I stayed there in Carnival and I only have good things to say. There is great yard with diverse pools and a private beach to the guests. I also enjoyed the diverse kind of cook that includes French cook, barbecue, pizzarie and international restaurant with a varied buffet that contains from seafood to pasta or meat. The dessert buffet makes anyone crazy with the delicious cakes,pies etc.... Also the location is excellent just 20 mins walking to the shops. You don't feel isolated there like in the most resorts.
I just advise people to stay in a luxurious appartment, you can get a balcony with the view to the ocean and it's larger than the standard one that has the view to the road with no balcony.

this hotel styles itself as a five star.

It has a number of nice pools, several of them jacuzzis and a pool bar where the stools are actually "under water". This area appears to be open 24/7
there is also a beach chair and parasol service on the beach (public)
However, there are a number of shortcomings not behoving a Five Star Hotel.
when we arrived around 3 AM the air conditioning in the room wasn't working - fixed only around 11AM when it was already really humid, and the door to the veranda did not open - that much about " ocean view" .
the boardwalk in front of our cabin had some lose planks with nails sticking out, something you do not really want when coming back from the beach bare-foot.
The Concierge desk is open only a limited number of hours per day and English is not their strong suit.
In a Five-star you would also expect a free tooth brush (if you forgot to bring one); here, at a nightly rate of more than $ 400 US, you have to buy one.

Overall:

not a bad hotel but a long way to go to be even a Four Star, let alone a Five

I have no words to say…. how nice was the view of the sea and how friendly are the citizens of Natal/ Rio Grande do Norte.
I certainly wish my friends in Michigan had the opportunity to know how wonderful is Natal.
And, in the top of that, in this great city there is a great Hotel….
Congratulation to the staff and management of the Ocean Palace Beach resorts & Bungalows

I've been in this hotel in April 2010. This hotel looks like it once was a 5 star luxury hotel. Nowadays it looks like a degradated place, with little conservation work and careless administrators/managers.

Rooms would be OK, if there were no humidity stains on the walls, broken faucets, ripped towels or TV with only 4 brazilian channels. The room I stayed in had a glass window in the wall that separated the bathroom from the rest of the room, giving no privacy to anyone using the bathroom.

Overall the hotel seems badly cleaned (p.e. I saw the same potato chip on the elevator floor for 3 days!). Service is overall slow and unefficient: p.e., I had to call reception twice and wait 40min for a pillow; went to the Pizzeria at 9pm and they couldn’t bring a pizza there was no dough anymore.

The buffet is simply depressing at night: poor lighting, no music (only the sound of the refrigerators). Little variety on the menu (and everything’s expensive for the quality offered).

The swimming pool area had the potential to be good looking and enjoyable. It has many separate pools, mini-waterfall, palm trees everywhere, benches inside the swimming pool in which people can seat and enjoy a refreshing drink at the barcounter. However, the pool water is turbid (you can actually see little particles in suspension), the pool walls show signs of "grease"and I’ve never seen an employee cleaning the pools. It also has a pool that works as a mini-waterslide. The waterslide pool is even worse, the water is turbid, greenish and it has a funny unpleasant smell. There are almost no places to protect from the sun, and believe me, the sun in Natal burns!

This hotel is one of the "top" hotels (Via Costeira) that is nearer Ponta Negra. However, it's still a long walk and sometimes there's no sidewalk, so if you have trouble walking a lot or have kids, you'll have to take a cab or the bus anyway.

The positive thing about this hotel is its easy access to the beach, its only a few stairs away and it has a shower down in the beach (good to take the salt and sand off).

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In sum, I do NOT recommend this hotel!