My husband and I truly had a lovely vacation here in amazing Mexico. We were here for a great…read morefriend's wedding celebrations. Having been here a full week, here is our honest and thorough feedback:
1. The wedding coordination for this wedding leading up to the main event was pretty spectacular. I think by 6 months prior to the big day, we already had all accommodations, travel, and vehicle transport to and from the airport all ironed out. Not a small feat!! Very convenient and it's clear this is the place to host weddings, birthdays, or other milestone celebrations.
2. We knew from social media that the seaweed was bad this year, and it's clearly depicted and discussed on the hotel info. But the seaweed is worse than it's ever been....smelly, LARGE quantities, and even as a lover of the ocean it truly does not make you want to swim. The water had a hue of brown due to the high quantity of seaweed. Not the hotels fault- and they clearly did all they could to make it manageable, tractors 2-3x a day to clear it and employees with snorkels to bring sand back onto the beachfront for guests via large suction hoses...this is sadly a large scale operation for an equally as large of a problem for guests. The only time we got in was during our snorkel tour at the reef several miles from shore. The water in Mexico is SO beautiful and warm and sadly, we didn't get to enjoy this aspect at the resort.
3. Service here is mostly exceptional. Of course there is always exceptions to the majority- the store owners here with the boutiques were not friendly and prices were not ideal. While we usually leave with souvenirs, we only left with one we got from a pop- up artisan on one of the nights.
4. The hotel maintains great standing amongst resorts- several years running of four diamond status from AAA 2024-2026. The grounds are beautiful, mowed often, bars are constantly restocked. However, certain aspects of our stay weren't treated with this care- our hot tub on the balcony was very dirty. Never cleaned out or maintained throughout our stay, we had to constantly call room service for more towels and room cleans. I understand many hotels do this for efficiency and environmental purposes, but we never opted out of this and for a week long stay we expected more diligent service.
5. Food was only ok. The restaurant Tamarindo was our favorite for breakfast and dinner, and the buffet has great chefs making custom omelets and crepes- those were awesome. Coco cafe has cappuccinos and affogatos all included!!! Usually that's extra- so we loved that. No freshly squeezed juices unfortunately which I found odd. The sushi place was sadly terrible. AC was lacking and the server constantly tried to rush us out. Their reservation system for hibachi is broken (despite the hotel denying this fact). Food quality in most areas left much to be desired. Fortunately- the fresh conscripted mangos and passion fruits made up for the areas food lacked in for me personally.
6. Sports complex on the roof was impossible to use. The heat made it impossible to tolerate.
7. Resort offered excursions and massages weren't great deals. We opted for a local snorkel tour and paid 1/3 of the price! They did attempt to push the timeshare on us a few times but fortunately we were able to opt out.
I love Mexico, I've been 3x and I will continue to come to Mexico! A week here is like a month of downtime in the US. Truly so beautiful here. Thank you Dreams Jade!
