We came to this resort as a result of an RCI trade. We bought the upgraded VIP package before arrival.

There is a true cast system in place. Lifestyle owners (automatic VIP status), who get additional privledges, such as (use of golf carts); followed by others who upgrade to VIP status (our situation-no golf cart), but use of a shuttle service, followed by those at the resort without VIP status (these may be the walkers from the review below).

VIP(ers) get access to a special beach, and pool area, each with beds available to lay out on during the day, special towel and waitress service, and upgradged top shelf alcohol at each of these locations. Lunch menu's with food delivered (mostly burgers and chicken sandwiches which were not very good), sushi (cooked) which was good. You're probably better off going to the buffet for lunch, which we did a couple of times.

Grounds and villa's were beautiful and having our maid in every morning to cook breakfast was outstanding. (Thanks Christina-very well done!!).

Guards stationed around the complex made all feel secure. Feel free to drop them off a bottle of soda...they truly appreciated it.

Check in went smoothly (once we got there) thanks to Junior, a new employee who made sure he did everything possible to accomidate us. (Thanks Junior-much appreciated. Keep those dollar coins safe!!)

We had arranged thru RCI for a taxi to pick us up at the airport, but it never showed up. Leaving us to fend for ourselves with a pack of.........wolves......If you end up in this situation expect to pay $45 American for the ride (30 minutes) to the resort. Everything is negociable!!

RCI did make good with a comp'd return ride (we knew we'd have to pay one way, just didn't expect it to be on the way in)....

Employees are truly very friendly and genuine. It would help if they had better English language skills, but on the same token, we need to be a bit more fluent in Spanish.

They began a demolition project there this week, removing the pink 2 bedroom bungalow's which will be replaced by more villa's. Roads were torn up, and there were some construction trucks in and out, but overall it wasn't too disruptive. Amazing how quickly the workers can remove these buildings using simple hand tools.

If you book a villa, bring pool toys & floats as they are not provided.

Service requests (bag of ice) were met, but results were much slower than expected.....add a day or two.

If you want a bed at the beach, expect to get up early and be in that area by 7 a.m. Most were "reserved" (place a tee-shirt on it) shortly after that. Did loose one t-shirt, as the wind must have blown it away......hint hint...and others were using the bed when we arrived.

Overall food quality was good to very good. Belini's (Italian) and the VIP Gourment were my favorites, but for the most part, I always found something on the menu to enjoy. If not satisfied, you were always allowed to make a second selection. I even ordered two dinners at the same time one night without any problems, and this was at the white glove gourmet resturant. We ate Mexican, Blue Lagoon, Chinese and the general buffet resturants. All were pretty good in my opinion.

Night entertainment was almost non existant other than Sunday night (VIP dinner & show) and a Thursday night VIP excursion to Ocean World next door. VIP disco was a CASH bar which still doesn't make sense to me, when a few steps away I could get the same beverage for free.
Around 4 people in the place the night we stopped by (11 p.m.) anyway.

Tipping a dollar or two was always appreciated and brought a bit more attention from the service staff. Those folks work hard and deserved it.

I'd give this resort and my vacation experience a 88 to 90 out of 100. It wasn't perfect, but it was enjoyable!!

We booked a 4 bedroom villa, with VIP status, from a Lifestyle Member listed on eBay.

Upon arrival at the resort, there was confusion, due to a reporting error of the size of our party, (which was provided on 3 separate occasions) to be 3 adults. This obviously caused significant problems, due to fact that the resort was expecting a party of 8 adults. They negotiated us a counter deal to take two one-bedroom apartments and to cancel our 3 VIP inclusive fees to compensate our loss of the 4 bedroom villa.

The Residence apartments were somewhat dated, but comfortable, except for the concrete couch and bed, which were very uncomfortable.

The resort grounds were beautiful and very well maintained by a large staff of service people. However, unless you had a golf cart, you were forced to walk, typically 2-3 miles per day to visit beach, shops or restuarants, which created some safety problems during the nighttime, as the sidewalks and stairways were not well lighted and the walking surfaces were uneven.

