We spent the week of Dec 25 - Jan 01 at the so called 4 star La Ceiba
Palma Real. We decided on Palma Real because we had never been to
Honduras and it was the cheapest 4 star available. We got back over a
month ago and fortunately we've forgotten many of the details of the
daily annoyances we had to deal with, here's some of the stuff we do
remember. Hopefully this account is useful to others contemplating a
vacation there.
To make a long story short, we as well as everyone on our flight that
we talked to was thoroughly disappointed. Too bad, because from what
we saw, Honduras is a really beautiful country with friendly and
diverse people, and fantastic snorkeling, however the Palma Real hotel
is a total racket. It can NOT be called a 4 star hotel - not even
close! I have no idea how they pulled off this rating, but it's
definitely fishy. Sure on paper they offer all the amenities required
for the rating, but in our experience things are mostly either missing
or out of order.
The location is not bad - about 45 minutes from town, and right on the
water. The hotel is fairly spread out with the 'better' rooms near the
lobby. There's a daily shuttle to La Ceiba for $10 round trip, not a
bad deal.
Upon arrival we were given a room on the far 'caribe' side. There's a
shuttle to the lobby/restaurant etc. every 10 minutes or so. Our room
was very rustic although large, however not clean at all! In addition
it featured a broken window, a dead phone, swarms of ants
and a frog on the toilet seat. This is despite fumigation that goes
on twice daily. They weren't surprised at all when we told them about
the phone, their reply was 'yes we know'.
That night it rained heavily and the hotel's sewage system collapsed.
The toilets backed out and within minutes all the rooms on the caribe
side got flooded under about 2 feet of sewage. Everyone was moved to
new rooms closer to the lobby, as the entire caribe side was out of
commission for the whole week we were there. It took over 24 hours to
restore running water.
People had to carry water from the swimming pool to flush the toilets
in their rooms. I have no idea how they prepared food during that
time, come to think of it, i'd rather not know.
Our new room seemed cleaner but smelly. The safety deposit box was
missing a lock, to which their reply was again 'yes we know'. After
constant pestering on our part, finally three days later they fixed
the lock.
Food was good, more local, home-made, flavor than your usual resort
fare. However, very little variety! One soup one or two salads, one
or two types of meat, and one rice or pasta dish. For fruit they
offered bananas watermelon or mandarins depending on the day, no ice
cream.
Service was very good but you get very good service anywhere you go in
these 'sunshine' destinations, so i would say in that respect Palma
Real is average. However, dealing with the hotel management is another
story altogether! Their standard response to everything is tough
luck, with a not-so-subtle 'screw you' undertone.
The icing on the cake was delivered on new year's eve when management
decided to shut down the bar at midnight and open *a pay bar* right
next to it, their concept of 'all inclusive' with a twist...
To sum it up I would advise in favor of a trip to Honduras, especially
Roatan and the bay islands, but avoid the shady Palma Real at all
costs! Any savings vs a legit 4 star resort is sure to be offset by
aggravation, frustration and disappointment.
PS if you do decide to go, don't get tricked into paying extra for a
King size bed - they only
have Queen size beds.
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