We returned from Laguna Mar on 21st April after a 2 week stay. Our party comprised 2 adults and 2 girls aged 15 and 12. After recent criticism of Laguna Mar we were unsure of what to expect but we can honestly report that we should not have been concerned. The hotel and resort as a whole was excellent.
Our room (junior suite) in the South Tower was huge and very comfortable and kept very clean by the efficient maid. One minor quibble was a slightly dated bathroom but that didnt bother us unduly as everything worked as it should.
The resort has an amazing choice of swimming pools ranging from 2 (one for each tower) general lazing about pools, a huge activities pool where the daily aerobics, water volleyball etc.take place, another water slide pool with 2 big slides, a kids pool area and a full size olympic pool for you to do your lengths if you so wish. Also a wave pool which for some reason was not in operation very often. With such a wide range of pools there was never a problem about getting loungers as there was always plenty of space to choose from. Add to this the quiet adult only jacuzzi area and you are very well catered for.
The beach is also good although not entirely as you may expect as there is some erosion on the shoreline revealing black sand in some areas. This does not spoil the enjoyment as the sea is quite rough and not really suitable for swimming but great for general splashing about. There are lifeguards in attendance all day.
We would recommended hiring a 'four poster bed 'sun lounger from the Iguana Beach concession, very cheap for a day rental.
The Water Sports lagoon, with pedalos,banana boat rides and kayaking etc. is great fun and not to be missed.
The restaurants are all very good at the resort, supplying a wide variety of food for all choices ensuring no-one needs to go hungry. Especially good is Salvatores which from lunchtime to about 5pm serves Pizzas, sandwiches, and various other light lunches and in the evening is an excellent mexican restaurant. Try the chefs special steak, absolutely fantastic! Be warned the portions in the evening are enormous! The Italian restaurant is also very good with Italian food as good as we have eaten anywhere.
The buffet restaurant is great with a wide variety of food for every taste for breakfast ,lunch and dinner. The different roasted meats served in carvery style by the chef were always good, with serving staff very attentive, especially with the wine! All of the hotel staff were very friendly,polite and efficient,especially Gabriel at the poolside bar next to the Aguaco buffet reataurant. The animation team are very good, with plenty of day time activities but no pressure if you don't feel like it.They also put on some brilliant evening entertainment on the outdoor stage by the olympic pool. They are very professional make sure you see "Grease"
We took some trips which we had pre booked online with Marcos (www.marcostours.com) which were fantastic and really made the holiday. He took us on a personal tour of the island showing us some of the places you may not see normally such as the beautiful bays on the north of the island (much better for swimming,very calm),to the Restinga National park mangrove lagoon and then swimming with Dolphins. A great day for all of us. He also organised a 2 day trip to the Orinoco Delta, staying in jungle lodges and then Canaima National Park to see and walk behind waterfalls, all finished off with a flight past Angel Falls.
The delta trip was really the highlight of the holiday, we can't recommend Marcos enough, he is a great guide and will tailor trips to suit you and family. He is much cheaper than the First Choice option due to paying him in US$ rather than Euros as you do with First Choice. (He is fully insured)
First Choice were very good as well, with their rep Carlos seemingly living at the hotel. He was always there and always very helpful and pleasant.
All in all an excellent holiday.

