Food: We didn’t have any real complaints about the food, if you’re not expecting too much…..The buffet was smaller than we thought it would be. It would have a main meat being served that was sliced up as you requested it, and then there were several other choices after that. There was a small pasta buffet with the same three choices of sauces, and they would heat it up for you on your choice of pasta. Salad bar, soup, cold meats/cheese, desserts. Breakfast was eggs, pancakes, French toast or omelettes, all of them cooked up freshly for you. Scrambled eggs, hard and soft boiled etc in the buffet. The 24 hour snack bar fed my kids for the week with their pizza, hot dogs and French fries. I liked their ham and cheese sandwiches. The pool grill was opened everyday for lunch and always had a soup, potato, rice, fries, and 2 choices of meats. The one restaurant to book was very nice, the food was good, but it was a 2 hour dinner, so not so good for the kids.
Beach: Water was very rough, only 1 green flag day. There was a lifeguard visible on the red flag day to make sure no one went swimming. Sand a little rough, but not an issue. There is a sharp drop where the water erodes away at the beach, so dangerous for little ones, and hard to supervise your kids from your beach chair. Beach volleyball was usually seen being played at least once a day. Lots of beach chairs and sun umbrellas – no problem there.
Pool:
Nice pool, shallow. Cold water. Swim up bar, but no bartender unless you called up to the regular bar just above it looking for a drink. Of course if you were a frequent customer then they were usually looking for you! Kiddie pool over on the side, maybe about 18 inches deep. Good amount of chairs for tanning, usually full by the afternoon.
Bars: Usually always quick service, always friendly service. The lobby bar has the coffee, cappuccino and tea available, nice for after dinner.
Rooms: Had problems with the air conditioner in one of our rooms, and was fixed fairly quickly. Ants in one room on the first day, but they sprayed when I told them about it and never had another problem. No bed bug issues. Had the ocean view room, definitely a plus. All rooms have balconies, so it was nice to sit and watch the ocean. Rooms were clean. Toilets are another issue. Once one became blocked, it was impossible to get it to flush normally. Refrigerator in the room was great to have, bottle of water in it on arrival. Shampoo, body wash, soap, lots of toilet paper all supplied.
Animation: Almost non-existent. We expected activities all day like we had last year at another club, but all we got was bingo at 3:30, a quick dance lesson at 5:00 and a show in the evening, after which any animation crew still left there, escaped rather quickly. A large change from what we had experienced somewhere else. The kids club did a few things after we complained. It was also difficult to get our free scuba lesson, had to go the hotel next door. No Spanish lessons, no aerobics. The archery, tennis court, badminton area, basketball have not been built yet.
Rented a scooter one day, nice way to see what is around. Was charged the $1 tax also…..
Hotel problems:
The elevators are a joke. They were either not working, or you got stuck in them, or they worked but were in total darkness, or they shut on you very quickly. You learn quickly that you have to keep your finger on the button if you do not want to get injured. We used the external stairs to go down most of the time. One of the nights there was not any water in the entire hotel, I was not very comfortable with that. I think that lasted for several hours (it was late in the evening). The hotel is still being renovated; the first 3 floors are not opened yet, so they are operating on half capacity. They are busy doing a lot of gardening, no signs of building the other sporting things.
Overall, nice for adults if you are just looking for beach, pool and a relaxing time. Would keep it a 3.5 star. Would not bring my kids back.