Grand Decameron Panama: MEH

Panama was crazy hot and super dry at the end of March. Golf course is nice but rock hard and again just sooo hot n dry we only played 2 rounds although we planned to play more. The resort itself is was ok but dated, no coffee maker or mini bar in the room but a fridge and a complimentary bottle of water each day. Everything was extra, $16us for mini bar service ( not sure what that would include) $3.25us for a safe key( lost mine...$85us charge😳) Nice pools and the food was ok. NO BACON [... read more]😕 115 stairs from beach level to the room, no elevators! All that said the people of panama are nice but really don’t seem to care that they don’t speak or understand English. I travel a fair bit but doubt very much I’d find myself looking at panama as a destination again🤷🏻‍♂️

Riu Playa Blanca: Great Resort

We were at the Riu Playa Blanca resort the last week of March 2019. The bar, restaurant and pool staff were excellent. Very friendly and attentive. The food was good and we enjoyed the nightly entertainment . Where the resort fell a little short was the mini fridge in the room was only re filled once the week that we were there and only when I went to the front desk and requested the refresh. When we arrived in the Airport in Panama we were finger printed and photographed. We didn’t like  [... read more]that. Made us feel like criminals. We would like to request that our fingerprint file be destroyed now that we are back home.

Grand Decameron Panama: Wonderful family resort

We just returned from our third trip to the Royal Decameron and we loved it (as always). The food, drinks, and rooms are all good but what makes it a special place are the people and the variety of activities available, such as the Canal, rainforest, and simply lounging on the beach.

Grand Decameron Panama: Royal Decameron Beach Resort in Panama

Our first experience in Panama was at this resort. Everything went smoothly upon arrival. Room check in was at the airport which was a very nice surprise. Upon reaching the resort we took our baggage to our room only to find there was no power and our bathroom was under construction. We went to lobby 3 with pictures in hand to show the staff. They apologized for the inconvenience and gave us a new room and the hydro was on. Beautiful view of the Pacific from our balcony. The resort was very well [... read more] kept and the staff friendly. Peacocks and Iguanas on the grounds were fun to watch and photograph. The food was amazing everywhere except our one night at the El Canal. Tuna steaks were terribly over cooked. The entertainment was typical of resorts. There were unannounced fireworks one night/morning (12:30 am) . Was a nice light show too bad we were asleep when it started. The Disco was somewhere at our end of the resort though we never went. Didn't need too. I guess the DJ figured everyone on the resort should here his playlist at volumes way beyond necessary. Trust me I love loud music but this was ridiculous. There was no iron in our room so I asked the desk if I could get one. They delivered one a short time later . Went to use the iron a couple days later and found it missing. Inquired if staff had took it and was told yes. There are only a certain amount available for everyone. This was the night before leaving. Packing up to come home noticed that my expensive sunglasses were missing. Guess whoever picked up the iron decided they needed glasses too. All in all a nice vacation unfortunately they should advertise they are smoke free. Won't return because that is our way....too many other places to see.

Grand Decameron Panama: Great Resort

We spent 11 days at the Royal Decameron with our 3 kids (ages 5, 7 and 20). Everyone had a great trip and we all enjoyed the resort very much. There was lots of pools and areas to lounge and swim. The beaches were beautiful and clean and there was a smaller waterslide for the little ones to enjoy. The food was good and there were plenty of restaurants to choose from as well as the buffet which always had a good selection and was different from night to night. The rooms weren’t anyth [... read more]ing fancy but were clean and served their purpose I would recommend booking an upgraded room to an oceanfront room as they were certainly a little more accessible. The one drawback was the resort did have a lot of stairs and if you had a Gardenview or Oceanview room you had a lot of climbing to do back and forth to your room. The resort is located right beside the airport which was very convenient and there were not a lot of planes coming in and out so this did not disrupt our relaxation. We visited the resort in March and we had nothing but blue sky‘s and sunshine. You couldn’t beat the weather! The staff was helpful and friendly but Spanish is definitely their primary language and a lot do not speak English. We would definitely visit this resort again!

Riu Playa Blanca: Beautiful resort

We arrive to this beautiful resort,. Our room was very spacious and clean, overlooking the beach. The view was spectacular. Our mini bar was always full. The A la Carte restaurants all (3) were awful, OMG the worst ever. The steak house had the worst service ever, they took 2 hours to bring your meal every time. They turn people away from a perfectly empty restaurant and told to come back tomorrow because they are fully booked. When we were all told no reservations needed to any of the restauran [... read more]ts. The pools are great. The problem is they close the best pool with the only bar at 5:30pm and then their is absolutely nothing else left to do in the entire hotel. Entertainment is 9:30-10:30 of really bad performances each night. I really hated having to listen to French. Spanish and English Introduction each night, I thought I was at another boring work meeting. The disco opens at 11pm, so much smoke is being blown out onto the dance floor, the music is so loud and the DJ is only playing for himself. Our group could only stay for 10 mins, it was so bad. Their is a small sports bar with no recent sports on the TV, but they make the best Spanish coffee ever. The worst was the buffet breakfast at the restaurant, what the heck was that each day. I wonder if the people who own the resort actually eats at any of these restaurants. The restaurants should be rated 2 star. The Sunwing staff were all excellent, but it would be nice if they would inform people what type of shoe to wear for certain excursions and a 20 minute and 10 minute stop is not considered shopping. This is a very beautiful hotel, but their is absolutely nothing and I mean nothing to do at the hotel. We did 2 excursions and then nothing. Their is no piano bar, no game rooms, no nothing. I would never go back nor recommend it. Every person we talk to said they would not come back.

