The Reside

Check in: We reached there at 12. We didn’t get our room till 3:30. We’ve dietary restriction. We can only eat fish or vegetation. Everyone told us to go Lizzards. When we went there, it’s a small outdoor cabana. Not much seating space. There was a 25-minute wait time. So we went towards beach. We had researched before going that Sea Olive is their seafood restaurant. When we reached there, we discovered that the restaurant is closed for renovation and won’t be opening any time soon. We snacked at Muelle Ocho. Their fish options were good with nice view of the ocean. We were disappointed to hear that non motorized sports were NOT included in all-inclusive. Room issue: By that time, we were able to get our Deluxe room. The room was far from being for Diamond quality award that they’ve won. The fridge was warm. None of the beverages were cold. One of the two sinks drain was not working. The water was filling up the sink at exponential rate that I couldn’t wash my hands while the tap was open. The screw of closet door was loose which resulted in CUT on my son’s hand. He bled that we have to put band-aid on. Luckily, we had brought bandages with us. We complained. The guy came after an hour around 5:30. Looked at stuff and said fridge and sink will be fixed next day and he screwed in the loose screw. Food: We were already late for our lunch. We went to Arezzo Italian restaurant. Everyone over there was super friendly and accommodating. The food options are plenty. Servers and chefs are remarkable. We got Carlos as our waiter who was very attentive and brought us really tasty Italian dishes. Everyone in our family loved their meals. Room issue continued: We complained to front desk about issues that we’ve encountered. They showed us two similar type of rooms. One of them has broken tap so we picked the other room. Deluxe room layout is very weird. You enter in the “washroom” area. The doors of toilet and shower is glass door with no lock and huge gap holes. Difficult to have privacy when you’re going there with your kids. After I took my shower, there was huge pool of water outside that I slipped in the washroom area. We informed the front desk. The front desk lady was very rude. We wasted so much time just trying to figure out the room that was good enough to enjoy our vacation. That was day-3. I really believe that they need to provide some training to front desk people. Food: Went to French restaurant La Brasserie. The host Welbert helped us. We informed him about our order. The sunny side eggs were a little under cooked. Besides that everything was ok. If you’ve to get your breakfast cooked separately, allocate at least an hour for your breakfast. Enjoyed some pool drinks. Kids played table tennis and pool. Lizards had space available for us. In the beginning, host didn’t know much English and said we can’t eat there due to dietary restriction but when we tried to communicate through Google translate, she called some one else who said they can cook for us based on our needs. Bass burrito was the best. Service was a little slow. There was a taco place near the back side of the beach. There person Miguel there was just remarkable. He was very patient to listen to our dietary needs and pretty much everyday or lunch was there. He would cook us some of the delicious tacos that I’ve ever tasted. Amenities: I only tried tennis lessons once early in the morning. It was a great way to start your day. Their nightly entertainment was nice with different type of performers. All in all I really enjoyed the food but their building and front desk left much to be desired.

