Flight
Flew with BA in economy, flight and food was good although the second meal before you land wasn't very nice, the cabin crew were lovely and it landed on time. Getting out of the airport to the transfer area was easy, however the transfer company (Amstar) had lost our outbound booking, they had our return transfer but not the transfer to the Hotel! This resulted in a delay for 20 minutes till they sorted it out. As you can imagine, after a 10.5 hour flight and being up for nearly 24 hours, it was not what we wanted to be doing, waiting in the heat for it to be sorted. But credit where it's due they sorted it out and was attentive to ensure there were no hiccups for the return journey.
Check in
This was very good, as we were staying in the preferred section we were ushered to the check in area (our bags were left behind at the hotel entrance to be taken to our room) where it's also a drinks and snack place. So as there were a number of people there, we sat down, had a few snacks and a drink whilst waiting which was much needed. The concierge was very good with his attention and empathy, all done within 15 minutes and got to our rooms.
Rooms
We stayed here as a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids aged 16,14 and 11, our rooms were 121 and 123 as they were connected, we asked for a rollaway bed so all of the kids could sleep in one area which they sorted whilst we checked in. The rooms were large, the rollaway bed was very comfortable (according to my daughter!) and they had their own TV, bathroom and small fridge with soft drinks that were stocked up daily. This connecting room had two queen beds in it for the boys to sleep in.
When we got into our room (121) we noticed that the door wouldn't lock, and being on the ground floor, we didn't feel safe so we asked the preferred concierge if they could get someone to fix it which they did as a temporary measure, then fixed it properly a couple of days later. Our bathroom comes with his and her sinks and a walk in shower (no bath). Be careful as the water can tend to seep out so the floor of the bathroom was sometimes very slippery! We used to put one of towels down at the edge to stop the water coming out. The shower floor was also very slippery so used a shower mat. The shower itself is quite old and noticed that the other rooms has proper rain showers, this one didn't though.
Restaurants
There were a small number of restaurants we could choose from, but not everyday as 1 or 2 of them would be closed on certain days. So check the App to see which ones were open. A couple of evenings there was entertainment on the beach and outside bbq areas with seats/tables for the guests to sit at, with a drinks waiter always coming round, so a lovely couple of evenings eating/drinks and enjoying the shows.
Some restaurants were better than others.
1) El Patio (Mexican) - appetisers were delicious as was the Beef enchiladas however, due to a lack of description of what the dishes were, quite a bit of food was not eaten and we noticed that for most nights, this restaurant was hardly full. Please can a proper description of what the food is would be greatly appreciated!
2) Barefoot grill (fast food stuff) - This is on the beach part near World Cafe, not indoors so if you don't mind sitting in the shade whilst having a delicious hawaiian burger or hot dog or cooked to order pizza, then this is a good place to eat for a quick lunch.
3) World Cafe (buffet) - This is the main restaurant where you can go up and help yourself to all sorts of different foods for Breakfast, lunch and Dinner.
4) Portofino (Italian) - Ate here on 3 separate occasions as the food was very good. Service sometimes was a bit rude I felt on one occasion, I wanted to try two different desserts and the waiter gave me a look of disgust, and not in a jokey way either! Apart from that, very good food.
5) Seaside Grill (Steakhouse) - Lovely food, a really good ribeye can be had here! Good selection of courses.
6) Gohan (Asian) - Sushi can be had but also other asian dishes (don't worry, you don't have to use the chopsticks if you don't want to!)
7) Oceana (Preferred Club - Seafood) - We ate here the most times. mostly breakfast and lunch. Very good food and you can have lots of choice that isn't just fish, the only thing is for dinner time, got eaten alive by the mossies as it's next to the river inlet.
TIPS
- Take inflatables with you from home, you don't want to be like muggins here and pay for a rubber ring that costs $25!
- If your kids want to use the two water slides, an adult needs to sign them in, once per day.
- Sargassum seaweed can be noticeable at times. The only time I really smelled it was when we drank at the bar next to the sea. But it is ok to swim in the lagoon area of the beach and kayak without encountering it.
- Tip your waiters/waitresses, you don't have to and us brits don't tend to tip much, but Jorge who was one of the waiters around the Preferred pool, was very good! He remembered which drinks the family had and brought them round during the day without even asking! A lovely touch which deserved to be tipped.
- No need to reserve a restaurant, so no need to wake up really early.
All in all, a lovely break away with the family, it was relaxing but also enough for the kids to do (always activities going on if your active!). If you don't expect 5* food, you'll have a great time!
