My husband and I honeymooned at the Bucuti and Tara this past week. We chose the resort based on all of the excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and we were not disappointed! Although we were out and about all over the island on most days, we were always happy to come back to our home away from home at the Bucuti each night!
Let me start by saying that the resort was extremely accommodating by allowing us to shift our stay because of hurricane Sandy. We did have to move rooms for the final night of our stay, but the staff helped make the transition very easy.
Upon arrival via taxi, we were greeted right at the front entrance by Omar, who was extremely friendly and welcoming throughout our entire stay. He grabbed our luggage and showed us to the next stop. We were checked in efficiently at the Tara building with a cold refreshing glass of champagne and then led to our room. The door was tastefully decorated with a little sign that said "just married!" and there was a small gift bag with champagne, cheese, crackers and chocolates waiting for us. All very nice touches I thought.
We stayed in a Tara Suite on the first floor, which opened right out to the beach. The view is to die for, believe me. I would jump out of bed every morning and peek out of the curtains just to be sure it was still there! I did call the resort in advance and request the first floor, and although they told me they couldn't promise it, they made it happen for us. SO nice to just walk right out of your room onto the beach! No elevators or stairs required! As far as the humidifier and purifier, we didn't find them distracting... but we always sleep with a fan on for background noise anyway! Also worth mentioning, we didn't hear any noise from the rooms on either side of us, which I was happy about... especially with all of the honeymooners on site! One night we couldn't seem to get the AC to kick on, so we called the front desk. Mario came right over to the rescue! He explained that if the porch door isn't closed tightly the system won't work properly. He pulled the door shut tight and voila! I have to say that he was probably the most jolly and happy person I have ever met- even when we saw him interacting with his colleagues he was always laughing and seeming to have the time of his life on the job!
If you want to get a set of chairs under the umbrellas on the beach, be sure to get up early (at least 7am) to reserve them with a towel... My husband and I aren't all-day beach bum types so we were fine just throwing our towels on any open chair when we decided to head into the water. But any seat on that beach is fabulous in my opinion. The pool is also a wonderful alternative to the ocean if you want to cool down. Also, the pool is open 24/7, so we took advantage of a few late night swims.
It was great to have breakfast available every morning from 7-11. We alternated eating inside at the Tara Lounge or outside at the Pirate's Nest. I think there was a great variety of hot and cold options... we ate there every morning for a week and I didn't get bored with the breakfast food. We ate our lunches and dinners at other restaurants on the island... we tried the food at the resort on the first night and although it was good it wasn't exemplary in our opinions. We were, however, impressed with the romantic dinner on the beach- what a unique and beautiful experience! Our favorite server was Janice from Jamaica- so friendly and great sense of humor! Also Marina at the beach bar kept us smilling anytime we would grab a drink at happy hour.
There are only a couple things that we feel could use improvement. We did take advantage of the Intermezzo Spa in the Tara building for couples' massages. Although the massages themselves were wonderful, we could hear the sound of the construction outside, which was really distracting. Thankfully it was only for about 10 minutes that we could hear hammering, drilling, etc. The therapists were very apologetic about the distraction and I realize that it is out of their control, but hopefully the resort can find a way to minimize this for future guests. We also had one other issue with the concierge. We asked to book a tour of the Balashi beer plant and were told when and where to go, but were not told that we needed to where close-toed shoes and shirts with sleeves in order to enter the plant. We had rented a Jeep for the day in order to get there (in addition to other stops). The plant offers only one tour per day, and as the plant is about 20 minutes from Bucuti, we did not have enough time to go back and get the necessary clothing to join the tour. We were disappointed, but still had a great time exploring other areas of the island. We let the concierge know about the mix up and they were very apologetic,
Overall, we had a wonderful stay at the Bucuti and we plan on returning as soon as we can!