Hotels in Bocas del Toro

There were a lot of great things about Playa Tortuga, i.e., the views; the olympic-sized pool; the delicious mixed drinks; the comfortable beds, and the free kayak rentals. However, there were a few things that made our stay less-than luxurious.  I came to this hotel with my fiancé in June. When we arrived, we were ecstatic! What a beautiful hotel! For the first few days, we were very satisfied. Everything was going so well. However, as our week-long stay continued, things started going down hill. First, my fiancé made sure to purchase the breakfast plan with our stay which included an all-you-can-eat buffet filled with eggs, french toast, pancakes, cereals, sausages, bacon, yogurts, etc. The breakfast for the first few mornings was delicious! I was so happy. Then we went downstairs one morning and they decided to forgo the buffet because not enough people were staying at the hotel to eat the food, and instead had a sit down breakfast. This would have been OK if they didn't limit the amount of food we were allowed to eat  and insisted on charging us for extra sides even though we paid in advance! This wasn't acceptable. A few days later, they returned the buffet but it was old food (brown eggs, chewy bacon, etc). We were so disappointed =0[  The resort lost electricity a lot, and we spent quite a few days without AC for most of the day. It also lost running water for a few hours. However, it IS an island so this was understandable.  The one thing that still bothers me a month later is an incident with the ceiling light above the shower. We requested the third floor because of the wonderful views (which truly are wonderful!). This is also the top floor. My fiancé occasionally said he heard footsteps above us, but we wrote it off because we were on the top floor after all. The ceilings are cardboard tiles. In place of one of those tiles was a light that was directly above the shower. When we arrived, we noticed the corner of the plastic light cover was lifted a little, but we thought nothing of it. After spending the day at the pool, I went to rinse off in the shower. I noticed the entire one side of the light cover was lifted up, exposing a painted attic that was more than livable. My fiancé tried fidgeting with the light to pull it back down but it wouldn't budge. Complaints fell on deaf ears; no one spoke English when we tried to get answers. For three days, we placed clothing in the gap to prevent anyone walking above to see in the shower. On the third day, my fiancé and I were getting ready to go to the pool when the maid knocked on the door. Standing behind her were three men who looked shocked that I actually answered the door (it was a late start for us that day; we almost never stayed in the room). We left a few minutes later and when we came back a few hours later, the light was pulled back down. I was SHOCKED. I didn't know what to think! My fiance tried to see if he could push the light up easily, but he couldn't. It had to be pushed or pull with force! It was pretty obvious that people were fooling around with the light. Again, no one responded to our complaints. If they had to do work, they could have waited until after we left the room. That IS the shower after all! It was very uncomfortable! And even if it was emergency work, we should have been notified. Instead people snooped around while we were out of the room. For this reason, Playa Tortuga lost a lot of stars. This resort has the potential to be a 5-star hotel, but it needs a lot of tweaking! And trust me, my fiance and I never complain about anything!  Overall, this resort has a lot of great things about it, but it needs revamping!