RESORT REVIEW: Royal Hideaway Playacar

Trip date: June 7-14, 2012
Location: Playa del Carmen, MX

Beach Junkie rating (based on 5 stars):
Beach: 5 / food: 5 / room: 5 / pools: 5 / snorkeling: n/a

This resort was never really on our radar but after going to so many resorts through the years, we had to up our choices because we won't settle for less. This trip was for our 6th anniversary and we wanted to stay at a resort that was adults-only and a bit classier than most resorts. After much researching on adults-only resorts, we both settled on this one. We decided we wanted to go to Royal Playacar back in February and did some serious price watching. When we finally saw it for $1500 all in with Air Canada Vacations, we knew that this was the best price (only to find out it dropped $400 per person exactly a week later). At either price, it was still a great price for what we would be getting. Everyone we spoke to at the resort was either a returning guest or was adamant about becoming a returning guest. This review will be an easy but difficult one to write because we want to do it justice. This is THE BEST resort we have ever been to and we want the review to be written perfectly so it will convince you that it's a resort you MUST go to. We can't say enough wonderful things about the resort and basically do not have anything bad to say about it.

But the flight there, that's a different story. It had to be the worst flight ever and by no means the airline's fault. We experienced horrific turbulence and a 50 foot drop. Needless to say, we were glad when we landed. The Cancun airport was a bit of a mess and there was a lot of lining up but once we were on the shuttle bus to the Royal Hideaway Playacar ("RHP"), we began our vacation. After 45 minutes, we arrived to paradise.

Check in
We arrived at 1:30 pm and the bellman took our luggage and directed us to the reception area where we were seated at a desk and greet with a glass of sparkling wine and a cold towel. We were given a map and a quick briefing about the resort. We had made a room request and our dinner reservations for the first four nights in advance. Our room key was handed to the bellman and were told to check in with our concierge at 3:00 pm as our room would be ready then. We made our way to the beach restaurant, The Deck in less than a minute (this resort is tiny, only 200 rooms and the walk from the lobby to the beach is under two minutes).

Room
We were lucky to have our room request accommodated. We requested a top floor with a king bed in building 27 or 31. After lunch we checked in with our concierge, Carolina and she directed us to room 2723. The room was filled with an aromatic scent of oranges. What a beautiful room! The washroom is huge with a tub, stand up shower, two sinks, toilet area and a large walk in closet with an electronic safe. The room has a desk, chair, coffeemaker, fridge (stocked with water, soft drinks and beer), a DVD/CD player that is also a iPod/iPhone docking station and a flat screen TV. I will point out some cool features about the room:

• Etro products - shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, bath foam, and soap
• Tons of towels
• Two luggage racks
• Bathrobes and slippers
• Clothes line in the bathtub
• Turn down service with mint chocolate on your pillows, the bed prepared for you to sleep, lights turned down, refresh of towels
• Washcloths
• Mini water stocked with bottled water (we requested this)
• Daily Royal Journal (to find out what restaurants are open and what guests are celebrating a special occasion)
• 24 hour room service 
• The electronic safe does fit a iPad (we read on a review that an iPad won't fit, they are wrong)

During our stay our room was spotless. We really enjoyed the turn down service. The resort was kind enough to decorate our room with balloons and left a dessert plate as we were celebrating our anniversary. We were so impressed by this.

In each villa, you have a dedicated concierge who will take care of anything you need, from making your dinner reservations to special requests for your room to taking care of your breakfast order, luggage pick up and wake up call for your departure.

Food

Even though it's a small resort, there are a variety of restaurants to choose from. During high season, Spices and Las Ventanas is open for breakfast. Spices offers a buffet style breakfast and Las Ventanas offers an a la carte menu. For lunch, The Deck has an extensive menu while Spices serves a Mexican fare (sadly, we never made it here for lunch). For dinner, you need reservations, which can be made ahead of time or with your concierge. The restaurants are Spices (Mexican), Palazzo (Italian), Las Ventanas (their signature restaurant), Azia (Asian), The Grill (Grilled Specialties) and Club Royal (a theatre style dinner). All restaurants are a la carte and take about two hours because they serve 5-6 courses. Everything we ate was delicious and did not have one bad experience. What I liked was when you are greeted by the server, they always ask you if you have any food allergies and if you do, they will accommodate it. All servers are polite and will take care of you. Anything you want, they will do for you. An example of the quality of service you will get, they have a name card on your table and the servers will address you as Mr. & Mrs. [last name]. Please note that for dinner, men must be wearing a collared shirt, long pants (jeans are allowed at The Grill and Spices) and close toe shoes. People do dress up here.

Spices (for breakfast) - If you can't find something to eat here for breakfast, then you are truly a picky eater. Items offered: made to order omelets (you can even get an egg white omelet), french toast, pancakes, waffles, smoked salmon, cold cuts and cheese, pastries (mini cinnamon buns and crossiants are delish), mimosas, bacon, sausages, and different items each day like mushroom stuffed potatoes, Spanish omelet, vegetables, chicken mole, there are just too many things to mention.

Las Ventanas (for breakfast) - Unfortunately, we had no idea that they would close down the restaurant midway through our stay so we missed out. If we had known, we would have check it out on our first couple of days.

The Deck (for lunch) - As soon as we arrived at the resort, we were directed to grab some lunch. We were in awe as we sat down on their deck. You are treated to a beautiful view of the beach and pool. There's a lovely breeze too. The menu that they offer is so big that throughout our seven day stay, we weren't able to try out everything. Some of the things we did order: Shrimp cocktails, Shrimp burritos, different kinds of ceviche, fish & chips, beach burger (and 4 other kinds of burgers), sweet potato fries, marlin tacos, baja fish tacos, buffalo wings, caprese salad, calamari, onion rings, several pizzas - this is just a fraction of what is on the menu. For dessert, they have coconut ice cream with an oatmeal raisin cookie. This was a huge favorite!

