Originally Posted by DroppedSon

Just got back from the property, wanted to post some of my notes because trip reports are pretty sparse.

Booked 3 rooms for a 7 days as a globalist.

Prepaid for roundtrip airport transportation through the property who outsource to Transcabo as the third party service. It cost $150 for a round trip in a private SUV which was honestly just a horrible, high-friction experience. My flight was delayed, so I called the front desk to request a later pickup time, which they confirmed. When I showed up, I was told that my reservation was marked as a no-show, I would be charged the full amount, and they were unable to provide airport transportation to me. An Uber from the hotel to the airport is around $10 USD, so I'd really save yourself a ton of money and headaches and just call an Uber.

When we checked in, my entire party of was given the gold wrist bands. The wristbands themselves didn't mean much, but the globalist perk of booking restaurant reservations was really good. Regular guests would normally put their name on a list and wait 30-45+ minutes for a table at the more popular restaurants, but reservations allowed us to pick what we wanted days in advance and not wait for a table. Supposedly the wristbands gave us access to the club lounge, but I saw a ton of people with regular wristbands in the club lounge and the staff didn't stop them.

After trying the buffet on the first day, we never ate there again. Lunch was consistently great at the adult pool snack bar, tacos were phenomenal and the octopus tostadas were good too. The restaurants were pretty solid. Food at Dozo was meh, but the guys doing the teppanyaki performance were great. Hacienda, the steakhouse, had fantastic short rib and ribeyes. Our party had a few guys in their early 20s, and the steakhouse stuck 2-3 12 oz ribeyes on a single plate for them. We ordered the $90 USD tomahawk one night, it was honestly worse than the ribeyes that came for free. Bon Vivant, the french restaurant, had great food. Duck pate and scallops were phenomenal, and small portion sizes weren't an issue because you could order as many plates as you'd like. The Itallian restaurant kinda sucked, and the Mexican restaurant was decent.

I saw a bunch of reports saying the beach in this area wasn't swimmable, but there are periods where the waves are relatively calm. Went for a few swims in the ocean, I probably wouldn't do it during the evening when the waves get high though. Ubers to and from the marina area are about $20 each way, we booked snorkel tours and jet skis online for significantly cheaper than through the hotel.

Overall it was a good experience for the price we paid, got a direct booking for about $350/night/room. Not sure we would go again at the $500/night that the property was going for when we checked in though