I would suggest you upgrade to a suite...the regular room is small and you have to climb a spiral staircase to enter the room. I think it's an extra $100 for the week to upgrade and IMHO it's worth every cent. Try to upgrade before you go, we met people that paid the resort $30US extra per night for the upgrade.
The room safe is $20 (I think!), but we paid $14 as we had to wait 2 days for a new safe to be installed. They're upgrading the safes in all of the rooms, I had no complaints as it was reassuring to know that the key for the safe was unique and not a key that would work in any safe in any room (which I've seen happen in other resorts).
All of the staff were wonderful...from the front desk clerks to the activities staff to the bartenders and servers. But I'm a very friendly person...I speak to everyone regardless of whether they are a resort worker or a fellow tourist. So maybe that's why I got really good service. I'm also the type of person that relaxes while on vacation...I don't expect to have everyone stop what they're doing to find me a fork, if I need a fork I'm quite capable of finding one. I think if you go in with a relaxed attitude you won't have any problems. We had a guy named Modesto serve us at the buffet most nights. He filled our water and wine glasses and after dinner he served us drinks to our table until 10:30. At the a la carte restaurants, we received excellent service as well.
Paradise is a 2 minute walk to the Plaza. And about a 5 to 10 minute walk up the beach is a "market" with about 20 shops. You can find masks, paintings, jewellry, t-shirts, sarongs, rum, vanilla, etc. in these shops. There is also a boutique in the lobby of the resort.
If you have any other questions, let me know.
