Meet the team bringing you the latest from your favorite resorts! From the luxurious accommodations, to the delicious food, to the pristine beaches, they’re here to give you an inside look at your next great vacation. Happy planning!
Michelle Barry
An amateur foodie, there’s nothing I love more than trying new restaurants with my friends and family. Who doesn’t love good company and great food? But while I find almost everything to be delicious, I just can’t help myself around sweet treats! And the only thing bigger than my sweet tooth is my appetite for travel!
I wanted the opportunity to fully immerse myself in another culture so I packed my bags and headed to Ireland. While visiting the many sites of the beautiful country, I fell head over heels for travel. Lo and behold, a few years later I found myself working in the tourism industry!
Overwhelmed by the amazing options we have? Don’t worry, I’m here to help you pick out which suite to book, which restaurant to try first and what drinks will have you swimming back up to the bar for more! Because an Endless Privileges® , Unlimited-Luxury®, and an Unlimited-Fun® vacation will always leave you dreaming!
Courtney Pugh
Born and raised in a small town I always knew one thing growing up…”I Need To Get Out of Here!!!” Sorry Mom, but while I will always hold my rural upbringing close to heart, travel continues to be a number one goal. Traveling to different parts of the world, interacting with the local residents and experiencing what everyday life is like for people half way across the globe is something that will never cease to amaze me!
Now- planes, trains and automobiles..and the occasional donkey, have allowed me to experience a whole new world. I consider it my duty to the other small towners itching to get out, to share my experiences.
Everything from the feel of the sand on the beaches, to the taste of the authentic cuisine or the breathtaking sights from paradise, I am here for you! Experience Endless Privileges®, Unlimited-Luxury® and Unlimited-Fun® through my eyes. Don’t believe me? Book a trip and come see of yourself!
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Zuko Garcia
I, more than anyone, understand the joy of experiencing a beautiful, passionate country because Mexico is my home! I love to share the things I love about my country with new people every day. I get to see first-hand the joy a well-deserved vacation can bring.
I’ll be giving you a first-hand account of the goings-on down here in paradise! I’ll try my best to transport you to the beaches, restaurants and spas. When you’re here, every day is a celebration and I’ll give you a taste. Come visit me soon!
Here & Now | The Official Blog of Now Resorts & Spas 
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My friend had her wedding at your beautiful Now Larimar Resort in Punta Cana and the experience was incredible. I have a blog post here with the full story and pictures http://francesmorencyblog.com/?p=3303
We had a Fabulous Time at the “Now Sapphire” the week of April 6th to 13th, 2014. The Resort was just the right size, not to large, where you get lost in the crowd! Classy, but relaxed, pool was awesome, Beach was so spectacular! We met so many wonderful, friendly people from all over! The staff was Superb Friendly, Helpful, Fun especially Laura, Regina, Ivan, Gio, plus, plus. One of Now Entertainment staff was a little to much, it was all about him, a little over the top. Bar staff very efficient service even when crazy busy with all us crazy people! We enjoyed the different restaurants at the Now Sapphire to choose from. Reyna & Eloy great service in Market Place restaurant. Thanks to Jessica LaForest from Flight Centre, Maple Ridge, BC for recommendation!
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Here, you will again have to plan for what you can add in your
kitchen to make it look like commercial kitchen.
The most basic form of this is the humble sound card built into most computers.
If you haven’t even bought your kids play equipment yet, then always look for a manufacturer who supplies
foam protection as standard.
I was hoping to get the recipe for the vegetable veloute from Paramour at the Now Sapphire. Hands down the best soup I’ve ever eaten.
We just came back from a week vacation at Now Larimar in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. My family of eight including two business associates got our package through Apple Vacations. Now Larimar is rated 6 golden apples according to Apple vacations. I have written to apple vacation to clarify whether it was 6 out of 7 or perhaps it was out of 25. Our experience tells us not to be fooled by their ratings because as far as we are concern Now Larimar does not deserve even a “1”. Let me tell you why:
1. When we arrived, they immediately offered us $40 per person per day for 7 days to a preferred club, otherwise, we were told that we will not be able to enjoy a lot of their amenities. Reluctantly, we agreed. Also, in addition, there was no “wow” factor to the building itself. It was dark and gloomy.
2. We were then heralded to our room by a chirpy butler. As he opened the door we were welcomed by a musty odor coming from the room. Obviously, the room was not freshened up. The rooms were depressing, chipped bathroom door, burnt light bulb, old looking linens and towels, low water pressure that caused clogged toilet on the 2nd day.
3. The quality of food and service was definitely mediocre. We tried the buffet, American Grill, Caper’s for Italian, Mercure for French; all of them offered sub par quality of meat. In exception of my fish dish at Caper’s which is the only thing that was palatable, all my friends dishes of pork and steak were hard and chewy. We all agreed to try Castaway’s all you can eat lobster. For $71 per person, we thought it should be amazing. We were wrong!!! the lobster were cooked like rubber, the side dishes were pitiful and not enough for second helping unless you ask for them to grill another. We ended up contacting Melia resort on our 5th day, since we have a time share there, to get a decent meal.
