May 7, 2008

We went on a Square Deal with Apple Vacation to Villa Del Palmar in March 2008. The deal was a 5 apple All-Inclusive vacation. We ended up at the Villa Del Palmar, which is a timeshare. We paid over $2300.00 for a hotel that wasn't honoring their part of the bargin. They had one restaurant and all food wasn't included. They would not give you lobster, shrimp, or, steak without a extra charge.
The rooms were one apple as far as nice. They had kitchens in them and we faced a parking lot! We asked to be moved but they said no rooms available. We wanted a different hotel, Apple- Vacations in Puerto Vallarta said they would move us and charge us an added fee!!!!
Apple Vacations totally ripped us off and would not refund any of our money. They sent us a certificate for one hundred dollars each which had to be used with them on another vacation.
We were on our honeymoon, which we saved all year for.

Just returned from the Villa del Palmar on April 29th for the 8th year in a row. First let me say that I don’t own a timeshare here so this all based on a regular client experience and I don’t do the all inclusive so I will not be commenting on it.

Where do I start…..ok lets start with the front desk. I found them to be very helpful and friendly and check in and out went very smoothly but it probably also helped that we arrived and left on a Tuesday. In the past I have arrived on a Saturday and yes it can be quite chaotic but if you remain calm and just go with the flow things seems to go much smoother.

Moving on to the service people (ie maids, waiters). They are all fabulous and worth some extra tipping on top of the $3.50/day that gets added to your bill. Our maid was fantastic. We usually left the room around 10am and it was always made up by 2pm and we never had a problem with towels. The waiters around the pool and beach do a great job. They always make sure that you are happy and have a drink in your hand if you want it. Our favorite waiter was Francisco ( hope I spelled that right :) ).

As far as the rooms go, you couldn’t ask for more especially considering the amount of time you actually spend in them. This trip we had a large studio with 2 beds. The kitchen was perfect for making some meals and had everything you needed. The bathroom was large and clean. There is also an in room safe in the closet. They have done away with the key type safes and have installed electronic ones where you set your own code.

The grounds are kept immaculate. Someone is always sweeping, mopping, cutting the grass, pruning the bushes, watering the flowers, etc….

There are 3 pools that you can use. There is one right out by the beach, then there is a larger one in the center of the resort and then there is a quieter one at the sister resort Villa del Mar. We never had a problem at any time of day getting chairs around any of the pools.

The beach area is fairly large and we never had a problem getting a place on the beach but then we opted out of sitting under a palapa and got an umbrella and chairs and sat closer to the water but there always seems to be an open palapa w/chairs. Please remember to tip the beach boys if you get them to set up your umbrella and chairs. I saw a lot of people not tipping and these boys don’t make a lot of money.

I realize I haven’t commented on the timeshare people yet but I really have nothing to say about them, as I really didn’t encounter any. They kind of just left me alone.

If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Villa Del Palmar was OK. First I would like to say we got a great deal on our vacation. When we first got there I was pleasantly surprised, the grounds were very nice.Nicer then I expected. We got in late at night around 8:00pm and they said they mistakenly gave our room away..Sooooo they put us in the sister hotel The room was great,The deck was huge!! But, it said we would have a full kitchen, well it did not. We were limited to what we could cook in our room. We had a stove top and a microwave. No oven, no dishwasher..We spent a lot of extra money on dining out, and they would not fix the problem..We also were suppose to have a ocean front room through expedia. That never happened, the hotel said it was for gold club members only..whatever. We made the best of it..We actually were never hasseled for timeshare at all. All of the staff on the grounds worked very hard and were very nice all of the time. My children loved the slide on the pool. They swam for hours. The vendors on the ocean here were very annoying..it was every second..i could not relax at the beach. It gets very crowed.I saw others stealing chairs because there was not ever enough. If I ever went back I would probably go to neuvo instead. Just so you know, it was a wonderful family vacation,We had a ton of fun,but I would never stay at this same resort again. Take the bus its way cheaper. The beach party at hotel was fun and worth the money.

'The bath towels were scratchy'. And this is the WORST possible thing I could say about VDP after a week's stay in 4/08. What a great place.
Wife and I had #4152, second floor overlooking the pool. Did not have to sign up for a timeshare or any other committment to get the room. Check in was a breeze, the time share action was only about 20 minutes of jabbering and then they left us alone for the rest of the trip.
Did not do the all-inclusive and after trying a couple of the drinks (watered-down?), we were glad to buy booze at Soriana's and spend our time eating in town.
Beach was one of the best I saw in all of PV. Staff spent all day, everyday cleaning and taking care of guests. Everyone pleasant and seemed to love working at VDP.

Don't let the negative reviews get to you as they did to me. This place was great in every respect (except for the towels!!).

Go Cats