After reading reviews on the all-inclusive properties in the Gulf of Papagayo area, my husband and I decided to stay here at Occidental Grand for our anniversary vacation. Since we were going during low season and saving money, we booked our room in the "Royal Club" category and were so pleased! We were dropped off at the lobby, walked up to a desk to check in and were led upstairs to the club room for the "Royal Club Private Check-in" complete with cool/aromatherapy washcloth and sparkling wine mixed drink. We were told the good news that they were upgrading us to the best room on the property! (again, we had already reserved through Royal Club and occupancy was very low) Since we were a little bit early, they took our luggage for us, and drove us to the snack buffet by the pool for some lunch. Everyone that we met who works at the resort was friendly and attentive, making us feel right at home. After lunch, we were again driven to the master suite buildings and led to the place we would be spending one glorious week. We were no less than thrilled at the view of the resort from the entrance to the room, the huge living space, bathroom with jacuzzi tub, separate rain shower, also separate toilet and bidet, and huge private back deck with yet another jacuzzi, chairs and hammock to relax and enjoy the view of the gulf. Another exclusive perk we discovered was that the suites have breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner room-service available which we did opt for a few times and were quite pleased with.
All of the restaurants were good from breakfast at the general buffet restaurant - a nice variety of breakfast traditional features (local items like beans and rice, fried plantains, and such) as well as a chef for eggs to order, french toast, pancakes, fresh fruit, meats and cheeses, lots of breads and pastries, juices and vodka for screwdrivers or bloody mary fixings if you like. The buffet place had lunch during busier days (Friday-weekend) with daily changing variety of typical lunch stuff. We usually went to the snack bar buffet by the pool where they would have both traditional local fare as well as some sort of chicken, fish, pasta, salad bar oh and of course a grill chef preparing chicken and beef of some days, but every day burgers. The buffet place has a different theme for dinner daily and the al-la-carte places rotated between Italian and Asian during weekdays and both options on the weekend. (make your reservation early in the day if you want in on these as there aren't very many tables) Dress clothing is expected also, so we only ate there once to save on clothing in our luggage! We thought the food there was fine as comparable to the room-service menu options.
As you walk around the resort, you soon find that there are a lot of stairs everywhere (as we found that with the room with the best view, you have to climb to the top to get there!) but with all of the food, I for one was glad to get the exercise! We spent some time walking around and looking at the other buildings where they house guests and became increasingly glad that we booked where we did, and with the upgrade. There are some buildings on the outer edge of the property that seemed deserted and overgrown with mildew. Not sure if these buildings are used during busy season or just old buildings that they don't use anymore but if I were staying in one of them, I would probably leave. Most of the other buildings seemed fine from the outside, but that's the only look I got at them. Here is where I can't stress enough, book into Royal Club!!
Another little perk of Royal Club was the club room in the upstairs of the main building. An open air room with a pool table (we spent nearly an entire rainy day playing pool and relaxing there) and this is where they hide the premium liquors. The bartenders there are also awesome! Whether you want a fancy umbrella drink, single shots, or even to try the local beer (we had a pleasant surprise with Imperial too) the room is exclusive to Royal Club or vacation club members (kinda like a time-share thing) so during the week we had the room to ourselves most of the time. The concierge desk was also there so someone would frequently check on us to make sure we were happy.
The beach wasn't huge, but low season isn't crowded anyway so I can't complain about that. We did spend some time relaxing and some time jumping in the surf.
The only thing that could have been better was the weather, but no one can do anything about that. Due to a series of hurricanes in Mexico, we had the outer edges of rain, rain and more rain. A few of the days had showers in the early morning and evening so we left the property and walked up the hill to a nearby deserted resort on one day and also walked to Playa Hermosa on another. We also booked a horseback, canopy, volcanic spa package with Issys Tours (check them out too, they got us everywhere safe and happy with the friendliest service!) The day we originally booked for was absolutely pouring and there was a road washed out so they let us try again the next day without any extra charges! It happened to work out with better weather too so check out reviews on Issys if you want to get away from the resort and do something fun!
This was my first experience at an all-inclusive resort so I have no basis of comparison. Overall, it was a wonderful experience for us. It isn't your 5-star place by any means, but I really wasn't expecting that either. There is a lot of world left for us to explore but if we come back to Costa Rica one day, we would have no problem staying here again but only in Royal Club rooms.