The short answer: we're not all inclusive, and we don't want to be
If you're searching for an all inclusive hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, we should say plainly that we aren't one. What we offer is full board: $90 per person per night, covering all your food and all your soft drinks. The bar is charged separately. This is not Cancun, and we've never tried to be.
The reason is simple. All inclusive works by capping quality so the maths still adds up when someone orders their eleventh drink. We'd rather buy good ingredients, pay our people properly, and charge you for what you actually consume. It costs us more and it costs you about the same, which we think is a fair trade.
What $90 a night full board covers
Everything you eat and every soft drink you order, for the whole day, three meals plus whatever comes in between. It's per person, per night, on top of the room.
It does not cover alcohol. Not beer, not cocktails, not the wine. We were the first beach club in Cartagena to put a wine list together, and we sell rosé by the magnum, so you can see why an open bar and our stock list don't get along.
Whether full board is worth it depends entirely on how you eat. If you plan on breakfast, a long lunch and dinner without leaving, it's the cheaper way round. If you're diving in the morning and going into the Walled City for dinner, pay as you go instead.
What the room rate includes, and the bits that get added
Room rates are per room, based on two people sharing unless we've said otherwise, and they include a day's access to the beach club and facilities, so the pool, the volleyball and a sun-lounger.
The additions, so nothing surprises you at checkout:
- Resort fee: $20 USD per night. City hotels plug into public utilities. We're on an island, so we make our own arrangements.
- Food and drink tax: 8% is applied to all food and drinks and is non-refundable.
- Accommodation tax: foreign residents pay no tax on hotel accommodation. For Colombian residents, IVA is already included in the price you see.
We don't do discounts. Our prices are what let us buy the ingredients we buy and pay our staff above the national minimum, so please don't ask us to shave them.
If you only want the day, not the bed
Our day pass with boat transfers is $40, and it's the option we recommend most. You pay for whatever you eat and drink in the restaurant, and you choose whether you want a sun-lounger, which runs from $5 to $30 depending on where it is and how grand it is. Poolside puts you near the music. The beach loungers are quiet and removed from all of it.
The boat leaves the Muelle de la Bodeguita in Cartagena at 10am, 11:30am and 5pm, and the crossing takes about 25 minutes. Coming back, boats leave us at 4pm and 5:30pm. The beach club is open to day visitors from 11am to 6pm.
You don't have to be staying with us to eat here. Non-guests are welcome in the restaurant, including people staying at other places on the island, but a day pass is required to come through the gate.
Who's cooking, which is the actual point
Our kitchen was built by Chef Silvestre Saiz Cortazar, born and trained in Ibiza and raised in the kitchens of Bogotá. Pedro Mosqueda has since taken over as Executive Chef. We cook with what the islands and the coast around us actually grow and catch, and we're fussy about where the meat comes from.
This is the part an all inclusive buffet can't do, and it's why we'd rather charge you à la carte than hand you a wristband.
Groups, and the rules about outside food and drink
For groups of 10 or more we run set lunch menus at $45 USD per person. Menus are on our website, and for 13 people or more you'll need to talk to us directly and pay in advance so we can plan the kitchen.
You can't bring your own food. We're not going to lose it over a banana in your bag, but we don't allow guests to bring lunch in, and we won't cook food from somewhere else without a very good reason. Outside alcohol is out too, although you can pre-order wine through our restaurant staff. The one exception is a full privatisation of the property, where you can bring your own and we charge corkage.
So how do you decide?
Add it up honestly. Room plus $20 resort fee, then either $90 per person for full board or roughly what you'd spend ordering as you go, plus drinks either way. If you're the kind of traveller who wants a swim-up bar and a wristband, there are places on the mainland built for exactly that, and we'd rather you were happy there than disappointed here.
If you want a long lunch that takes three hours because nobody's rushing you, a house reef 25 minutes from a colonial city, and a kitchen that takes itself seriously, book the room and decide about full board later.
See you on the boat.