Private Transportation & Check-in: We arranged private transportation for our family to/from the airport. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the airport, we spent 30-minutes looking for our...
Private Transportation & Check-in: We arranged private transportation for our family to/from the airport. Unfortunately, upon arriving at the airport, we spent 30-minutes looking for our transportation & after not being able to locate them, had to hire a taxi. When we got to the hotel & after traveling for 6+ hours, the check-in staff did not remedy this right away and wanted us to sign something saying that the transportation had been there even when it hadn???t. After about 15 minutes, they recommended that we go to lunch and resolve the issue later since we refused to get billed twice for transportation we didn???t receive (we had already paid the taxi). This was disappointing again given that all these accommodations were coordinated months in advance and we were the ones left dealing with the issue on our own. They should have just made it right immediately and they ultimately did not charge us for this transportation.
Pool: Service had significantly improved since our visit in June 2017. Isidro was our server most days & no request was too small or large for him. The drinks and food were outstanding, and service was even better. We have lots of kids and they had a blast being able to play at the pool and eat and drink poolside.
Suite Service (Room service): We used this 2 mornings when we had to get up early for excursions & our orders arrived correctly & were very good. They have an extensive menu but don???t necessarily have everything you would find at Azul for breakfast. We also used it for getting fresh fruit in the afternoons for our kids and coffee. This proved to be a great option!
Butler: Our butler in June 2017 was almost nonexistent. When we arrived this year, Daniel introduced himself as our butler and went out of his way to help us with any detail we needed. However, as the week went on, we had less interaction with him. He still did a great job, but we just didn???t need him as much toward the end of our trip as we got more comfortable arranging things for ourselves.
Rooms: The rooms are very modern and clean but their set-up is limited as a single room, i.e. you can???t have a bedroom w/a separate living room. We had 3 rooms for our family and they did a great job in ensuring they were adjoining and in the bedding configuration we requested. There is a 2 -bedroom presidential suite that we would have preferred but for some reason, they charge 2-3x the rate of 3 separate rooms for that suite. We had to get a TV switched out and it was weird that a few times our turn down schedule was not aligned with our dinner schedule as it is at most 5 star resorts, but these are minor things that were easily remedied when we spoke to our butler about them.
Food: We chose this resort in a large part because of the food quality. It is exceptional and there is great variety and there are many healthy options as well as indulgences! They are very flexible and kids can order off the kids or adult menus and as much as they want ??? at one point we ordered two appetizers at Sen Lin per person since they were rather small and no one said a peep (this is not true at other resorts we have been to where the food choices for children in terms of both quantity and quality are rigidly regulated). Our kids had a great time ordering Shirley Temple???s, Milkshakes, Strawberry Daiquiris. What a treat!
Frida ??? Frida was great. We dined here 2x during our stay. Try the Duck carnitas, Black Bean cappuccino soup, and short ribs. All of the waiters at Frida were excellent and took care of our family perfectly.
Azul ??? We had breakfast and lunch here almost every day. They have an extensive buffet and an option for everyone here. We traveled here during low season and it was great to see that they did not reduce their options during this time. The one complaint I have during breakfast or lunch is that when you order something from the waiters for an omelet at breakfast or steak at lunch, it would arrive by the time everyone else who ate from the buffet was done. This occurred a few times & we just discontinued ordering anything & just got food from the buffet. We also dined here at dinner one night and we were very disappointed. Despite having only 3-4 tables in the whole restaurant, the service was terrible and the waiter seemed overwhelmed by our order. One of our kids never got his meal. That is a big deal! A kid???s meal should never be missed. The one stand-out here is the molten chocolate cake, which was the best dessert that we found during the whole trip. I recommend coming here just for that after you have dinner @ another restaurant but note the 20 minute wait time as each dessert is made to order.
Lucca ??? Really great pasta and pizza. We ordered several & shared with our table and were impressed! I am Italian and am picky & thought it was very good. I wish they would expand their hot appetizers and also protein options for dinner such as Veal Scaloppini, and a chicken and fish entr??e.
Sen Lin ??? Huge improvement to Sen Lin???s menu & quality of food since our visit in June 2017. Our family loved the Beef Satay & Dim Sum appetizers. Great! The Pad Thai and Teriyaki entrees were also very good. Martin was a stand-out waiter here. We also went here twice since the only other restaurants are adults only.
Wine ??? The wine selection was sub-par for the $$ spent to stay at this resort. Their purchase options were also very limited so we ended up spending more on a bottle of wine each night than we normally would have. Their wine selection does not match the level of other amenities of this resort.
The beach ??? Most of the seaweed was gone during our visit and they had an army of people on keeping the beach clean each day and the beach was really nice. Great service from the staff at the beach. I also liked that they have beach beds and you do not have to pay extra for these. I was really surprised that they charged for paddle-boarding @ $45/hour instead of including. Typically, a resort of this caliber includes non-motorized watersports.
The spa ??? The spa is incredible! My husband and I both went to the spa and did the water journey, which includes hot and cold pools, clay room, sauna, steam room, ice room, etc. It is fabulous! We then had 80-minute massages that were incredible. After the massage, they offered for us to do the water journey again, which was a great touch. This is hands down one of the best spas we have ever been to. If you can, I recommend going several times during your trip.
The Teen Club ??? Our kids are 8,8,8, and 11. The kids club had much younger kids & is more like a daycare so it is not the right option for us. However, we all enjoyed going to the teen club & playing video games, air hockey, ping pong, billiards, and foosball. A great option when it???s raining (which it did on several occasions during our stay) or when you want a break from the sun. Orlando was a stand-out staff member here.
Activities ??? there were lots of community activities for the kids to do when we were at the resort like riding a bull in the pool, making sand castles, painting birds, volleyball, gerbil ball, etc. It was nice to know that there was always something new to do when the kids got tired of each other.
In Summary, our trip was mostly perfect & I highly recommend it for families. Our family loved it here so much the first time, that we came back for a repeat trip & I think that speaks for itself. However, with a few small tweaks, I genuinely believe that Grand Velas could be stellar.
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90% of travellers recommended this hotel
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Oct 13 2018
