Kim L.
Yelp
The resort itself was very pretty and well maintained. To get from one resort to another you took a tram which ran frequently in front of the lobby. The pools were nice, not as warm as I expected for the weather, and no hot tub. Plenty of chairs, tables and umbrellas to protect you from the sun. Daily exercise programs which everyone seemed to enjoy. The beach was pretty, but the water was very choppy, there was a red warning flag every day because of the wind. Very few people swam in the ocean. I went in the last day went it was calmer, but didn't stay long because the bottom was rocky and rough and I was afraid I was going to cut my feet.
Our room was nice, we had a king bed which was comfortable if a bit on the hard side. We slept with the doorwall open every night which was wonderful. You could hear the ocean surf. The shower is European style with a half glass door, ours wouldn't stay shut, we had to jam it with a towel to keep the floor from flooding. They were a bit stingy on the towels, 1 each, but we just took extras since they left them sitting outside the rooms while they cleaned.
Our room was on the 2nd floor, our view from our balcony was palm trees about 30 feet away, so in other words, no view. But I came to appreciate the privacy, and I liked being able to sleep with the door open, so not all bad.
The staff was very nice and always smiling, they truly seemed to be enjoying their jobs. One exception was the hospitality room where you had to make meal reservations, they were rude and miserable. Although everyone was nice, they were also very structured and would not deviate from procedure or make a helpful suggestion.
Somehow we weren't given pool towels when we checked in - this became comical (not really) as we tried to get them every visit to the pool. Everyone had a different story - no one would give us a towel. The day before we left we finally got the Apple representative to talk to the front desk to give us towel cards which we were able to use to get towels at the pool.
We wanted to see some sights so our Apple person told us about many tour options ($$$$). We decided to do it ourselves and save money and make our own itinerary. We figured it out and had a blast. Very disappointed that no one in the hotel - including the 'concierge' would assist us with figuring out how to do anything that wasn't a tour. All he wanted to do was take us on a tour of the 'Premiere time share'. No thanks.
Food was average to above average. The buffets have huge sections of most types of cuisine, but oddly, not much Mexican. I didn't get an authentic Mexican meal until I left the resort. The al a carte - reservation restaurants were 1 good 1 mediocre. The la Gourmet French meal we had was very good and even had an impressive presentation. The Don Carlos Brazilian meal was not great, basically just different meats on a skewer. You have to make a reservation almost as soon as you check in or you will find out that all the restaurants 'are full'. Which is bizarre and must be some weird thing they do to make them seem appealing because both restaurants were not more then 50% full the whole time we were there. Others also experienced this.
Surprised to find that there was no poolside or beachside snack bar. You could eat at the buffets all you wanted - until they closed between meals or at night, but you couldn't carry out or have poolside snacks. What the heck? Thumbs down on that.
The 24 hour snack bar was the only place to get food late at night and it was HORRIBLE. Hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken nuggets. It was like eating the worst version of a kids menu.
The website says bikes are available, but discovered only twice a day with tours, one which we had to pay for. We decided to do a 4pm free tour on our first full day, which was a ride from our resort to the other resort golf course. Halfway through, someone's chain broke (the bikes were old and beat up), our guide had to walk that bike back for repairs, so we took off from our group. We did our own tour all over and found areas that we hadn't seen yet, so we made the best of it.
The lack of night life there was appalling. I'm on vacation, in the heat, in a resort with nothing to do! What the heck. Each resort had a bar with singers mangling 70's songs, think lounge singers with an accent. Their biggest billing every night was a 'show' in their amphitheater that was beyond amateur. A high school dance team could do better.
So, I enjoyed my trip, mainly because of the beautiful weather, the friendly people and the offsite trips. If I go back I will stay in a regular hotel, eat at restaurants and make day trips to see the sites. If you like to stay put and sit by the pool and read a book or drink all day and play in the water or not have to figure out where you're going to eat, this resort would probably be great. Lot's of people we talked to there wanted to do just that and were happy as clams. It's just not my style.