My wife and I stayed 5 nights at the Divi Carina Resort. We truly enjoyed our stay and had an excellent time.
Positives:
The hotel called before our trip to ask if we had any special requests such as room location, or if we needed to schedule a taxi pickup from the airport.
We stayed in a beachfront double room on the first floor. The patio was peaceful, and we had a great view of the ocean and the sunrise as the beach faces the southeast.
The room was clean and stocked with bottled waters.
There were many options for activities to choose from. We grabbed some snorkel gear on our last day and went right in from the beach. There were many beautiful fish and a couple of big starfish, and even a large stingray crossed our path.
The pool was very well maintained, cleaned every morning and kept crystal clear.
Of the adult drinks that we enjoyed, almost all of them were very tasty. The only exception was a margarita that only tasted like tequila. They also do not water down their drinks at all, so you have to pace yourself.
We were greeted with delicious rum punch at check-in.
The wait staff and bartenders were very friendly and attentive. Thank you to Kat, Louisa, Lena, Bethany, Jordan, Khloe, Orion, and Jaleesa.
Neutrals:
The food was okay to good. There was a simple menu at the grill by the pool, including sandwiches, wings, fries and salads. The main restaurant was decent buffet style food. There is also an omelet and sandwich station. The more upscale restaurant, the Tuscany, also had a short list of options that were good, but not the best. I had a lobster pasta that had a few chewy or hard pieces, like they were connective tissue. Finally, the coffee shop had a selection of sweets and a short menu of alcoholic drinks, but you could ask for a regular coffee.
We aren't the biggest drinkers, so we weren't the most pleased with the lack of non-alcoholic options. We understand that the resort caters to people more interested in alcohol, but even the coffee shop had primarily alcohol and the regular coffee was weak.
I'm not sure why, but I was refused a mojito at the poolside bar. The bar in the lobby was able to make one the night before, but for some reason the poolside bar does not offer them.
Negatives:
There was a distinct lack of cold treats to enjoy other than alcohol. We understand that the resort caters to people who prefer an alcoholic beverage to cool off, but to have nothing was disappointing.
The seaweed cleanup could significantly more efficient. It was running very early and often to try and clean the seaweed from the beach. After a while it did start to look slightly better, but there was always a good strip of seaweed. The collection bin on the seaweed rake is far too small, so that it is full before the tractor has gone ten feet. However, the tractor runs the whole length of the beach nearly every time, and it is very apparent that all of the seaweed it gathers after the first ten feet simply falls out. Modifying the rake to have a larger collector would decrease the amount of restarts. Turn back after it's full rather than running the whole length of the beach. This would save the resort money for fuel, and decrease noise, increasing customer happiness. This may be my biggest complaint.
The food service at the poolside grill needs help. Most times there was only one cook trying to make orders for dozens of people, and the ticket delivery system seemed to be very haphazard. They do have a buzzer system that was only sort of used while we were there.
Trying to order food or drinks from the grill on DJ night was nearly impossible. We had to shout at the bartender to place our order, and when it got done we weren't aware because it either wasn't communicated to the bartender that it was completed (see number 3) or we didn't hear the bartender over the insanely loud speakers 10 feet from the bar. We weren't given a buzzer that night, either.
The room fridge emits a bright blue light, which...
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