The best restaurant in the resort was Bellini's, the worst were VIP Gourmet and Blue Lagoon. The lasagna, pizzas and spaghetti dishes and services were excellent at Bellini's. We waited for several nights to obtain a treasured reservation at VIP Gourmet, which proved to be a lot of hype of upscale dining, with exclusive dinner choices, but proved to be one of the worst meals during our 7 day stay. We all ordered the VIP Filet, which came with much culinary fluff and frills, but with little inspection, we found that what appeared to be a 2" beef fillet mignon, ACTUALLY was a 1/4" sub-quality, fatty, tough piece of beef, sitting on 2 pieces of vegetables. The entire meal was of poor quality and entirely unsatisfactory. The second runner up of worst meal is awarded to Blue Lagoon - - billed as an exclusive steak and seafood resturant - - of which they failed in both cases. Again, the beef fillet was fatty and could not be consumed and the fish selection was poor and prepared inadequately.

I have made two trips to Lifestyle Resorts - my first & my last..

We booked through an owner, a 3 BR villa.

Villa
The villas was not a newer villa but in decent shape. Everything worked and no need for immediate repair. The beds are very uncomfortable as well as the furniture. You will go home with a sore back. In fact the beds on the beach were more comfortable than the villa and the kids were asking if they could just sleep on the beach. We brought in the pads from the lounge chairs to sit on in the living room, as they were more comfortable than the seats there. The air worked well, the pool and kitchen fine. The air conditioner was very loud when turning on and off and would wake you from your sleep, also the windows had shutters on them without a screen or exterior window so the bugs had free access to come in through the slats. We didn't get too many mosquitos though. The fridge was always stocked with drinks. We left a note for more beer and water and it was stocked right full. Our maid was prompt for breakfast and made some wonderful eggs and juice every day, we stopped that service near the end so we could try the buffet for brunch.

Beach and Pools
Renting from an owner and having VIP access is the ONLY way to go! We were treated like royalty on the beach and pool. The VIP beach was easy to find a bed everyday and the drinks and snacks readily available. We spent most of our time at the VIP beach but also tried VIP World (pool) it was great as well.

Food
We ate at the VIP gourmet three nights, food was excellent there. We also tried the Mexican, Chinese, Italian and buffett. Italian was not bad, the rest were absolutely horrible. If we had to eat the buffet everyday we would have suffered. Only could find one or two items that we could even eat. The breakfast buffet was good. Suffered stomach and "bathroom" issues upon leaving and coming home.

People and place.
The employees at the resort were fantastic, tons of workers everywhere and all had a smile on their face and eager to help. We tipped well but witnessed others who did not and couldn't tell any difference in service to them. We were approached 7 times to take a timeshare tour. Their methods were progressively more aggressive, so if this bothers you, be prepared. They offered free tickets to the beach party and Casino show( which you get free anyway) free photos, etc. We were prepared and refused the "10 minute" tour. When I offered to pay off the man, he finally left us alone, another started up though, probably looking for the payoff.

Other
The shuttle from the airport was ready, as we were an hour late arriving, and whisked us off to the resort. The drive there and back was frightening. No road rules exist and our driver was speeding through town, intersections, pedestrians, and scooters. It is best to shut your eyes until you arrive.

When we arrived at the resort, we were offered a deal to switch out of the villa into a junior suite and we would receive a free vacation and our money back on this vacation, we refused.

We went to OceanWorld and had a great time doing the Dolphin swim and Sea Lion Encounter

Overall we had a great time, we would recommend it to others as long as you are prepared but won't go back again.

I must say reading some of the previous reviews scared me a little. I had already booked our February vacation there, and after reading on this site, I had no idea what kind of trip I was in for.
We arrived to the nicest reception. We were offered drinks upon our arrival, and there was no wait to check in. We were then escorted to a beautiful and spacious villa with our own private pool. It was the nicest accommodation we have ever stayed in on a Caribbean vacation.
the food was nothing to brag about, but it was fine. I did not go on vacation for a fine dining experience. I definitely would suggest going to the VIP Gourmet restaurant if you can.
the service was EXCELLENT. All the employees were so courteous and happy to help.
We booked our vacation through a Platinum Member who was selling on EBAY, so we had all of the VIP services. I truly can say I think if you want to go on this vacation to this resort - that is the best way to go. the food and drink and luxuries really made the whole experience so enjoyable.
The resort is very large, but they have a shuttle service that comes to take you wherever you want to go, and they are very quick.
I highly recommend this resort. We had a wonderful time there and we are going back again in May and again in February of 2009.