A couple goes on vacation, wife leaves a review. A story…
Jan 2023
| 813chariec
My husband and I just arrived home from spending five days four nights at dreams sands resort, We had a lovely time, the resort in itself is pretty, check in process was fast. I do feel like there was a lot of pros to this resort with it being just a few feet or so to the beach, the staff at the resort are all very friendly, they do try to market their VIP resort $200 coupons when you first arrive which they say is free but after some of the reviews I had read to bypass this and decline due to this being a attempt at selling timeshares, and we went to this resort to relax and did not want to be bothered with purchasing a timeshare, The beach is absolutely gorgeous, there isn’t a pebble or rock or anything in the sand in the water, especially to the left of the volleyball net, however that section does stay a bit cloudy until later in the day but I found that section to be a little quieter, Because the explorer activities are to the right of the resort and most of the children were out there, also I was getting bitten by possible mosquitoes at the tiki huts over by the explorers area. We found that getting up a little earlier about 10 AM was when we would go out to the ocean and get a spot at the beach there are some chairs that do have umbrellas, I do suggest getting a spot with an umbrella, and they all have little tables as well, the service at the beach was a nice touch the staff would go around and ask if you want beverages, and or snacks, typically we would just order bottled water and bring little packs of snacks that we packed from home, but you can order some thing from the beach café. The hotel room we stayed at at the resort was on the 10th floor and the view was nice, unfortunately we didn’t have a balcony or anything and we were unable to get the window to open, but that’s OK since it was in the 80s anyways and our hotel room was nice and cool so it was a nice reprieve to come back to after spending all the time at the beach in the sun, the fridge was stocked with drinks, sodas, and bottled water, we found the only soda worth drinking at the resort was Sprite or Fanta, and bottled water, note that the bottle opener is in the bathroom on the sink, which we did not know that and had requested staff to come and open the bottles, the TV is in Spanish but you can change it to English, a staff member did come and show us how to do that. Housekeeping did an excellent job keeping our room nice and tidy, We Also had house robes to lounge around in, which was a nice touch, They also have slippers upon request but we just wore our slides around the hotel room, showers are hot, if you forget your toothbrush they have toiletries available in the bathroom. The room was a little outdated, but it was to my knowledge that they are working on refurbishing and updating the hotel rooms, one of the nights that we were there there was some individuals in the room next-door and you could hear them talking and laughing but I think that was due to there being a connecting door to our hotel room as well.
Food- The food left more to be desired in a nutshell. But that being said a couple of the recommendations that I have to give is to visit the Himsi Restaurant, as a vegetarian there wasn’t many options however they did accommodate to my dietary needs, the restaurant itself there was OK, but we really enjoyed the hibachi tables which is the only thing at the resort food wise that you need to make a reservation for, the wine list that they try to have you purchase is obviously optional but I found the house wine to be very good and with no lingering headache after drinking, I had the house Chardonnay most nights.
El Patio-This is a traditional Mexican restaurant, I heard rave reviews of this restaurant from other individuals at the resort however I was not impressed, the service was great but the food was not that good, I would suggest trying another place.
Portofino-I thought this restaurant was very good, however they have very small portions when serving food so if your hungry I would suggest ordering a little something extra along with your main entrée, I found the pizza to be very delicious, and thought that was the only place that I can order the pizza from that could be that good. However they serve the same exact pizza at the world café which is a Buffet style restaurant.
World Cafe- A Buffet style restaurant-i’m not one that is big on Buffet‘s however the food here was actually pretty decent but you have to go at the time when it is opening, I believe they have certain hours posted from when they open to close and I believe it is two times a day if I’m not mistaken, however going when it first opens versus going when it is later on during those hours is a night and day difference, the pizza here like I said was the same as the restaurant we ordered during the night and it was very good, they have pasta salad bar, you can pick your pasta and toppings, there’s also somebody that will grill tortillas and meat. A lot of different food options available, I can’t contest to the breakfast but for lunch and dinner it was exceptional.
Coco Cafe- This was by far my favorite place, the staff here are very sweet, it’s just like a little Starbucks at a resort, they have delicious coffees, I especially enjoyed the toasted almond coffee, my husband enjoyed the Oreo Frappuccino, they also make crapes, we enjoyed the Sands crêpe, but there was so many choices, they do stop making crêpes at 5 PM, but the café stays open 24 hours so that’s nice. Please tip these workers they work so hard, we made sure to tip well before we left. They also have ice cream, I enjoyed the strawberry.
Sports bar- The sports bar wasn’t really a place to watch sports yes they did have quite a few TVs available to watch but there was no subtitles most of it was spoken in Spanish, had to request a few games to be played such as the lightning on NHL game, The barstools and little tables were a little shaky and unstable and we found it just much easier just to watch a game on the phone or in the hotel room, the bar was also very loud they had techno music playing so I wouldn’t even call it a sports bar.
Rendezvous bar- Just a lobby bar nothing that was phenomenal, there was people ordering a coffee martini which I tried and I was not impressed but other people really enjoyed it, I just stuck with the wine.
Entertainment- The only entertainment that we thoroughly enjoyed was the silent disco, we had so much fun at that, I thought there could be an improvement with the activities, I felt like that department was lacking a bit, they try to engage people to play games, but I felt like not everyone wants to play ocean volleyball and would’ve enjoyed more leisure activities such as bingo or shuffle board or something, I think more days of that versus singing and dancing shows or just adding more activities for people who don’t want to get in the water, that all people can do. The activities were not localized to a specific location, would have liked to have had just one location for meeting up for all activities. Prizes would have been an incentive to get people to participate, a resort I’ve stayed at before gave like a free 15 minute neck/back massage on the beach as a prize.
Wi-Fi-included and works well.
Spa-the prices are crazy expensive, we walked over to the Bamboo spa, both received the holistic massage and was decently priced compared to the resorts prices.
Humidity is high at the resort and thus causing a lot of moisture in the vents causing little puddles inside on the property but they make sure to clean it up promptly and to be expected due to the cooling system they have for the guests comfort during hot weather.
Overall the resort is great, we would book at this resort again in the future. This does have more of a family environment vibe and would be great for kids too but I also felt as a couple we had just as good of a time as well even though it wasn’t an adults only hotel.
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