Journey's End Resort - Review: Belize Forum

[JungleBride]

My husband and I stayed at Journey’s End Resort for 5 nights in February 2004 on our honeymoon. We were downgraded, even though we had booked an oceanfront cabana months in advance. A group of students booked 4-5 rooms and they wanted to keep the group together, so they stayed in our honeymoon oceanfront cabana!

In addition to being downgraded on our honeymoon:

· False advertising: Food - The food is very bland, boring, served cold and overpriced. The website states “The Tamarind Restaurant is the featured eating establishment at Journey's End Resort. Here you'll find a delicious blend of Caribbean cuisine with specialties in seafood and local recipes.” The food at the Taramind is bad American food, not Caribbean cuisine and no local recipes. We were very disappointed as we expected more from a resort that charges over $200.00 per night and advertises Caribbean cuisine. This is false advertising.

· The wait staff at the restaurant is inattentive. On the first night the manager said they would give us a special dinner on the beach and we asked if we could eat at 6:30, they said no problem. We showed up at 6:30 and hate to wait until 7:00 for them to set up our table, then waited until 7:30 before they came and asked us if we wanted anything to drink. It was almost 8:00 before we they brought us a glass of water.

· False advertising on website: Website states ”Journey's End Resort is proud to present a new and exciting event that is on our weekly schedule for Wednesday and Saturday nights. It's the Carnival on the Caye Beach BBQ and it's open to all guests and island goers in and around San Pedro. Incredible food, fun local entertainment, Karaoke and unlimited drinks from 6-7 pm. If you're staying with us be sure to take part!” We arrived on Saturday afternoon expecting to enjoy the Beach BBQ and were told that they were not having it that night.

· A service charge is included in everything but they do not tell you and happily accept your tips. This information is stated on the price list for the rooms “Prices listed below do not include government room tax (7%) or service charge (10%)” but Journey’s End also includes this service charge for everything else at the resort, including food, drink and activities. We tipped the wait staff and bartenders every time they serviced us over a five-day period. Not once did they tell us that they were also getting a 10% tip that they would include later. A 10% service charge is added to everything, but they don’t make this clear. We tipped 10 to 15% for all services, not knowing that this means we actually tipped 20 to 30% for all services.

· False advertising on website on the Q&A page: “Can I drink the water at Journey’s End” “Yes. We have a reverse osmosis water desalination system on the property that filters all water. The water at the resort is of the highest standard and is monitored frequently.” When you arrive the staff happily tells you that you can purchase bottled water from either the Toucan bar or the gift shop. No one at Journey’s End drinks the water. Even the staff does not drink it because of the high sulfur content. Journey’s End charges twice what you would pay elsewhere for bottled water but guests are stuck paying the high price because the resort is so isolated. If we had known the water was not drinkable, we could have purchased bottled water in San Pedro before arriving at Journey’s End.

· False advertising from the website: “Our Ocean Front Cabanas are situated right on the beach just yards from the clear waters of the Caribbean”. The oceanfront rooms are so far from the ocean that you cannot see the ocean. Of course this did not matter much too us since we were downgraded. For all except one of the “oceanfront” cabanas, there is no view of the ocean.
· The dive shop overcharged us and it took an hour to resolve

· Management is around when your happy but they disappear when you have a complaint,

· Maid service is sporadic, On the third day I decided to use the coffee maker and found it full of old coffee and coffee grounds from previous guests. One night I got into bed after not being in the room all-day and there was sand on the sheets. Obviously the maid did not change the sheets. I hope she at least changed them after the previous guests checked out of our room!

· The entire resort has plumbing problems,

· More false advertising on website from Q&A section: Website states, ““IS THERE SNORKELING AND SWIMMING IN FRONT OF THE RESORT? Yes. Swimming is good for children and adults alike in front of the resort. The ocean floor is a mixture of soft sand and eel grass. We recommend that guests kayak out on one of our complimentary Ocean kayaks (about 10 minutes) to snorkel. The water depth is 3' - 6' and once you've experienced the fish and coral on the second largest barrier reef in the world, you probably won't want to snorkel right in front of the resort.” You cannot swim at their beach because the sea grass is dangerous. The staff was sure to make us aware of this. My husband is in very good shape and it took him over 20 minutes to kayak to the reef.

· False advertising on the website: “The artificial reef at Journey's End is about complete. We are actually adding two section of reef; one between the rock jetty on the north end of the property and the other between our main pier and the dive shop dock (area pictured). Within about 12 hours of putting down the first bits of rock and material we started getting a congregation of small fishes and other creatures moving in. It won't be long until we have a bona fide snorkeling area for the guests. “ This artificial reef is made of old tires and garbage. I asked the staff if we could snorkel there and they said no. They told me the fake reef was built to protect the beach from sand erosion, not so people could snorkel in front of the resort. Once again they emphasized that the sea grass is dangerous and we should NOT snorkel in front of the resort.

· False advertising: Website states ““Room Service - Room service is available upon request.” There are no phones in the room so you cannot order room service.

Although Journey’s End was terrible, we did have a wonderful time in Belize and we do intend to return to Ambergris Caye!