Most of what you can read about this hotel here in the reviews is true. I’ll try to talk about things I haven’t read here.


Information not on Decameron’s website:

• There are two hours of departure from Decameron Cartagena to Decameron Isla Palma: 11am and 1pm. (We were misinformed about this).
• For the 11am group, there’s breakfast included at Decameron Cartagena. (We had not been informed about this).
• It looks like there are several ways of getting there. In our case, a bus picked us up for a 3 hour ride (Last 30 minutes on unpaved road) until a town called Berrugas and then a 30 min speed boat ride to the hotel.
• On the way back there are two hours of departure from Decameron Isla Palma, to Decameron Cartagena: 9am and 1pm. For the people of the 9am shift, there’s complimentary lunch at Decameron Cartagena.
• Sandwiches, chips and beverages are offered during the rides and half way there, the bus makes a stop for people to go to the bathroom.


About the hotel itself:
• It’s a 3 star hotel at the most.
• There’s noise all day long. Really, this was such a turn off for me, I went there looking for some peace and relaxation and it was hard to relax when there’s latin music playing all day long, loudly. The only place that has no music is the beach.
• There’s a briefing, but they’d do better to print this information on a piece of paper and leave it in the room, cause there’a a lot to memorize.
• The hotel is clean, though there are some run down areas that could do with some maintenance.
• Unlike some old reviews mention, there’s running water and power all day long.
• Our room has a private bathroom, very big.
• Service was really good and you can tell that most of the staff go out of their way to provide you with anything you need.
• There’s a water jug in the mini-freezer in the room. This water comes from mineral water dispensers located throughout the hotel and is safe to drink.
• There are a couple of soda bottles in the mini-freezer, but nothing to get them open with!
• Activities and meals start and end strictly on time, as well as transportation.
• Shampoo is not included. You’ll only find towels and soap in the bathroom. The rest, you need to bring yourself or buy at the only boutique at the island for an inflated price.
• They charge you for the safe-box separatedly.
• If you don’t attach the “Arrange this room” sign to the doorknob, they won’t tidy up your room.
• They have this weird thing, they give you a card for your beach towel. So to get a beach towel, you give them your card and when you return the beach towel, they give you back the card.


About the beach:
• 10 minute walk to get to the beach.
• No vendors, private beach with warm water.
• Coral sand beach, not too soft. Shallow water. Not many waves, no surfing. Ideal for children.


About the activities:
• The dolphin show is a bit sad. It seems that on weekends it varies a little bit, but during weekdays it is the same three stunts over and over again.
• The shows in general are mediocre, but the staff really do try hard to entertain you.
• Dance lessons are a hoot.
• Eco-walk is a bit sad, there are many things in desperate need of maintenance, like the huge fish tank with its water spilling and filtering from cracks. Drinks during this walk are not included.
• Massages at the spa are great, I recommend those.


About the food:
• In general, the food is mediocre. The selection is all Colombian typical dishes which are supposed to be amazing, but… not here.
• Bread seemed stale most of the time.
• Beware of birds picking on your food.


Beware of:
• There are lots of mosquitoes. Perhaps this changes depending on the season, but we were unprepared.
• From what we saw, it is possible to bribe the dolphin trainer, especially if you’re a woman, because (unless the two women we saw with his are his wife and her friend) it seems he likes to get a little grab here and there and in return, he’ll allow you to swim with the dolphins, feed them and get really close.

Sure the bus is rough and it plays the music loud and constant but the isla is a gem. Rooms are large, unique and clean. Meals are varied and plentiful. Staff are friendly.
Isolated, away from the beaten path, but with nature surrounding you and a beach that cuts through the ocean with waves on one side and tranquil waters on the other will keep you occupied. A jacuzzi area that has a dolphin show and the sunning area is set around a pretty big jacuzzi with a well-shaded area and a palapa bar. We were asleep before the night show but probably didn´t miss much..and we slept well. Oh, the water supply? As much as you wanted and as hot as you could stand. Drinking water was always available. Our 2 night trip was extended to three and we could easily have stayed for weeks!