4. To top it all, on our 3rd night, after a day in the beach and pool, my husband and I were locked out of our room. It took the front desk over an hour to resolve the problem. My husband went to the concierge office twice before they send someone up only to find out that it was the door battery that was not functioning. Meantime, we were in the open hallway with our wet clothes and getting bitten by mosquitoes.
I hope that this post gets to the right people. No one should experience what we went through because of Apple Vacations misrepresentation.
I love now resorts, they offer incredible service, food and amenities at a very affordable and fair price. Each property is really unique and special for different reasons. The key is choosing which Now property would work best for your vacation or destination wedding needs. You really can count on the amresorts chain! I have been offering the Now, Dreams, Secrets and Breathless properties for years for Destination weddings and will continue to do so. They never disappoint they are truly at the top of their game all-inclusive resort chain wise!
Hi, the 24 hour room service is included in the Preferred Club Suites inclusive, the food also or just the service? What is the concierge service? Do they have a floor plan from the Preferred Pool Suites? Is this a room or 2? Greetings from Germany
Please do not stay at this resort. My husband and I stayed 7 days in a VIP suite and we did not have hot water for the entire stay. The room service did not come until after 6 pm the first four days. The refrigerator leaked water and was never repaired or replaced.
We had a party of 14 and all of us got food poisoning.
I made several complaints in writing and was told that the GM could only see my by appointment. When I requested the appointment I was told they would get back with me. They never did.
The drinks were watered down and the food was always served very cold.
I went through Delta Vacation for this booking.
The outside activities outside of the resort were AWESOME!!!
The actual stay at the resort was less than zero on a scale from one to ten.
I am scheduled to travel there February 26-march 5, 2018 have the above comments been resolved, hot water, musty rooms, old linens food poisoning!
I am a preferred club member, and very disappointed about the services
the day I arrived they said the room is ready to check in. One of the light bulb on the ceiling wasn’t work, the mini bar wasn’t stock. In the bathroom no shampoo and conditioner no robe no sleeper no iron no blow-dry. When you called them they are not arrived to your room until the afternoon. One of my key didn’t worked I called and the maintenance guy came he very unprofessional the way they talked to you. I got a food poisoned in that afternoon after I had lunch at the Blue Water. You became a preferred member the only they gave to you just a ribbon that handled across of the door before enter in your room said Welcome Vip Member that is. Room is very dark with the old linens, water keep running in the toilet. I don’t know why they have 5 stars. The only thing I give 5 stars just for the Cibu Restaurant.
We, along with 6 others stayed at the NOW Emerald November 9-16. We all reported issues while on property and the two of the 4 couples were sent surveys following our stay of which we completed with low scores and examples. Then we reported our experience to the travel agent we worked with who took our concerns to you. To date we’ve received no response to our surveys and our agent just provided the below referenced certificates.
To say we are less than satisfied with your solution is an understatement. Offering each couple 3 nights complimentary at the NOW Emerald only. Wow what a slap in the face from AM Resorts – 8 of us have a terrible experience for the entire trip and you think we would want to go back there? Another words what you are saying as a company: “we don’t care and know you won’t use this so we are out noting….ha, ha suckers!!!” Airfare would cost more for 1 person to get there than 3 nights stay. You know darn well that we wouldn’t want to ever go back there so clearly you could care less.
As a refresher and what I will be posting to all travel sites as we’ve given you the opportunity to do something adequate and apologize which has yet to occur:
Yikes where to start…water leaks or AC issues all over Resort so many caution signs, slick areas and places closed. Day 1: We asked to keep our roller bags as it had our swimwear so we could get ready right away but we were not allowed to hold on to them, once we got to our room it was nearly an hour before any luggage came up and then another hour before our remaining bags appeared. Some how 2 of our bags were lost for nearly an hour after everything else was delivered to our room after the others. AC unit in our room didn’t drain properly so we came in to get ready for dinner to water running out of the ceiling by bathroom – maintenance came right away & drained but that helped explain the musty smell our room had for the week. Inconsistent housekeeping, our neighbors knocked on our door Thursday night to find out if we’d had housekeeping service- they’d not for 2 days and asked if they could use a towel to prepare for dinner, they did not have the privacy sign up. A couple we were traveling with had the same issue on a different floor.
