Need Advice Caribbean

Hate to break up the love-fest over the Wyndam El Conquistador but we went in 2005 and did not enjoy it at all. IMO the place has potential but it was pretty run-down and overpriced.

The service was poor--here are a couple of examples:
1. We booked a golf/spa package and my wife booked her spa treatments months in advance. When we got to the resort and checked into our room (very late because the room was not ready at the promised check-in time) my wife called the spa to confirm our appointments. No problem, right? Wrong. They had NO OPENINGS for the remainder of our stay. Only after much sobbing (by my wife) and a call to the manager did they manage to squeeze her in, and we had to take the inconvenient times they offered.
2. We had dinner at an ostensibly nice seafood restaurant down by the water. When it came time to pay the bill, they told us their computers were down and couldn't charge the meal to the room using our resort card (like what you get on a cruise ship). They forced me to pay for the dinner on a credit card, which I had luckily brought with me (otherwise it would have been a 30 minute round-trip back to the room to get my card).
3. Ordered a nice room service breakfast before an early round of golf and spa appointment. Breakfast never showed up--they later found the order, which they had misplaced. Never got breakfast before my round of golf.
4. We have other complaints, but these are the big ones.

And the food was blah--nothing special.

Oh, and you have to take a 10-15 minute ferry ride to get to the beach--which we found to be pretty incovenient.

On the bright side, I thought the golf course was in great shape and some of the views on the course were amazing.

Of course, we didn't bring our kids when we went, so we were not necessarily looking for the things that might appeal to kids. But to this day we still joke about how poor our experience was at that place. Never again!

 

... nice.

 

Just to expand... the 10-15 minute ferry ride is to your very own private island surrounded by crystal clear water! It certainly wouldn't bother me. The mishaps your experienced were unfortunate and would have also upset me - we never experienced such but I guess they could happen anywhere....

 

On the more expensive side is Atlantis in the Bahamas. Perfect place for the kids with the largest saltwater aquarium anywhere. Swim with the sharks, feed the sharks and others, pools everywhere, beach, kid clubs. Some rooms are cheaper than others starting with Beach and Coral Towers, then on to the Royal towers (centrally located), and now they've added some more towers and cabanas too. It's an amazing place. Haven't been there since the expansion, but I'm certain they did a good job with it.

 

My kids enjoyed the ferry ride to the beach at El Conquistador. Unfortunately, the ferry shuts down whenever the bay gets rough making the beach inaccesible. We had two days of not being able to reach the beach. My kids loved the pool because it's a waterpark with slides and all that. You do have to pay extra to use it - I think it was $20.00 per adult for the day. A little steep considering the beach wasn't an option but we considered it just another vacation expense. Service was really slow but we were there as part of a large group (600+) and it was spring break week. They were probably doing the best they could.

 

Thought I would jump in here with my 2 cents. The Riviera Maya is a great place to take kids. You can get direct flights from BWI and be there in no time. However, the direct flights are charter flights that you have to book through Apple Vacations. They are on an airline called USA3000 and they do a terrific job getting people to/from BWI.

There are so many great places for families in the RM area that they are too numerous to name. If you go to the Apple Vacations website you can have them listed by ratings. If I were you I would shy away from anything less than 4 stars. It gets a little tricky.

Also, check out the Dominican Republic. There are a ton of fun family places there as well. (And while you're there pick the Nationals up a good pitcher please). Apple Vacations flies direct from BWI to many places in the DR. And these places are gorgeous!! Again stay away or book with caution anything less than 4 stars.

Good luck! Happy traveling.

Karen Hart
Cruises Inc.
Broadlands