I stayed at this hotel with a group of 30 people from my family this past December. While staying there I shared a room with my sister and two of my cousins. To start off they tried to put the four of us in a room with one queen bed. They told us that at we had "reserved" two doubles but they did not "guarantee" the room there was nothing they could do (i.e. no compensation). Thankfully my cousins did not arrive until the next day and they told us we could switch rooms then. If we wanted to switch rooms we would be have be out of our room by 11am and our new room would be ready at 2pm latest... it was not ready until 3pm. At this point we all made a huge fuss and got the room for the first night compensated.... or so we thought. I should also mention ours was not the only room mix up from the group. Upon check out we all wanted our bills; however, no one could provide us with anything more then things charged to the rooms (i.e. food charges). Three months later everyone's credit cards were all billed. To my surprise I received a bill for nearly $3000 charged to my credit card. The reason I was so surprised was I was not supposed to be billed at all, the bill was supposed to go to my uncle who had booked the room. The only reason they had my credit card was becasue I checked in first and they needed it for damages. Upon check in two people guaranteed me they would not bill my card (so much for their supposed guarantees). Upon trying to sort out this charge (which took about a month), we asked for the charge break down (we only got this because we asked), which SURPRISE the night we were supposedly compensated they had no record of. When the hotel refunded me the money they gave me back $100 less then they had originally charged me because of the exchange rate.. this was their mistake not mine, so they should eat this charge. And now they have billed my uncle three times, and maxed out his credit card. This was not the only mistake the hotel had made from my group, just the only one I can describe well. The resort in terms of rooms, food, and amenities were okay, but nothing spectacular, I have stayed in nicer places, which cost less money. To add to that the food was over priced and the walk to the beach was way to far 10 to 15 minutes from the main tower of the hotel.

After chartering a sailboat for 1 week, we added 4 extra days at this resort. The highlight of the resort were the staff (amazing). Here's the breakdown:

STAFF
They staff were amazing, friendly & helpful. Everyone of them said hello and talked to my kids when we walked past or were waiting for the shuttle down to the beach.

RESTAURANTS/FOOD
**you can buy an all-inclusive option, or just breakfasts or nothing in advance**
I bought breakfasts included...when you go for breakfast, you sign a form to charge it to your room (so they can get you to tip the staff) and then you must remember to ask for those meals to be refunded when you check out...don't forget!


We ate 4 of the restaurants on the property

Coco Joe's
- beachfront, casual, near the pool
- first night had the Caribbean buffet which was very good food but was $300 for family of 5!!
- you can eat there "a la carte" but we didn't. also "a la carte" breakfast offered

Aquaterra
- ate buffet breakfast there everyday. large selection, very good food but expensive too: $30/pers My kids loved it...something for everyone even had smoked salmon, eggs Benedict etc. Ate dinner here one night, it was good, view spectacular at night

SandBar
- this is privately owned but on the property (on the beach)
- trendy & Spanish/tapas/latin foods
- small portions but very good food
- prices: ok
- ate lunch & dinner here once

HavanaBlue
- privately owned but on property, on beach
- very nice restaurant, little dressier ie women wore dresses/skirts
- very good food, trendy restaurant, Latin flare
- we ate cheaper here than at the Coco Joe's buffet (because we ate what we wanted not buffet...choose carefully based on price. Seabass was amazing
- small portions but good & beautiful presentation

Shops on property for food
- there are a few shops that offer food items that are more economical. Everyday there were people lined up for their morning coffee, pastries, pre-made sandwiches, pre-made salads etc. We bought sandwiches & salads for our day at Coral World. worked out great. Also can buy bottled drinks instead of always ordering drinks at the bar & tipping.

BEACH
- long, nice sand, safe swimming for kids, some little waves but good for my 8 yr old


ROOM
The hotel has 2 parts:
1) Cliffside traditional hotel "Frenchman's Reef Hotel"
2) Beachfront cottage/rooms "Morningstar Beach Club"

We stayed in the Morningstar Beach club - it was amazing! There were about 8 buildings, I think each with 8 rooms (4 upstairs, 4 downstairs). They looked like Cape Cod cottages - all with balconies & private entrance. We had 2 rooms & each room had 2 adjoining doors to the next-door room.

NO ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES - My biggest complaint
I am used to all inclusives ie @ Riu Resorts where they have FT staff dedicated to running activities for kids & adults. This resort didn't have this. They advertised a Kids Klub, beach volleyball, ping pong, kids movie night...none of these ever happened (they don't even have a ping pong table any more). They did have sea kayaks, 1 12ft hobiecat, snorkeling gear, buggie boards etc (seldom were these used by anyone) but my 16 yr old son was bored because he wanted beach vollyeball & ping pong. My 8 yr had a great time: beach, pool, boogie board etc My 2 teens were bored stiff and we needed to go off property to find fun ($40 per person one way) They have 2 tennis courts: you need to rent the tennis rackets each time & buy the tennis balls (about $17 total for 2 players for 1 hour)

There were not a lot of kids at this resort (more kids staying at Morningstar Beach Club) but mostly 5-8 yrs. I wouldn't consider this a family resort - more of a couples resort

TAXIS
The governement imposes a "flat rate" fee for taxis...depending on zone/distance ($6-$10/person). Before leaving the hotel, ask the staff/bell hops how much it costs to a certain location. I overpaid a couple of times.

I had the best weekend Vacation ever at frenchman Reef. I Loved their Spa the massage, pedi & , facials are just what you need after a long flight. The Room Service was great I even made changes to their normal menu and the chef was amazing. The staff was very helpful & friendly I will definitely be staying there on my next trip.

We had a king water view room. The views were lovely, overlooking the ocean and cruise ships coming and going. The beach is very nice and we didn't have trouble getting chairs. Staff friendliness was quite variable. Some were very courteous and helpful while others seemed annoyed. The negatives:
1. My biggest disappointment was the pool temperature. There is a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean and one at Morningstar and neither is heated! And they were cold. There were people taking up all of the chairs around the infinity pool but only a handful were actually swimming in it because it was so darn cold. This is an expensive hotel and I would expect to be able to use the pools during my stay!
2. Price gouging is at every turn. Six bucks for a small bag of chips, $10 for a ham sandwich, $18 for a burger.
3. Restaurants were hit or miss. We had a good lunch at Coco Joes and good dinner at Havana Blue. Breakfast at Aquaterra was good, but the service at dinner time at Aquaterra was terrible. We ate with our 4 yo old and ordered burgers and pizza. The meal took two hours and our waitress never checked on us. We had to call her over just to get a refill on water. When the guy came over to fill our empty water glasses, he only filled my husband's. We had dinner at
Sunset Grille and food was mediocre there.

So, expect to pay a lot of money for everything, don't expect a great meal at every restaurant, and enjoy the gorgeous views from the clean, spacious water view rooms. And unless you like a dip in a cold pool, don't expect to swim in them.