Rooms
Our room was adequate. It was very nice and clean but location was poor. It was our 6th or 7th time there so I did leave a comment with hotel mentioning that maybe with the use of computers they could offer return guests a slightly better room. In my review from last year’s trip, we had received an upgraded room which was beautiful. We don’t spend a lot of time in the room so this was a very small problem for us. We could have requested a room change but didn’t bother.
Restaurants
We didn’t enjoy the a la carte restaurant last trip so didn’t bother with it this time either. The buffet always had something good – we definitely didn’t starve and actually gained about 4 lbs. Both of the pool bars had snacks as well. The one near large pool had pizza and the other near the conference centre had burgers, hot dogs and fries – all very good
Bars
Bars, three in total, (there are 4 but one of them I have ‘never’ seen open), were all good, well staffed and friendly. They have changed their beer from Presidente to Brahma. Unsure of reasoning for this.
Beach and Pools
Pools, especially the large one, was maintained fairly constantly. And the beach was as white as ever. Saw no evidence of the oil spill from two weeks before our trip. The beach on Thursday was quite crowded, due to Semana Santa but fun too. They had a huge inflatable Presidente bottle out by the reef, that took almost all day to inflate. They also had an inflatable ‘castle’ of some kind at the end of the beach, which had bars inside. Again, this was all for Semana Santa.
Grounds
The grounds at the Don Juan were, and always have been, extremely well maintained.
Activities and Entertainment
We weren’t as impressed this year as we have been in the past, with the nightly entertainment.
Tours
We did one tour, (a first for us), which was the Outback Safari. Very good but VERY dusty/dirty. We actually got back to hotel and got in the shower with our clothes on. The waterfalls we went to were beautiful.
Departure and Check Out
Very efficient and speedy.
Conclusion
We love Boca Chica and have for years, however, we are now thinking of a possible change in scenery for next year. This has nothing to do with our trip experience, just the fact that we have gone so many times. We have always been big Boca Chica boosters, and we go into town everyday at least once, for our cappuccino if nothing else and have never had a problem. Hint** Take candy for the shoe shine boys. We usually go into town once or twice at night for a change from the hotel. We have never, ever felt threatened or the slightest bit nervous in doing so.
There is a new cigar place on Duarte, across from the banco populaire. And what looks like a couple new restaurants. I saw a NY pizza place called Joey’s (on Duarte also) but we didn’t try the pizza, so cannot comment. Our cappuccino bar, (on Duarte, about halfway to Hamaca) is still there with the same staff, so we had our daily fix.