Club Med Columbus - Bahamas — Hotel in San Salvador

I just returned from Club Med Columbus Isle and I can’t say without a doubt this is the best village I’ve visited and the BEST GO team by far. In fact, it was so amazing I did not want to go home and extended my stay from 7-10 days.

The crystal blue waters, delicious food, ambiance felt like fun and a second home. The gym was perfect and enable me to enjoy my nights while feeling a little less guilty the following day.

However, the best part of my stay were the people. From the GEs and lovely locals to JuJu (CDV) and his team, I can honestly say I’ve never met such vibrant, kind, courteous and professional group of people.

Special shout out to the RECEPTION Team led by Bianca. She truly puts her heart and soul into making everyone’s stay memorable and it bleeds down through her team. She embodies a leader and the example shines through. Vanessa, my dancing partner and saving grace! Andrew, with the sexiest hair I’ve seen! Elise, with moves for days! Justine, who made sure I attended the coffee games and enjoyed every minute of it. Camille, a chill chica with a kind soul! Each one of them greeted me with a smile every day. They went above and beyond to ensure my day was going well and kept me company throughout which is nice especially when vacationing alone!

Now for the bar team, Let’s start with Alysha, a little fire cracker who’d make me a great smoothie and hold a great conversation by day and a dancing queen by night (thank you for making me laugh and show out), David, a phenomenal bartender, made a mean drink and is probably the only bar man who could get me to drink peach schnapps, Vanessa, a lovely soul with a contagious smile, Michael, a cheerful young man who brightened up the bar and Marc, a fresh faced hulk of man who made sure to remind me of how many drinks I’ve had (again useful when vacationing alone haha)! Cathy, a mauritian mamacita who looked innocent but did not hesitate to join in for a shot! Jesse, a friend of a friend of a friend, someone who made sure I was having a good time even if I didn’t want to and one hell of a story teller!

Now regarding the entertainment team, I mean beside the bar... DJ TJ, put up with my song requests (despite how annoying they were) and made me and everyone else dance all night. Dan, made us laugh and challenged me to speak Spanish despite how rusty I was. Loic was a familiar face that could make anyone laugh despite how stern his demeanour comes off (looks can be reviving people!). Lance was outstanding, and kept the whole village entertained and energized with his moves (shout out Bruno Mars).

Last but certainly not least, JuJu’s is an exceptional chef de village. You can see his spirit through his whole team and he also makes sure to take a moment and check in no matter how busy he may be!

Thank you to the whole team for making this the best vacation ever.

In the words of Schwarzenegger, “I’ll be...

The Beach here is a world class beach.

The resort unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired.

For beginners, the conditions of the rooms are unacceptable for a Club Med caliber resort.

We checked in and had a broken window. We reported it to the staff and were told it has been like that for 6 months not to worry. It looks like it has been 20 years since the last major remodel. The bathroom shower has a hole in the tile, and the aqua colored couch had years old stains on it.

The food while descent boils down to one option, buffet. There is mainly one working restaurant which will serve breakfast lunch and dinner buffet. Themed nights make it fun but generally ok food. Plan on working your schedule around the hotels dining restaurant. Breakfast buffet ends at 10 sharp. Lunch ends at 2:30PM. No room service but you will have a light snack option in a “second restaurant” if you miss these meals.

There is no table service which I found the most basic, but no one will be giving you water, or serving you a glass of wine. The staff when we asked was happy to point us to where the wine for dinner is sitting so we could retrieve it ourselves.The staff is there just to clean the tables and looked disinterested most of the time. Perhaps because the tips are already included?

The service is basically “self serve” the entire vacation and do not expect beach service as there are only 2 bars along the entire beach which you will have to leave the water and go back and forth to in order to take advantage of the bars.

The scuba diving is an additional cost of $100 on average per Dive. Beautiful location for diving.

As you enjoy the resort, one of the most unusual things from going to various all inclusives all over the Caribbean is that the staff will be dinning with you. At the buffet lines, at bar lines, at the snack lines. Often, we were sorrounded by staff using their “Cafeteria” or what the guest know as their buffet for the week.

They are not there to help you, or get you a drink from the bar (at least none offered to us) but will be happy to talk as their companionship comes included with the vacation.

Expect to see dozens of employees at the same guest spaces including the gym on your vacation.

Overall this is a beautiful destination in need of a major overdue makeover. From the landscaping to the rooms, the overall condition of the property is tired to say the least.

One last note, this is Carribean living so pack your shorts and a nice top. There is no working AC in the restaurants or most of the resort except the...

Clique-y and rude GOs!! The resort is big, the beach is nice and San Salvador is a small sleepy little island that is easy to explore, but not much to do. The grounds of the resort are very well manicured and large enough to walk around and get a little exercise. The beach is nice, but the water can be a bit rough. We loved Turkoise and thought all Club Med might have that same welcoming, warm Club Med spirit, however, CM Columbus Isle, is filled with GOs who would rather spend their time chit chatting with each other or scrolling on their cellphones. This was a common theme at every meal we had in the week we spent there. I cannot recall a single GO saying hello or smiling. The CDV, Luca, welcomed us and then we only saw him l more time in our week long stay. The GOs seem miserable although the resort by all means was a tropical paradise. The low energy and misery was palpable. The bartenders weren't much better. Our second day there, we went to La Niña bar, which is right on the beach, and ask the bartender, a sour face female with short hair, for a drink menu, to which she said they do not have drink menus. We asked again and she passed us a QR code for the purchasable wine list. When we told her this. She just shrugged and provided nothing else. How is it possible that at a resort that allows families with children they do not have a nonalcoholic drink menu and/or an alcoholic cocktail menu?

Had this been our first Club Med, we would never go back because the atmosphere created by the GOs was so unwelcoming and anything but relaxing. The local wait staff were great and the grill master was great.

On our last day there, the island lost power at around noon and so did the resort. Apparently their generator went down right after the power went out in the island. The 2 stars are for the fact that they were still able to feed all the hungry guests a decent meal even without the electricity, but there was no running water until the next day when we were leaving. This is not held against the resort, but the rude, cliquey, unwelcoming, low energy GOs is. In truth if it weren't for the beautiful grounds and beach, the CM would be ls star. It's hard to think that Turkoise and this CM are from the same brand.

Our original plan had been to visit all Club Meds in the upcoming year, but Columbus Isle has left a bad taste. The GOs all need some training as to what it means...