Westin Playa Bonita, Panama All Inclusive

My husband and I just got home from a quick getaway at Westin Playa Bonita. Overall, it was a pleasant experience. I automatically got a sour taste in my mouth when we were charged a fee for "early check-in," since this does not typically happen to us. After all, we can't really control when our flight lands, etc. Luckily, my attitude quickly changed when I saw the new rooms, restaurants, and grounds. It is an extremely new resort with a great pool area, If you're looking for an amazing beach, this part of Panama is not for you. Service was AMAZING on the weekends, but clearly lacking on the weekdays. For being such a large resort, it doesn't seem to busy as other placed often do. We didn't have a problem finding chairs, making reservations, etc. Overall, we were pleased!

Great Family Vacation! This was our first trip with our 5yo daughter. Plenty of options for her to keep her busy. Food was good. Beach was ok during the high tide. All around great trip!

Long and expensive ride from airport to resort, declined previously - arranged rental car since there were no cars with GPS available, and Panama City is a nightmare to drive through, even if you speak Spanish ( we don't). Trips into Panama City during the week for shopping, eating, etc. were $40 - $50 round trip. Room was very nice and well-appointed. Ocean front view beautiful, with ships lined up to go through the Panama Canal always present in the distance. Cleaning service very spotty - there was a dead fly on the floor just outside our room that remained there for our entire week. Pools (3, including kiddie pool) ok, but constantly needed cleaning and sometimes had cloudy water. Hotel beach very nice for time before, during, and after high tide, but there was NO water to swim in for a couple of hours around low tide, just mucky sand extending out for quite a distance. Necessary to walk about 1/4 mile down to the next resort's beach to find water, and not even there for the hour or so right before and after low tide. Weather very nice with strong breezes (even stronger than Aruba, I think) to keep you cooler in the blazing sun. Hotel had limited dining/drinking options. Only place to get a drink before 6 PM was at one of the pool bars, and they tended to be very weak unless you begged them for mucho liquor, although they were relatively inexpensive. Few of the bartenders, waiters, or waitresses spoke enough English for you to be able to explain to them what you wanted. Lobby bar nicely appointed but not open when it was supposed to be, and I think I can count the number of people I saw drinking in there at ANY time for the entire week, on one hand. There is a breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet daily with generally very good food. Other than that, there is an Asian restaurant, and a "gourmet" restaurant for al a carte dining that are sometimes open, sometimes not, for dinner only. Watch out for the "jumbo" shrimp they serve - they need a few more weeks of life to qualify as medium to large. There is absolutely NOTHING to do in the evenings, besides having dinner and going to the one bar that is open (until 11 PM) to drink, with zero entertainment available, even on Friday/Saturday night. Besides the resort next-door, which had nothing going on either, there were no shops, restaurants, NOTHING, around for miles. Entertainment meant going into Panama City, and concierge, although he was pleasant and tried hard, was less than helpful with dining/entertainment options in the city. All in all, we relaxed (no other choice) and enjoyed the beach as best we could (at high tide). Highlight of the trip was the boat tour of the Canal - through two sets of locks to Gatun Lake and back by bus - a "half-day" tour that took nine hours from hotel back to hotel. Will definitely use Cheap Caribbean again, but not to come back to this resort.

Thank you to Cheap Caribbean for a wonderful vacation. Everything was well organized from transport to//fm hotel to informative and pleasant personnel. The pool was great, the beach not so much but we knew that being on the Pacific side of the country. Restaurants were also great but we could have wished for more sea food on the menus. We would love to go back.