Mildew, bad A/C, bad beds, bad food
I have traveled all over the world – Asia, Europe, Caribbean. I mountain bike, kayak, and have a pretty high tolerance for heat, sweat, bugs, etc… BUT NOT WHEN I AM PAYING AN ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT MY HARD-EARNED VACATION MONEY.
DISREGARD THIS AT YOUR OWN PERIL:
THE ROOM: When you arrive in your room, the first thing you notice is the mildew smell. Its pervasive, because when the rooms aren’t occupied, they pull the cards for the room electric, and the room sits and swelters in the jungle heat. If you have ever been in an old un-air-conditioned house in the summer, think that smell.
THE AIR CONDITIONING: Well, that can only be described as pitiful – and I live in FLORIDA, so I have a pretty high tolerance for temperature and humidity. The A/C, cranked high, would barely get under about 82 if I had to guess. It sounded like a jet engine blowing on high all night and did nothing. It was miserable. We complained to Ricardo, the guest services manager, who did NOTHING. The hotel is 60% occupied and they couldn’t even offer us another room.
THE BEDS: The beds are the hardest I have slept on, at a hotel or anywhere else. They are like poured concrete. I like a hard bed, actually, but I woke up with bad back pain during the night and every morning from these beds. Between the beds and the terrible A/C, my wife and I did not get one good night’s sleep the whole time we were there because the beds were so miserable.
THE BUGS: Swarming FLYING termites in the room. Sugar ants on every surface in the bathroom, including MY TOOTHBRUSH. We couldn’t leave anything on the counter. Management’s solution? THEY GAVE US A CAN OF RAID. Did they offer us another room? Again, NO.
THE FOOD: The A/C in the main restaurant is pitiful. We had to leave dinner one night because we were sweating so much we couldn’t eat. The food would embarrass the buffet staff at a Shoney’s. Cold, over cooked, unimaginative, flies on the lunch buffet. When we complained, we were ‘invited’ to dinner at the Royal Club. My wife ordered the steak, and before she even took a bite, I could tell it was terrible when I HEARD HER SAWING THROUGH THE GRISTLE. She ordered the filet, medium rare, it came out done like stew meat. I ordered fish, it came out SOAKED in oil. We sent the steak back for scallops, also floating in oil. Don’t even bother with that upgrade.
Lunch is only served in the outdoor buffet by the beach, so if you don’t like flies crawling all over your lunch, too bad.
You are only allowed to make ala-carte dinner reservation on two nights out of five – don’t waste your time. There are plenty of excellent restaurants in town
I don’t know how the folks on here could possibly give this place a good review at the price. I can only assume that this is folks who haven’t stayed anywhere else. If you’ve stayed here 4 times and loved it I have a suggestion – TRY SOMEWHERE ELSE for heaven’s sake and see what you are missing... There is a world of travel possibility out there, see what you are missing, please. It will be eye-opening.
How this place rate 4 stars will always be a mystery to me. I really didn’t think that people could have such low standards. I have learned a lesson, though. I will pay attention to the Tripadvisor reviews from here on. I thought that maybe the people giving this place bad reviews were plush, whiny Americans. I do not consider myself part of that group. But those were the folks that had this place pegged, I should have listened. Every vacation I have had previously I did not want to leave, but this place made me want to leave after the first night.
Thank you Occidental Grand for messing up my vacation.
Also – look up ‘sea lice’ on Google. The beach water is swimming with them, I can’t blame Occidental for this, but it sure didn’t help my mood…