Decameron Barú — Hotel in Cartagena

We went with two other couples for our first experience in Colombia. ||||We stayed in the Ocean Front rooms with the upgrades, which was great for us. The room was clean and spacious and had a lovely sized balcony. Hot water took a bit to reach the shower-about 5 minutes-, but when it came through, it was lovely and hot. Every room offers a lovely view of the ocean and a beautiful sunset.||The shower heads are the 'rain shower' type, which can make rinsing long hair a challenge, but otherwise fine. ||Our fridge was resupplied each day without issue, but friends on the other end had issues with their bar fridge being restocked daily. ||We received clean towels each day, no issues with the cleanliness on any day.||Zero issues with bugs in our room as well. ||Big closet for storage and large bathroom counter space.||||The food was good, we had no issues eating three meals a day that were very good. We utilized the buffet, the beach restaurant, the upgrade restaurant and the a la cartes. They were Seafood, Asian and Italian. The food was great at all of them, but the Italian restaurant was serving us faster than we could eat what was in front of us. ||The buffet always had fresh fruit available and breakfast had pancakes, french toast, omelettes and eggs and rotated through other hot items each day. ||The really do a great job in the buffet, and the staff were super friendly.||||We used the pool in the upgraded section, the bar was fully stocked and the pool area was clean. I like that the pools are all sectioned off. ||||The beach is large and lovely, you can see plenty just snorkelling through that area. We had to be super early for beach chairs (there were 6 of us), but we always had a spot each day. Beach bar and bathrooms were easily accessed. The beach could use a good raking, there are alot of shells and coral pieces washed up, but the beach water is not rocky. ||The only issue with the beach is the jet-skiers and boats that are constantly travelling the line of the buoys, so snorkeling should be done earlier in the day, before they stir up the water. It's also annoying because they're loud. ||||We would have loved a spot to get early morning coffee, before the buffet opens, but there were no real options. ||Lots of stairs here, so be prepared. ||||The front desk offers 24 hour cash exchange at a fair exchange rate.||||There are signs about the racoons, birds and iguanas-the raccoons are quite docile overall-but they will steal your food if you let them. But if you clap your hands, they run away. They are not aggressive, but they are always hungry.||The iguanas are everywhere and so fun to watch as they climb the trees, scoot across the grass or sit in the bushes. ||||The resort dogs-there are 5 or so that we saw each day. We learned that people will abandon their dogs near the resorts, which is sad. They are dropped in a place that they are unfamiliar with and surrounded by people they don't know. For the most part, the dogs we encountered were super friendly and gentle-they'll gently take food from your hand or sit and patiently wait for someone to feed them. ||There was a dog that seemed newer to the report, she was skittish and scared and it was sad to watch. ||We did our best to feed the pack each day and made special effort to feed the scared girl. ||I encourage you to bring a container or ziploc bags to take your leftovers out to feed the dogs. ||I LOVE that the resort respects that the animals need to eat too. ||||The only real issue we had was on departure day, we had requested 3 times that the bellman collect our luggage from our room, and we ended up running back to our room to get it ourselves 10 minutes before the bus was leaving. ||||The resort doesn't offer a lot of english speaking, but they try. ||||Be prepared at the airport for potentially long immigration waits, we were almost 2 hours before processing and another flight had come in right behind us that was 4-5 hours. ||The bus ride to the hotel is almost 2 hours. Yes, the last 20-ish minutes is down a bumpy dirt road, but its also currently under construction, so maybe it will be in better shape soon.||||All in all-our vacation was just what it needed to be-relaxing and fun, great beach weather, drinks and food. ||||Please keep feeding the resort dogs and treat them well. It's not their fault they got dumped or abandoned, or were born into the life they are in. If I could have brought them home,...

Absolute disgrace, avoid at all costs. I've never been to worse place than this. Hotel looks nice from outside, But believe me, after spending few hours inside, you'll surely regret choosing this place and wish you've never ever found it.

Place is located in the middle of nowhere. It would not be a problem, if it wasn't for the road that you have to take to get to there. Absolute nightmare.

Going further - my room was dirty, not properly cleaned - there was hair in the bathroom (sink, shower, floor). It was disgusting. Sheets were dirty as well. Courtains too. It is said that every room has a hairdryer and beach towels - mine did not have neither (hair dryer was broker and barely hanging). Faucet in the sink was minutes before getting completely broken. THERE WAS NO WARM WATER ON THE SHOWER. I get that in northern Colombia the weather is hot and humid, but for god's sake, a little warm water world not harm anyone, especially if you're in the room with approx. 22C degrees.

I didnt receive any guide or explaination on what is what, where should I go to eat meals, which restaruant serves what, no map, no word of advice - NOTHING. And bear with me - this place is HUGE. So we've had to get a hang of everything by ourselves, after looong way prior to that.