Spices (for lunch) - We never made it. We really enjoyed eating on the deck, or getting our food delivered pool or beach side.

Club Royal - This theatre style dinner is only offered on Thursdays and Sundays. Since we arrived on Thursday, we decided to celebrate our anniversary with dinner and show. Because the resort knew we were celebrating, they sent over a bottle of sparkling wine and gave us a really nice table. Because the dinner is for the masses, it's a fixed menu - salad, soup, and entree choice of beef or salmon and dessert. Thursday night is the Mexican show, it was a treat to see the dances from the various regions of Mexico. Although we enjoyed the show, the dinner was a bit of a disappointment but it's something that you need to experience. When we return to RHP, we will skip out on this because all the other restaurants have so many dishes we want to try.

Spices - Out of all the restaurants (not including Club Royal), this was our least favorite. I don't know if it's because our entree took over 20 minutes to come out from the kitchen or if we had higher expectations for it being a Mexican restaurant.  The bar here makes different kinds of margaritas, if you are daring, try the tamarind.

Azia - This was our favorite restaurant, so we ate here twice. We are big sushi fans and the sushi here is pretty comparable for Mexico. You can eat from the teppaniyaki tables and enjoy a show, or you can order a la carte (you can still order the teppaniyaki but it won't be cooked in front of you). If sushi and teppanyaki are not your thing, there are other cuisines on the menu - Japanese, Thai and Chinese. Dishes to try: tempura, tuna sushi tempura and any of the nigiri sushi. Unforunately, we ate too much sushi and was not able to order dessert. A little tip - if you like Sapporo when eating Asian food, they serve the beer. We only realized it once we finished eating.

Las Ventanas - This is our second favorite restaurant. The decor has a Miami feel to it. When you look at the menu, it's a bit confusing as they list everything in the dish, you might question why two things would be put together but trust the chef, he knows what he is doing and the flavours of the dishes blend so well together. Beautiful presentation and expectional service. Remember to take your time eating to enjoy it and save room for dessert. If we could go back in time, we would have eaten here twice instead of going to Club Royal. Dishes to try: gnocchi, essence of tomato with lamb ravoli, lamb chops and definitely the desserts.

Palazzo - If you eat here, make sure you go hungry as the portions here are larger than the other restaurants. When we go to an all-inclusive, we never opt to eat at the Italian a la carte. We are sure glad we decide to eat at Palazzo. The food was excellent, the only thing is, we ordered an appetizer, salad, pasta dish and an entree. We were stuffed and couldn't finish our main dish. Dishes to try: gnocchi, black truffle pasta and osso bucco. We would eat here twice and skip out on Spices. There are so much delicious choice on the menu that you would have to come back.

The Grill - This steakhouse has so many options to eat - steak, fish, pork chops, sausage, etc. The food was okay but the view and ambience make up for it. The Grill is basically The Deck all done up with white linens and nice lighting. You also get the nice breeze from the ocean. Dishes to try: scallops and mushrooms and Argentinean grill for 2. A little tip - arrive a little early before your reservation and have a drink at the bar. You can even sit by the pool after dinner with a cocktail.

Bars
Bar Allergia - This bar would be considered the main bar. From 9:30 pm to 1:00 am, they have live entertainment and it changes nightly, anywhere from a jazz duo, karaoke, crazy bingo, trio latino, pop duo, crazy trivia game and international duo.

Piano Bar - We only discovered it on our last night. It's right beside Las Ventanas, therefore it's only open when the restaurant is open. They have a classier cocktail menu and a lot more seating than inside of Bar Allergia. We wished that we knew about this bar earlier in the week so we could have had a drink here first before heading to dinner.

High Tea - This is unique feature of RHP, not many resorts offer this and sadly, we missed out. High tea is served been 4-6 pm in the main lobby.

Beach
As you may have read in other reviews, the beach at Royal Hideaway Playacar is indeed back.  If you look at pictures from a few years back, you will see how much has been added to this beach.  It is amazing what they've done.  The week we were there, the ocean was flagged yellow to red most of the time but playing in those waves was amazing.  If you know how to body surf, you'll definitely have some fun.

There are lots of beach loungers and beach pods available. I would suggest just asking one of the beach attendants to help you with the beach pods at first cause as simple as it is to set up, if you don't know what you're doing, you can be there for quite a long time as I saw some couples really struggling with this. It's quite funny because once you see how it's done, it's as easy as 1 + 1.  Plenty of tree shade available  towards the back of the beach and it provides a nice cool breezy spot for you to relax or take a nap in. 

If you're too lazy to walk to the bar, the resort does provide beach service where you can order drinks and food (grab a green flag by the shower and just stick it in the sand when you want service).  Just keep in mind that during low season, the resort does cut the staff down so your wait times can vary.  Patience is key.

Pool
There are six pools in total at this resort. The main infinity pool is the closest to the beach.  Spots here are at a premium and it's the best view out of all the 5 pools.  We did notice towards the end of our stay that people started to save their spots with towels at this pool.  You'll see why though, the view is just awesome. During your stay, you might get a special treat of a cold towel and fruit kebabs in the morning and don't forget the ice cream cart that comes by the pool around 3 pm. The second pool is directly behind the infinity pool.  It's not as nice as the infinity pool but does provide what you need.  Loungers as well are readily available around this pool but keep in mind that it does get busy towards the weekend.

If you're looking for more of an intimate feel, there are four smaller pools through out the property that may give you the peace and quiet you're looking for.  The spa pool is located closest to the lobby and is directly beside the gym and spa.  An elevated second pool with jacuzzi is located just past Azia. You will also see the third pool just behind this one.  Finally the last pool with jacuzzi is located just before you reach the clearing to the main pool and beach. We love the feel of these pools but wished that they were cleaned more often.  Some of them had alot of debris in it such as feathers, bugs, leaves, seeds which we understand comes with having an outdoor pool but let's be honest, who wants to swim in a pool with all that stuff floating all around it. Keep in mind that the smaller pools do not have anyone to attend to you so if you are planning to stay there for the afternoon or morning, grab a few bottle of waters from the bar or some drinks if you like.

