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Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi

Posted By: lcote

Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/10/2018 08:45 PM

My husband and I have arrived at Divi. The resort looks awesome. The rooms are beautiful. More about that in another thread.
I have seen many people on here inquiring about the all inclusive option at Divi. Most of us on here agree with why you shouldn't do the All Inclusive since there are so many other options on the island. But I will tell you another reason.
Michael and I went to Gizmo's bar around 4:30 on Saturday after we arrived. After getting up at 4am, we just didn't have it in us to travel anywhere to get food.
We sat down and waited. And waited.... and waited. 15 minutes later, a woman in a Santa hat came over and asked us if anyone was waiting on us. We replied no and that we didn't even have menus. She brought the menus and asked us what we wanted immediately. We replied that we needed time to review the menu but that we would each like a pina colada.
She asked ,"how many?" Odd question I thought but then I thought it must be happy hour. So, I said "Oh is it happy hour? I guess two then." (usually it is buy one get one free)
5 minutes later, she came over and asked what we wanted.
I just wanted a bacon cheeseburger. Nothing difficult, right? WRONG. She said "oh you don't want the divi burger. that doesn't come with cheese. You want the Gizmo burger, that comes with cheese." It is also $3 more expensive and comes with onion rings and mushrooms on it neither of which I wanted. I said "Ok. Just the divi burger then"
5 minutes later, she came over and explained that happy hour starts at 5....not 4:30. And did we want to wait the five minutes to get the two. We said "Sure".
15 minutes goes by. We were still waiting for drinks. None showed up. Our food was brought by another waiter. Still no drinks.
We were about 1/3 of the way into eating when the same waitress came over and said that she hadn't put the drink order in because now it was change of shift. We told her to forget it.
We finished our dinners......and waited....and waited....and waited. No one came with the check. We didn't even see the waitress. We flagged another one over and asked for our check. And waited....and waited....and waited...Still no check.
Michael got up to look for the green flash. I finally got up to watch with him. I flagged another waitress over and said that we would really like to pay but our waitress was nowhere to be seen. FINALLY, at long last, our bill came. It was more than half an hour after we had finished our food.
We saw a few other couples complaining about the service at Gizmos as well.
I always vote with my feet. I will not give my money to a restaurant where the service is so abysmal. The food was actually quite good. But no, I will not go to Divi's restaurants for service like that.
Mind you, I am aware of island time. This was well beyond that.
So, if you are reading this and are considering the all inclusive, ask yourself. Is service at all important to you?
Posted By: SXMScubaman

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/10/2018 09:14 PM

I'm confused. If you weren't on the all inclusive at Divi how does this pertain to that? As a side note bad service can be anywhere on any day.
Posted By: Langford3733

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/10/2018 10:48 PM

Please as a Divi owner I suggest you let this info be known to Paul the new food and beverage manager. We were there for 3 weeks and fortunately never had any problems. I know there is a number of new staff members working there and things can only improve when issues are drawn to the management attention.
Posted By: dolfer

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/10/2018 11:59 PM

We ate and drank there several times in September and always had reasonably good service and food. However I do realize that any place and/or waitress can have a bad night.

I was impressed with the actions by the staff when I stumbled and fell to my knees on the deck on one of those trips. I was bruised, but mostly my ego, however the staff checked on me immediately and a few moments later a manager checked on me, gave me a close examination with several medical related questions and made me promise that I if I felt bad at all to call her, even though I was staying at The Belair and not Divi, she gave me her card and insisted that I call if I needed anything. My wife and I were very impressed. Yes, that's mostly the business covering their butts but it was fast, personable action and showed great concern.
Posted By: PelicanPirate

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 12:09 AM

That would be a nice thing to do for customers to be unpaid secret shoppers and QA advisors for a property they care for. On the other hand nothing brings about change more than decreased revenue. Maybe new Paul should be making the rounds of tables especially where there are new workers.
Posted By: Carol_Hill

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 12:10 AM

I THINK the point is that the service is bad there, so don't buy the a/I and limit your food choices to a place that has bad service..
Posted By: pat

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 12:31 AM

That was my read, too, Carol..........
Posted By: RonDon

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 07:31 PM

For five years we complained to corporate about food & service at Divi and that last time was four years ago. We stopped complaining because they obviously don't care. So we don't eat any meals or snacks there. Iocote is right --let your feet vote AND don't get AI plan is what we tell anyone who asks.
Posted By: Carol_Hill

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 07:47 PM

Honestly, I hardly ever recall hearing good things about the restaurants at Divi. It could be a situation like at Royal Palm--corporate has WANTED to get rid of the people running the restaurant and bar there for years and have been unable to break the lease with the people who run it.
Posted By: StMartinFan

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 07:59 PM

We've owned at Divi for nearly 20 years and have never been excited about eating at their restaurants. We did get to know some of the wait staff there and appreciated their warm greetings and appreciation for our business. It was lovely to stop by and get welcome back hugs. We eat a few lunches there during the week, usually at the bar, and perhaps one dinner, but only for convenience and because of staff. (Unfortunately one kindly restaurant manager died unexpectedly a few years ago and our other favorite wait staff retired recently.). Divi could never seem to bring their attempt at fine dining to a level that matched what we find elsewhere on the island, and service could be slow, although not as bad as described in this thread.
Posted By: SXMScubaman

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 09:36 PM

One of the factors for RCI awarding a gold crown status is a restaurant on or near the resort. Hence that restaurant. Good or bad.
Posted By: lcote

Re: Why All Inclusive is a bad idea at Divi - 12/11/2018 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by Carol_Hill
I THINK the point is that the service is bad there, so don't buy the a/I and limit your food choices to a place that has bad service..

This is exactly the point. Don't bother.
We did talk to the new food and beverage manager but I keep hearing the same old same old.

The service here has always been poor. But this was quite possibly the worst I have ever seen it. I understand Island Time service. I truly do. But this was just plain absymal!!

In my mind, Divi is never going to elevate this restaurant to the highest standard until they do something about the service here.

I love this resort and love little bay. We will always come back here. But we vote with our feet and go out for dinner and lunch elsewhere.
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