Originally Posted by
HoustonConsultant
Returned from a 7-night stay in adjoining ocean-view king and queen rooms (using points) for two adults and three kids (10, 10, and 8), and this is really from the perspective of a family vacation with kids rather than a couple's getaway.
I had my hyatt concierge to guest-of-honor for the second room because I didn't want anyone quibbling about getting free breakfast for the 5th person across two rooms. No suites available for upgrade, but with adjoining rooms, we were not expecting anything either. Check-in was slow with any number of computer problems, but finally corralled someone who walked us to a different desk, got everything set up, and walked us to our room.
For our family with three non-teenage kids, the waterpark was hands down the greatest thing about the resort. The big slides are all do-able for a adventurous and tall (over 52 inches) 8-year old going solo, but the slides were large and "scary" enough that there were plenty of teenagers and adults who enjoyed them also. There is a great baby pool area with small slides, and family area that was the best set of slides I've seen for those not yet 52 inches tall. There is a wave-runner area (with a good sized line), a big wave pool, and a lazy river that is less lazy and more fun than typical. The hotel was pretty full, but there was never a long line for any ride other than the wave runner. Folks from Atlantis said the crowd experience over there was very different. The overall footprint of the park is small enough that you can be centrally located at the wave pool and get to all the slides and lazy river without a long walk anywhere. I cannot imagine finding a water park more perfect for kids from one to thirteen, and I suspect the big slides were big enough to keep teenagers happy as well. Our kids happily went to the water park for six straight days. It was easily the highlight of the trip.
There are at least a half-dozen pools, but the more kid focused one has a spot to jump off a "cliff" into the pool and a swimup area with aquarium glass to see fish, turtles, etc. It would not be hard to find a quieter adult pool.
The beach area was very underwhelming for us. The beach itself is fine, but with the dock, boulders, and buoys, the water area feels small. The water is bathtub still with zero waves, so there is no body surfing or bogie boarding going on. We normally spend a fair amount of time on a beach, but I doubt we spent four hours there across seven days on this trip. We liked swimming out to the various floats anchored off shore, but other than that, the kids found it kind of boring.
The ocean-view king and queen rooms are fine, but they will feel pretty standard. Nothing bad nor anything spectacular. We had a high floor and the balconies were nice. We requested a mini-fridge and microwave upon arrival, and they were delivered quickly. We were told there would be a $100 per stay charge for them, but that never ended up on our bill.
As everyone notes, food prices are crazy, so the globalist breakfast buffet was nice. The breakfast charges appeared on the bill, but I went down the night before check out to have all that cleared off. The drink vouchers are good but not usable at the water park or some of the other venues. Generally just go to a pool bar. I learned that two frozen drinks fit perfectly in my hydroflask and would stay moderately frozen until finished. The boys carried their hydroflasks to the water park to avoid the $5.00 bottles of water or $6.00 gatorades.
My picky-eating children liked the breakfast buffet and the lunch food inside the waterpark. We ordered Dominos pizza delivered twice (because my children have poor but cheap taste in pizza), and I made one run to the nearby grocery store ($40 taxi to take and wait for me). With a few groceries, leftover Dominos, Pizza Lab, and one trip to the Sugar Factory, the kids were generally set for dinner through the trip. The Sugar Factory was something over $200 for a wrap, a burger, two bowls of plain pasta, and three milkshakes, none of which were worth the price, but the kids thought the environment was fun. The first words from the waitress after we sat down were, "We only serve bottled water, and it'll be 26 dollars", and that was before we even asked for water. Soda and milks were cheaper than water.
The "mini-blue" miniature golf course is nice, but $25 per person/kid. The bocce ball is free but there is a charge to play croquet. They do have a basketball court (with lights at night) that kept one of our 10 year olds happily playing for an hour or so most evenings with random kids there (while the other end of the court had more serious basketball games going on).
This was the trip replacing the covid-canceled Cap Cana trip last year. We talked about trying Cap Cana next year, but we liked Baha Mar enough (and a shorter flight) that we are tempted to come back next year.