Moderate Choices

[Genie+]

Thank you all! I booked a tower king room at CSR

Have a great trip! It’s been on my radar since it opened. Is that room Club Level? Would be extra awesome.

 

[pixidust princess]

Have a great trip! It’s been on my radar since it opened. Is that room Club Level? Would be extra awesome

Have a great trip! It’s been on my radar since it opened. Is that room Club Level? Would be extra awesome.

Thanks! It is not, I thought about doing club level, but decided to save a bit of money.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Just had an adults only, resort only stay at Gran destino. I was expecting the tower itself to be nice, but was pleasantly surprised at the rest of the sort as well.

Pluses:
1. Our tower room itself was great - elegant. We had a view of DHS, but were only on the 7th floor so couldn't see it that great.
2. Elevators: there are only 6, but loved the system used in which you select your floor and it directs you to which elevator to board. I actually timed the wait for elevators - the longest wait was 20 seconds (and that was during resort check out). For reference, we were there Jan 26-29, 2024.
3. Dining:
Toledo was nice - a type of restaurant I would expect to see at a deluxe. I would personally rate it on par with california grill (prior to their fixed menu) and Narcosee's, but not as enjoyable of our meals at Flying Fish, Jiko nor Citrico's. I've never eaten at a Michelin star restaurant before, but for one having received a mention I thought it wasn't THAT good to warrant Michelin recognition.
We couldn't get into Rix to watch the NFL playoff game, but they showed it at Dahlia lounge. The wings there were some of the best wings I've ever had.
Three Bridges Bar had a beautiful setup. We only ordered snacks ; enjoyed the Sangria flight. I had heard service there was hit or miss, but had no problems. Doing the check in on the app worked great.
Cafe Rix for a quick breakfast bite (coffee, pastries) was decent enough - nothing special.
Did not try the Mercardo counter service options but nice to see they had options beyond the usual theme park fare (e.g. a changing meal of the day, like grilled salmon).
4. Barcelona lounge was beautiful - we don't drink so can't comment on that, but they have a decent coffee menu for the morning and an offering of breakfast hot items (like croissant sandwiches.
5. We had to do some work during our stay. Barcelona lounge was a great place for this, as well as the room next to the main gift shop (before reaching Rix and the Market) that had large tables for this purposes.
6. Can't comment on the rest of the rooms, but felt the rest of the resort had nice areas to relax. For example, if the tower is at the 6 o'clock position, there is a nice beach area with hammocks at the 5 pm position.

Cons:

1. I understand the nature of complaints that the distance from some of the buildings to the tower or main buildings is far. For reference it took us 15 min to walk from the Tower around the lake to the opposite side. You can also cut across using the bridges to save a it of time.
2. The time to get espresso based drinks at Barcelona lounge was a bit long. They have two baristas working, and could probably use some more (although would be limited by number of machines). We weren't there during a busy time, so I imagine would be a longer wait at other times. Can always get coffees at Rix Cafe down the hall

We did not try to take the buses, nor use any of the pools, so can't comment on that.

 

[nursejackie]

I can only comment on CSR as we've stayed there twice now. Love the resort, the rooms, the pool, the dining and if we didn't like to shake it up a bit and try different resorts, I would definitely be staying there again in the next few visits.