Occidental Caribe - All-Inclusive

TLDR: This is a solid 3/5 star experience. If you are looking for an affordable vacation where you have a space on the beach/by the pool to relax + all you can eat food and drink, this is the right place. (Riu Palace next door apparently had better food/entertainment, but the beach and pool were packed like sardines.) If you are looking for a quiet, private vacation where you are pampered, and the quality of food is amazing – you will NOT find that here. -Do not bother booking excursions ahead of time if booking through cheap carribean – you can book it through your cheap carribean representative the day after your arrival date. -WIFI IS NOT INCLUDED (I paid through my phone company for an international plan for the week.) *if you lose key cards, towel cards, or your wrist band, you will be charged a fee $20-50 I booked this trip through cheap carribean for 3/26-3/31/18 – There were not many spring breakers around during this time. TRAVEL: I booked AMSTAR bus for transport to the resort from airport – when I landed in the airport it was incredibly easy to find the bus – it was about an 8 seater, and we waited ~10 minutes or so for another family to join us (had to collect checked bags) CHECK IN: I arrived around 12 pm, we were told our rooms wouldn’t be ready until 3pm. We were given a nice drink and told that we can hang out on the grounds until then – eat, drink, swim, whatever while our rooms were being prepared. My friends asked to be placed near us when they checked in, and although they were full, they managed to move someone and we got nearly adjacent rooms, which made coordination much easier since the resort is kind of large (though meeting up with someone would not be difficult) STAFF: Very friendly. Most spoke English, but house keeping staff sometimes did not. I was always greeted in Spanish, which I do not speak -- I recommend learning how to say “hello, how are you” and “thank you” at least in Spanish to be respectful of their country. Attempts at Spanish were appreciated. My cheap carribean representative personally met with us the day after our arrival and gave us the run down of the place and gave us safe options for excursions (I did not go on any this time.) He was great. It was difficult trying to get anything out of the ordinary – like trying to find boogie boards, or arrange a trip to the local outlet – the staff was a bit clueless and kept redirecting me to incorrect places. I ended up having to figure things out on my own a lot. ROOMS: We purchased the cheapest rooms, which were fine. They were in building 6, which is farthest from the center of the resort, but were facing palm trees. It was a bit noisey during the day when families passed by. They were clean and comfortable enough, and had a nice little balcony with chairs overlooking palm trees. The room was a bit outdated, and my friends in the adjacent rooms had a few issues with plumbing, but maintenance came very quickly. Plenty of bottled water was given to us (do not drink tap water!) There is a fridge with sodas and beers that are restocked daily, a small coffee maker/tea maker. Shampoo and body wash (poor quality) in the shower – my room was missing the conditioner section. There is a bidet in the bathroom. We used the safe. Might have been worth upgrading to Superior room which apparently are more newly renovated. AMENITIES: There are 2 large pools – plenty of seating. Nice pools (close at 6pm.) The beach is large and lovely – there were also plenty of chairs though you may have to walk further down to find them. There was a lot of space on the beach so you weren’t lying right next to people. Towel cards are used to rent a towel, and many people put towels down on chairs in the AM, left to eat at the resort, and came back hours later, which is irritating. There is a small platform by one of the pools where there are 4 hot tubs – they are lukewarm. The waves were a bit rough, which was great for boogie boarding but on my last day there was no swimming allowed because of the strong currents. (to get around this, my friend walked further down the beach where swimming was allowed.) Sand is well groomed. There is a bar near the beach on the left side, and sometimes a waitress came and took our drink orders – if not, it was a quick walk to the bar to order. FOOD: Food was mediocre – and I am NOT a food snob or super picky. You can eat at the buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the hours it was open. Alternatively, you can make reservations for dinner at one of their 6 restaurants (described later below) and there is a burger stand by the pools for lunch as well (also described below.) ***VEGETERIAN FRIENDLY. Buffet Breakfast 7 am – 10:30am – There were a lot of interesting but not appetizing plaintain/potato/polenta patties, meats etc. They also had your standard pancakes and crepes with syrup or chocolate sauce. Bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs at the buffet almost always ran out if you ate past 9 am (very busy after then), but there were 2 omelet stations where you could wait in line to get more eggs. Buffet Lunch + Dinner – Again, a weird array of vegetable and meat dishes (tortilla stuffed with seafood and rice in some sort of creamy sauce, what looked