Dreams Playa Bonita Panama: Dreams Panama

This is a nice small resort for those who don't care for large sprawling properties. The grounds are well kept and common areas are clean. There is plenty of pool space and loungers for guests to enjoy. This beach is not a swimming beach. If you are a beach person, try the Caribbean side instead. Rooms are nice, all with balconies facing the water. The bathroom has 2 sinks, plenty of shelf space and a great rain shower. Food is ok. We liked the Italian restaurant best. Mario and Ismael a [... read more]re wonderful servers at the pool. The cappuccinos at the Coco Cafe were delicious. Not much nightly entertainment if you are looking for that. There is a disco but it isn't busy and doesn't open until 11pm.

Westin Playa Bonita: Nice resort

Good food, very good service, well located close to everything around Panama City. Great pools though you can't really go swimming in the ocean - too murky. Nice stretch of beach for walks. Can watch the ships lining up to enter the canal.

Riu Playa Blanca: Perfect resort for our needs

2 seniors needed badly a winter getaway that was relaxing, fun, including a few new experiences. Panama was a great choice and the Riu Playa Blanca did not disappoint! From the balcony we enjoyed views of sunrise, the beach, the pool activities and the entertainment area. Service and variety/quality of menu in the Balboa buffet and Italian specialty restaurant were impressive. We wouldn't recommend the Asian (especially poor authentic cuisine) and Steak House specialty restaurants. in areas lik [... read more]e restaurants, housekeeping and front desk, there was always a sense of rapport and respect between management and workers and it showed in service! Hats off to the entertainment troupe performing in the theatre. Appreciated the cultural evenings! Also appreciated the inter-generational guests (families from babies to grandparents). Something for everyone! If there was a challenge, no matter how small, the response was always timely and efficient. Don't expect on this Pacific side to swim in beautiful, crystal-clear waters as in the Caribbean. That was our only regret, but the swimming pools and activities around them made up for that! Access to tours of Panama also added to our new experiences. We really enjoyed every moment of a two week vacation!

Riu Playa Blanca: No hot water or towels

While I enjoyed my vacation to Panama and the resort seemed nice overall I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as the service was terrible in trying to get issues resolved. Even though we had to contact the staff every day regarding the fact that the cleaning staff would not leave bath towels or face cloths in our room and every day we had to call the front desk and get them to bring us some it wasn't until the last day that they said they would get the general manager and the head of house keeping  [... read more]involved, by then our vacation was almost over. To top it off we didn't have hot water in our room and though I had repeated informed them of that while asking for face cloths or towels it was only on the last day that the front desk said there was lots of hot water they just had to show you how to "jiggle" the knobs to get it to work....... very disappointed with the customer service.

Grand Decameron Panama: Royal Decameron, Panama

The resort is beautiful, very busy at the pools by the beach, but there is an adult pool up the hill that was great. No problem with only one room key (but you can get another one for a $15.00 deposit, and refund if you keep your receipt apparently) Lobby 3 was for (gold) people but anyone could go there and listen to the music in the evenings, but if you were not gold you had to have a plastic glass compared to a glass one (sort of silly, because you could have a glass one in the other lobby)  [... read more]Lobby 2, should have more places to sit, no music or anything there, but would be nice to sit and play a game or something. Lobby 1 was always busy. All in all a great holiday

Riu Playa Blanca: Very decent resort

The hotel was what we expected from a Riu chain of hotels. Device was amazing. The rooms were modern and quite big, all with decent size balconies. entertainment was ok but repetitive. A la carte restaurants were average but the buffet was better. The beach was not very welcoming due to the colour of the sand and the murkiness of the water. The 4 pools were good but do not expect to do laps because all of them were shallow, just great to lounge around for with your drinks at hand. Overall, de [... read more]pending on what you expect from an all inclusive vacation, was great. The best part was that the airport was 10 minutes away from the resort.

Riu Playa Blanca: Great Resort

Good food , good variety. Clean well kept resort. Friendly , helpful staff. We never felt as though we were pressured into tipping the staff. The service at the restaurants was timely. The waiters were there when needed but not all over you . It is setup well for families. Large well equipped pool for children, Pool with swim up bar, a smaller pool also which was quiet and great for relaxing in . The entertainment was probably average for resorts. The beach was large with lots of lounges avai [... read more]lable. There was a nice breeze most of the time which was welcomed. The water was slightly rough most of the time and not real good for snorkeling. Overall a real nice retreat and an enjoyable stay.

