Gamboa Rainforest Resort, Gamboa

My wife and I, visited Gamboa for our universary, on 1st May,2010. It was supposed to be a special occasion, and a very special moment, that turned out to be an embarasment. I arrived on, and checked in. Immediately went to our room, got change, and went to the restuarand, to celebrate our aniversary. Once in the restuarant, we waited for a while, before been attended. We finally got some one. We ordered, and again, had to wait for a while for our meal to come. After we finished, I called for the bill, I received the bill, and payed with a $100.00 bill. Once more, we had to wait. Finally, the waitress come back, with a form, and said that I had to fill it out, and I also had to show some ID. I taught this had to do with checking in, but the waitress informed me that this was about the procedures for tracking down counterfait money. I was outrage. This was an insult and an embarrasment to me and my wife. I asked if the administration knew anything about a marker, that every one else is using, and was told that, this is the procedure that Gamboa uses. I ended up paying my meal with smaller bills, and told them that I would never eat at the restaurant. For the remaining of our stay, I had to travel to Panama City every day for lunch. When I came back, I contacted RCI (time share), told them to do something about it, and was told that they could not do anything. I was supposed to stay for 7 days, well, I decided that it did not worth staying there any more. I left on the six day. I would not go back there, not even for free.

The place is beautiful. However, make sure you don't run a "tab" at the restaurant or the bar. Pay as you go along. They will add items you did not ordered or you had already paid for. You have to eat at the hotel because there is no other place to eat around. The hotel's restaurant is expensive. The day before we checked out, my son discovered all his money had been stolen from the room, $1400. We notified he hotel's "manager" and it was very obvious that nothing would be done about it. I was born in Panama and this was a long planned and expensive family vacation. There were 20 in our party and 3 families had something stolenfrom the rooms, my son took the biggest lost and he had his 2 sons with him. Thank God we were all there to support him fanancially and moraly. Will return to Panama but not to Gamboa. I had visited Gamboa 4 years ago and was looking forward to my family experienceing the beauty of it but instead received a big blow

Being a native American from Panama, I can appreciate the frustration met by visitors to panama and its resorts. Gamboa resort is a beautiful place to spend a few nights among the rainforest and views of the canal. That said, panama still has a ways to go when it comes to first class customer service and its not unusual that some occasion will arise when you expect management to step up to the plate and take care of problems,only to find more frustrations filled with poor excuses and no one taking responsiblity. This is endemic to customer service in panama as a whole, but if you are a seasoned traveller, you might get through it. Just make sure that you get a name, keep documented records, phone numbers, and bump your complaint as high up as you can take it. Service personnel are not trained sufficiently to handle serious complaints or problems, but will tell you they will look after it, but dont. Panama is working to become a major tourist attraction, but customer service has a ways to go. If you can keep the attitude that most everything you do in panama has some level of frustration built into it, and have patience, then you will have a lovely time and take things in stride. And that is life in the tropics.

This was a beautiful experience. It was wonderful to hear the birds in the morning. Early morning tours to go bird watching, Monkey Island nearby which was wonderful. On Cable Car to top of mountain at $50.00 we didn't see much so felt it wasn't worth it. Breakfast was delicious as was both restaurants we ate in at night. Staff was wonderful and helpful. I would have loved to spend more time here and would definitely go back.

This place is too expensive. yes is nice, however they over priced everything.

I have frequented the Gamboa resort frequently over the past four years in frequent visits to Gamboa. This past week however, I had an experience that turned me completely against the hotel. Members of the Gamboa community agreed to meet at the small discotheque in the resort, as they usually do every couple of weeks. The disco is almost always empty and employs a member of the community as a disc jockey. So members of the community have a chance to have fun and the hotel makes some money off the sales of drinks. Only that this week the Panamanian members of the community were not let in. When talking to the head of security, Rolando, we were vehemently told that the hotel reserves the right to admission and at any time and is private property. There are no signs posted to indicate this and since the opening of the hotel, this has never been a policy and community members have never previously been denied entrance. When I talked to the acting manager, Juan Peralta, and questioned why we (Gamboa residents, but foreigners, mostly US citizens) were let in and our friends were not, he again repeated that they reserve the right to admission at any time. Among us were dues-paying active members of the hotel, but this did not phase the manager. At no point was anyone given an explanation, let alone any ounce of courtesy, as to why our middle class Panamanian friends were not let in. As you make your plan to come to this wonderful country, I urge you to consider not supporting a company that uses the community at its convenience and discards them whenever they feel like it.

I have never left the USA. The landing was rough.My first flight. The tours and the resort were awsome. The resort was so beautiful. I couldn't wait to wake to the early morning awe. The view was spectacular. The rooms were beautiful, and so clean. The service was very good. The fruit punch was the favorite. The disco was a well hidden and enjoyable entertainment. The tour guides were fantastic. The favorite was going out on our balcony, basking in the early morning, and evening beauty. The early morning birds were the most spectacular, and beautiful. There wasn't enough time to enjoy it all. The options were endless....... Thank you!

This is an excellent Hotel. You have an amazing view. Rooms are very nice and throughly cleaned each day. The service is very good. The people are very nice and helpful. The location is very covenient. It's in the rainforest, away from the loud city noises. The air is so refreshing. I recommend going to the Monkey Island. This is a tour the resort offers for a fee, but it is well worth it. You get to ride in a boat on the Panama Canal to go to the island. Although you can't get off the boat, the monkeys will come to you. Very fun, relaxing place to stay at. I would highly recommend staying at this resort rather than a hotel by the city. The only downside is that you have to cross an old bridge to get there,that's only one way.

Have been in Gamboa a couple of times, to have a walk, enjoy the swimming pool with view over the lake, went to the SPA, and brunch on the sundays with everhing included... Every time was a pleasure. The hotel is outstanding from its size and its standard. Some activities are available around the resort like the orchids nursery or the butterflies house, where you enter a cabin with lots of vegetation a beautiful amazing butterflies... We personally stayed apart from the main building as we overnighted in an hold American baraks. Which is also very nice if you want to go with the whole family and friends. An incredibly quite and peacefull place next to the noisy Panama City. A must go when you visit Panama ;-)

My husband and I, visited and stayed one night at this resort. Our stay was very comfortable and I was delighted with the view. We had room service and the food was fantastic. We checked out and 3 days later our credit card was charged for an amount we did not recognized. I emailed at least 6 hotel staff from the manager to the accounting department just to be completly ignored. I had to cancel my credit card just to make sure they were not going to keep on charging it. I will never go back!!!!