Returned from Nassau, Bahamas

6/29/200912:15:32 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Hi all, well I have been in the Bahamas for the past 4 nights. I booked this group through Funjet Vacations. We used scheduled air from DFW to NAS on American Airlines. Our flight was smooth going, we were able to hop onto our shuttle to the RIU Paradise Island. I have to say that my overall satisfaction with this hotel was not wonderful. We were greated by a blast of hot air in the lobby. For anyone who knows me, my idea of camping is when the Hyatt loses it air conditioning. So to say the least I was not thrilled that this hotels' air conditioning was not working. We proceeded to check into our rooms. My husband and I walked into our first room to find that the air conditioning did not work, the refrigerator was broken, the drawers on our dresser were glued shut and when my husband opened our sliding door, it filled the room with aroma of garbage. So we first checked our group to find their rooms to be satisfactory. We called down stairs and they moved us to another room with two double beds. My husband was not pleased but for one night it was fine. The second night we were moved to a room with a king bed. Yeah! As the days went by, we made arrangements to eat in the three specialty restaurants on property. We ate at the Steak house, the Gourmet Restaurant and the Japanese Restaurant. My favorite was the Japanese Restaurant. Yummy. The only other two disappointments were that the show lounge which held a wonderful show each night had a lounge that smelled like old furniture with years of smoke embedded in it and no air conditioning. We learned that the air conditioning had not worked in months and that they had decided to shut down the hotel in August and re open in October as a RIU Palace Property. They should have closed it down before we came. I felt awful taking this group here. We were originally going to Mexico when they quickly changed the property and destination. Funjet tried to be accommodating. Our trip home involved taking a communter plane out of Nassau and spending several hours in the Miami Internation Airport which was not a great end to this vacation. Next year this group will go on a cruise.

As a whole, the RIU properties in Mexico and Dominican Republic are luxurious and fabulous. I hope to visit the property once they reopen as a RIU Palace. It's location is right next door to the Atlantis which makes it very convenient. The beach sand is soft and the waves are refreshing. The service was wonderful and TJ the Events Manager was incredible. I keep searching to see his rendition of Beyonce on U Tube, it was the best I have seen. He made the vacation wonderful for us.

July brings a trip to Cozumel and New Orleans, I have to do some research for clients. Have a great 4th of July.