Entertainment
The entertainment is very minimal here at the resort. There are things to do but if you do not wish to participate, the entertainment staff won't be in your face. There is water aerobics in the pool everyday at noon, yoga in the morning and in the afternoon around 4 pm, there is a golf game, cooking class, spanish lessons, towel art...just to name a few. On some nights at Bar Allegria, there is Bingo, Karaoke or trivia game but that's about it. There is also the dinner theatre twice a week that you need to make reservations for but other than that, that's about it. If you are in the mood to party, jump around and be obnoxious, you maybe need to check out some other resorts. The entertainment team does their best to keep people busy (well, those who want to stay busy) but everyone I saw were either people watching on the beach or reading by the pool. The resort has a gym and spa, which we didn't use but we saw lots of guests using the gym. The two couples we met both got massages and raved about it.

Staff
The staff at RHP are by far the best team of employees we have ever some across. They are always working hard but have a big smile on their face. They are always willing to please and will bend over backwards for you. They remember your name, what you like to eat and drink and will always tell you "It's a pleasure" when you ask them for something. Juliette and Roxy at the reception did a great job checking us in and out  and ensuring that we had our first few reservations in place. Carolina, our concierge took care of us the whole week. Laura, Veronica and Norma, the lovely hostesses made sure we had the best table and that we always left the restaurant full. Alberto, Luis & Armando at The Deck kept the food and drinks coming. They made sure we were never without a drink in our hands. Isis at Spices who always made our green tea to go for breakfast. Jessie, Christopher, Pierre and Fernando and the lead guy of the entertainment team (we forgot his name), these guys work hard to entertain the guest from morning until night. There are so many others that helped us and made our stay so memorable but I do have to give a big thanks to Sarah-Kim Grune who helped us before we arrived at the resort with all the questions we had.

Check out
Luckily, we caught our concierge before she left for the day. We were able to arrange for a wake up call, luggage pick up and also for breakfast to be delivered to our room early in the morning. Our pick up time was 8:20 am so we were able to eat before heading to the airport. Check out was quite simple but we were definitely upset to be leaving.

Overall
We could go on and on forever about this place. It's heaven and paradise all wrapped into one. This is the best resort all around that we have been to. It's well-kept, excellent quality of food and drinks and has wonderful staff. We were lucky that we got a great deal but would definitely spend the regular price to come back because we know it's worth it. I am truly surprised that more people don't choose this place, instead they always go for the brand names and cookie-cutter resorts. It's going to be very hard to find another resort that will top the royal service we got here.

Lastly, our vacation would not be complete without meeting people who make our days more enjoyable. Christin & Jacob from Detroit, it's too bad we met you later in your stay but we had a great time shutting down Bar Allegria with you that one night and spending our last day baking in the sun poolside. Jill & Tim from New Jersey, we hope we didn't ruin your holiday away from the kids. You taught us the art of afternoon napping and waking up to late afternoon drinking while watching the sun go down. We had a blast with you guys and if you ever decide to go back to RHP, give us a holler, we will be there for sure!

Still not convinced? See what others think here

RESORT REVIEW: Now Larimar

Trip date: June 5-12, 2011
Location: Punta Cana, DR

Beach junkie rating (based on 5 stars):
Beach: 5 / food: 4.5 / room: 4 / pools: 5 / snorkeling: n/a

This is our 6th time to Punta Cana and our 2nd time to this resort. Our first time was back in 2009 for Christmas. Back then, it was NH Real Arena. Click here for our previous review. The re-branding of the resort took place May 2011. Everything is the same except the resort is now owned by AMResorts and the resort is now called Now Larimar. The staff remains the same but the restaurant names have changed. The Paradise Club is now the Preferred Club.

My husband and I went to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Before we left, we contacted the resort with various requests and all our emails were answered immediately.

We booked through our usual travel agent. The package was with Transat Holidays and the flight with CanJet. I don’t think we will ever want to flight with CanJet again. You cannot check in online, the seats are tight and the aisle is very narrow. Luckily we arrived early, customs was a breeze, our transfer to resort only made two prior drop offs and we were at our resort within a little over an hour of landing.

Check in
Check in was quick and swift.  We first went to the front desk but then got escorted to the Preferred Lounge to check in.  There we were greeted by Johanna who explained everything to us.  Our room wasn’t ready so we ate some snacks in the lounge and grabbed some drinks at the lobby bar and sat in the courtyard till our room was ready. We waited a total time of 30 minutes.

courtyard at Now Larimar

Room
We are going to try to clarify this as much as we can since most of the disappointments and confusion with this resort starts off here.  We had booked a Preferred Club Suite Ocean View with our travel agent. According to the Now Larimar website, these suites feature:

    * Living room and a separate dining area
    * Two flat screen cable TV with remote control
    * Nespresso machine
    * Exterior Jacuzzi on the terrace
    * Two make up mirrors

On the website as well, it states that if you’ve booked this room category, you get the following inclusions with your suite:

    * Personalized check-in and check-out with concierge service
    * Preferred status and amenities
    * Private Preferred Club Lounge
    * Two private, Preferred Club pools
    * Upgraded bath amenities
    * Bathrooms with double sinks
    * Pillow menu
    * Complimentary wireless internet access in suite
    * Complimentary computer access in Preferred Club Lounge
    * Upgraded mini-bar and room service menu
    * Daily continental breakfast service in the lounge
    * Pool concierge & bar service
    * Afternoon hot and cold hors d’oeuvres; exquisite desserts & fine liquors in the lounge
    * Complimentary newspaper in room every day

Many guests we met including ourselves were expecting this since all of us had booked the highest possible category from our travel agents. Unfortunately we were wrong.

