We stayed here last week, for 8 nights. We have stayed in several all-inclusives, including the Grand Velas in Puerto Vallarta. There were four of us, including two kids 8 and 10 years old. First the good:
- Best pool I have ever seen. Huge, and perfect for the kids to play in, which they did for 6 hours every day. Beautiful infinite pools, and nice swim up bar, right up to the ocean. The only pool that compares to this is the Grand Velas in Puerto Vallarta. No slides or anything, but the kids still loved it. We never had a hard time getting a chair, but more on that later.
-Best food you will ever have at an all-inclusive. 5 star food all of the way, many courses, and you feel like you are eating at the fanciest restaurant in your town, every night. Kids menus at the restaurants that allow kids. I thought is was nice to have some restaurants that do not allow kids, nice to be just my husband and me, and send them to the kids club.
-rooms are a good size, with a big patio, that we hung out at a lot. We had a great ocean view that was perfect. Good mini bar that they restock every day, and they will put in things you like, if asked.
- great service everywhere, loved Julio at the swim up bar. Always remembered the kids, and made them ask for things in spanish, which was a great way for them to learn.
-we were upgraded to the ambassador section, because they were doing some work at the Zen, so glad we were. Nice to be near everything. We did see the Zen section, still very nice, but you would get the jungle feel, and no ocean views at all. Bigger kids club though, which might be nice, if it were busier.
Things that were just ok:
-No one was there the first week of June. Don't know why. The prices are high, but worth it, and the place was only at 15% capacity, so nice to always get your chairs and reservations, but would have been better to have bit more going on.
- there were a few other kids there, but my kids connected with none, like they have at other resorts, so boring for them on that regard. The kids club did none of their scheduled activities, so it was just a place for them to hang out and play xbox, while we went to dinner
-Nothing going on at night at all, no music, no bar happenings, nothing. I don't want a raging party, but it would have been nice to have something. I know the place wasn't full, but I wish there was something to do after 9:00.
-The rooms are nice, but loud, you can hear everything going on in the bathroom, which isn't always good. The beds are comfortable, but I prefer the rooms at the Grand Velas in Puerto Vallarta. There are two bathrooms in the rooms, and the bedroom area is shut off with a door, so really nice. I was hoping for that here.
-the beach itself is nice, with fine white sand, but no place to actually play in the ocean. You can walk 10 minutes either side to do that, but nicer, if it were just in front. Such a great pool, so that helped.
Over all really great, we had a nice time, and will probably be back. I think if we were there at a different time of year, I would have all raves.
Posted by kidsthattravel, from Colorado, USA on Jun 14, 2012
