Las Sirenas is a beautiful resort on a gorgeous beach near great snorkelling (Black Rock at the end of the beach). The rooms are very clean and nicely appointed but tiny, especially on the ground floor. There are virtually no surfaces for your laptop, books and magazines. If there are torrential rains for 5 straight days like when we were there, you probably won't enjoy it. Simply put, for us, it was the worst vacation ever.
Some other rooms had flat screens, but the TV in our room was ancient, and satellite reception was spotty with very few English channels available. However, the WiFi which costs $30 USD for the week worked well.
Our Sunwing package went from Dec. 5-12, 2011. When we booked the package it was a direct flight. After we'd already paid, we were told that there would be a stopover in Belize on the way back to Toronto. That little detail humped hours onto our trip home. In all we were in travel mode for nearly 12 hours because we had to have our luggage down at the front desk by 6:30am for out 11am departure. Really annoying for a destination that’s 4 hours from Toronto.
The rainy season went on longer than usual and no one can be blamed for that. However, there are many areas where improvement is doable and sorely needed. The food was consistently cold at every meal which made the food unsafe as well as unpalatable. All the food at Las Sirenas comes from Henry Morgan, the resort up the beach, and the variety at Las Sirenas was quite limited and boring after a few days. They also ran out of some foods and fruit fairly regularly, so late diners had very limited options.
In the brochure, between-meal snacks were promised, but never materialized. The only bar was in the buffet restaurant, and some of the staff acted as if they were doing you a big favour when you asked for a mixed drink. It wasn't worth the effort because they were the worst mixed drinks we've ever had. How can pineapple daquiris and pina coladas taste bitter?
The service in the buffet restaurant depended on who was serving. Two servers were good, the rest ignored the Canadians while giving the Italian guests, who made up the majority of guests, lots of attention. We stopped tipping the staff who ignored us or gave us poor to non-existent service. Often, we had to get our own coffee and drinks.
In the brochure, the Dine-Around option was offered, meaning you could eat at Henry Morgan. However, meals there had to be booked 24 hours in advance.
We booked the A la Carte one night and arrived to find that no table had been set for us in what looked like a storage area of the hotel. It was full of director chairs shoved off to one side. Not nice. We later found out that, if it was raining, the A la Carte dinner was cancelled – a fact they failed to mention when we booked the meal. It had been raining rather consistently by then, so we could easily have slogged through the torrential rains along the beach (in the dark) to find our reservations cancelled without notice. The dinner was a total waste of time. The food was horrid and the service laughable, despite there being only three tables. The young waiter, who spoke no English, was eager to please but inept. He set up a table the size of a large polka dot for us. I doubt two dinner plates would have fit on it. We sat at a larger table with another couple from Las Sirenas who kindly invited us to join them. There was also no table for a family of three who showed up after us. We had to wait for the waiter to set up a table for them and oddly enough, though they were the last to arrive, they were served first. The grilled fish was hard, cold, totally overcooked and unpalatable which is somewhat of a mystery considering the island prides itself on fresh fish. The salad came without dressing and the menu we were shown when we booked the meal was not what was served to us.
You also have to book the buffet at Henry Morgan 24 hours in advance. At least it was consistent – consistently lukewarm, though there was a greater variety of tepid food. If you like your hot food hot, neither Las Sirenas or Henry Morgan is a satisfying option.
Another huge problem is that some of the front desk staff at Las Sirenas neither speak nor understand English. My 84-year-old father called twice to talk to us. Unable to understand what he was saying, they hung up on him the first time. The second time he called, he was left waiting at least 15 minutes until his phone card expired. He thought that if he hung on, they would eventually connect him but they never did. What if it had been an emergency? Totally unacceptable.
Another major issue for us was the loud music from the San Simeon Beach Club next door. It started at 9am and went until 11pm most nights and occasionally past midnight, getting louder and louder until it peaked in excruciatingly loud and drunken karaoke. It was extremely irritating, and so loud that we could not drown it out with the air conditioner and TV or music. It was anything but relaxing.
A hotel shows its true worth when the weather is so lousy that you have no option but to stay at your resort. There was nothing to do, no gym or other facilities, and there were no snacks or warming drinks in between meals when it got cold.
We complained to our Sunwing rep, Patrick, who was great - friendly, accessible, helpful and concerned. He tried to fix the problems, but was not able to affect a change during our stay. Also commendable were the cleaning ladies, who were friendly and accommodating, kept our room spotless, and made delightful, intricate towel sculptures on our bed, decorated with fresh flowers, every day.
We would not recommend Las Sirenas to our friends.
Room Tip: Rooms on the ground floor are tiny and dark. Rooms neighbouring San Simeon Beach Club are unbearably...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
