Hard to write a review for this hotel. There is a lot to like, the pool area, some of the restaurants, the food generally, staff and sports facilities are very good indeed. But the room we had was very tired and had things falling apart (the toilet seat broke completely, but was replaced quickly). Having said that the bed was comfortable and the room large. We were in block Villa 6 which has no view to speak of and is quite a walk from the main restaurnts, lobby etc. (Not a probloem for us, but might be for others). The staff are overall very good, drinks service was a little slow in Gran Azul, and a big difference in the quality of the cocktails in different bars, moreso than I would have expected. The a la carte restaurants varied a lot. The Brasilian and the Steak House were excellent, the Italian and Mexican, very disappointing. The interior designer needs a stiff talking to. The restaurants are full of hard surfaces, which means the sound bounces around making them very noisy and difficult to have a conversation in.
The gym and sports courts are very good, however, there was some kind of Pickle thing going on for much of our stay which meant we only got to play pickle once, which was a shame.
Our big moan is the whole 'us and them' thing going on. We didn't really understand where we could go and where we couldn't and to be honest, it really doesn't feel good to be in that situation. Having said that, we went pretty much everywhere we wanted to go, without a problem, so not sure we really understand the whole set up. Perhaps we didn't try to go anywhere we weren't allowed, but were conscious of it all the time. We seem to get served branded spirits in some bars and not in others, which we didn't really understand.
Overall, a really nice holiday, if you are looking for a top notch 5* experience, you will be disappointed, but if you want a reasonably priced, good 4* experience, like us, you will be very happy.
But get rid of this 2 tier system Grand Palliadium, it's not a good look.