Ocean FRONT Suites

We had contacted Roberto at the resort to submit our room request and he cleared up right away that we did not book the rooms facing the ocean and the preferred pool.  Those rooms are the Ocean FRONT Suites, not Ocean View.

Ocean View Suites

 The Ocean View suites were located at the inside part of the resort facing the pools and are all located in the block closest to the beach.  The room view that we got was basically the same view we got 2 years prior but facing South this time instead of North. Instead of having an open concept room like last time, the bathtub with jets was outside in the balcony and the bathroom was enclosed.  The room didn’t have a separate dining area or two flat screen TV’s as stated on the website.

As far as the extra service inclusions, we did received the following

    * Personalized check-in and check-out with concierge service
    * Preferred status and amenities
    * Private Preferred Club Lounge
    * Two private, Preferred Club pools
    * Upgraded bath amenities
    * Bathrooms with double sinks
    * Complimentary wireless internet access in suite
    * Complimentary computer access in Preferred Club Lounge
    * Upgraded mini-bar
    * Daily continental breakfast service in the lounge
    * Pool concierge & bar service
    * Afternoon hot and cold hors d’oeuvres; exquisite desserts & fine liquors in the lounge

The Wireless Internet Access in suite: This is free and complimentary but ONLY if you ask for the user name and password from the concierge.  They also only give you an allotted usage time of 10 hours per ticket which seems to mysteriously go really fast. We used the internet for about 3 hours in total by our 3rd day and by then we got a message saying that we had reached our maximum time allowed. It was no problem getting another user name and password though.

Room Category Names: To stop the disappointment and confusion with future guests, NOW Larimar should consider changing the room category names.  The Ocean Front Suites should be called just that BUT instead of having Preferred Club Ocean View suites, they should rename them to Preferred Club Pool View suites.

During our stay it was clear that the Executive Ocean Front suites were getting all the inclusions and services that were stated on the website. All of the other Preferred Club Ocean View guests did not. Fortunately for us, we knew this coming in and our expectations were lowered but for the other guests that didn’t know, it was a real let down and I don’t blame them.

So the lesson learned, If you want the rooms that are facing the preferred pool and ocean, book an Ocean FRONT Room. To be honest, the preferred club ocean view rooms unfortunately weren't worth it. We could have just gotten a regular room with the same view and expected less which for some maybe more of an enjoyable vacation.

With all that said, our room was clean (no musty smell). We had the electronic safe, a well-stocked mini-bar, amenities in our bathroom, face towels, beach towels and plenty of bath towels. We also got bathrobes and slippers. Some things that were missing was a directory and room service menu. We got both of these by asking for them at the Preferred Club Lounge. We did notice that we were suppose to get turn down service but never received it (probably because we always had the do not disturb sign on when we went out for dinner). The balcony had two chairs and a table, as well as the outdoor jacuzzi. It was really nice to sit on the balcony at night and just read. The pools and building are really well lit at night.

Room 1456

Amenities

Balcony of room 1456

View from room 1456 at night

Food
Carnival International Café - which is located by the lobby was opened every day for breakfast (7:00 am to 11:00 am), lunch (12:30 pm to 3:00 pm) and dinner (6:30 pm to 10:45 pm). The various themed night are Dominican, Italian, Spanish, American, Gala, Mexican and Asian. We ate at the buffet at the Dominican, Spanish and Mexican night.

Breakfast Buffet sample

Dominican Night desserts

I highly suggest that you make an effort to eat at the buffet on the Dominican night to get a taste of their local cuisine (see photo below). After all, you are in their country so why not take it all in. We found that since the last time we were at this resort, the buffet has changed significantly with much more selections. If you can’t find something to eat, then maybe you are not cut out for all-inclusive resorts. What we enjoyed was that there was a section reserved for Preferred Club members at dinner.

Dominican Night Buffet sample

Asides from eating at the buffet, you can order room service for breakfast, lunch or dinner but note that the menu is very limited. When we ordered breakfast one morning, we got everything listed on the menu and it only took about 20 minutes.

Castaways & Barefoot Grill - both are located close to the main pool and beach. Castaways is open from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm and has a small buffet of salads, pizza, paninis, burgers, fries, veggies, rice and some type of meat. They also have delicious, refreshing self-serve vanilla or chocolate ice cream in a cone or cup. Barefoot Grill (open from 12:00 to 3:00 pm) is found just outside of the restaurant and serves grilled red snapper(see photo below), pork chops, chicken and also paella. Right beside it is a fruit bar which offers freshly cut fruits such as papaya, mango, pineapple, etc. You can either eat in the restaurant or take it out to the pool, beach or your room. Please just be courteous and return your dishes and clean up after yourselves.

Grilled Red Snapper, Rice and Beans and Carrots

There are four a la carte restaurants for dinner- Mercure (French), Spice (Asian/Teppanyaki), Bluewater Grill (American) and Capers (Italian). There is always one of the restaurants closed each night. With the switch from NH Real Arena to Now Larimar, there is no longer a reservation system, it’s all first come, first serve. The busiest dinner times are between 7:00 to 8:00 pm.


We ate at the following:


Bluewater Grill - First off, I really think they should change the decor in this restaurant but the food was okay. We had ribeye steak, braised beef in Jack Daniel’s sauce (see photo below), chicken caesar salad, asparagus cream soup, an combo platter of chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, quesadillas and potato skins. For dessert was cheesecake and a brownie.

Click the menu to expand

Braised Beef

Mercure - this French restaurant was our favorite. The decor is really nice and it’s an adults-only. We had traditional french onion soup, mushrooms & escargot, Atlantic salmon fillet (see photo below), Beef bourguignon, caramel chiboust and apple and cream strudel. We were also treated to a banana flambe.

