Friday, July 22, 2011

Iberostar Ensenachos & Grand Village Suites


Browsing around I just realized that one of our favorite resorts Royal Hideaway Cayo Ensenachos is being re-branded into Iberostar Ensenachos and Iberostar Grand Village Suites.

Iberostar Ensenachos will still welcome guests aged 13 and over exclusively until Oct. 31, 2011.  After that it will be a family resort.  Iberostar Ensenachos Grand Village Suites will be a resort that welcomes guests aged 14 and over.

This property is one of our favorite resorts.  The best beach we have ever been to is at this resort and it is amazing that families now can come and experience the beauty and snorkeling of this resort.  I'm still glad that Iberostar will be making an Adults Only section since the atmostphere of this property is meant for romance, relaxation and serenity.

Congratulations Iberostar on getting such a wonderful property.

I wonder if we should go back and do our second re-branding post, similar to the one we did for Now Larimar back in June.  I'm very interested to know what changes Iberostar will do to this wonderful property and I hope that they take immense measures to make sure that the beauty of the beaches are kept in pristine condition.  Only time will tell.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Resort Tour Post: Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana

We had a chance to check out Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana during our stay at their sister resort next door, Now Larimar.  Secrets Royal beach is an adults only resort and shares the majority of the restaurants with Now Larimar.

Walking to Secrets Royal Beach takes literally a minute from Now Larimar. You can access the resort through a pathway just off the courtyard of Now Larimar or from the beach. Our first impressions of Secrets Royal Beach was "WOW! It's really quiet over here!". You don't hear the hustle and bustle of the resort next door and a quiet, relaxation atmosphere is definitely achieved. The courtyard at Royal Beach is a lot wider and in the evenings, is a great place to enjoy a drink and listen to some live music.


The pool is very different form the ones you see next door at Now Larimar. There is a main section where the pool bar is located and a lazy river goes through the middle of the resort.  The palapas are spaced out accordingly and really promotes personal space which is key at an adults only resort.  The only unfortunate thing is that the color of the pool isn't the sea green color that Now Larimar has.  We really love the look and feel of that pool but I'm guessing you can always go next door to use it.



We had a chance to eat lunch at La Riviera restaurant and the restaurant is decorated wonderfully.  It was nice to eat outside while taking in the great ocean breeze and a nice break form the sun.  You can also eat inside but the view is just too good to miss out on.  The selection of the food at La Riviera was a lot better than the Carnival Buffet at Now Larimar.  This was of course expected since it is a 5* resort compared to Now Larimar.  The food was fresh and I really suggest in getting some of the kiwi that they have there.  I swear it was one of the biggest I've ever seen and eaten.  It was awesome.


The beach atmosphere at Royal Beach is much quieter and they offer more relaxing activites such as Yoga and Stretching in the morning and for those that want something more exciting, they have Beach Volleyball twice a day.  I found that it was a bit more competitive than the other side since of course it was all adults that were playing.  The one thing that you don't get at Now Larimar that you do at Secrets Royal Beach is beach service.  They have waiters taking your drink order and bringing it right back to you, but really the beach bar is no more than a 2 min walk from where ever you are.  The left side of the beach is where the majority of the palapas are situated and the right side is where you will find a more open area where you can still get some shade from the abundance of palm trees that are located there.  There are hammocks as well towards the back of the beach if that's what you fancy.


Unfortunately, we didn't get to experience more so we can't comment on the rooms and the other restaurants since the week we were leaving, it wasn't offered out of Toronto.  You can always do an upgrade once you get there if you run into the same problem as us.  It's a great resort from what we saw and if it does get too quiet, you can always go next door to get more of a different vibe.

Below you can view the 360 videos we took of the resort.  Hopefully this will give future guests better idea of how the space looks.  We are finding these days that videos are a more reliable resource of how a property really is.





For more information on the resort, you can visit the Secrets Resorts website here or to see what other people think, you can visit here