Bijao Beach Resort: It's okay, don't expect perfection and you'll be fine

The grounds are very nice, lots of pools, although most with 2 feet of water or less, but nice none the less. Beach is exceptional and you can walk for miles either way. Pool bar service is okay depending on bartender, don't expect fancy and you'll be good. Pool eating area always has hamburgers, hot dogs and fries available. A la carte restaurants are average, not bad, not great, but descent. Buffet lacks. Seems to be same food day in and day out. Minimal selection for that size of hotel and  [... read more]to get hot food isn't really an option most days, warm at best. Rooms are your average hotel room. Cleaned everyday, but don't expect mini fridge to be stocked. Didn't bother us, but for some that is a must which didn't happen. Don't think you are in the heart of Panama, this is a very secluded resort, two hour drive to Panama city, so if you are looking to be close to any action, this isn't the place. If you are looking for seclusion, you found it. Overall, it was an okay experience for the money, however would probably say more of a 3 - 3.5 star than a 4.

Grand Decameron Panama: Beautifully kept ocean side resort

Hotel was well kept, staff helpful even with language barrier. Food at seafood and Italian dining restaurants fabulous. Buffet areas always clean and looked good. A big resort with lots of walking and climbing up stairs good for some but you could call for a driver if unable to do the walking or climbing. All in all great place for relaxing and for the weather

Grand Decameron Panama: Challenging Resort!

Anyone with mobility issues should rethink this resort. Very large resort covering alot of levels. Many stairs and alot of walking. Lots of eating facilities and pretty good food. Lots of activities to take part in. People are mostly friendly. Language a definite factor in dealing with staff.

Riu Playa Blanca: Very Nice Resort!

The hotel was a very big place, there maybe should be elevators at each end of the building as well as the center where they are located. If you have someone with difficulties walking, there is a lot of walking just from your room to the elevator down to the restaurants and down to the pool and back to the elevator only to have to walk hallways to your room almost all the way back to the pool, could not switch rooms as the hotel was full with local folks also enjoying the resort. The washroom s [... read more]hould be open by the pool, makes you wonder who really bothers to walk all the way to the restaurant to use the restrooms. The food was good, not great but good. The staff kept the rooms nice and clean! The rooms on the second floor were musty smelling. There was a problem with the safes but the hotel handled that almost immediately which was great! The nightly entertainment was excellent! The Travel Agents with Sunwing were awesome at the resort!!!

Riu Playa Blanca: Great place to take grand children

Food is good , hotel very clean , staff great , weather hot , small enough to walk every we’re comfortably , it is a four star , al 21 of us had a great time ,lots of things to do to put in time . If did not what to lay a round and sun bath.

Riu Playa Blanca: Riu Playa Blanca was a very clean resort.

The food and the clean atmosphere made our stay a pleasant one. We rate it Highly !!!!!! Sunwing people where very professional and knowledgeable at their job. We Thank them. Sunwing needs to look at the time slots the planes fly in and out of Toronto to Panama. This would increase more Travelers from Canada for sure. The Pederson's Ontario, Canada

Riu Playa Blanca: Excellent. Amazing

It was so clean and friendly. Staff were always cleaning and offering assistance, answering questions. This was our first time to do an all inclusive and were very impressed. The tour we did from the hotel was excellent and would recommend highly. First class!

Grand Decameron Panama: Great beach, beautiful grounds, not so great food

We stayed at the hotel the last week of November. The location of the hotel and the beach were fantastic - some of the most beautiful grounds at an all inclusive resort I've ever seen. There were also tons of pools (an adult only pool with a swim up bar was one of our favourites - gets you away from all those screaming children). However, since the hotel is so huge, there was a lot of walking and stairs. Something we didn't mind, but I don't think would suit someone with limited mobility. The f [... read more]ood wasn't the best - having so many a la carte restaurants helped for variety. There also weren't a lot of English speaking guests. So if you were a couple of 30-some girls looking to make some new friends, there weren't many people your age to converse with. All in all, it was a good holiday!

Grand Decameron Panama: Once is enough..

The hotel cleaning staff did a good job and when asked replenished the towels in the room and the water. However, the electric receptacle in the bathroom was never fixed and did not work. The extra cost for a second key (albeit total amount refunded upon exiting from our vacation) was an added request we do not feel should have had to have been made. The charge for the vault was also an added cost and digital was not available. The key system was also “yesterday’s technology”. Through [... read more]out the weeK we found the resort very full as well which is unusual for November. But the most unreasonable was the disco noise that began at 10:00 pm and did not end until 3:00 am. This made it impossible to sleep and although we did speak with management their solution was to move the disco closer to our room and the speakers directed to where we were staying. We found the resort tired as well.

Grand Decameron Panama: Yes, Amazing resort

We enjoyed our stay at the Royal Decameron Beach Resort in Panama.The beach was beautiful and the room was very clean. The bed sheets and towels were changed each day. The food was OK, The resort is very huge with so many attractions and pools, its a great place for the kids, they will love it their, For someone who is not able to climb stairs, they have service to drive you around. They have a show each evening and a show time for kids.The office staff speaks  [... read more]English but the cleaning and restaurant staff hardly speak any English. I will certainly return their with my family members..We took the Panama Canal and city tour and it was a very interesting day, I recommend this tour for everyone a must go for all.

Riu Playa Blanca: Nice Place with Amazing staff!

