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Last Resort

Friends,
When on vacation, I prefer to avoid big crowds, structured activities and fabricated entertainment. Give me a beautiful mountain, a tranquil beach or a city to get lost in and I’ll have a great time. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never been on a cruise ship. That’s also why I had never stayed at an all-inclusive resort – until now. My first experience? Not great. We arrived at San Andrés Island at 8:30 AM and were quickly whisked away to Decameron Marazul (presumably the weakest link in the resort chain). Once there, the staff proceeded to deny us check-in as well as the bracelets to enjoy the facilities until 3:00 PM, followed by a refusal to exchange our money so we could pay for a cab into town because, get this, we didn’t have a room. I managed to work through the circular logic and got them.
The consistently lackluster service by an indifferent staff, the leak in my bedroom ceiling and exclusive use of bottom-shelf liquor… Then there’s the attempt to greenwash their cost-savings measures – you’re not going to convince me using paper cups to serve alcoholic beverages is more ecologically friendly than providing reusable glasses. Despite this concerted effort to disappoint – and an unforgivable complete absence of donuts – the island was beautiful. The seven colored sea, spectacular. The white-sand beaches, a six-minute drive away from the resort, beautiful. The mangroves, palm trees and cays, quite enjoyable. In other words, the non-resort part of the vacation was amazing. In hindsight I should have known better. Quality trumps quantity every time. Lesson learned.
Happy Friday!



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