Mercure

Click the menu to expand

Atlantic Salmon

Spice - this Asian restaurant gives you the choice of Teppanyaki or a la carte. We went for the Teppanyaki tables with three other couples we met earlier that day. In order to be all seated together, one of the couples arrived at 7 pm to put our name in and we didn’t get seated until after 8 pm. no problem, we just grabbed a drink and waited. If you have had Teppanyaki before, it’s all the same. Fried rice and veggies, along with beef, chicken and shrimp. They serve susi, miso soup and tempura for an appetizer and then tempura ice cream for dessert. The night we ate there, the A/C wasn’t kicking in so we ate dinner fast and got out of there.

Lobster Dinner on the beach - this is a dinner which you have to pay extra for and can be booked with the concierge. On the menu is shrimp cocktail served in a pineapple, a whole lobster with veggies and mashed potatoes and chocolate cake with a fruit platter. You also get one bottle of wine and one bottle of champagne. We did this because we were celebrating our 5 year anniversary. I don't think we would typically do this. It was a lot of food to eat (even though it doesn't sound like it) but was an experience to eat on the beach at night. It wasn't very well lit but we did get to enjoy a lightning storm in the background. Thankfully it didn't rain. There were no bugs but it did get really quiet and one thing we regret was not taking our speakers and played some music while we ate.

Shrimp Coleslaw Salad

Whole lobster with mash potatoes and veggies

Bars
There are plenty of bars all over the resort. I won’t name them all but you will find one at the lobby, sports bar, the three pools, by the beach, basically, anywhere you turn, you are able to get a drink. Since we were staying at the Bavaro building, we mainly used the bar, Splash at the Preferred Club pool. Daniela, the server consistently went around taking everyone’s drink order. By the end of the week, she knew my drink order - a bottle of water with either a beer or slushie mojito. The lobby bar, Moments has an extensive drink menu and most of the bars, you can get a delicious cappuccino.

Beach
Bavaro Beach is always great!  We love this stretch of beach! It’s wide, and just awesome to be in.  During our stay, we didn’t have any problems getting a palapa on the beach.  There is enough shade and chairs to go around in this resort but you do have to get up early to get the premium spots.  The vendors to the left of the beach don’t bother you really.  They will call for you but a simple “No Gracias” can end that conversation quickly.  There also is a security guard who stands ALL DAY under a palapa and I wish someone would give him a chair.

The beach is lit at night and they play movies for both kids and adults on the beach. This is something new and we unfortunately didn't  take part since none of the movies that were playing interested us. They also showed some NHL and NBA games when we were there.

One suggestion to Now Larimar would be to have a section on the beach for preferred club guests and extend the pool concierge service that is offered to the beach as well. This we believe will make your guests feel like they really did pay for something extra.

Bavaro Beach

Pool
During our stay we only used both Preferred Club pools since we figured since we paid for it, we might as well use it.  There was never any lack of chairs around both of these pools and it was a great place just to sit down and read a book. I wish that they did place some umbrellas with some of the loungers since it does get really hot and uncomfortable when the sun is beating down on you. There really is no relief from the sun at these pools .

Preferred Club Pool on the Bavaro Side

The main pool was always rockin’.  Seemed like fun if you’re into that scene.  We enjoyed watching people from our balcony in that pool just enjoying themselves.

Main Pool

The quiet pool (which was the pool we mainly used our last stay) has the same vibe as the preferred pools but it as no bar or waiters to take your orders.

Quiet Pool

Entertainment
I spoke to one guest and he said that there wasn’t enough entertainment during the day. I can’t say I agree with him because we are the type who like to relax on the beach or poolside. Everyday the entertainment staff offers yoga, stretching, water aerobics, beach volleyball, water polo or volleyball and a special activity that changes daily by the pool (bed decorations, vegetable & fruit cravings, painting class, cocktail making, weaving palms, massage clinics and finger painting). In the evenings, you can either watch a show in the Larimar Plaza or Crystal threatre (Dancing Around the World, Galacaribe, White party, Circus of Dreams, the Michael Jackson show or Karaoke night) or listen to live music before the show. There is also movies on the beach or dancing at the Eclipse nightclub from 10:30 pm to 1:30 am. We don’t have kids but they do have the Explorer’s Club with a kids program from 9:30 am to 9:00 pm.

Staff
The staff at Now Larimar are so friendly and helpful. They always greet you and smile back when you greet them. Yes, most of them cannot speak English but they try their best to communicate with you. Some outstanding staff we would like to mention - Johanna at the Preferred Club Lounge, Mirabel at Castaways and Bluewater Grill, Luis at the concierge for our lobster dinner, Pasqual our server for the lobster dinner, Ricardo the photographer, the bellboys - Antonio and Henry, Jhonathan at the buffet in the Preferred section, Daniela at the Splash preferred pool bar and Moments lobby bar and Kelvin who was everywhere and served us many times. A special thanks to Tara, the social media coordinator at AMResorts and Roberto, the rooms division manager. They both made our stay a very welcoming one and gave us some perks as returning guests celebrating their anniversary.

Check out
Check out was quick and easy just like the check in.  They actually called us to see if we needed a bell boy to come and pick up our luggage which was nice. The one thing that I want to keep on mentioning is KEEP YOUR CHECK OUT TICKET to give to once you enter your bus.  You cannot leave the hotel with out this.  This is proof that you had checked out and cleared all outstanding business with the hotel. You don’t know how many times I see people scrambling for this ticket.  This is a process done at all the all inclusive resorts I’ve been to.

Overall
We spoke to many guests about Now Larimar and most people liked it except for the room category confusion, lack of daytime activities, no reservation policy and lack of selection in room service menu. As mentioned before, this was our second time to this resort. We personally still like the resort but would like to check out other resorts offered by AM Resorts. I will also still recommend this resort to people as it’s a small resort with a selection of restaurants, a gorgeous beach and nice pools. It’s a great first resort to go to since it’s not that big and you won’t spend half your day trying to finding everything. The one thing that I really like about this resort is how it’s laid out and how it looks at night all lit up. One of my favorite things to do was to read on the balcony at night.

