Wow, what a lovely place this is from the moment we arrived to the moment we left we had the best time. The perfect way to round off our honeymoon trip.
The hotel is just a short drive from the airport and we arrived mid afternoon before check in time. As soon as we stepped out of our taxi, we were greeted by the very friendly men at the door who were sorting the luggage. We went to the front desk and was me by the lovely Malecia. Upon hearing we were on our honeymoon she upgraded us to a junior suite which was a very nice touch and really appreciated. At the same time a cold beer was given to us by another member of the team and we knew we had made the right choice. Our room wasn’t quite ready so we were invited to go and grab some lunch. We walked outside and the jerk chicken shack was calling. I can’t recommend this place enough, perfectly cooked chicken and pork, super friendly chef too. We stopped by here most days!
What strikes you about this place is how stunning the grounds are and how well kept everything is. There are staff everywhere keeping every thing spotless and all with a friendly greeting. Our room was also spotless on arrival and kept so during our stay. It was spacious, comfortable with a great shower, nice big bath, decent television and a mini bar of cold soft drinks, beer and a couple of bags of Doritos. Perhaps some spirits wouldn’t go amiss to really make it a ‘bar’. This is a minor complaint as there are plenty of places to get drinks anyway.
The food across both sites was very good (bear in mind the Zilara side is adults only). The choicez buffet was excellent for breakfast and lunch and you will not be spoilt for choice. The standard of food here was great though for dinner it was a bit ‘samey’. However there are plenty of a la carte restaurants to choose from, the French was our favourite but the Brazilian was also good. The Italian was ok though not as good as the others, the pizza appeared to be the same one served at the snack bars. The house wines were good and adequate enough not to have to spend money on more premium ones. You won’t go hungry between meals with some nice snack bars serving burgers, pizzas, nachos (and of course the legendary jerk chicken shack). There are also a few coffee shops serving pastries and sandwiches.
The pools are really nice, they can get busy but we never had trouble getting a sun lounger. We rented a cabana on the last day for a nice way to complete our trip, it was $109 which isn’t cheap but worth it for the space you get to yourself. The drinks across both sites are good though I would have liked a grater choice of beer (red stripe and Heineken) but there’s plenty of cocktails to choose from, I’d recommend the Jamaican Hurricane (though two are enough!).
Evening entertainment was varied and surprisingly very well put together and fun. The Michael Jackson show in particular was great. The gym is very well equipped and plenty of space.
I would highly recommend this resort, the staff are lovely throughout, the food is very good and varied and you won’t be short of places to relax. We will definitely consider coming back in future, it blew us away!