Stayed at this hotel for 1 night and the front desk staff was great. They have a free shuttle to take you back and forth to town.. We enjoyed the room, comfortable bed and great view . They have a wonderful pool. Only negative is be wary of the prices of alcoholic beverage at the bar over the water. $10.70 for a mixed drink

I went to Playa Tortuga with a group of friends, there were 10 of us.

The bus was there to pick us up at the Bocas Airport - we checked in pretty efficiently and they allowed us an early check in. (Our flight arrived at 7:30am from Panama City). Those both surprised me. The views from our room were simply amazing. We overlooked the ocean and a hut bar.

We ate breakfast at the buffet (Breakfast buffet is free to guests, but we came early, was not included - $17)

We arranged tours through the front desk. That flowed very well. There was a dock on the back of the hotel for the water taxis to arrange transportation.

Now our hotel seemed very clean, but it was old - and run down, there was moisture in the rooms as well. So if you think this is a fine resort - you will be disappointed. It is serviceable and I was pleased.

The hotel staff was not equipped to handle issues (such as bees overtaking the breakfast buffet), extra towels, arranging a shuttle to go to town, bars staying open after 11pm, slow response from the front desk - these are things that I've grown accustomed to in Panama after living here for 2 1/2 years. So I was not surprised - had I come from the US without having that knowledge, I would have been severely annoyed.

Playa Tortuga did have a nice pool area, the view was absolutely amazing, you could listen to the ocean at night from your room. The beds were comfortable. The lobby area provided space for meeting up with groups.

Another small drawback is you are away from Bocas Town - however there is a free shuttle that runs and a taxi will charge $2 (per person / before midnight / each way), or you can arrange water taxis - but it's fairly accessible.

Stayed at this hotel for 3 nights and the front desk staff was great. They have a free shuttle to take you back and forth to town which we used a lot. We enjoyed the room. It was clean and the housekeeping was great. They have a wonderful pool and great view.

We didn't include the breakfast on two of the nights so brought back pastries from the bakery in town which were great with the coffee the hotel serves. The one night our stay included breakfast it sure wasn't hot and the selection was on par with most other places we stayed. The food was good but just not hot at all.

The only problem we encountered was trying to go on tours from the hotel. The man that does the tours was away our first day so the girl at the front desk arranged it for us. We have to give her a lot of credit as she made a lot of phone calls but did get us to Starfish Beach. The next day we wanted to go to Red Frog Beach and got up early so we could arrange it for that day as he started at 8. The guy said he would get it arranged and call our room as the tours leave about 9:45 and as soon as he could arrange it he would call our room. We waited until 9:30 and after no call went into town and went to Red Frog Beach on our own. We saw a tour leaving the hotel and while we were at Red Frog Beach we saw them arrive but when we got back to our room that afternoon there had still be no call. I don't even know why he is there as we talked to other people that had problems trying to do tours from the hotel. We watched him for awhile after we had asked him to arrange for us and he never once picked up the phone and spent the next 15 minutes playing on the internet. If you want to do anything from the hotel your best bet is to go into town and arrange your tours with the companies directly.

The rest of the staff was wonderful from the minute we arrived we were made to feel welcome. The shuttle back and forth has the best driver who is quite helpful.

All in all we were happy with the hotel but found it a little over priced for location and condition.

Let me be clear, if you are expecting a luxurious resort, this is NOT it. The hotel is very run down, I would say it is a Motel 6 equivalent...from 2000. The rooms and bathrooms show A LOT of wear and tear and are in dire need of renovation. The food served at the restaurant is not great, but edible and the service in the restaurant is poor. Despite this, I still am willing to give this hotel a good review for these reasons.

Location: I liked that it was removed from the hustle and bustle, yet its just a few minutes from town. You could walk, but I would NOT recommend it. The cabbies drive like mad men there!
Free Shuttle: The hotel offers scheduled shuttle drop offs and pick ups to downtown. The shuttle driver even took us a couple times off schedule which was greatly appreciated.
Tour Desk: They have a tour desk where you can arrange all your tours. We arranged a tour the day of and had a water taxi headed to pick up within 5 minutes. It's very handy.
Staff: There are a lot of staff at Playa Tortuga and they all do a really good job of keeping the facility clean and orderly. The front desk staff were also very nice and helpful. The only service that was lacking was the service at the bar/restaurant on the pier.
Pool: The pool is not huge but its nice and clean and while we didn't spend a lot of time there, it did seem like a good place to relax.

While Playa Tortuga didn't knock my socks off, I think it was the best possible option for Bocas Del Toro and I would stay again if I returned to Bocas.