"Not worth it" is an understatement made by those who are too proud to admit they were ripped off and made a huge mistake. I should have clued into this fact when even the "good reviews" (other sites) mention several problems that you just don't have to put up with in "high-end" facilities. You could not pay me to go back. Where do I begin? I am an extremely successful business owner in my mid fifties, I have done a lot of traveling so I am accustomed to "high end" appointed resorts, rooms and service. How about starting off by Amanta's policy of "no refunds". We paid and planned the trip well in advance, my wife was diagnosed with illness (long-term) several weeks before our trip. I called more than a month in advance (Dealing with a gentleman named "Nestor") to cancel, and they refused to refund, said it was their "policy" and in fact told us if we did not use the rooms within a specified period, we would lose our money altogether. What kind of "high-end" resort does that? BTW - Nestor never showed his face the entire time we were there.
So we end up rescheduling the trip, and I want to be sure we get an ocean view, so I book the "Ocean Deluxe" room - well over $1000.00 per night (not inclusive of anything). I made the assumption that "Ocean Deluxe" means you have at least a partial ocean view from your room. Anyways, we show up, and the room has "0" ocean view. In fact, it is surrounded by trees and bushes that makes you feel claustrophobic. The "private pool" had perfect views available for staff walking by and the neighboring "villa", so privacy was non-existent. The plants and trees around the pool conveniently blocked any ocean view, but were not in the way of staff and neighbors looking in on whatever "private" activity we had in mind and were well overdue to be trimmed, which may have given us a small peek at the ocean. Judging from the rest of my experience at Imanta, it appears to me that they are running out of money, or not reinvesting in the property, and landscaping (or lack thereof) is always a queue for lack of funds. My first impression of the "Ocean Deluxe" was thoroughly "not impressed". Basically, a bed and a bathroom. There was actually nowhere inside or outside with a comfortable chair. There was a daybed outside (no seating) and a bed inside, but nowhere to sit except a small desk with a straight stiff back chair. So you had to either lay down, or stand up - ridiculous. The next item to look at was the in-room dining menu. Completely lacking choices. Incredibly short menu for the money being spent. We ended up eating dinner the first night at the restaurant which was decent (only 1 place to eat so no other choice). The 2nd night is when it fell apart. It was Valentines day, so when we went to the (only) restaurant the 2nd night, we were told that it was a "specially prepared" dinner on the beach. Seeing that we had no other choice (which left us susceptible to whatever price they wanted to charge to eat), we took the bait. The setting on the beach was very nice, and the food appeared to be decent. However, 5 hours later, both my wife and I were vomiting profusely for the next 8 hours from what we can intelligently deduce was a case of FOOD POISONING!! Needless to say we spent the next day in bed. Anytime we tried ordering anything to try and cure our sickness, the answer was they did not have the item (we couldn't understand them as half the time no English was spoken, which would not have been an issue if there was any remote attempt at providing service). We had to call room service 3 times to get oatmeal delivered (took over 2 hours). Management was non-existent. Nobody ever came to our room to ask us how we liked the room, or if we were enjoying our stay - NADA!! We packed up our bags the next day and left with two pre-paid days left!! It was that BAD!! Of course, the Amanta offered us "Vouchers"..lol We know what they can do with those. I think this place is more interested in capturing your money than providing any type of service. It is well below what it could be and I would not recommend it to anyone. Go to Capella where they actually provide a service. I have been to both, and its not even close. read more