Arrival: Stayed 21 Nov to 5 Dec 2011. Bus ride took 30 mins. Three sister resorts are next to each other, Beach, Suites and Grand. Nicely landscaped, not a big resort, close walking distance to everything from all rooms. No need for umbrella, can walk everywhere through the bldgs. Incredible view of ocean from lobby balcony overlooking pool and gardens. Evenings and nights were warm (25C), no need for sweaters.
Whole resort very clean, cleanest washrooms ever seen. Service was excellent from everyone: Kamisha our buffet waitress, bartender Patrice (often at the lobby bar, ask her to mix you up a Lady Cordelia, very refreshing rum based drink), chef Ramon, plus many others which we do not know their names. They ALL provided excellent service.
Rooms:
Room was very nice, lots of dresser and closet space. Everything worked well, despite AC having a few hiccups. Shampoo and body wash in shower dispensers. Very well insulated rooms, could barely hear our neighbours (unlike the Dominican and Cuba). No problem drinking tap water, however are provided bottled water during fridge replenishing. Or, ask for it at front desk. Our maid Karlene Wallace is a super nice lady and did an excellent job looking after us.
Restaurants and Bars:
We only ate at the buffet. Very pleased with selection and quality. I am hard pressed to come up with a complaint. All I can think of is that the green beans and carrots were always undercooked. Cajun and Japanese restaurants are next to buffet. The only beach front restaurant is Uncle Tony’s which is open for late breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Evenings it transforms into a-la-carte Steakhouse. Our pet peeve is guys with baseball caps and sleeveless muscle shirts in restaurants (and I don’t mean beach restaurant). Come on now, you’re not at McDonald’s!!
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
Beach is nice. Lots of chairs, and lots of shade from trees and palapas. No palm trees on beach, just around resort bldgs and gardens. Water shoes not required. Sea grass washed in, more so closer to pier. Excellent snorkeling, best along rock piles, and all within roped in area. Starfish (even at knee depth – plse be kind and do not remove them), lion fish (absolutely beautiful, but stay away), trumpet fish, ray, flounder, sargeant major, tang, puffer, parrot, eels, less electric ray, barracuda, skate, etc. Also small clear "no see-ums" jelly fish, and brown ones which sit on ocean floor, dome side down, and kind of look like a brown plant. My husband got stung daily by clear jelly fish even in waist deep water. Feels like pins and needles, sometimes lasts several hrs. For a good part of our 2 wk stay, ocean was not clear due to churned up sand. Would occasionally see, but one miserable cloudy and very windy day it was really bad, bits of white styrofoam washed up on shore. Were told it floated in from a river somewhere. Beach bar located under pool bar. Washrooms on beach level are next to bar, and at Uncle Tony’s.
Other Comments: Shopping, beach vendors located past pier. Also free shuttle to Rose Hall Shopping Plaza, 10 mins drive; 30 stores, 10 of which are jewellery stores. Neither one of us was sick, nor were any other guests complaining of illness. Had only 5 bug bites, barely itchy, not at all reactions like we had elsewhere. Very much enjoyed our holiday, everything was perfect except for the ocean conditions, but that you have no control over. We give this resort a 5 star rating.
A well deserved thanks goes to Debbie for her website.