Days 1-3

For the sake of this report, assume that I am more demanding than the average guest in terms of "volume" of needs, but not scale of difficulty. I do have high standards for service, so YMMV.

We arrived at the hotel on Sunday, around 3:30. Our room wasn't quite ready yet, but the valet took the car and I checked us in. Us=myself, wife and two year old twins. Since we had called ahead when we got lost on the drive, they had and "APB" out for us.

In the lobby, you check in at somebody's individual desk. At first, the woman could not find our confirmation on points, but eventually located it. The butler walked us to our suite where I was met by the wife and kids.

Since there were no regular rooms available, we bought up to a suite, which was gorgeous. Huge living room, huge master bath with a tub that my kids used as a swimming pool and a 6X6 rainfall shower. We were completely exhausted, so we ordered room service and put the kids to bed.

The grounds are simply breathtaking. It is clear that a lot of care went into the hotel and its maintenance. There were employees all over the place and every one of them had a smile. The pool is enormous and divided into a number of sections so we could isolate ourselves if we needed to. We don't golf, so we didn't make it to the course. Our routine has been pretty much the same: hit the pool in the morning, lunch and naps in the afternoon, a short activity before dinner and then kids (and parents) to bed.

The big pluses so far:

The rooms and grounds are simply out of this world. You feel totally isolated, in a good way.

Without exception, every employee has been smiling, friendly and eager to please. They delivered a microwave and high chairs to our room for the kids and had two cribs delivered when we asked (although we had asked for the cribs in our reservation, so it would have been nice if they had been waiting).

Prices are high, as one would expect at a resort, but not so high that we felt like they were taking advantage of us. The Ralph's is a very short drive and if you are staying a while, I would highly recommend making a shopping trip.

Negatives:

There are still way too many rookie mistakes. For example, no one seems to know the price of anything. We asked five different people at the pool how much it cost to rent a cabana and got five different answers. Likewise, no one could tell me exactly what the resort fee included. Over the phone, they told us that the kids' club is included, but when we got here, they told us it wasn't. Look, I don't care either way, but why isn't there a list somewhere for employees to look at?

Requests aren't always honored. On both days, we asked housekeeping to clean our room at 9:30ish so that our kids could nap in the afternoon. On day one, the request was simply ignored. On day two, they were still cleaning when we got back to the room around 12:15. Again, if you tell me you can do something, please do it.

The ridiculous, obscene, resort fee. I know this has been covered in detail above, but seriously? It doesn't include parking? Free long-distance when everyone has a cell phone? Free internet even though Platinums get it already? And wasn't I supposed to get a tropical drink at check-in? I asked if there was an alternative amenity for Platinums, and the woman (same one who said the kids' club is included) told me that we get a resort credit. Nice! Instead, it turned out that the Platinum amenity was four tiny pastries in our room. Huh? I called again today, and the person at the front desk said no, I was supposed to get a $10 F&B credit per day plus points. Good thing I called back.

More when we return...