The resort does have to iron out a few kinks such as being consistent in what is offered with preferred club rooms, the no reservation system for the a la carte restaurants has many guests waiting during prime time hours, the time share people need to stop calling the guest rooms and chasing people while they exit the buffet. Also the preferred club lounge should be returned to the section where all the rooms are located. It’s easier for the preferred guests to enjoy the premium liquors, afternoon hors d’oeuvres and desserts.

Shout out to all the wonderful people we met at Now Larimar and at the Punta Cana airport:
Mark, Sarah, Lewis and Aston from the UK - you made our last two days enjoyable with great conversation.
Eva and Andru from Montreal, Kat & Ryan and Rachel & Devon from Mississauga - it was a shame we met you too late but we did enjoy our dinner with you at Spice and our impromptu beach party.
Greg and Jane from New Jersey - thanks for hanging out with us at the pool after everyone left.
Shameer and Forzana from Richmond Hill - it's too bad we weren't staying at the same resort but with you guys, you made the plane ride and wait at the airport bearable.
Randy, Mercedes & Angelina from Brampton - you taught us the goodness of karma.

Still not convinced? See what others think here.

RESORT REVIEW: Melia Cayo Santa Maria

Trip date: April 16-23, 2011  
Location: Cayo Santa Maria

Beach junkie rating (out of 5 stars)
Beach: 4.5 / food: 2 / room: 3.5 / pools: 4 / snorkeling: n/a

First of all, I have to mention that I won this trip a year ago. How? Through Metro News, a local Toronto paper. All I had to do was fill out a form online and that was that. This contest was sponsored by Transat Holidays and the resort itself, Melia Cayo Santa Maria. I was hesitant on booking this resort because of all the cats and outdated room photos I saw on Trip Advisor. But with my year deadline almost up to take this vacation and stress from work, I booked for my husband and I to go from April 16-23, 2011. The flight times were ridiculous - 5:25 pm out of Toronto (our flight was delayed until 6 pm) and we landed at 9:30 pm and by 10:30 we were on our way to the resort. If you have never flown into the Santa Clara airport, please note that all the resorts in Cayo Ensenachos and Cayo Santa Maria are close to 90 minutes away. Therefore we arrive finally at MCSM at midnight. We are not thrilled with this resort and all I can say is, thank goodness it was free.

Check in
The one good thing I liked was that after you land, go through immigration, security and collect your luggage, as soon as you give the tour rep your hotel voucher, they give you your room key and ask you to fill out the registration form on the bus. It was all so easy and I think it is because we were arriving so late. Once we arrive at the resort, we were on our own. Everyone got off the bus and didn’t really know what to do since there were no bellboys there to help us out.We had studied the map before leaving Toronto and knew where our room was. Before heading to our room, we passed by the 24 hour pool snack bar and got hamburger and French fries along with some beers.

Room
Even though many reviews said that the room are outdated, I agree with them but I was pretty impressed with the room. It was clean, no rusty faucets, the toilet was clean and the bed sheets were, for the most part also clean (a few stains here and there). Two week prior to arriving, I emailed the resort (to an email address recommended by many Trip Advisor members), requesting for an oceanview room (with my contest winning, my contact at Transat Holidays graciously upgraded us to an oceanview room) in building 17 on the second floor with a king size bed (preferably room 1725). When we received our room key, I was relieved and surprised we got room 1722. I say this because in the Trip Advisor forums, most members said they received a email confirmation saying their request would be fulfilled. So my request was fulfilled except for we had two double beds instead of a king. I will share with you a little hint when booking rooms in most resort in the Cayos, all second floors rooms are two double beds pushed together and the king size beds are on the first floor. You have to pick your battles and decide what you want more, the second floor or a king bed. In my opinion, go with the second floor (you can avoid ants, cat fighting outside your balcony and other insects coming into your room).

In the room you have your beach towels, a day bed, coffee table, single chair, bed with mosquito netting, two very comfy body pillows and square pillows, a desk, TV, mini-bar (filled with one large bottle of water, one beer, one cola and one orange pop), safe in your closet, ironing board and iron, hair dryer…all your standard room amenities.

Speaking of the mini-bar, it took an arm and a leg to get it re-filled. At first we thought it wasn't getting filled because after our room was cleaned, we would leave on the "do not disturb" sign, so the next couple of days we didn't put on the sign and waited to see if the guys would come to re-stock. No such luck. Water is treated like gold here. You must save the first bottle you receive and get it re-filled at one of the bars. There is no way that you can get a new bottle at the bars, you must get it through the guys who restocked the mini-bars. I called the guest service line (which I think was front desk) and asked them to send the guy with water. No luck again. So we went to our tour rep and he said that we had to talk to customer service. After waiting in line to speak to the customer service person, he said he would send someone. I told him we really needed water and if he could please just give us a bottle (mind you, there was a truck right beside his desk filled with water bottles). I looked over to it and he said, "I shouldn't be stealing it but I will do it for you". I swear it's like pulling teeth to get water. Finally on our second last day, the guys came twice to stock our fridge. Just a heads up to keep your bottles to get re-filled otherwise, you may be out of luck.

Our maid, whose name I never got was very nice and had our room cleaned by 1 pm almost every day. She left us some great towel and blanket art. When we ran into her one day, she thanked us for the little gifts we left for her (toothpaste, lotion, makeup, along with money).

The beds were somewhat hard, a bedspring dug into my hip while I slept but the pillow definitely made up for it. The one thing that I didn’t like in our room was that the balcony door didn’t lock (thank goodness we were on the 2nd floor) and by mid-week, we couldn’t even open it, it would jam and we were too nervous if we opened it, we wouldn’t be able to shut it. We just had to admire our oceanview from the inside.