We flew into the Rio Hato airport that is only 10 mins away from the resort. Check in was amazing! Very fast. We were given rooms 1019 and 1020, and we were very pleased with where they were.. nice and close to the pools. Rooms were clean and beds were comfortable. The pools were awesome.. 4 in total, quiet, sports, childres's and the Swim up Pool Bar, which was a favourite place for me! J. Villa was an Awesome bartender! Only complaint is that there is not a bathroom near the pools, which [... read more] I had read in other reviews.. looks like there is one in progress, and that will greatly improve the experience of guests! If you are a beach person, I don't know if this is the resort for you.. the water was cloudy and murky, and the sand is black.. it looked cool, but not sure if beach people would enjoy.. I am not a beach person, so it did not phase me. Food was okay.. we always found something we enjoyed. One of the people in our party got ill and required medical attention. Sunwing was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I actually cannot thank them enough for the support they provided us.. Estelle and Omar from the onsite team were awesome.. but Jose Rogriguez was an angel. I really don't know what we would have done without him.. truly a wonderful, caring person. Fabiola from the resort was also fantastic.

Riu Playa Blanca: Good resort but very isolated

The Resort/Hotel is great but its approx. 125 kms away from Panama City. Note the drive to Panama City can be 1 hour 12 mins without traffic and 2 hours 30 mins in traffic. There are no great places to visit in the surrounding area. You are pretty much confined to the resort unless you rent your own car or buy a package tour. They have Ace Car Rrental right in the main lobby and you should try to book in advance if you do plan to go outside of the resort as their selection and number of cars is  [... read more]very limited. The service at the resort itself is pretty good but you better have a little grasp of Spanish. A little more English speaking staff would be helpful. We had bottles of water and pop waiting in the fridge the day we arrived. If you need additional drinking water you can always pick a bottle or two at the front desk in the main lobby. There is a mini bar in each room with 4 different types of drinks for e.g. gin, vodka etc. The service folks refill your room stock every two days. And best of all these are free. The beach is not that great. There is debris on the shore many times. The under currents are very strong and its not fun to swim in the murky waters. You are better off swimming in the resort pools. The resort itself is very nice except the pools are way too far from the lobby. They do provide towels at the pool but one of the days the towel shack by the pool was closed and there were no signs indicating why or where to get the towels. They have a gym but its comparatively small. It does have everything you may need considering there are not many people using the facility. They had entertainment shows in the evening but these were only par. Nothing to grab my attention and make me want to go back. They have 3 specialty restaurants for Chinese, Italian and a Steak house (only in the evening) . We did not know until the final day that the steak house actually served a continental lunch buffet during the day in additional to the main continental lunch buffet. All in all the food is not bad at all and anyone and everyone should be able to find something they like.

Riu Playa Blanca: Very nice resort!

Rooms were beautiful...our view...not so great. Looked out on the wetlands. Grounds were well kept, although they were adding the new washroom in the pool area which is a great idea. Food was good. Nightly entertainment was fun. We did find a lack of afternoon entertainment(music). Staff was vey friendly! I think more advertising of local restaurants and the casino would be good. Didn't know there was anything to do outside the hotel besides Sunwing tours. We probably would have spent money loca [... read more]lly had we known what was local. All in all had a very nice relaxing vacation. Beaches were very nice, had read some reviews saying otherwise. Did take the water-taxi to Pipa's....fun afternoon. Also didn't post the nightly shows in the lobby.

Riu Playa Blanca: Great Vacation!!

Everything was just right! We came for a vacation and to celebrate our 25th anniversary ! Never a disappointment at all! Loved the staff in every area...pool.beach/meal service areas nothing to complain about! Some people........will GE cranky

Dreams Playa Bonita Panama: Disappointing Resort

The resort is beautiful with impeccably manicured grounds. The staff are very accommodating and helpful although many of them speak no English. Those are the only positive things that I can say about this resort. Although they advertise 5 restaurants, only 1 is open for each of breakfast and lunch and only 2 are open for dinner. Have a great deal of difficulty truly understanding what benefits we received as Preferred Guests and we were charged an obscene amount of money for this privilege. T [... read more]he food was so-so and the nightly entertainment non-existent. This was a very disappointing vacation.

Riu Playa Blanca: Would not return - even if it's a beautiful resort

The beach is NOT golden sand like Sunwing describes it. It is black volcanic sand, which would be ok.. but the Ocean it very murky and is not appealing to swim in. KIDS beyond KIDS.. yelling and screaming ALL the time.. there is NO place on the resort for adults to sit and enjoy without being amongst loud kids. Swim up bar is great if kids were not always screaming splashing around the pool... The food was OK but there was little variety. Many of the same dishes for all three meals. Too few bath [... read more]rooms, however, they are in the process of building one closer to the beach and pool area which is good.

Riu Playa Blanca: Great Staff

Good resort for families, wouldn't recommend for couples looking for peaceful getaway. Many small kids running around the restaurants and pool area by themselves, quite noisy. The resort caters to Spanish speaking guests. Ninety percent entertainment and all music both by the pools and disco is Spanish. Food was good, facilities too. Staff were excellent even if very few spoke English.

Riu Playa Blanca: Looks much better in pictures (resort)

This hotel was ok I would give it an overall of 4 stars, food was good but more or less the same everyday, the rooms were decent, service was good, sea water was warm but dirty because of a flow of water into the sea from a canal close by. I would not go back just because of the dirty water.

Riu Playa Blanca: Nice Resort

Riu is a nice resort, the rooms I would rate it a 3.5 star , the garden view was nice, the pools were very nice, the beach was not clean, the water was fair. The food was good. Overall I would Rate the riu playa blanca a 4 star max.

Riu Playa Blanca: Riu Playa Blanca Panama

Very nice, clean well run hotel, the hotel staff are very friendly and accommodating and efficient. The food is good, the beach is nice, but wavy. Great location, only 10 minutes from the airport, no airplane noise is heard at the resort.