We visited the Laguna Mar 31.3 - 13.4
We were apprehensive because of some of the awful reviews we had read. Where had these people been? Surely not the Laguna Mar. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!
Our party consisted of me, my husband and 3 of our daughters ages 12, 14 and 17.
Flight was great. Bought the £5 swipe cards so we all had a selection of about 8 films to watch. The time flew by - no pun intended!
The airport was SLOW and it took AGES before the coach was full and ready to leave.
Short drive to hotel, and a quick check in.
Got our two room - they were HUGE! Two double beds in each. The bathrooms were a little dated - but no big deal on holiday.
We had an adjoining door which was great.
The pools were fantastic. They were cleaned thoroughly every morning.
There were 2 realaxing pools on complex but we sat by the noisiest one every day.
There was so much going on Stretching, aquaaerobics, Spanish lessons, darts, volleyball, waterpolo, crazy games which were great fun.
The pool bar was also good.
The bes bar by far was the lobby bar - usually full of English from 5.30 at night. It was a lovely bar to relax in - wicker chairs & palm trees with low lighting. Drinks were served in proper cocktail glasses where we tried a margarita (got to be done), black russian and many more but do try the cocoloco and margarita tropical. Pedro was fab!
Breakfasts were fantastic fresh fruits, juices, porridge, waffles, pancakes, croissants, cooked breakfasts ... nothing missing!
Lunches were fab in bar on beach (5 minutes by hotel bus service). My daughters loved Salvatores whith its choice of pizzas, burgers, tacos etc - all in a lovely setting.
Dinners were not as good. The Italian was great - but you can only go 4 times. The Mexican just wasn't as good. The buffet wasn't good at all and was FREEZING! Take some cardis / jackets as it's too cold in short sleeves.
The night time entertainment was good. The dancers were as good as some I've seen in the west end - especially Daniel from Columbia. It is a bit weird though as they lip sync to most of the numbers. There is a kids disco & a prize giving ceremony every night.
The hotels entertainment team are the best we've had, espeically Nemo - he is hilarious.
Carlos, Pedrito, Ray etc all good value & really look after you.
The trips
We went to the small uninhabited island by boat. You have a mud bath which was great but the rest was a let down.
We went to Venezuela for the day. Great but do take a large bottle of water each - we didn't only a small one & ran out whilst climbing to the top of the waterfall. It was a great experience especially walking under the waterfall - I felt like Pochahontas. We had lunch in an Indian village & flew past angel falls - well worth a visit!
Do take your credit card as the trips are half the price if you use them rather than cash. They are converted into Euros and then sterling.
Take factor 50+, honestly we have been near to the equator before but never burnt like this!
Take mosquito spray on trips - but fine near hotel.
Don't bother going to the shopping mall - so expensive.
Taxis v v v vcheap.

Do go to the beach - Les Iguanas next door do a most fantastic fish platter.It does cost but was the best meal of the holiday.
ent the lovely beds complete with mattresses & pillows - appx £12 for the day.
Sea is really rough but watersports are in lagoon which is safe for the kids.
All in all we loved it....won't go back because we never go back as so much of the world to see.

Well here goes – I intend to provide a balanced view of this resort and my overall holiday experience. I stayed at the Laguna Mar between 30 March and 14 April 2008.

It must be remembered that many of you will travel thousands of miles to reach this destination, therefore, the resort will only play a part of your holiday.

I was disappointed to hear from First Choice on several occasions during the lead up to our holiday advising that various activities and facilities would not be available during our stay i.e. scuba diving in the pool, aerobics, the casino, etc. This was not an ideal but at least it geared us up to manage our expectations.

I am really appreciative of the members of this forum who provided a mixture of positive and negative feedback. Once again the negatives that were highlighted on this forum managed our expectations and we went with a very positive attitude knowing full well that a holiday is only what you make of it. A negative attitude will not enhance your vacation pleasure, but had we not been aware we would not have been entirely impressed.

Lets get some positives across. The resort grounds are beautiful and the variety of swimming pools are second to none, where else would you find an Olympic size swimming pool with seven others to choose from. We always found a sun bed whatever time we looked, but I think this was due to low occupancy levels. The Iguanas are great too.

If you have toddlers or young children then they will love the kids’ pool area it is amazing - the best I have seen by far - and it also houses the children’s club in this area.

The lagoon was great and my daughter loved the jet bike [waverunner]. She has just reached the age of 11 and they were quite happy to let her drive - with me on the back. 100 Bolivars for ½ hour and you can change drivers and passengers at anytime – great value.

The grounds are kept spotlessly clean and tended to throughout the whole day and whilst the grounds are big, the buses come along every couple of minutes. All the bars are great and serve fantastic drinks, although I have to let a negative slip in here and advise you that they very rarely serve directly to the pool from the pool bar, which means jumping out of the pool to get your drink.