like hot dog pieces breaded to make ham fries.) You can always find some sort of stir fried rice. One night there was sushi which was good. There is a bread station and a couple of soups – which were all extremely salty. Buffet Dessert – Dessert was bad. There were many options for desserts, and they all looked pretty, but had a bizarre texture and no flavor. There were many items advertised as “chocolate pie” or “cheesecake” that looked amazing, but actually had the consistency of jello – sort of like flan, but not good at all. Some of their little cakes were OK, and obviously can’t go wrong with ice cream. DRINKS: There were many bars located throughout the resort to get alcohol – I did not drink any so I can’t remark on the quality. I did have non-alcoholic pina coladas which were very good, but not of a thick slushy quality – same with the strawberry/banana daiquiris – they were very liquidy. There were fruit juices available at the buffet, (they were OK) but no tropical smoothies. OTHER meal options: -There is a hot dog/hamburger/fries stand by one of the pools – VERY good. I read reviews that they were always cold – false. They were fresh made and always hot. -There is a small seafood buffet also by that same pool – I did not try this. SPECIALTY restaurants: As mentioned above, you can make reservations at their specialty restaurants – there are 6: Dominican, Mexican, French, Italian, Japanese, and Seafood. Most have a vegetarian menu (which is the same veggie items for each place.) Where things get peculiar – you must make the reservation SAME DAY, by going down to guest services in the lobby, which opens at 7 am. Reservation times are usually 6 pm, 7pm (?), 8:45pm, and 9:30pm – and spots are limited. If you go past 10am, only a few 9:30 pm spots will be open – so I got up everyday at 7am to make the reservations. We were there for a short time, so only able to try 3 restaurants: 1. French – DO NOT GO HERE. They tried really hard to make beautiful dishes, but the taste was VERY bad. I ordered a lobster bisque which was dark brown and very very salty, and could not take more than 2 bites. Everyone at the table was disappointed by their food. The crème brulee for dessert was OK. It did not have the taste or consistency of crème brulee but it was still slightly enjoyable. 2. Italian – HIGHLY RECOMMEND. The food was definitely the best I had all week. I got a Caesar salad, pumpkin soup (did not taste like pumpkin at all, but was still good), ravioli, and tiramisu – tiramisu was great (for the resort, at least.) The wines at all the restaurants tasted like they were watered down. 3. Japanese = Hibachi – The food was good, but it was very noisy (multiple chefs clanging their tools and yelling at the same time for the show.) NOT VEGETERIAN FRIENDLY. ENTERTAINMENT: I found plenty to do between eating and swimming, but every night at 9:30 there was a show. They tried really hard, but it was kind of bad. My first night, they had couples come on stage and had a few sexual themed games (humping each other in different positions to pop a balloon.) – a lot of young families were present and had to leave because it was awkward. 2 other nights there was singing and dancing – they had a “Saturday night fever” where performers did popular 70’s/80’s songs and another night of Dominican themed performances. It was also not great. There is a small game room in the resort – a couple of pool tables and a ping pong table. There is a casino that apparently isn’t owned by the resort. I did not go there. Reviews I read had warned not to go there because the games are rigged. OUTLET MALL (Bellamarie??) – Apparently through cheap carribean, transport to the local outlet mall was included, so we went. The drive was 20 minutes, and they gave us an hour and a half there. The outlet was really just one large shop – there were a few souvenirs, a very brief cigar making demonstration, and a shop with locally made chocolate. I bought some chocolate and then had to wait an hour for them to come pick us up again. I would not recommend it, unless you really need to buy souvenirs for friends.

The resort is just as advertised, the staff are friendly and very helpful. The dining options are a little limited but all are worth trying.

Overall this was a vacation after all so it was relaxing and beautiful but the building of the hotel wasn't as expected. I did not see any pictures in the photos of what it actually looks like inside. Our room was very nice and kept tidy but the walls were as good as paper between other vacationers. I was able to hear our neighbors snoring. The beach is very spacious, the food was great, choice of restaurants weren't too "available" but my boyfriend and I weren't too picky since we made reservations for dinner every afternoon. I would only recommend this resort to my fellow college friends who are on a strict budget, otherwise I'd definitely go the extra mile to find a resort that is worth travelling and paying for.

Overall it was good stay, but the rooms need upgrading. We were given a poor room that wasn’t cleaned and no ac. The phone didn’t work, the bed was broke and we could not get maintenance. We were moved to another room when our bathroom started leaking from the ceiling. Things improved once in the new room.