Okay but not as Advertised
Jun 5, 2019 AmyJ1818 Toronto, Canada
We stayed in the Family Concierge section of the hotel and paid to upgrade there with our whole family. Unfortunately, many (most) of the extra restaurants that we paid for (which was the primary reason for upgrading) were unavailable. This was extremely disappointing. Overall, I would say the food in the a la cartes was not great. Better food was…
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We stayed in the Family Concierge section of the hotel and paid to upgrade there with our whole family. Unfortunately, many (most) of the extra restaurants that we paid for (which was the primary reason for upgrading) were unavailable. This was extremely disappointing. Overall, I would say the food in the a la cartes was not great. Better food was found at the main buffet (our buffet was closed every night save one). The morning buffet in the Family Concierge section was good though. The grill on the beach was also a family favourite. Unfortunately, the drinks weren't the greatest, frozen drinks were not what we had expected, and things were often unavailable. The pool bar also had some great calamari and chicken wings, when they were available.
Our room was one of the normal suites and we stayed as a family of four with two young children (ages 1 & 3). Our room lock did not work and the first night our three year-old snuck out, which was horrifying at 2am with swim-up pools below. The shower did have some mould but overall everything was clean, if not a bit older looking. (We had previously stayed at the Paradisus Esmerelda in Mexico and I can not even compare the two resorts overall. The Mexican resort was much higher end.)
The staff was pleasant, although things were slow all across the resort. Many of the staff on the Family Concierge side of things were happy to go above and beyond, but for the most part, service was average. We definitely had a great breakfast server and some amazing service from the front desk. Dinners were often long with two little ones and it could be difficult to get attention when you needed it.
The beach was amazing - no shortage of chairs and great for the kids. Nice and shallow for a long time so they could play.
The kids' club was primarily why we chose the Paradisus Varadero. Overall, the kids' buffet wasn't great and our kids were too young for most of the activities, but we did leave them for a bit and this was a nice feature of the resort. They loved the playroom and the outside playground. They also loved the splash pad, so for these reasons alone, I'm glad we stayed on the Family Concierge side.
Entertainment was fairly good. The main show didn't start until 9pm on the other side of the resort most nights, so we were unable to attend as a family due to bedtimes. The water show was great and the Lion King was fairly good too. The entertainment on the Family Concierge side was really just a singer every night, but they were great when our kids wanted to get on stage and dance and sing with them.
At the end of March, the resort was not busy at all, so it was very nice to not have to wait in lines and to always be able to get chairs at the pool or the beach.
Overall, I have rated this resort 3/5 for our family. I was disappointed in some of the features that were sold to us that really didn't end up panning out. I had read reviews about how great the food was on this side of the resort, but this was not our experience. I'm not sure the resort was worth the price, but there was definitely nothing wrong with it. We were safe, happy and well fed despite my complaints above. So if you are looking for this, plus decent food, then this could be a great choice for you.
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