Food
I must start off by saying that we are NOT picky eaters. We will eat anything but we need to be able to have something to choose from. We found the resort lack tremendously on variety.  I can make due on meat and veggies with rice alone but I could never find rice so I settled for pizza and fries every day for lunch.

Breakfast - you can eat at the buffet from 7-10 am or at the poolside restaurant from 9 am to 12 noon. We ate at the buffet on our first day. I read about these delicious omelettes and french toast but the omelette line was too long and the French toast was no where to be found. I did find these delicious mini donuts. I lost my appetite this morning while sitting by the window and seeing three feral cats hanging out by the door begging and waiting for food. What grosses me out is the amount of people who pet these wild cats before heading into the restaurant and who in turn use their hands to pick up food due to the lack of tongs and serving spoons. We only went back one other day, the other days we ate at the poolside restaurant and got a fried egg and toast every morning.

Lunch - We ate at the buffet and again didn’t find much selection. I noticed that they serve the featured pasta that was served the night before. We ate twice at the beach restaurant but we took the paella, sausage and roasted chicken with BBQ sauce to our room because the place was surrounded by cats begging for food. We heard that at dinner (the seafood restaurant) and lunch, the cats stare at you and sometimes even jump up on the chairs and tables looking for food. So instead of dealing with that, we ate at the poolside restaurant for most days. On the menu, are sandwiches, burgers, hot dog, french fries and tons of pizza.

Dinner - we ate twice at the buffet, on our first night and Tuesday. The buffet is open from 7-10 pm. Thank goodness we only were having 6 dinners at MCSM and four of them at a la cartes. We ate at the Japanese and French restaurants and twice at the Mediterranean one.

"El Portulano" (Mediterranean) - Both the red and white wine is pretty good here, as in all a la carte restaurants. We went to this restaurant twice since we opted to not eat at the Seafood restaurant because of the cats. Portions are small so don't go there hungry. Some dishes we ate were smoked salmon appetizer, rice with squid ink, grilled vegetable appetizer, cod fillet, styled lamb, pork tenderloin with orange, gazpacho and various desserts.

"Sakura" (Japanese) - Go to this place hungry as you will get a lot to eat. First you get cold noodles with pickled cucumbers, then a sushi and tempura appetizer and then your teppanyaki meal (beef, chicken, shrimp and fish, along with fried rice and vegetables). For dessert was ice cream. It's all a bit salty.

"Le Bistro" (French) - This was our favorite restaurant, mainly because of the atmosphere. The food was okay but better than the other two. Some of the dishes we had - smoked salmon appetizer, shrimp cocktail (shrimp with loads of mayo), lobster bisque and lobster with chicken (chicken was dry and there was very little rice). I can't remember what we had for dessert but I was all excited that they chocolate mousse but when I went to order it, they said they didn't have it. 

Bars
There are a couple bars around the resort. A 24 hour lobby bar and pool bar, one swim up bar, one beach bar and a nice bar between the Japanese and French restaurants. We drank beer the majority of the time, had wine with dinner and drank a lime slushie when we needed something non-alcoholic. We attempted to get a mojito from the beach bar and it tasted like crap. Considering Cuba is known for the mojito, they sure don’t make a good one. The best was in Jamaica - who would have thought?! Elvis, the bar staff who goes around the pool taking drink ordered was great. He remembered everyone’s drink, so you never had to ask him again.

Beach
The beach at Cayo Santa Maria is absolutely wonderful. If you’re lucky enough to experience a green flag day while at the resort, you will get to see the Caribbean at its best! The water is absolutely clear and the color of the ocean is to die for. On yellow and red flag days, you really get to see the power of the ocean.  It’s still beautiful to look at, the waves get pretty big and is fun to play in. The beach does get really windy on these days and if you are near the lip of the sand bank, you will get sand blasted.

The stretch of beach at Melia Cayo Santa Maria is broken up into 2 parts, the East side of the resort has 2 rows of palapas and is where the beach volleyball court is. You will also see the wedding gazebo on this side. The West side of the beach has one row of palapas and a higher sand bank to climb down on to get to the ocean.  The Beach Bar is right of the middle pathway of the beach.

The week we were there (and we are only speaking for the week we were there) it was impossible for us to find a palapa. One of the days, we couldn’t even  find a couple of loungers on the beach.  Even broken ones! Loungers and shade were pretty much spoken for by 6am on the beach. You can get shade and loungers on the beach later on in the afternoon when everyone else was headed back to the pool but that’s usually when the wind picks up.

You can snorkel at Cayo Santa Maria. You will have to walk west towards the Sol Resort and just past the nude beach is where you can snorkel.  We didn’t venture out that far so I cannot speak of the quality of the snorkeling but from people we met, they said it was just okay.

Pool
There are two big pools in the resort and one by the spa but you need to book an appointment with the spa to get their water treatment if you want to use that pool. If you are with Transat Holidays, you get one free hour to use the spa facilities (jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and spa pool). We were thinking of doing this when we couldn’t find any seats on the beach or pool but opted not too. The pool is really cold but very refreshing on those hot days. One thing that bothered me about the pool is that the washrooms near the pool side restaurant are disgusting. Out of the three stalls, only two were working but both doors didn't lock. The floor was filthy and there was no soap.

Entertainment
We didn’t watch any shows even though we had late dinners and finished around 9:30-10:00 pm. Our entertainment was mainly watching movies on TV and reality shows on VH1. We came to relax so we went to bed early and slept in. The animation team does a lot of activities poolside - tai chi, merengue ans salsa lessons and scuba lessons. They also have aerobics in the pool in the morning.  The only think I didn’t like was them yelling on the mic, “WAKE EVERYONE, WAKE UP! I get doing it in the afternoon but in the morning when everyone is reading or sleeping is not ideal. They do a great job in entertaining all the guests.

