We rented a 1 bedroom Villa (with washer & dryer).
In my review I want to be fair to the people who work at this resort who do their very best to serve you with little to now help from the owners! This review is about the OWNERS who have allowed this resort to fall into such disrepair and still think its okay to charge their guests so much for what they get in return.
The individuals who work at Oak Plantation are not responsible for the condition of the place or the time it takes to address 'problems' when they arise, and they will arise!
That said, we checked in on Feb 20th/2020. It took several trips from the villa we were assigned back to the front desk to get a key card that would finally work in the door. As I said, after several trips back to the front desk, the assistant manager finally intervened and provided us with a different villa in order to expedite our check in. Sadly, even that key card would not allow us entry .. almost 1 hour of wasted time trying to get into the villa we had reserved and paid for 2 months earlier.
Once in, we were surprised at how dated the interior of the villa was .. the carpets were in serious need of cleaning and the 'fully equipped' kitchen provided us with 1 pan, 1 pot and a few utensils. Only 3 of the four stove elements were working but the oven DID NOT WORK. The toaster only toasted one side of the bread. No kettle was provided. All dishes were dollar store purchases and the coffee maker was ancient and no filters were provided. Even the salt and pepper shakers were empty.
The fridge worked .. no complaints there but the ice trays were broken so were useless.
The bathroom was very sad ... it looked as though the tiled floor had never been properly cleaned around the edges and the globs of caulking around broken tiles was unsightly highlighting the black mould growing in its crevices. The sink was badly rusted around the overflow drain and the tap never completely stopped dripping and leaking. The dampness that resulted with all this water very likely attracted the small water bugs/ants that congregated on the surface of the counter top .. we could not leave any of our bathroom toiletries out or they would have walked away. The hair dryer looked like it had never been cleaned (the air intake screen was plugged solid).
The Kingsized bed was lumpy and hard but did appear to be clean - we stripped it to look for 'unwanted' bugs and were satisfied that we didn't see anything that caused us concern. The bedroom television did not have a remote so you had to physically get out of bed to shut the tv off! How convenient!!! The walk-in closet was a nice feature .. it just didn't have enough hangers.
The living room tv didn't work half of the time .. it would just shut off and then turn back on. We had the 'engineer' (jack of all trades) come and try to fix it but he wasn't very successful either. That's the other thing .. the working staff don't seem to have a very good grasp of the english language so there are a lot of hand signals and nods but half the time you're not sure they understand why they were called.
The main phone in the villa (containing all the directory for numbers you'd need) didn't work. You had to use the bedroom phone which was a pulse dial so if you dialled too quickly, it didn't work. Wifi was spotty and sometimes you couldn't connect. There is a number to call if that happens but be prepared to spend a bit of time on the phone.
The washer and dryer were really the only things that were a 'plus' to this dated environment. They worked fine!
The walls are paper thin between units .. we had a family with 4 children who were up until all hours of the nigh screaming and yelling and slamming doors ... we actually thought they were fighting!! Nobody died so that's a plus!
The grounds and the pool area were just okay but with a bit of effort and money, could be spectacular.
The larger pool is heated but the second pool is not so it was very cold and sadly, unused. Pool chairs are very uncomfortable - a cheap blow up air mattress will help (dollar store purchase). The whirl pool was okay .. not sure if it had enough chlorine so I stayed clear. There were also electronic handi-cap chairs to lift people into and out of the pool but they didn't work. Not too useful .. so get rid of them!
The Tiki bar by the pool was VERY expensive though it did offer 1/2 price happy hour drinks between 4-6 pm daily (still expensive). Gene, the bar tender, is a very friendly and welcoming chap (as are most of the employees).
Peacocks wander freely around the grounds .. kind of neat but they are very loud!
The fitness centre never did provide wipes for the workout machines, despite the frequent requests for them. The room itself was dimly lit and the tv wouldn't work. Play structure for children was terribly neglected and overgrown.
If the owner of this place spent a bit of money on repairing and updating the place, I believe he'd have a half decent place to offer guests. A booklet in each room outlining how things work in each villa (tv's), what activities are available (like Pizza/Bingo night) as well as a menu for the Tiki bar etc would make sense. Sadly, providing people with information is not a priority. You have to visit the office daily to get any information regarding the daily 'goings on' around the resort.
Finally, the day before check out, I had to do my online check in with the airline for my boarding pass. I asked at the front desk if the computer and printer in the lounge area was for that purpose and she informed it was. I prefer a paper copy of my boarding pass opposed to the electronic version. I proceeded with the online check in and then tried to print ... it wouldn't work. By this time, the lobby was filled with guests either checking out of the resort or checking in. The 1 person on the desk was the ONLY person working. She could not assist me with the printer issue. Finally a guest (much more computer literate than I) was able to assist me but sadly, even he was at a loss for why the printer wouldn't work. It took us 1.5 hours to finally figure out that it was not working and probably hadn't been working for quite some time (an out of order sign would have been a good idea to post).
I ended up saving the boarding pass in pdf format and emailing to myself. Arrggghhhh! This should NOT happen to guests and if it does, a speedy solution should be forthcoming. The poor girl at the front desk was not able to resolve the problem. It took another guest with a bit of 'know how' to advise me on how to salvage the boarding pass.
If you are going to this resort .. understand that the photos of the place (online and in brochures) are at least 20 years old! They do not represent the 'present' condition of the resort. Most of the negative reviews are accurate (in my opinion having just returned). I think this resort could be revived ... it would and could be a lovely place.
Kudos to the folks who work there .. I'm sure they get a lot of negative and unwelcome feed back from frustrated guests!