But the true nightmare are the evenings. You want to go to sleep a bit earlier than usual, maybe around 10:30 p.m.? FORGET IT. My room was like 20 meters next to this hellish stage, were the so-called "music" and performances toom place. Jesus Christ, it must have been around 140 decibels, louder than an aircraft taking off. Closed windows, clsed doors - nothing helps, NOONE could sleep on that noise. And funny thing is that barely anyone watches it, people are covering their ears when passing by this stage and everyone is getting as far away as possible.

Damn discrace, I've paid good money for that and I cant even sleep in that place. I had a trip next day that required us to get up early - of course it was a disaster due to sleepless night. And of course I did not get any food for that trip, even though I paid for all inclusive. DISGRACE, DISGRACE, SHAME ON YOU.

And they had the audacity to play "Let's get loud" on that damn stage. Well, its kind funny, I give you that. You really like to spit your guests in their facets, don't you?

Oh, and the Wi-Fi does not work properly outside the main lobby and restaurant and bar. Therefore, I'm not even sure that that my comment will get published. I'm writing this pissed of from my room 1223, trying to sleep, and failing. My wife feels sick, she wanted to rest, But cant because of this noise you keep playing. They keep replying that they take the complains about the noise into the account, but in reality they don't.

I get that Colombians like to celebrate loudly I really do and I think is wonderful. This country, culture, food, people are wonderful. But I've been to 5 other hotels during our trip to this awesome country and NOT A SINGLE ONE treated its guests like this.

You've ruined our honeymoon journey, I hope you're glad and proud of yourselves. Bunch of... a hell no, I'm not gonna use cuss words.

I told you my room number, you want to listen to my complain, you're welcome to knock, I won't be sleeping cause it is damn impossible in this place.

Food is decent, but nothing special. The only cool thin are the sunsets. But you may as well enjoy the sunrises, cause you cant go back to you room and sleep there - its impossible due to the noise. Just sleep on the beach and pray for the time to fly fast so you can go back home. The bar is nice as well. Thumb up to the barmans, good job guys.

Oh, and the animals. Very cool to see iguanas, many beautiful birds, racoons and just dogs and cats. Butnyou know what? Since you treat your guests like that - do these animals a favor and just let them live there in peace. They were here first. Stop trying to run a hotel, because you clearly cant. Let the animal nros live in peace.

I wonder if they cant sleep as well. I bet they are suffering due to that...

I have visited Decameron in Cartagena and San Andrés, it was many years ago but the experience was exceptional, that's why I decided to visit Decameron Baru. ||First of all, the quality of the drinks and meals was very mediocre. They didn’t even offer a variety of tropical fruits. It’s ridiculous, this is Colombia we have the best tropical fruits and they are so cheap. The opening hours of the buffet are very limited. You practically will go hungry if you miss it, since it’s the only available option. Decameron offers 3 specialty restaurants , but you need to make reservations in advance. Even the online system to make reservations needs improvement and you can only make one reservation per day. The restaurants are completely open, without AC, menu options are very scarce, only 3 per each course. And nothing worth your time trying to secure a reservation. I agree with others customers reviews who point out that people who haven’t been able to experience the “all inclusive concept” think that this is a wonderful all inclusive experience. Believe me, you are wasting your money here.||Only two positive aspects: the warmth and kindness of all the staff and the comfort and beauty of the hotel and the rooms. Many aspects can be improved with reasonable changes such as being able to return beach towels in the same place where they are collected. It doesn't make sense to have to go up to the pool to return them. I understand that due to the topography of the place stairs are needed everywhere but for that same reason it should be made easier for the guest how to move to the different areas of the hotel. Check-in was a long process that did not take people with disabilities into consideration. In my personal case, I have a minor son with autism. I paid for early check in thinking of being able to access my room early, and it only served to consume lunch and drinks. Another aspect that seemed unfair to me is that they don't let you make reservations in the restaurants for the first night of the hotel, they force you to go to the buffet. They fully charge for a night of hotel and services but limit the services they offer. While waiting to be called to receive my room key ( it felt like waiting at DMV ) I was able to talk to a couple of older guests, they told us that they are used to losing two days: the day they arrive an the day they leave. ||Finally, it is unprofessional to use false promises to attract guests to the membership program. They promised us a free vacation just to listen to the talk "without any commitment". I'm still waiting for the promised courtesy in my email. Then I found out that it's usual practice to cheat like that. I have lived in the United States for more than 20 years and I have had the opportunity to travel inside and outside the USA, we have also taken many cruises so I feel with enough authority to objectively criticize their services. I have also heard those talks about membership programs and they always fulfill the promised vacation, air fare, etc.||Bottom line don’t waste your precious time and hard earned money here. It’d be much better, and cheaper in my opinion, to book a boutique hotel in the city center and pay for a day or two at San...