My parents had water flowing from their patio door clear to their bed, it took nearly two thirds of the day to get a new room as we had rain every day of our Saturday-Saturday stay – they couldn’t go downtown with us on Tuesday because of it as they had to sit around and “be available to move”. While they waited in the lobby a couple was checking in and struck up conversation with my-dad, she had a lot of questions about the resort and his experience, when her name was called she proceeded to the check in desk and demanded to be moved to a sister property. She explained to my dad later that she was a travel agent checking out newly opened properties before booking clients at them. She ended up being moved the next day. When dad asked when a room would be ready you tried to up sell him for another $100 a night to get a suite as that was ready then. Seriously?!?!?!!! They’d already been sitting in the lobby for 4 hours waiting for a room and had had a bad experience but try to up sell – terrible customer service! One of the other couples had a similar issue but didn’t push for a room change but were treated snidely by housekeeping because they put their soaking rug next to their door in the hallway. It was gross to walk across a wet rug along with it being a safety issue, staff may have cleaned up the standing water but leaving a wet rug was unprofessional.
No staff really smiles and there never seems to be anyone around except for in the lobby where they are trying to up sell you, not enough wait staff in any restaurant or the buffet. No hot tub/spa available unless you upgrade to preferred, pretty lousy when it rains all day and the only activities offered indoors included kids. The general restrooms half the time most of the stalls are locked off for use and there was NEVER towels to dry your hands but the hampers aren’t full so the staff is simply not filling. My husband actually went to the pool area and got tools to put in all the lobby bathrooms. The bar on the beach for the regular guests has not been open any day of our trip likely due to no renovations being completed on it yet and there was only one server for the general guests which there were far more of – we tipped her well as she was running her legs off! There were multiple servers to the roped off Preferred Guest section of the beach.
Also the “beach merchants” have gotten accustomed to hanging out next to this closed bar under its roof shade and even sitting in the lounge chairs, no one from the resort makes them move on, there were five lounging on a beach bed in the Preferred Guest area on the Saturday of our arrival. In addition we witnessed several of the merchants entering the resort and using the bathrooms – clearly guest safety is not a concern.
You have the adult only pool but the bar there closes 3 hours before the pool does and no servers continue so the only option for a beverage is to put clothing back on and walk through the lobby and the rooms the overlook the pool have kids watching you so not truly an adult area and thus only elevator music is played softly.
The front desk did not inform any of us that your system only allows the keycards to be active for 5 days thus after spending a short bit in the pool due limited sun we returned to our room to ready for dinner to find ourselves locked out – huge deal – no but being informed would have helped and being we were in different areas we could not tell on another – just another example of subpar customer service.
Seems to be only 1 kitchen in the resort for dinners as the meals always come out lukewarm with the room service covers on them. Thus happened in every restaurant!
On Friday morning we headed to the adult only pool only to find screws and washers all over the walk way, next to beach beds and parts of the bar roof laying all over. Then learned that the adult only bar would be closed and no server in the area. While it is a family resort we were ok with it because of the adult only spaces. As of Saturday afternoon when we left the bar was still closed and the tear out was not completed so it would be several days before guests would be served there.
Each day the locations for picking up beach towels was only ever half full, even when being down at 8am to be at the pool or beach. Several times in the afternoon there where no towels and we had to ask for them, then wait.
My dad drinks non-alcoholic beer, the resort had none but they did get for him. However one of the guys in charge would tell him to slow down drinking them and give him a hard time on at least three occasions I was around. I was HOT, no one said anything to the slobbering drunks about not drinking more, etc. His sobriety should be supported not criticized because the wasn’t something they typically carried on the resort. The location of the NA beer also changed so she would have to go from one bar to the next trying to find it, he felt like he was playing hide & seek, incredibly rude.
In the Nightclub, yes we are in Mexico but not all guests are of Mexican decent, when our group would request music we’d like to dance to one song would be played and then back to local music. Nothing wrong with expanding horizons but our group of eight never had the pleasure of a night of dancing because it was one English to five-seven Spanish songs. Not fun when you don’t know what is being said 75% of the time. Certainly not trying to accommodate various languages, we felt incredibly unwelcome.
At the Mexican restaurant my mom was wearing a cotton shift dress and fancy leather sandals. The hostess looked her up and down and told her next time she needed to be in a fancier dress with jewelry and heels. Seriously?!?!!! When we were being shown to our table a guy of another ethnicity (not certain of exact) was leaving a table in jogger pants (sweats) and a t-shirt! Talk about double standards. In the buffet my son and another young man we were with had on nice, high end tank tops, nice shorts and deck shoes as other meals they observed male patrons in muscle tanks and other no sleeve shirts, our young men were turned away to change. Overall the service level did not even come close to the resorts dress code stipulations and the dress code was subjective based on which host seated you.
The buffet recycled the food repeatedly and there was very little variations in what was offered for each meal, same stuff over and over.
The second evening there 6 of us went to the Italian restaurant for dinner. We arrive shortly after they opened and it took 15 minutes to be seated which we found odd. At seating we received 2 menus for 6 people and then after sitting there for 15 minutes with no one stopping at our table, no host bringing more menus or receiving water we got up and left – terrible customer service.
We feel terrible for the 6 people traveling with us as this was their first impression of an all-inclusive ever. Do be enticed by the deals there are far better out there for the same money.