Sandals Princesa del Mar Resort & Spa Hotel

What an absolute disgrace from start to finish for £4,000.00 and our wedding anniversary. The upgraded room we paid £600 for was a complete con. We looked at fellow travelers rooms who had not paid for the upgrade and they were identical.
The room on arrival had previous occupants refuse in bin. There was hair (of every revolting kind in the shower) and hair on the floor next to the scales. I observed it stayed for the entire duration of our trip... I left it just to see how often they cleaned. They didn’t! The floors were dirty, sticky cup marks on all the furniture in rooms and all areas of hotels. Extra paid for mini bar upgrade, which was done once in 11 days with one item we requested. Staff were told, but didn’t care whatsoever.
The food was abysmal, recycled over 3-4 days (plates were marked by myself) reheated chicken and fish. Birds feasting on the buffet and pooping on the tables while the staff watched and chatted. No clean crockery/tables/cutlery. Member of staff told me they had run out of bottled water and filled the bottles from the tap, and everyone we spoke to got ill. We believe there was watered down spirits in the bars. No poolside service, no exchange rates shown at bureau de change, and point blank refusal to do so when asked, along with receipts for anything else. Why? I wonder? Staff avoided you if you requested assistance with problems, and the rep plain dismissive.
Staff always around though when they harassed you for a tip, which was annoying. Both got food poisoning and tried to escape early but no luck. Now trading as Paradsius Princesa de Mar. Avoid like the plague! New name maybe, but same system. You have been warned.

I just returned from a week at the Princessa Del Mar Resort in Cuba, sadly it was our honeymoon. We were there from Sept 16-Sept 22nd. Thanks to Sandals, our honeymoon was ruined. Here is a brief list of complaints at this resort;
-Our room on the main level stank of mildew, there was mould growing on the couch. Our towels were not cleaned on a regular basis, our floor was never cleaned even though there was obvious sand and dirt on it.
-Your staff members were constantly looking for tips even though we though tipping should be included at an all inclusive. We were approached for tips from one of the landscapers, from the bellboy. etc.
-We were invited to one Management dinner where beef was served and made us both sick. We found out there were other special dinners we were not being invited to (we found out from other guests), we were not even invited to the honeymoon dinner when we were on our honeymoon. They did nothing special at all for our honeymoon, not even a room upgrade when the resort was only 25% occupied?! We learned by meeting other couples at the resort that they too were not pleased with their experience there.
-The staff made it seem like it was an effort to serve us, they were not willing to put extra ice in our drinks or make blender drinks that seemed to be a huge effort for them.
-The staff did not understand English very well even though your client base at that resort must be 80-90% English speaking??
-The restaurants offered a very limited menu and the food quality was very poor, at one restaurant, out of 4 appetizer selections on the menu they only had one available. We often left our meals at these restaurants feeling like we only had appetizers the portions were so small.
In addition to all of this, we were not warned about the huge infestation of sand flies at the resort. I returned home with numerous sand fly bites, a fever and upset stomach. All of this for a supposed 5 star resort?! I have been to your Beaches resort at the Turks and Cacios Islands and had a wonderful experience. Based on this experience and the fact we do not even feel like we have been on a honeymoon and we will tell everyone we know about our experience and we will never book another Sandals resort in the future. If we do not even receive a courteous response from your organization, we may go so far as to bring this experience to the attention of our local media so others do not have to endure the same dreadful experience on their honeymoon.

This resort is not of Sandals quality... paid nearly £6,000 for a Concierge Suite and ended up moving rooms three times. The service is dreadful, the food is poor and the management ignore or avoid you.
Don't bother going here if you expect a Sandals experience... It is nowhere even remotely near a top class resort.
The rooms are ok, so if you do want to go here pay for a basic package and upgrade when you get there for a tenth of the price, especially if you go between July & August as this is their quieter time so upgrading wouldn't be a problem.
But personally I could find nothing to recommend this resort.

The resort itself is wonderful, I enjoyed sitting in the many jacuzzis and pools scattered around the resort day and night!
The beach is lovely but beware not all water sports are directly on the beach as advertised. If you want to Waterski or go on a Bananna boat ride then you will have to walk quite a way down the beach to another hotel.
The best restaurant by far is the Japanese, I would rate this 10/10 and went there twice during my stay. The Italian was lovely but did not vary the menu much.
The French was fantastic, although I only sampled a Honeymooners special menu but it was mouth watering. The buffet was in my opinion poor, there was plenty of choice but if you did not get there early enough it was cold.
The bars are great, my husband loved the cigar bar were he puffed away at many Cuban Specialities! The piano bar had a lovely ambience and the Piano Entertainer was brilliant.
Captain Morgan’s nightclub was dead, after midnight it is empty except with a few barman and cleaners scattered around. So if you want to dance the night away you will be disappointed.
The spa is wonderful and I highly advise you to book the couples full body massage, its romantic and so relaxing. The main thing that lets this Hotel down is its staff.
Some are brilliant but we had to ask 6 times for batteries for our television remote and we still never received this.
Sandals is a tipping free hotel, but the Canadians tip and if you do not, you will be the last person served and it can be a long wait at the bar!
If you can stretch the pennies to book a Concierge class room I would. I was in standard and our friends in Concierge and they get such a better service, an extra pool and jacuzzis and an exclusive restaurant and they have unlimited reservations at any other restaurant on the resort.
Last words of advice are - do not expect 5 star service, and try and avoid the buffet, unless you can get there early!