I’m rating this a 5 star due to the things I loved, I need to add a caveat for an issue that happened during our stay that would make it less than 5 stars if it is an ongoing issue. I’ll explain below.
*We stayed in the Adults-Only Marina Side
First- this is a unique hotel. It’s like staying in a city hotel with its own beach island. So it’s a very different experience than beach hotels we have stayed in previously. We had an upgraded 6th floor room with a water view, but that gives you a view of the cruise ships when they are in port, which is most days. This was fine with me, it was a fun vantage point on a cruise port, but just understand you’re not rolling over and peering out at a gentle ocean. It was not loud, we heard almost no outside noise from our room.
Second- the hotel was beautiful. Service was impeccably. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. I started out the week trying to remember people’s names for this review and there were so many outstanding employees that it became impossible to keep up with them all. The breakfast buffet was amazing.
Third- the private island is beautiful. We loved the flamingos wandering around all day. They were entertaining to watch. The food was decent and very reasonable. The drinks were great and also very reasonable. We loved the provided floats to use in the ocean. The only negative to their island is that it is so close to the airport, so you do have jumbo jets coming in overhead occasionally while trying to enjoy the island.
So those are my general thoughts on the hotel. Once we settled into the idea of this city hotel with a private island concept, we really enjoyed it. We also loved having so many shops and restaurants within walking distance. I would definitely be interested in staying here again.
The caveat: During our stay- Marriott was pumping sand into the beach on the adult side of the island. So the water was murky, sand was pouring into one side and it was extremely loud. None of that bothered the family friendly side of the island, so we were able to move over there. But it was disappointing that half the island was essentially shut down during our stay. So if you are considering staying there, I would definitely ask about that issue before booking, esp if being able to be on the adult only side is important to you. And we had no warning, had we known, we probably wouldn’t have booked there or would have asked about renting a car and visiting another Marriott property’s beach for a day or two. They just started doing this project on the second day of our stay with no warning to the guests.
