¡Bienvenidos! Forums Trip Reports Great Trip Report – Kantenah Family Select

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      Anne
      Keymaster

        Posted with permission from Melissa

        We just returned from a 1 week stay at Family Selection at Grand Palladium Kantenah. We were a group of 26 adults and young children from Toronto, Canada with swim out suites in buildings 49, 50 and 51.
        TLDR

        FS is great for families with young children and would highly recommend upgrading if given the chance.

        Food 8.8/10
        Building 40 – great proximity to beach but furthest from other resort amenities. Best for swim out. Bigger suites.
        Building 50 – decent location, middle of everything, service was poor.
        Building 51 seemed to have better service.

        Beach 9/10 (bring swim shoes, especially if you have kids, use coupon book to rent a bali bed and grab lunch at Jarra (TRS)

        FS Pool 9/10 – good service, amenities and lots of entertainment for kids
        Butler 7/10 – depending on time of day and butler, service was OK. Some buildings were serviced better than others and we had to ask for things.

        Housekeeping 3/10 – poor overall, did bare minimum. Did not replenish towels and did not restock water for our baby (we requested lots of water as we were formula feeding and washing baby bottles)

        Nanny Service – our friends hired a resort nanny for a date night for $15 USD/hr. They said the nanny’s english was limited but had their kids in bed and asleep by the time they got home. No issues.

        Room service 8/10 – great room service, took a bit long and only ordered for breakfast. For those who take time to mobilize and want to utilize swim out pool, I’d recommend doing room service once or twice.
        Rooms were a decent size but felt a bit tight with 2 adults, 1 baby and 1 toddler. Bathrooms were too small.
        Swim out pool suites (other than building 40) do not connect to each other if you’re in different buildings and the pools are not heated if you planned on going with a big group and hanging out in the pool at night.

        FOOD
        The Nest 8.5/10
        The Nest had a very nice spread throughout our stay. We had breakfast and dinner there multiple times throughout our stay. Service was a bit inconsistent but overall it was easy to get a table together and the kids play area was a welcome distraction for our children.
        The fresh fruit and crepe stations were a hit for the kids and the fresh stone crab was a plus! The a la carte menu was a hit/miss and the kitchen was slow when ordering from the menu. I found the buffet was consistently good and would not recommend ordering from the menu especially if you have children.

        A la Carte – 8.5/10

        A la carte restaurants were generally good. We dined as a group at La Adelita and El Dorado — both experiences were good. My party was impressed with the service. We used the e-butler to make reservations ahead of our arrival and found that to be extremely helpful. The onsite butlers were helpful in amending reservations or notifying the restaurants when we were running late.

        La Adelita – we had mixed reviews from our group. It’s authentic mexican food from different regions in Mexico. Not just tacos, chips and guac — if street food is more up your alley i would recommend hitting the taco bar at the main buffet La Hacienda.
        They did have tacos al pastor which were great. I found the authentic mexican food delicious and in line with our experience at La Adelita in Costa Mujures

        El Dorado
        Service was much better. Food took some time but understandable given the size of our group. I would recommend the NY Strip over any other cut. The steak tends to be overcooked so I would ask for it on the rarer side if you prefer medium rare. Overall our group was very happy and I was impressed by the decor.
        Our groups broke off later in the week and enjoyed a la carte restaurants at TRS.

        La Boheme 8/10
        I would probably have rated it higher if I hadn’t visited the stunning La Boheme at Costa Mujures. Service was efficient and felt a bit rushed at times. But the food was solid. The french onion soup, Duck Confit and baked brie were the groups favourite.

        Tentazione 9/10
        More romantic and cozy than La Boheme. Food was consistently good from starters to dessert. Service was efficient but not rushed considering our reservation was at 9pm and considered a late sitting. Would recommend for a date night for those looking to sneak out without kids.

        El Gaucho 9.5/10
        Bar tenders were great with a wide variety of premium liquor. Service was exceptional. Appetizers were amazing, especially the empanadas. NY strip was the go-to cut for the group. Similar experience to El Dorado in asking for the steak to be on the rarer side if you like medium rare. Avoid the T-Bone. Ambience was great and would recommend trying to get a table on the patio.

        Es Niu 9/10
        Consistently good food and service pool side. You can’t ask for more. I tried almost everything on the menu and all were great options. Some were skeptical about the Tuna Tostada as it’s raw fish and the weather was extremely hot but no one in our group got sick from eating it. I had the shrimp aguichile and it was delicious. If you’re a seafood lover — great options.

        Jarra 1000000000/10
        We discovered it on our third day and ate lunch there every day. Fresh seafood, fresh grilled fish, chicken, beef ribs. Nacho station and something for the kiddos like pizza or mac and cheese and fresh fruit. t’s part of TRS so it’s adults only but they never had issues with us grabbing plates and bringing them over to the FS beach (2 min walk).

        Beach 8.5/10 – Bring swim shoes.
        The first few days there was no seaweed as there was a new net installed however the net broke during our stay (later in the week towards easter) so the last few days were full of sargassum. We didn’t mind it but I can see how it turned off other people from the beach.

        Beach service was great early in the day and tended to get slower after lunch. But between Jarra and the FS beach bar it was easy to stay hydrated.

        The beach shoreline is rocky. Unfortunately our daughter cut her feet the first day and we bought swim shoes for $20 USD at the gift shop. The water was warm and shallow and relatively calm. But there were random rocky spots. If I had swim shoes, it would have been more enjoyable but the view, seabreeze and hammocks and bali beds more than made up for any short comings. We spent at least 70% of our day at the beach.

        FS POOL 9/10
        Objectively it’s a great pool for families. Kids loved it. I’m a beach person and appreciated how secluded the FS pool area felt. It can get very hot. Pool and beach butlers are great. They had toys and floaties and popsicles and the POP (junior club) and playground kept the kids busy. Great way to break up your day.

        FS Butler 7/10 – depending on time of day and butler, service was OK. Some buildings were serviced better than others and we had to ask for things. If we hadn’t stayed at an FS Resort previously, we wouldn’t have known what to ask for. Nothing on our wish list was provided on arrival but provided after we made a few requests. Others had 10/10 personalized experiences. I think it’s luck of the draw at this resort.

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