OVERALL
We really liked it, it “works”, great food (buffet), animation was fun, rooms nice and big and clean. The reason I say “it works” is that I look at the entire system that is an all-inclusive resort: reception & check in, concierge, room, food, pools, beach, entertainment, check-out. In this case, we had a flawless experience this early October 2022. We had amazing weather, but that has nothing to do with the resort.
RESORT
Nice entrance hall and (air conditioned) reception area, we liked the style. It did seem as though at least half of the buildings /rooms were closed, under renovation, but that did not impact us. The crews were all at work without creating disturbances maintaining grass, trees, bushes, painting, fixing roofs. It did not feel like a construction site, it felt like a well cared-for place.
ROOMS
We thought the rooms were nice and big, spacious versus comparable resorts we have been in the last 10 years. We ended up having 2 rooms; first one had air conditioning issues fluctuating from good to hot. Problem was quickly addressed, and we changed rooms.
CLEANLINESS
No issues within the resort, restaurants, rooms, lobby, all very clean. As well, the walkways/promenades and kiosks were spotless.
POOLS
The main pool was good on the day staff vacuumed the bottom, however within 1-2 days water was very cloudy and not so appealing. I believe the vacuuming occurs every 3 days or so, I would shorten that to every 2 days max by the looks of things. The second large pool was opened for one day of our stay, then it was closed “for cleaning, and that should take maybe a day or 2”; it never reopened during our 7 day stay.
FOOD
Buffet: really liked it! Great daily standards, perfect quantities, nice layouts with interesting daily varieties. Great fish options, awesome meats, loads of fresh / tasty fruit. Deserts were ok, just like every other all inclusive resorts (with notable exceptions of Club Med resorts which normally have great deserts); there were a couple of notable exceptions that were really good like the banana cake and our 5 year son loved the blue and pink donuts. I really liked the fact that the Chef was always present in the buffet area to monitor the quality and quantity, he did not just stand there he actually verified service plates, walked around and kept really focused, that was very professional, kudos to him and his crew.
The separate restaurants were pretty good: we liked the steakhouse, Italian and Japanese. The Route 66 restaurant was ok (our 5 year old loved it) and we did not get to try the Mexican (was closed on nights we wanted to try it out) and Bluemoon (we had our 5 year old in tow and I was wearing Bermudas with opened toe shoes…none of those things are welcome in that restaurant). I am disappointed I did not get to try the Bluemoon restaurant as the menu really looked good. The only restaurant for which reservations are required is the Japanese restaurant given it works on “shift services” so that the cooking plate shows can be coordinated, totally understandable, and worth it, a good job is done to follow Japanese steakhouse style food prep and service.
BEACH
There is no really nice way of putting this: the beach front of the resort is tiny, on its own and particularly in contrast to neighbouring resorts. Shallow (from the water line), narrow (from neighbouring land lots) and worst of all it, the chairs and shades are literally pilled on top of one another on a small bluff overlooking the actual beach. This bluff sits about 1-2 meters above the beach, it was seriously eroded by recent storms, it is not difficult to imagine that even before the erosion this area was tiny.
There is also this seemingly seldom used climbing tower which eats up a good portion of valuable beach front (never saw anyone use it during entire 7 days). Also, the sand around the bottom of the climbing tower is littered with debris, some likely from the recent storms but other seems older; I picked up three 3 inch rusty nails within a 10 foot diameter of the tower leading straight to the kids daisy/mini club.
On our first day, the beach had just been cleaned of seaweed and was pristine. Mother nature did throw a bit of seaweed at us during our stay, but nothing major.
We used the sit on top kayaks 3 times, they were in good condition as well as the PFD’s/safety vests.
The most positive things about the beach: the sand is just amazingly soft, the swimming area in front of the resort is shallow up to shoulder height (hence really nice and warm) and wave breaking devices installed in the water really protect from large waves, swells and motor boats.
DAISY (MINI) CLUB
Cute little building right down by the beach and towels building; segregated and mostly fenced and is air conditioned. I have to admit being disconcerted when we first arrived at the daisy club as the sand in front of the club is in dire need of cleaning/racking to pickup debris, we nearly turned around because of that…Otherwise, inside the club our son had a good time particularly with Johanni who is a really awesome (and tri-lingual English, Spanish & French), kudos to her! The hours are very limited which was perfect for us: 10ish to noonish, and 3pmish to 5pmish. We normally only used the club 1-2 hours so that we could go on kayak trips and our son was always happy to go back, that’s a good sign! We did see a 7 or 8 year boy there that did not, though, seem to be having as much fun. I think the sweetspot agewise is 4-6 years old.
TO BE ADDRESSED URGENTLY
Clean the beach sand in front of the towels building, kid’s club and around the climbing tower
Increase the frequency of cleaning the pools.
TO BE IMPROVED
Get rid of the climbing tower and space out the beach chairs and sun shades.
Outdated room key cards: this is an annoyance in 2022, should be part of the bracelets
Outdated towel cards: this is an annoyance in 2022, should be done away with
Baths in rooms: they are seriously scratched, ugly, in bad shape with spotty caulking, always looks dirty even if clean (the cleaning ladies do a great job, the baths make it look unclean)
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