Let me start off by saying we have stayed at several different properties both family and adults only resorts here in Mexico, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. We became club members with Karisma Resorts a few years back because they had the best properties, excellent cuisine and wonderful service!!! About a year and a half ago, there was a change in ownership where Fives was no longer part of Karisma Resort and it showed. Upon arrival, no towel or refreshments offered. Staff was pleasant and tried their best to get us checked in but there were huge groups in attendance which made it challenging. She recommended a place for us to eat while we waited for our room and when we arrived the hostess said they were closing (it's a time when the restaurants switch over to dinner). One of the workers quickly approached us, realizing we had just arrived and looking pretty hungry, lol and immediately told us to proceed to the buffet and he would get us a table. For that I was truly grateful and at the end of our tasty meals gave him a tip for looking out for us! When we arrived back to the lobby, it was packed. The hostess was able to activate our bracelets (key card) and told us that the attendant outside will see us to our room. Typically the attendant will take your bags, put you in a golf cart and take you to your room. Unfortunately because of the huge party in front of us (15+) we decided to reclaim our bags (that were sitting outside) and check ourselves in the room. Housekeeping was just finishing up. The two bedroom suite did not disappoint with a full kitchen dining and living area. Location wise, not the best, seeing we were on the first floor and the very first room off of the main walk. So there was a lot of foot traffic and not much of a view. There were lounges outside of our patio door, but my daughter said she would not feel comfortable trying to sunbathe with all that activity. Later that evening we had reservations (hubby booked before we left home) to the Italian restaurant. It's a bit of a walk from our room. We arrive and they told us we had reservations at the same spot we had lunch earlier. Mind you my husband had an email confirmation from the consuier for the Italian spot. We had to trek back past our room in the other direction. We were a sweaty mess! Dinner was good but a very long wait! My oldest daughter has food allergies (milk, eggs, peanuts, flax seed) which they were made aware of. She couldn't even order a plain chicken breast grilled. This is one of the differences when Fives was part of Karisma. It didn't matter which restaurant we were at, the chef made the accommodation and prepared a plain grilled chicken breast. Our waiter didn't even ask the chef, he just simply said it's already prepared, hmmm?! After dinner, we headed back to the room, ordered room service and once again was not able to get a plain grilled chicken breast. My other daughter ordered pepperoni pizza (which she loves and has had before at this property) only took two bites of it. Room service attendant had me sign a receipt with my name, room number and signature which we have never had to do in the past. They would come in, set your order out on the table, wish you a good evening and leave the room. One note, during check in, they gave us a bar code to do a group chat via Whatsapp to get in contact with our ambassador during our stay. Hubby reached out to them in regards to a couple of things, bali beds, fam photos and additionally dinner reservation mix up and also to make reservations to the other restaurants and also what they could do about getting other options for our daughter besides papa fritas. Our ambassador was able to take care of everything after we met with him the following day! The following day they were very accommodating in making sure our daughter was able to eat, lol. The best experience was at the sushi and Thai spot. The main host and chef at the Thai spot came out personably to make sure she was taken care of. Beach/pool and service was decent, although at times we would end up getting our own drinks because of the long wait. We've visited this property two times before, once in 2016 and 2020. Another difference is the amount of mosquitos. In their defense they experienced an exceptional amount of rain/storms prior to our arrival. However when the property was owned by Karisma, they used a spray for the mosquitos and we hardly if ever got bitten. This trip, no one was safe, lol! The grounds were well maintained, but when it was part of Karisma it was pristine! The staff overall was good but again not exceptional. A few were not the friendliest. In our past experiences, the entire staff always had a pleasant disposition, appeared to be happy to be there and took care of you. I did not get that overall impression or feel. We had to hunt our ambassador down to find out what time our pick up was for the airport which neither him or the resort had that info, not even the name of the company that did our private transfer. The day of departure the bellmen was supposed to pick up our bags at 7:30, they didn't come until 7:50 and our transfer ride was at 8am. We did make it and checking out was fairly painless. Fortunately when we return to Mexico again for a family trip our girls will be old enough to do the adult only properties which I find to be a significant difference in service and attentiveness that you just don't get at a family resort overall!

We had a great fall break with family at the Fives! Probably the best service we have ever had in Mexico. A few special people that helped make our stay memorable: Miguel and Pablo - pool servers, always greeted us with a smile and kept our drinks cold, even brought out special treats for our family and kids. Went above and beyond all week! Ana Rosa and Teresa - BEST massages ever Jose - served our large group at Koh Thai with great service! Raul - served our large group at Arezzo, didn't miss a beat with great service! Gregorio - made our dinner at Meztizo SUPER special with lots of fun surprises! Others that made our stay enjoyable and worked so hard to ensure things ran smoothly, Larissa and Luci, Diana and Omar - thank you! Many others that I cannot remember names for, beach dinner server, our Bali Bed waiter, hydrotherapy assistant at the spa and all of the breakfast waitstaff & chefs! We would definitely recommend the Fives for an all inclusive family vacation!