My adult sons (age 23 and 20) and I stayed at Margaritaville Costa Rica on Playa Flamingo for 3 nights, January 3 to January 6. My name is Dee and I am a Parrotthead. I am a huge fan of Jimmy Buffett. The radio on my van typically stays on Sirius XM Channel 24- Radio Margaritaville until my family has enough and asks me to change the station. I own most of Jimmy’s recordings, have read all of the books he has written (if you haven’t read it, check out his kid’s book “Swine Not”). Been to a few concerts, own more than a few Margaritaville t-shirts. I have been to several Margaritaville restaurants, but this was my first stay at one of the resorts. The Resort: I loved all of the JB touches around the resort, from the giant flip flop at the entrance, the margarita glass chandelier and all of the boards on the stairways that had quotes from his songs. The gift shop was on the small side. There was a huge selection Costa Rican trinkets, Britt chocolate and coffee treats and some t-shirts, but I was expecting more JB specific merch. I did purchase a Margaritaville Costa Rica t-shirt to add to my collection. The size of the resort was good. We were on the end wing on the third floor and I think it took me less than 2 minutes to walk to the lobby....My adult sons (age 23 and 20) and I stayed at Margaritaville Costa Rica on Playa Flamingo for 3 nights, January 3 to January 6.
My name is Dee and I am a Parrotthead. I am a huge fan of Jimmy Buffett. The radio on my van typically stays on Sirius XM Channel 24- Radio Margaritaville until my family has enough and asks me to change the station. I own most of Jimmy’s recordings, have read all of the books he has written (if you haven’t read it, check out his kid’s book “Swine Not”). Been to a few concerts, own more than a few Margaritaville t-shirts. I have been to several Margaritaville restaurants, but this was my first stay at one of the resorts.

The Resort:
I loved all of the JB touches around the resort, from the giant flip flop at the entrance, the margarita glass chandelier and all of the boards on the stairways that had quotes from his songs. The gift shop was on the small side. There was a huge selection Costa Rican trinkets, Britt chocolate and coffee treats and some t-shirts, but I was expecting more JB specific merch. I did purchase a Margaritaville Costa Rica t-shirt to add to my collection.
The size of the resort was good. We were on the end wing on the third floor and I think it took me less than 2 minutes to walk to the lobby. We did not see or do any of the activities that were offered. The pool water was a comfortable temperature and it never felt crowded. A few people were playing the towel game, putting out towels and personal items at 6 am, but we were always able to find loungers during the day when we needed them.
Had a nice conversation with someone who works at the resort when he commented on a Margaritaville shirt I was wearing. We talked for awhile about JB and Costa Rica. Turns out he was the general manager of the resort. He sent a beautiful and delicious fruit platter and a nice note to our room.
No issues with WiFi- we didn’t try to stream anything, but it worked fine when we did a proctored COVID-19 test in our room.
Room 2320:
Loved the room! It was large, with two beds and a pull out sofa (used by Nate), a kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker, dining island with stools and a table with two chairs. Glasses, coffee cups and ceramic plates were provided but no silverware. Beachy décor with a parrot picture and pillows with quotes from JB songs. We did not have a balcony, but we could see the ocean from our window and at night I could hear the waves coming to shore. Room was quiet- we did not hear any neighbors.

Food & Drink “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere, but Not Until 10 am”
We had the all-inclusive package, which included food and drink at the Banana Wind Restaurant and 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar and Grill and the License to Chill Pool Bar. Top shelf liquor and some entrees came with an extra up-charge noted on the menu.
We stopped by the bar on our way to the beach on our first morning at 9:55, but they wouldn’t serve us until 10 on the dot. I don’t know if you could get a screwdriver or Bloody Mary or mimosa with breakfast. I never asked or saw anyone with an early morning drink. The bars and restaurants had some really interesting boat drinks on the menu and everything we tried was good. And strong. They were not afraid to tip the liquor bottles. The pina coladas were exceptional, probably the best I have had anywhere, especially when they topped the drink with toasted coconut. Yum! Frozen drinks were made to order in a blender and did not come from one of those slushie abominations that have syrupy sweet swill.
I was impressed that with the unlimited, strong drinks we never saw any loud, obnoxious drunks.
All of the food we ordered from the menu was excellent. We especially enjoyed the burgers, fish ceviche and shrimp ceviche. There was a buffet for breakfast which had plenty of selections, and buffet or a la carte ordering at lunch and dinner. I got the buffet for lunch once and it was probably the most disappointing thing I had while there. At lunch time when service was very slow, the waitress suggested we all get something from the buffet while we waited for our meals since we were on the all-inclusive package. We all got the fish soup, which was very good. The food at the buffets was served by staff due to COVID precautions which resulted in occasionally long food lines.
Although gratuities were included in our package, we always tipped at the bars and restaurants.

The Beach: Playa Flamingo
What can I say? WOW!!!
The huge beach was awesome! Although the access to the beach is across a very small, quiet, dirt road from the resort, it is only a few steps away from the property. The scenery was gorgeous- hills/mountains on one side of the cove, a cliff on the other. Large rock features out in the distance in the water. A-MA-ZING sunsets. The surf was perfect- waves were big enough to be a lot of fun, but we didn’t feel a dangerous undertow. Not sure if that changes at different times of the year. We didn’t have to dodge rocks or coral in the water. We took a walk every morning and evening, but we only made it to the right side of the beach. We found enough to amuse us in that direction. My boys and I spent hours every morning tidepooling- a heartwarming throwback to when they were younger. We saw a gajillion hermit crabs, larger crabs, wispy sea stars, fish of all sizes that the boys tried (and succeeded) catching by hand. Lots of sea birds to watch- the most pelicans I have ever seen in one place, snowy egrets, gulls.

Wildlife:
Our stay at Margaritaville followed a 4 night stay in the rainforest where we saw a plethora of exotic creatures. But the nature watch did not stop when we got to the beach. In addition to the sea birds, there were a ton of grackles, pretty morning doves, gorgeous blue jays, orioles and those cute yellow birds you see everywhere in the tropics. In the mornings I would go into the lobby to read and listen the birds singing. So loud! We saw a giant iguana and two racoons. In the water we saw a sting ray while we were swimming and on our last morning we saw a sea snake on the beach. Really cool and a bit scary!

A couple of complaints:
The towel availability was annoying. We were given towel cards at check-in and we could exchange the cards or towels for new towels. Except towels were frequently unavailable when we wanted them. We would go to the lobby for fresh towels and were told “5 minutes”, then “20 minutes”. They did give out the towels as they became available, 2-3 at a time, based on what appeared to be an orderly waiting list.
The other issue we had was at check-in. We originally booked this vacation in October 2019 through AAA for travel in March 2020 but had to cancel the trip the day before we were supposed to leave. We rebooked for March 2020 with the credits we had, postponed that and used the credits to book this stay. When I gave my name at the desk, they asked what method I wanted to use to pay for the room. I told them our room had already been paid for and offered to give them the reservation number and show them the itinerary from AAA/Pleasant Holidays showing we had no balance for the trip. They said that was not proof and they needed to see a credit card receipt from our payment. What??? The guy at the desk went out back to check on something and when he returned, he told us we were all set. Not a great start to our stay!More