Such a mixed bag, fix dinner time!!
Jul 10, 2025 grahamt66 Gosport, United Kingdom
As many reading this will be, we were nervous travelling after recent reviews. The resort itself is spacious and well laid out, looks a bit tired in some areas but we witnessed daily maintenance at least attempting to stay on top of it.
Check in was swift, we were allocated room 1111. Block 1, floor 1. This is close to the Plaza and noisy until…
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As many reading this will be, we were nervous travelling after recent reviews. The resort itself is spacious and well laid out, looks a bit tired in some areas but we witnessed daily maintenance at least attempting to stay on top of it.
Check in was swift, we were allocated room 1111. Block 1, floor 1. This is close to the Plaza and noisy until entertainment stops at 10.30. The apartment was huge, much bigger than we expected. It worked perfectly for the three of us with sliding doors off the lounge / kitchen and a big sofa bed, separate toilet.
The bedroom was spacious, watch out for the step on the first night in the dark!!
Staff were excellent all round, the tipping mentality is driven by North American visitors largely, we tipped at the end of our stay as that’s the way we do it, didn’t have any issues.
Breakfast was good, main buffet open every evening with other restaurants also serving, we only visited the Brasserie which is a bit more personal. Lunch there are multiple options, the pop up paella stall is excellent! The burgers and pizzas were perfect for a lunchtime snack. Icecream parlour also very nice, high turnover of flavours though so don’t expect to get the same everyday.
All Inclusive drinks were again excellent with premium brands. We found the lack of any kind of menu quite strange when it’s so easy to do with a QR code these days. Bar tenders were more than happy to be creative and make new stuff up, they are very heavy on the ice though!!
Pool areas were vast! Due to the surrounding vegetation they did not always appear the cleanest but this is a difficult job. Guests leaving their rubbish around and abandoning cups everywhere was a real shame. The main beach pool became quite a party scene in the afternoon so we avoided that after lunch.
Coffee - if you like a caffeine hit, the Marley coffee shops are excluded and getting a coffee is not easy, seems a strange idea and goes against the all inclusive idea.
Seaweed - it’s a nightmare, the sea is out of bounds, salt water crocodile seen on one of our days coming out of the water onto the beach. They are trying to stay in top of it but it’s a thankless task. Hope it improves soon otherwise the tourist industry will be decimated here.
Lastly, dinner time! What an absolute shambles. The main buffet only opens 3 or 4 nights a week even when the resort is allegedly full. That leaves the speciality restaurants which were very nice but couldn’t cope with demand. We believed no reservations were allowed but on some nights got asked if we had one, think there must be a tiered system dependant on wrist and colour but it was very confusing. To eat around 7pm you probably had to be out collecting a pager around 6pm. To eat at 8pm you needed to be out about 6.30, to make a reservation and collect a pager. Once you got used to the system it was okay but they simply couldn’t cope at peak times.
Nightly entertainment is hit and miss, some genuinely excellent acts but others were just a cheap copy and pretty awful. Pop up Silent disco and bucking bronco activities were great, they really tried compared to European resorts in this area and it was a lovely surprise.
Lots to like but the dinner situation spoiled it for us and the other parts didn’t make up for it.
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