Having traveled and stayed at many resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean, I had high expectations of Papakea Resort. When arriving and checking in we were greeted with a friendly Aloha, given our key and “free breakfast ticket” (you have to listen to a 30 talk on different tours to take). When walking up to L408 we noticed many construction workers and cats. We walked into our condo and saw plastic covering our ceiling and the décor was from the early 90’s. Our “two bedroom two bath” was also disappointing. We had requested one king and one queen. We received one queen bed and two twin beds that were located in a loft area. The only really good thing about our room was the view. Feet from the beach and ocean were definitely worth the 10 hour trip!
Cleaning service was not what you would expect. They will change your sheets and sweep the floor if you write them a note. Otherwise expect only clean towels! That was even hard to come by. We ended up going to Star Market and getting our own cleaning products and taking care of our moldy showers and dusty tables.
The pool area was fun and I would recommended getting their and relaxing before the children arrive! The pool security is really strict on the no floaties or beach balls in the pool. You can get beach towels at the front desk and be very careful with them. We placed them on the lanai one night, had high winds, and one flew off. The unethical grounds crew picked it up and did not turn it in. Needless to say we were charged 25 dollars. The grills had some kind of governor on them which would only allow them to get to 300 degrees. So plan on having dinner be cooking for a long time. Trust me we tried to turn them up and we found that the two end grills were the best.
Having traveled many places and having and high expectations made me realize that Papakea was not a 5 star resort. My recommendation would be to ask to a fully remodeled condo, be prepared to clean, and buy a beach towel at the ABC store. Any questions or to see pictures feel free to contact me.
