Text: Scenery: 5/5
Staff and services: 5/5
Location 5/5
Food 5/5
Room 3.5/5
I had kept my expectations down since I was reading all the reviews, but to my pleasant surprise it was as fantastic as advertised. As long as you don't expect to be treated like literal kings and queens (which I suspect most reviewers do), you will have a great time. if you do want to be treated like so, then tip well! I'm sure the wonderful staff here could use them since I suspect they are way underpaid.
I was at the Select side of the resort, while I cannot say about the regular customers, the features given to select were fantastic. We had lounges, bar, as well as the buffet seats right beside the beach with a beautiful view. I made sure to taste all the premium drinks they offered.
My only real complaint is that their hot water does not work well, and when it does it only comes out in low power. and this was after I requested to get it fixed, AND find and tipping a repairman to fix it for us. we are in a hot country so I didn't make a big fuss about it. at least the air conditioning worked well at all times.
The food was fantastic, although the a la carte options were great, Imo we probably would of been happy just sticking to the buffet options. Unless we stayed for a very long time, I had no complaints about the food quality, taste and variety. as for A la Carte, the TexMex was the best out of all the options, as other reviews also mentioned.
The location, Sosua, turned out to be a great option for us. we had a lot of options of what we wanted to do. We went bit of small city exploring like browsing their supermarkets, visit restaurants, go to the main Sosua beach, and snorkel. If you are more adventurous, there are nightclubs you can visit.
my main goal of this trip was sit in a sunny beach and relax, as well as swimming with the fishes. I got that and much more in my first trip. in my snorkeling trip just at the Sosua beach, I saw most beautiful underwater scenery with reefs, school of fishes, as well as sea turtles!
Once we finished exploring the resort, we went outside to the city, and to our surprise we felt very safe, as the Transat guide told us. I have read that Sosua is bit of a dive, and while it is true, I think the government make sure no one messes with the tourists. there are decent amount of police presence, and guides and staffs may be liable if anything happens to us. The most we had to worry about was the street merchants insisting on making sales to us, and boy they are persistent. All that said, I would still keep an eye on your stuff and not follow any strangers.
as for the overall budget and value, I got it in a really good deal around september of 2024 before the crazy inflation hiked up again around november, so it may have affect on my perception and review.
To finalize, the staff was great. I feel very accommodated, and I can only hope they are paid well, since they seem to work long hours. I give kudos to the variety show staff, as they will dance for us at the theatre, and then dance along for the old people at the disco (the theatre and disco is probably the best on friday and saturday, as the locals come to visit and they know how to have fun). This was my first time in the carribeans, and I genuinely had the time of my life