Staff
Maybe it was the fact that the resort seemed to be at full capacity (because we went during the Easter holiday) or the rumoured fact that it was going to be the beginning of low season so staff were getting their pink slips but I found the staff not to be so great. Yes, they are hard-working and I appreciate that . We are on vacation and they are waiting on us hand and foot but they didn’t seem all so friendly. Especially the wait staff at the buffet. They were definitely understaffed. The servers at the pool restaurant were great and same with our maid. Raul, the tour rep gave a great  intro to the resort and was quite funny but I didn't find him all too helpful. We tipped when tips were deserved but we also left a tip even if we felt it wasn’t deserved. These people work hard to please us and make our vacation wonderful even if they are miserable.

Check out
Our flight on the way home was at 10:25 pm but luckily our flight arrived early so we left at 10 pm.  Check out is at noon. The day before we paid $35 CUC for late check out at 4 pm. We were able to use our beach towels and soak up the sun until going back to our room to shower. The bus picked us up at 6 pm on the dot. The bus ride was uneventful was we have seen the cities on the way to the airport the last time in 2009. The rep did a wonderful job giving us tidbits about the causeway and the cities we passed through on the way to the Santa Clara airport. Check immigration and security  at the airport was a breeze. Save some CUC’s if you want to buy some alcohol at the duty free shop and if you want to grab something to eat before you board.

Overall
The resort was okay. Nothing exciting, we have been to better in general and in the area. The trip was free so we can’t complain. We talked to a lot of people who were on our flight and some who arrive on the flight the day before us. We came to the conclusion that if this is your first time in Cuba or your first time to an all-inclusive resort, you will enjoy this resort but if not, I hope you paid very little to stay at MCSM. A special shout to the lovely people we met - Pam & her family from Richmond Hill, Barry or Gary from Ottawa, Jocelyn & Jason from Niagara Falls, Serena & Graham from Toronto, Glen & Lynn from Brampton and Benjamin & Margaret from Toronto - they made our trip much more enjoyable.

Still not convinced? See what others think here.

RESORT REVIEW (Guest Blogger): Beaches Turks & Caicos

**Beach Junkies Note:  Our friend Kat was so thrilled with her stay in Turks &Caicos so I asked her to write up a review for us (seeing that us Beach Junkies have not been to this island). All photos used in this post belong to Kat**

Trip Date: April 9-16, 2011
Location: Turks & Caicos

Kat's Rating: (based on 5 stars)
Beach: 5 / Food: 5 / Rooms: 3.5 / Pools: 5 / Snorkeling: N/A

The Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos caters to kids and adults. It's a beautiful resort with 3 large "villages" - Italian (newest), French and Caribbean; all within walking distance of each other. There are 16 restaurants and dozens of pools with a large water park for adults and kids. 

Beaches is the only resort that provides complementary shuttle service to/from the airport and they're very efficient; I was expecting to wait around for at least 30mins while they got themselves organized but the minute we were outside with our luggage, we were whisked away into the first shuttle and taken to our room. Beaches is a cashless resort so everything that's outside of the all-inclusive plan gets charged to your room. They don't accept tips either (?!) so the cash we had remained in the room safe for the entire trip. 

Because this resort is kid-friendly, they have tons of kids activities; some which requires an additional fee to be paid. The character breakfast (you dine with Elmo and friends - totally worth it) or the sesame street cruise are extra but activities like baking cookies with Cookie Monster (Wednesdays at 3pm), Elmo's birthday party (once a week) and the Sesame Street camp (open daily - daycare for kids and they get to frolick around with the characters) are all free.

Check in
I think check-in is 3pm but we arrived late and our room was already ready.  I'm not sure why but we had private concierge service so they brought our luggage to our room

Room
We stayed in the Caribbean village in a 1bdrm suite. It was a decent room but I expected more since I paid through the teeth for this trip. However, it was clean, the staff was excellent and we had a great terrace that stretched from the sliding door in the bedroom to the main area. The Caribbean Village is the older of the 3 villages and the most quiet and we booked this area for that very reason since our daughter goes to bed around 8pm. 

Food
The food was awesome. There were 16 restaurants scattered around the resort and you could walk into every one. Some were adults-only but most of them were kid-friendly. They had different 'theme' nights; my favorite was Mario's restaurant - it was huge and the food was really good.

Bars
They were pretty good.  The drinks were good and the service was quick.

Beach
Fantastic; by far, the most beautiful beach aside from the beaches of anguilla. The water was crystalline blue so those pictures you see on the internet of the turks beaches/ocean are that gorgeous.  I LOVED the beach - it had fine, white, powder sand and the water was so refreshing. 

Pool
Beaches resort had tons of pools; they even had a water park with slides and everything. The French village had a children's water park/splash pad that our daughter loved with a lazy river and giant slides for adults. Lots of swim-up bars, great (fake) caves for the kids to play in.

Entertainment
Awesome entertainment for kids.  Every evening, they held a Sesame Street show (free!) or some kid of talent show/dance off, a Sesame Street parade through the entire resort and at the end of the week, they held a beach party complete with a show, amazing local food, lighting, the whole works. It was awesome.

Staff
For the most part, the staff was so incredibly nice. The ladies at the bar near our pool were sort of crusty but all the other staff were so nice and friendly.

Check out
Checkout wasn't bad. Because we had private concierge service, we didn't have to wait in line. They have an 11am checkout but our flight wasn't until 715pm!  Luckily, we reserved on of the private cabanas so we chilled out by the pool until we had to leave. They provide a departure lounge where you can shower/get ready for your flight and they also serve refreshments/snacks while you wait for your (complimentary) shuttle to the airport.

Overall
Definitely a 10.  We loved it so much, we're planning on going back there next year!