I meant to copy and paste a long review yesterday, but another one came up today. I personally know the travel agent who shared this information. It's long. But this is the gist I seem to read with others.
The pros:
The cabanas are well done, the decor and the adults-only areas are chef's kiss. Loved the booth style seats in various pools you can sit with friends (like you would in a booth at a restaurant, but in water) drink cocktails and chat. So many loungers in the adults section and tons of beach loungers for families on the beach. The beach itself is lovely! I think they did a great job with the common spaces.
The mini bar in the suites have cans of Pringle's (regular and cheddar), full bags of Oreos, skittles, KitKats, MnMs and nuts, refilled everyday. Gatorade and cappuccino "juice box style" drinks in your room along with the regular sodas and beers and juices is more than I've seen at any all-inclusive. The soap and shampoo were lovely scented and I enjoyed using them. Thick large bathrobes and towels. Love me some upgraded towels and robes.
I booked all our dinner reservations before I arrived using their website. They had all of them correct. I'm glad I did this because people were being turned away trying to just walk up at peak times. I also booked a cabana via concierge email before I arrived and they charged me for it at check out. I requested at the waterslides and they honored that request.
Their kids program was very good. Large indoor space, lots of outdoor space, and a cute covered sandbox area with slide. It's nice to have covered options for blazing hot days. It's also next to the water slide/splash area, so they take the kids to play in the splash area for an hour everyday. They will also take the kids to lunch, which is a plus. Some kids clubs have you pick them up for lunch.
The sports bar and after hours area is so large and they have plenty of TVs for watching games for the sports fanatics.
Nightly entertainment was actually geared towards kids when we were there. They had a "science show", "dinosaur show" and "bbq karaoke night" for the nights we were out and about. There were tons of kids, but it was spring break so makes sense!
For the most part, service was what I expect in Mexico: People happy to guide you to what was happening during the day. Happy and helpful hostesses and bartenders. Very clean overall.
The Cons
We could not believe how disappointing the food was. Because I've read so many friends reviews (which I believe wholeheartedly and totally trust ), I told my husband I will have to go back in a while to see if this was a fluke. Because it was just so so strange. Nothing had flavor except for Caracol (Mexican) which was our best meal. Tacos were great here! The buffet was ok not the best not the worst. Plenty of variety and lots of fresh fruit. Italian restaurant, risotto was not cooked properly, it was crunchy. My soup tasted like water, the pizza was super soggy, almost mushy and cold. It was just bizarre. Steakhouse restaurant we ordered filet mignon. It was indeed not filet mignon. The macaroni and cheese had no cheese. Like, we were laughing because it was as if they just forgot it. Everything was beautifully plated and presented, but didn't taste like what it was described in the menu. I'm still just kind of baffled, something was just off.
Drinks were hit or miss. Margaritas would be decent at certain bars. Golden Hour and Twiggy were the best. My husband said the house merlot was undrinkable so I didn't even try. I stuck to sparkling wine or a Carajillo in the evenings.
I saw so much wear and tear it made me nervous! It's so new and things were already needing repair. Kids splash pad was missing tons of tiles, slides starting to rust on the exterior. Rust at bottom of pools. Baseboards in our room were coming off in the bathroom as there was a flooding problem with the shower. It flooded our first night and I saw the soggy baseboards hanging on for dear life. So I'm sure we weren't the first ones to have this happen. I made sure to keep towels against the shower to keep the water from seeping out.
Wifi was terrible on sunday. Just that day i was not able to do much of anything on my iphone and iPad which are my work devices. Funny because I also have an android and so does my husband and thatf worked fine. All other days, wifi worked ok. Not super fast though, which im not use to encountering at these resorts! But i know it happens.
Will I go back. Yes absolutely. When I first walked in I was so obsessed. I wanted to really love her! I think if my food experience had been different, I would have overlooked the other minor imperfections. It is a great property if you have families who want something aesthetically pleasing and in a safe gated community with a pretty and secluded beach. I think they may have been overwhelmed with Spring Break maybe? Idk. But I'm willing to give her another shot!!
