Incredible week at Kantenah FS

[Anne]

Copied with permission from Blake

We headed home today after a wonderful week at Family select grand palladium Kantenah. We have three kids (ages 6, 3.5, 2) and the kids had an incredible week! I used this group a LOT while planning so I wanted to write a really detailed review. Looking at how long this is I know I seem like a crazy person — but feel free to skim for what you need.

I’ll start with the thing I was most worried about before arriving: the reports of kids and adults contracting hand foot mouth. The first few hours we were on property I was anxiously trying to wipe things down and sanitize hands. I quickly learned it was just not going to be feasible to be extra cautious. With toddlers on vacation and toys, candy, food, playrooms everywhere you go, I basically surrendered immediately and hoped for the best. Our kids are in regular public school / part-time daycare at home in the U.S and have all had HFM before. I don’t know if the immunity was what helped or if it just isn’t actually as apparent as I thought it was. We didn’t see any kids who looked like they might have it, and our kids literally touched everything, and unfortunately more often than not ended up with their fingers in their mouths. We didn’t not get HFM or any other viruses. Overall, I did feel like everything from restaurants, to pool areas, to our bathroom was very clean.

That brings me to my second point: as everyone mentions, the grounds and facilities are beautiful. Clean, well maintained, well staffed, ample bathrooms and options for kids activities, pools, beach area, nature — everything you could want in terms of the physical grounds / facilities exists at this resort.

Family select: we continuously shared the sentiment with each other and other guests that if you had NOT booked family select and arrived here with kids, you would have DEFINITELY been disappointed. FS makes a HUGE difference. The beach without family select is almost impossible. The big pool area at Kantenah without family select was crowded, loud, overstimulating for kids and adults, constituted waiting in line for drinks, and fighting for chairs. The FS pool is stunning. There is chair side service for drinks and food and a beautiful bathroom, playground, and they facilitate awesome activities throughout the day with staff members helping organize and entertain the kids. We never had a hard time any time of day finding chairs for our group of six by the pool. The family select beach area is also stunning, with plenty of chairs. We were able to find shade for our group in the morning or afternoon. The only small bummer is the Bali beds are all “reserved” and you have to pay (I think) $75/day to use them. They were basically all empty considering it wasn’t that hard to find chairs in the shade. The water is beautiful, even with the seaweed it’s really not hard to step over / work around. The swimming experience is pristine, beautiful white sand sandbar / crystal clear water. On the windier days there were some ‘waves’ but nothing that we couldn’t easily handle with our toddlers. It’s very shallow which does help.

Another huge perk of the family select option is the nest. I read reviews that mentioned the nest before we left on our trip, but I didn’t realize that the kids playroom would be such a big perk. It’s not just a “play area” but actually an open room that closes off with a gate / is open air on the top, so that you can easily see in the room from your table while you eat, but your kids would have to enter/exit from the same gate so there’s not a concern of them running off throughout the restaurant. In the playroom they have 1-2 staff members helping the kids with toys and crafts. We found the staff who helped with the kids to be so lovely and our kids really loved doing the crafts with them. It was generally the same staff members who were in the nest in the morning and then came to the family select pool around 11am and did activities in the pool.

The main complaint we saw in the reviews was about the food. As is the case with most all-inclusives, the food is mediocre. We had a few reservations made by our butlers but if I were to come back, I would definitely email a week before arrival and request a few specific reservations. The most popular a la cartes were already completely booked up by the time we arrived, for our entire week stay. They had some later reservations (8pm, 9pm 10pm) but we really needed to eat between 5:30-7 with young kids. I didn’t find the food at the a la cartes to be much better than the food at the nest, but it does provide some variety. Rather than the “wishlist” with the kids toys, items for the fridge etc – it’s much more lucrative to ask about reservations and deal with the other stuff once you arrive. If you need anything (toys, kids items, toothbrushes, drinks/snacks for the fridge) it’s very easy for your butler to get them for you.

We only went to buffets (aside from the nest) a few times, and it was fine, but the waiting in lines and having things very spread out isn’t great with young kids. We mostly ate lunch at the FS pool at El Nui, where we could order to our pool chairs. We did have lunch once at Las olas which was nice considering the option to order off a menu, but it’s a little walk (5-10 mins) from the FS pool or FS beach and our kids didn’t really want to be dragged away from the fun for a meal.
Overall, we kept asking ourselves why they had made such strange choices with menu and buffet offerings. If I could speak with the head honcho – whoever is making food related decisions – I would advise them to cut the options in HALF and focus on a higher quality, SIMPLE product. They could do so much better with less variety and more consistency, flavor, etc. We were shocked to arrive at La Adelita, the Mexican a la carte, and see there was no chicken or beef taco, fajita, quesadilla, rice, etc. on the menu. Almost all of the meat was lamb, pork, etc. It feels as though they are trying to appeal to a certain demographic looking for a ‘fancier’ or ‘elevated’ meal, when in reality, most of us would be much happier with more simple offerings. All we wanted was some nachos, tacos, Mexican rice, fajitas, etc. The same goes for the dessert selection. They put out a huge selection of craft pastries that are all so-so in taste. Most people want the ice cream or crepe station; cut half the ‘fancy’ desserts and expand the ice cream offerings or toppings!

