the dishes had never been picked up. For 3 days. Wow. 5 star hotel? I don’t believe it, and I don’t think most people will after this is posted. The construction returned on the morning of day 6. We asked to talk to the GM again. I let him know that I would write all of this down as most of it was never addressed. If you have ever stayed outside of a kitchen at an all inclusive you would know the noise level is insane…I don’t know if anyone has, because this should NEVER happen. The architect should be forced to stay there for 6 months of hell. I think the GM should stay with him. The concierge staff should be in 3309 with no AC and the construction wake up calls. I highly doubt the staff at the front desk gives 2 ***** about the rest of the hotel. The concierge desk closest to the beachfront rooms sat in her office watching family guy instead of sending a maid to clean on day 2.
Room Number:
3389/3309
Room Block:
near Eleanors
Arrival: We arrived at the hotel do find that the elevator was under construction and they were using some sort of jackhammer. We were given the room second closest to the construction. Please keep in mind that this was our wedding and honeymoon, and we did plan to stay in the room part of the time. We had purchased 2 adjoining rooms as we had 2 adult children (age 18) and one child (age 9) traveling with us, so adjoining rooms were a MUST. We immediately asked to be moved when were realized that the noise and falling debris were not acceptable. We were told to wait as the staff searched for adjoining rooms that were further away from construction but not a downgrade. I was taken to rooms 3308 and 3309. These rooms were considered an upgrade and initially were thought to be quieter, so we accepted them and happily so that we could sit down. Our luggage was brought over some 40 minutes later. 40 minutes! If you are changing rooms and have just arrived, you expect your bags that have just been delivered to your rooms to go with you as the bellhops are still at the rooms. The rooms were so dirty that our bare feet turned black after we took our shoes off. I called housekeeping and let them know that they needed to come back and clean the rooms. When the maids came back, they brought a mop with a spray bottle, no bucket. The floor remained dirty, and still our feet were turning black from the floor in both rooms. We decided to clean it up ourselves with towels and water from the tubs. That is when we found that 3309 had no water in the shower, so I called the concierge. They told me they would send someone down to fix 3309. I also let them know that 3308 had ant like bugs coming out from behind the shower head and out of the ceiling of the shower, and such little water pressure you couldn’t rinse off. Please keep in mind that this is all still the first day/night that we have arrived. The maintenance man arrives about the time we notice that the kitchen staff is so loud that there is no way to sleep! I go out side the room and see that a hole had to be cut in the ceiling to ensure water is now running to 3309. Great, it works and we can shower! We make a suggestion that maintenance replace the shower head in our room with another room as they don’t seem to have another one. It works! The AC is not working in 3309 but there are not enough tools provided to the staff, and there is nothing that can be done. We open the doors between rooms as our AC never shuts off in 3308. The kitchen never seems to shutdown. We finally fall asleep around 6 am, only to be awakened at 7 to the sound of construction. We wake up and find cockroaches in the bathroom, closet, and around the beds. 5 star hotel?
Rooms: We are told that we can’t change rooms unless we take a downgrade as the hotel is full. The staff still seems surprised that anyone is staying on the level we are when they come to deliver any sort of service. I sneak away for a massage and fall asleep, but the construction noise permeates the walls in that building as well. The staff turns up the music and it drowns out the noise. They are wonderful, so it is a great experience. We go to speak with the front desk and request the GM. He does come to speak with us. He tells us that he will send more maids to clean, give us a new room, and have the kitchen door closed if we decide to keep our room. We sigh in relief. We are contacted by the concierge desk. They inform us that there are no rooms unless we take a downgrade. They send more maids….with no bucket. There are still stains on the floor. We stay in the room and point them out to the maids so we at least get the big stains taken care of. We ask the GM if they can spray for bugs. We understand the tropical environment, but cockroaches the size of my fingers every day? I don’t think so. We start placing a towel under the door of both rooms. We go and meet the wedding planner and her assistant. They are both outstanding. We laugh/cry as we tell them how horrible our experience has been. We are praying for a beautiful ceremony. We beg Michelle to make at least that part of our trip as nice as possible. We go to bed with the usual kitchen noise after a day of construction under our room. I go out into the hall and see the kitchen cook there too. He is sweating so profusely I ask if he is O.K. He says yes but he is soaked! I tell him to open the doors to get a cross-breeze. I apologize, telling him that I have a boss that doesn’t seem to care about my working conditions sometimes too. No wonder they don’t have people stay in these rooms, or shouldn’t anyway! The staff is roasting in the kitchen and we cant sleep. That door needs to be open apparently for them to not overheat while they cook?? I know the GM told me that I shouldn’t worry about them, but I do. That just seemed so wrong to me!
Restaurants and Bars:
Food is bland except for the wedding food we paid for. This is excellent!! Alas, we actually had to pay for an open bar at an all-inclusive at our reception.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Small but mostly clean beach. There was construction going on at the time on the elevator that you can see if you google pictures of the resort. Falling debris light enough to be carried past the barriers landed on the walkways below, covering things in a fine dusting of cement powder.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Anything is possible for a massive upcharge. You will be able to find a relative with a taxi driver that can take you to town for a meal or for shopping. Be prepared to tip big if you want to be treated right.
Other Comments: I would love to have been able to fit my whole review here if it could save 1 more family experiencing what we did. My kids don’t look online at new places to go for the yearly trip. I’m sure they will want to go somewhere, but we will NEVER stay at a Sandals or Beaches resort ever again.
PS There were bees everywhere, as stated in most of the other reviews.