I booked the hotel from August 28 to September 3. Well first of all the misinformed us and told us that it would be a 2 hour boat trip to the island. They forgot to mention that starting septermber 1 it is no longer a 2 hr boat ride but instead a 15min boat ride to some god forfibben town called rincon and from there a bus ride through the middle of nowhere in unpaved mud roads. The bus goes not more than 5 mph since there are so many holes and it is an up and down rocking bus for an hour, if not more (look at the videos I will post). So we left the island at 9:30 and arrived back around 1:30 PM. So we paid for 2 nights 3 days and got 2 nights 1 day (in which it rained) since the first day we arrived by the time the got us a room it was past 4:00 PM.

We were not the only ones that they misinformed. There was a couple that had arrived at 5:00 PM because the bus got stuck in the mud. The hotel management told us that they couldn't do anything about it. However, the regular staff is very nice. The rooms were very nice (specially if you get a room with the bathroom in the second floor) and clean. The food and the drinks were ok, the snacks were not good, and the cigatettes definetely not. The island is very nice and the is an ecologic tour with a lot of animals which was great. The water sports were a little dissapointing because you can only do them around a very small area. It is not worth the money or the ride in bus (and also the bus has no bathroom, so good luck traveling for 3 1/2 hours). Also there is a huge issue with security, I don't think that it is a safe area to travel in, specially since it is desolated for most of the trip.

Basically if they were to take you there in boat (not boat and bus) in time for you to at least enjoy half a day and also take you back around 1 to enjoy a morning, it would have been a much more pleasant trip. And also hope it doesn't rain because you will get extreamly bored.

This is a 2 star hotel at best. So if you want to rough it out - it's perfect. Someone else on Trip Advisor called it Gilligan's Island and those were the first words from my wife when we got there.
The boat ride from Cartagena to the hotel is fine. None of the staff on the boat or the hotel speak anything but Spanish (just FYI, not faulting them for this). When you get to the hotel at first you'll be impressed. You see the dolphin enclosure with the dolphins, and the staff are out with drinks to welcome you. The staff directs you to lunch immediately. The food is absolutely horrible. The only things that looked edible were the rice and potatoes. But there's really no other choice so you have to eat whatever is served.
Then we were taken to our room - which is where the fun started. The room has a manual AC unit which is loud as hell. The room is all wood - the bed, chairs etc, just like the rest of the hotel. The bed was very basic with sheets, pillows and a blanket. You had to take these narrow stairs upstairs to get to the bathroom. The bathroom was half outside!! There was a canopy covering the bathroom roof and you could see the forest outside. From the sides you could see the neighbors bathroom (note not all rooms are this way - we might have been one of 3 rooms like this). The bathroom had 2 bars of soap, toilet paper and towels. But soap was already unwrapped so not sure if they give you a new one or reuse them.
There was a small fridge in the room with some coke and a jug of water. Not sure if this water was mineral water or not (don't understand why they would not give mineral water bottles if it was mineral water - instead of pouring it into a jug and making us wonder).
It's an all inclusive resort so we thought we could drink and maybe that would help us get through the evening! But the best whisky is VAT 69 and the vodka, gin etc are some local brands. The only beer is Aguilla (colombian) which is fine - so we drank that. But they pour everything into these tiny plastic cups (so 2 sips later you have to go for a refill).
In the evening the staff put on some entertainment - which was very surreal. It felt like we were living in the 80's - the show, the ambience, the booze....everything seemed like it was from a different era.
On the plus side - the staff is very nice. They smile a lot. The beach is very pretty, although getting to it is a 10 min walk through the woods.
Again, if you don't mind staying at youth hostels and 2 star hotels, this is probably extremely luxurious. If you stay at Sheratons, Hiltons etc, you may end up hating it. We had a 2 night reservation at the hotel. But after the first sleepless night (loud AC which couldn't be switched off due to the extreme humidity, ability to hear the neighbors walk, use the bathroom, extremely uncomfortable bed) we left. We went back to the Hilton Cartagena - which was a 6 star in comparison!