I went with my whole family,8 in total.Ihave enjoyed flying with sunwing to Cuba,and this flight was fine too.Just be aware that it’s 10dollars U.S. to get in at the airport,and 20 to get out,from whatI understand this is only with sunwing.
Arrival:
We had requested 3 ground floor rooms,hoping they where close together.Told we had 3 third floor rooms I asked if they could help us out.Told no,them maybe,then come back at 3pm.When we returned,yes they had 3 ground floor rooms for us.Nice ride to our rooms,friendly and helpfull bellboys.
Rooms: Our rooms where close together.Mine I shared with my 2 sons.The view was to the back of the hotel,room 1048.It looked out through some well kept gardens,onto a pathway,then to a fence to the next resort.After the first night we realized a few things.The first is that the pathway was a service road to the bar/kitchen by the beach.Small trucks,and staff travelled the path all hours.The beeping of horns and conversations of staff as they came to and fro can be heard day and as late as midnight.The path also tapers inwards to the rooms as it heads down.So it was maybe 8 feet from our room,but only a foot or two from the room my parents had.The second is that the resort we looked onto from our ground floor balcony was under construction.Very noisy.Saws cutting metal,drills,hammering,you name it.The work doesn’t stop at all as far as I noticed.One o clock in the morning I could still hear it.The third thing was the music at night.The resort 2 or 3 over has a stage set up down on the beach,and at night have bands,and dj’s playing music.Other nights the shows,or beach parties are run by the main pool,that is just the other side of the hotel we where in.Don’t stay in this hotel if you are looking for any kind of rest.The forth thing was the banging air conditioner.It took 2 days and many threats of needing a new room before anyone came and fixed it.Wich they did just fine when they showed up. The fifth is the design of the hallways.They are large,tiled,and have sitting areas throughout with nice gardens.Unfortunatly the noise echoes up and down,day and night.We had large parties of people sitting in these areas talking and laughing when they would come back from the disco,or beach parties. I have never travelled to expensive resorts,and just enjoy the fact I can take my kids away once a year somewhere warm,and realaxing.So I’m willing to accept lower standards then some.So please don’t think I’m overeacting.
After 3 days of noise,and lack of sleep,we requested of our sunwing rep that they move us to any rooms that where on the other side of the hotel.This was done at 9am.After the usual,we have no rooms,maybe we have rooms,yes we have 3 rooms on the other side,we where told to call for the bellboy at 2pm to be shown the rooms.Only 2 rooms where on the other side,the third was directly overtop my own.Of the two,one had the rattling air conditioner,and the third he couldn’t get the air conditioner to work.After an hour of miscomunication we gave up and decided to make the best of what we had.I have to say that the language barier was huge.Almost no one could speek english.I had to talk with the bellboy,the front desk,and a boss that was eating dinner most of the time,and I hate to say it but I can’t help but feel that they where being much more difficult than needed.It was a very unpleasent experience.
Restaurants and Bars: Sickness!!!Of the 8 , 5 of us got the stomich bug.My youngest son,and myself brought it home,and I’m just finishing the antibiotics as i write.I know it’s common,and I have had it in Cuba as well.I’m mentioning it because I see from a lot of other posts that we aren’t the only ones.
I thought the buffet,and the 4 a lacarts where great.Service,staff,and selection.The Bavarian was a lot of fun.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Pools where really nice,lots of seats,and wonderfully well kept grounds.I have read how wonderfull others have found the beach so I’m kind of worried to say this.The garbage was disgusting.Plastic bags,garbage bags,and even some small packages of liquid bleach.Having garbage wrapping around my feet,or diving into it was the worst Ive ever seen.And it was there all week.Then there was the oil.The third day we noticed it while swimming.Huge oil slicks heading out into the ocean.A lot didn’t notice it,and I saw people swimming in it,others did and would scramble out.I asked one of the employees,and he looked at me like I was crazy.The second last day My kids and my niece went out paresailing.Standing on shore I could see the oil slicks and pointed it out to another hotel employee.After trying not to see it he told me that it was from the boats.When my kids came in they told me that out past the beach where they where paresailing the water is covered in oil.The couple before them came down,and where draged right through a huge patch of it.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The dune buggy ride was fun,but was done mostly through agrigultural areas.The mud you end up getting covered in is run off from cow and pig manure.It smells horrible.They almost insist you wear a bandana over your mouth and nose to prevent it getting into you.
Other Comments:
The grounds are the nicest Ive ever seen,and it’s great to just wander around enjoying the scenery.I really want to say I enjoyed this trip,but just can’t.The other hotel thats part of this one would likely be nicer,but you still use all the same restaurants.