Lowlands Apartments

This was my first time leading a group to a Sonesta resort. I brought a group of 21 adults. Almost all of my other all-inclusive resort experience has been with Iberostar organizing almost 10 group visits to 3 different Iberostar resorts and 2 visits to Rui resorts. Let’s start with the good/great. The location of Ocean Point is absolutely beautiful and really the most beautiful location of a resort I have been to. Stunning views and an amazing location. Having the airport right next door is convenient for obvious ground transportation reasons but having that additional beach attraction with the planes landing and taking off is really cool. The service staff we interacted with at the restaurants and bars were truly exceptional and some of the most friendly and engaging staff I have encountered, including the Baha Mar and Four Seasons. A shout out to Shingai, Jennifer and 'Mr Smiley' at Azul and Cheryl at the Point Pool - they were exceptional!. The Sonesta restaurant staff was very accommodating with our larger group and always got us good seating times for our entire group to be together for dinners and did so every time without concern or trouble. The food at the restaurants was amazing – never had a bad meal. We had two folks with dietary restrictions and every restaurant handled their restrictions perfectly. The restaurants and food were amazing. Now the not so good. The deck service at the Ocean Point pools was non-existent. You could always get up and go to the respective bars at each pool to get a drink, but they never had anyone away from the bar providing service, taking orders, delivering drinks etc. It was very much self-service – if you want a drink, you were going to have to get it yourself. The main pool for the Maho was under construction and the Maho guests were all in the one pool with a swim up bar so it was constantly packed. We didn’t even use that pool it was so crowded and only used the two pools at Ocean Point. The bar that services the Edge/Azul Pool had terrible service and as a result, we only spent one afternoon at that pool. It was a bit of a walk to the bar from the pool and there was typically no staff at the bar when you got there – you had to wait to be noticed and get service. The bartenders at the Point Pool were super friendly, but there was no lounge or table service there either. We ended up spending most of our time at the Point pool because at least the bartender was there and friendly. Usually 5 star/luxury resorts have servers that provide pool deck service with great attention – that is not the case here. They have lots of live music at the Point Pool and the roof top bar, but it is all blaring loud – so loud, you really can’t have a conversation. It was ear piercing. The last day, as we made friends with the bartender at the point pool, she advised that artist to play at a reasonable level, which was much appreciated. The check in process was very clunky for our group and they do not provide a

There were 11 of us who stayed here. Can't say enough about the staff and facilities. Everyone was friendly and willing to help or lend a hand. Facilities were clean, plenty of food to choose from also. My only complaint is we would have liked to have another choice for breakfast instead of the buffet. Waiters and waitresses were quick and efficient in the Buffet. Absolutely one of the BEST family vacations ever-6 adults 4 children ages ranging from 10-13. Lasagna at the Italian restaurant was the best I've ever had. Sushi was also wonderful. I'd go back in a hot second.

We traded through RCI. RCI rated this a silver crown, so I disregarded the poor reviews I read, and figured they were just extra picky people. We added 3 nights to our trip by staying at Sapphire before checking into a week long trade at another place. All 4 of us (2 adults, and 2 teens) said the beds and pillows were the best we can remember having at a timeshare trade! The sleeper sofa was 2 separate mattresses, so that was a nice surprise. The room was very clean, but not well maintained unfortunately - it just needed simple things like fixing missing grout, caulking and painting, but since that hadn't been done it looks very run down. Also the air conditioning did not work well, so the room was barely cooler than outside (and that was before the daily 2 hour power outage). The room air conditioning did not dehumidify at all, so the tile floors were always wet. There is no ventilation in the bathroom so it was extra hot in there. There was no shower curtain, just a shower head over the open bathtub. Note, there is not an electrical outlet in the bathroom. You can trade pool towels at the front desk, but half the time we tried to do so during towel hours, they did not have clean towels to trade us. The beach area at Sapphire is really small, and only accessible at low tide. The pool water was always cloudy. We came to visit all the beaches, so we didn’t mind since we used our rental car to drive around the island. The back up generator only worked 1 of the 3 days we were there, so the 2 days it wasn’t working the elevators were not able to be used when the power went out for 2 hours each day - my kids were terrified of getting stuck in it when the power went out, but thankfully that never happened, but we did have a near miss when the power went out 5 minutes after we got off the elevator and the back up generator did not come on! I was surprised this was a silver crown. It's very run down looking, and just needs some basic maintenance to look much better.

We stayed here for two nights. I booked a sea view room and when I checked in, I was placed on the first floor. Although there was a sea view, it was too low and many things were blocked. It happened that there was something wrong with my toilet and it needed to be repaired, so I went to the front desk and asked to change rooms. Because the guest rooms were full, they gave us a two-bedroom suite on the 5th floor for free. The environment is very beautiful (see photos) and it is very convenient nearby. There is also a small supermarket where you can make your own food. In addition, there is a Chinese restaurant nearby that tastes good. A special view here is that you can watch planes take off and land so close to the airport. There are people watching on the beach. If you book this hotel, you should ask for a room above the second floor. It basically has sea view suites.