The new buffet restaurant is fully functioning at the South Tower, breakfast is great, lunch is ok, but the evening meal is poor. We ate out on many occasions enjoying great diners in the evening. Sambil shopping mall is ten minutes away and a 16 Bolivar taxi ride. Just ask reception to call one. There are many good value restaurants at the mall. The resort location is very good. I would highly recommend the Totto Mare restaurant [Italian and seafood] near the Hilton hotel – it was superb. I would also recommend Casa Caranta in Pampatar – food presented to a top standard.

Lunch time in Salavatores [Mexican in the evening] was great and they served a variety of pizzas and other dishes from a comprehensive menu. The cheeseburgers were great. The Mexican in the evening was good night of fun and food.

The beach bar - I think it is called Cazon - was also pretty good for lunch. Say a big hello to the guy with a big smile called Vincent. He has been fondly talked of on this forum but watch yourself. On my second day I showed him my AI bracelet and asked if I had to pay for the two beers I just ordered he said it would be 30 bolivars. Nice one, I found out 10 minutes later that it was all inclusive and the beach bar to the right was not. I soon spoke to him about it and the manager returned the 30 bolivars. Must have been some sort of misunderstanding I guess – yeh right. Made me laugh though.

The Italian restaurant was quite good, but the food was not that hot, but judging by other people’s glowing reports I guess we were just a little bit unlucky that night. The wine served up in the resort could strip the rust off an old bike, but we did manage to buy a lovely bottle in the Italian restaurant. I have to say that the look of this restaurant was very impressive.

The wave pool, one can only guess when this last worked, the siren fires off every half an hour and there is some engine noise, but sadly no waves. If you want waves go to the beach and I thought the beach was quite nice, a mixture of gold and black sand.

The rooms, we had a junior suite and I have to say that it was very poor. The curtains were mouldy, the windows were filthy and the bathroom was in a very poor state. These rooms are not tired as some have said, they have simply reached the end of their use. I think they are slowly renovating them but this only extends to some new paint – they need a complete overhaul with new furnishings and a bathroom refit.

Change your money up in the shop by reception; he gave us 3 Bolivars to the dollar - official rate 2.15. But do not ask to exchange when there are official hotel people around as this is an under the counter operation. 3.1 was the best we got during our Island day trip with Carlos. Great guy and I would recommend that you use his services.

We did a few trips Margarita splash – [very fast two seater mini speedboats] a 13 year old girl in our party was allowed to drive one. Great fun.

The Coche Island Trimaran trip was also great, and I heard that the dolphins were a fantastic experience. Also try the flea market, 25 Bolivar taxi ride away.

I would rate the overall resort a 3 but the holiday a 4 [out of 5].

I have to say that when we stayed a waiter told us that there were only 400 guests at the hotel out of a maximum of 1500. If the occupancy levels were approaching maximum we might have experienced a very different holiday and I do not think it would have been for the better.

The Island is not paradise and it is littered with rubbish literally everywhere, although there are some lovely beaches if you travel around.

I have tried to be balanced and overall we had a good holiday.

I have written this to help put peoples minds at rest, as were very apprehensive about the bad comments before we went. We had a great 2wks with our 13 and 14 year old. The people were friendly, the food great, the sun very very hot (we used factor 70 for the first time in our lives). The sea was rough, but the water sports which were all free except for the jet ski, were on a lagoon so it didn't matter. Carlos the first choice rep was great and assisted with any problems. The kids loved eating lunch in Salvatores were they had pizza, toasted sandwich or nachos to name a few items on the menu. We eat in the Italian restaurant 4 times and the food was fantastic. The bathrooms were a bit dated, but the bedrooms were huge. The pools and grounds were cleaned regularly throughout the day. The entertainment crew were good and our kids spent most of their time around the activity pool joining in. Our only criticism was the wave pool wasn't working!! Taxis were cheap about £2.50 into town and the driver offred to wait for 2 hours to take you back for a further £2.50. We booked a trip with Cruise N Style on the internet before we went to Margarita, with Marcel & Steve an American couple, who were very knowledgeable about the island, which we would recommend. I have read the food was repetitive but if you have beef stroganoff, roast chicken, beef and fish all on one plate for dinner I suppose you may run out of options! We would go back tomorrow - my daughter preferred this holiday to Florida!