Riu Plaza Panama: BEAUTIFUL RESORT

Beautiful Resort I found the staff did not go out of their way to serve or to wait on you I don't know if it was because they didn't have to rely on tips like most resorts do they said you could tip if you wanted but even when we tipped it did not make a difference we went to shows and the staff would walk by and not even ask if we would like anything to drink

Grand Decameron Panama: Good to great resort

The resort is nice and big. Lots of places to walk without going off resort. Lots of steps and hills so not good for people with mobility issues. Food is good. Wine is drinkable but not great. Rooms are plain and simple. No pop or beer in fridge. We did get bottled water everyday. In lobbie 3, unless you are gold , the drinks come in plastic glasses which l thought was different. Pools are crowded. The resort needs another adult pool. Lots of kids. The resort definitely needs more shade structur [... read more]es on the beach. My only suggestion- if you can afford it- upgrade to gold.

Riu Playa Blanca: Nice resort

Very clean. Food was fantastic. The only downfall is that the locals come and stay at the resort on the weekends and they take over all areas. They have no respect for the tourists. They come to the pool with the bar with their kids. Huge blowup floaters and their own radio to drown out the music playing in the bar.

Grand Decameron Panama: Did a round two at this resort

My husband and I came back again this year. There were new owners this year. Pretty much the same as last year. Except now they've created a plus service and limited pool use Lobby use and bar use which is not very clearly identified and made for confusion. Overall a pleasant stay, clean and the food was still good as usual. Improvement could be made on entertainment but was good. Big Resort lots of walking. Overall stay was great.

Riu Playa Blanca: FANTASTIC PLACE

The first impression was great the lobby was clean spacious and airy filled with welcoming staff who worked hard and fast at getting us checked and our vacation started. We arrived in our room to find it clean and bright the only issue was that the a/c was not working but one short call to the reception desk and that was fixed in no time. Our cleaning lady was super pleasant and always did a fantastic job with every aspect of our room. The food was amazing in the buffet and the a la carte re [... read more]staurants with the steak house being my favorite we went there twice and I would have gone every night but the rest of my group wanted to try all the other places which in the end were just as good. The buffet breakfast had a lot of variety but my go to was always a freshly made cheese omelet with different sides every morning. Pizza in the pool buffet restaurant was our go to for a quick lunch, they also carried a number of other items at this buffet for lunch and we tried very hard to have a little bit of every thing. Our preferred location for our time on the resort was in the very clean pool, a table off to the corner since we were a large group of people it was the perfect spot for us. It was also the perfect spot just steps away from the swim up bar where Carlos the bartender knew us and always had our drinks ready as we approached the bar.. This guy always had a smile on his face and was attentive to all the guests just amazing, Thanks Carlos :) . After dinner we would walk over to the theatre to have drinks prepared by José. Our first night there he treated us as friends and even prepared a drink for us that we then called the "José special" and he loved that. He too got know us and when he would see us coming would start to prepare our "José specials" He was amazing because he could remember this stuff and actually had fun doing his job. Now for the one thing that was a little disappointing, on our last full day at the resort the locals were allowed to come use the facility and unfortunately they kind of invaded. Our pool became over crowded, they brought portable stereos and played them extremely loud over the existing music that was playing at the bar, they had no respect for the cleanliness of the pool by jumping in with sandy feet and spilling drinks in the pool. Having them join us would have been great if they would have respected the grounds and us as the guests to their country but there seemed to be a great lack of that and almost a sense of entitlement from them to the resort. All in All I would 100% refer anyone to this resort it has space to party and space to relax. Exceptional referral Carole Williams from Trip Central Sudbury as always you granted us the perfect vacation :)

Grand Decameron Panama: Overall a good time had by all

Overall this resort was great . The beach was good , pools great , cleanliness excellent , staff ...beyond amazing .The resort ,as reported on many sites , has many stairs/hills to climb . These after a week became a burden . The restaurants for the most part were ok . We upgraded to the gold bracelet giving us access to the Kontiki restaurant and nearby buffet restaurant .The food at both was excellent as was the service (Viviene?). This easily made up for the less than memorable restaurants . [... read more]Two of the ala carte restaurants ,Cuyoco and Canale ,were disappointing to say the least . We walked out of Cuyco . Now to the best part of the resort .The staff were AMAZING!!! We incurred an injury to 1 member of our group early on in the week .The staff couldn't have done more to help .From a rushed trip to the hospital with 2 accompanying staff (medical aid (life guard ,name unknown and translator (Roberto)) to a van driver (name unknown)the next day going above and beyond driving us to hell and back to get medical supplies , to staff assisting with all our needs the rest of the week . Our side trips were a hit and miss . The Anton Valley trip is a "skip it " as is the "snorkeling/fishing " trip . Parasailing was fun . The trip ,which for me as a nature enthusiast was A#1 don't miss was the aerial tram and monkey island trip ; Would I suggest this resort .Yes with a few added cautionary notes

Grand Decameron Panama: Nice resort

This hotel had very nice grounds, pools, dining areas. The room was spacious, clean, and the bathroom was very good. We were glad to have been recommended the ocean view plus (gold bracelet) room in a quiet part of the resort because we like a quiet, relaxing holiday. The other areas of the resort seemed more congested and busier.