The service was great, everyone was helpful and super kind. Service is slow and food is usually room temp or warm at best (even when ordering off a menu) but we expected that and weren’t bothered.

The drinks are great – exactly what you’d expect from an all inclusive, all the fun and fruity options, but you really have to ask for recommendations or know what you want. They don’t have drink menus and the kids drinks have specific names that aren’t advertised anywhere. In family select you have access to top shelf liquor but have to ask for it each time.

Tipping: we had lots of questions about tipping and how much was appropriate, etc. there really is a full variety (I imagine it has to do with the cultural variety, guests from all over the world and tipping is a primarily American concept). We personally gave $5 US (100 pesos) at each meal which felt fair and accounted for our special requests (we ordered a lot of the menu at the nest rather than using the buffet) and always asked for extras like condiments, drinks, sides etc. We gave $2-$3 each day for housekeeping and $1 in the fridge most days. Sometimes we forgot and gave $5 the next day. When we left we gave each butler $10 per room (we had 2 rooms so $20 total). All in all, for 2 rooms and a group of 6, this accounted to less than $400 total. We didn’t pay for anything else at the resort, aside from the water obstacle course at white sands. We also didn’t do any excursions. Our kids were happy by the pool and at the beach and would have been bummed to be waiting in lines, sitting on a van, standing outside in the sun etc.

Overall, for the price, the kids’ experience is unbeatable. We would consider going somewhere else for a better culinary experience, but those that we looked at with great food cost about double the price, and there’s the gamble of not knowing whether the activities, facilities, pools etc would be as good as this resort. Also, knowing that you have the family select option which avoids some of the crowds and chaos is a huge plus.

Packing: I made an effort to pack us into a condensed number of suitcases (2 large, 1 small for our family of 5). Next time I would have brought an extra suitcase. I imagined that our kids would be able to rewear outfits but really that wasn’t the case, and we could have done the laundry service but it seemed like another thing to deal with. With the ice cream on the beach / food by the pool / face painting / crepes with Nutella etc, they really only got one wear out of each outfit I brought. Every day was pretty much the same for the kids and my husband and I: bathing suit and coverup to go to breakfast and the pool or beach, a change of dry clothes (romper, shorts and t shirt) for anytime they wanted to be dry / if we needed it for lunch, and then we went back to the room to shower and put on a nicer outfit for dinner. I would have also brought more sunscreen (we brought 3 tubes and 2 cans of spray and it wasn’t quite enough) and my own shampoo/conditioner as the L’occtaine wasn’t great for my fine hair. I would have also brought a big wide brim hat for myself and my husband, and long sleeve rash guards for my husband — the long days in the sun are no joke! We also brought several floaties, pool toys, goggles, which were essentials. We popped some / lost some, which we figured would happen.
If we were to come back, as I said before, I would have emailed a week before our arrival and specifically requested reservations at least once but ideally twice at the Hibachi restaurant (sumptiori), the Brazilian steakhouse which we heard was great but didn’t get to try, the Italian which we enjoyed, and maybe el dorado or Chang Thai. If they resisted I would insist on making reservations for at least our day of arrival and the 2 days following.

Lastly, possibly the most important piece to point out- when you arrive, it is ESSENTIAL to get a little bit of a “lay of the land” from your butler. Typically your butler will be there to meet you at your building when you arrive. I would take the paper map and have them explain to you where things are and what there is at each hotel / pool etc. with Family select you can access anything on the whole property (although kids cannot access TRS/adults only options). We met one family who didn’t find out about the FS pool until their last day of vacation. Another family who didn’t find out about the FS beach until the end of their stay. It really isn’t going to be spelled out for you — if you want to know, you have to ask. Halfway through the week we realized we were going the (much) longer way to the pool. We should have asked for directions off the bat.

Overall, great experience, and very thankful for a relaxing and beautiful vacation without any hiccups or headaches!

• This topic was modified 4 days, 16 hours ago by Anne.

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