Panama City: Radisson Decapolis (February 2007)

Overall: The hotel is totally modern and futuristic looking. The pictures online are good representations.

Lobby: We arrived at the Radisson Decapolis in Panama City at approximately midnight on a Friday evening. The lobby bar was in full swing; it appeared to be the “hot spot” for the pretty young people of Panama to begin their weekends. Every seat and standing space was taken, but we did manage to find two chairs on which to enjoy our $20 of complimentary drinks per night of our stay. Drink prices were as expected: approximately $5 per fruity drink (e.g., pina colada, strawberry daquiri) and about $4 per local beer (e.g., Atlas, Panama, Soberna). There was a DJ playing music in the bar, but there was no space for dancing. This incredible activity was present only on Friday night. We also spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights there, and while there was a healthy crowd, it was nothing like Friday night. Check in (and out) was very easy and quick.

Pool: The pool area is a nice respite to relax on a hot afternoon. While not large, we never had difficulty finding somewhere to sit (e.g., lounge chairs, futon-type beds for two, or small seats).
Restaurants/Food: We ate in both the Luxor and the Fusion restaurants for breakfast, which was included with our room rate. The breakfast in Fusion was much better than the Luxor, not so much for the food itself but for the more relaxing and more classy atmosphere.
Rooms: The rooms are completely UN-soundproof, as other reviewers have noted. We had a suite, and fortunately the bedroom area did not border the room next to us in which young children, including a crying infant, were awake and loudly running around all night. Fortunately, we were able to leave the sitting room and close the bedroom door, thus blocking out some of the noise; otherwise, we would have gotten no sleep that evening. We were on the 26th floor, which was comprised of about six suites and four regular rooms. As a previous poster had said, the ODD numbered room overlook the ocean, while the EVEN numbered rooms overlook the city. Although we requested an ocean view, and we are GoldPoints members, we were not granted our request. There was nothing wrong with the city view, but the ocean view would have been preferable after viewing it from the elevator lobby area on our floor. There are hairdryers, clocks, telephones, televisions in the rooms, and cell phones can be rented. There are NO bathrobes or slippers. The toiletries consist of shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, body wash, shower cap, facial and body soap, shoe-shine cloth. There is one complimentary bottle of local water provided for teeth brushing. There is a mini bar, and the prices seemed fairly reasonable. There are NO carpets anywhere in the rooms. We had a suite, which consisted of a separate bedroom, walk-in closet, and bathroom with tub/shower. The living room had a sofa, two chairs, a small table and two chairs, second television, wet bar area, additional closet (with iron and ironing board) and powder room. I was glad that we “sprang” for the suite; at only $50 more per night, it seemed a good value for the extra space that it afforded.
Multicentro Mall: A huge disappointment. One of the reasons that we chose the Radisson was because they had listed on their website all the restaurants available at the mall. Unfortunately, all but three of the “better” restaurants were closed permanently. The San Diego Steakhouse was open, which was a fine meal (approximately $60 total for a meal of three courses and drinks for two people). There was also a turkish restaurant that was open, although we did not eat there, and the Hard Rock Cafe (again, did not eat there). It seems that the idea of the “finer” restaurants at the mall was to place them on the ground floor, so that they could be accessed from the outside of the mall even when it was closed (there was no access from the inside). Only the Hard Rock was located on the second level, and had to be reached from inside the mall (the hours were good, though--I think they stayed open until 12:00 midnight or 1:00 am on the weekends). There were food court/American chain-type restaurants on the top floor (I think it had four floors). It seemed that half of the stores in the mall were closed permanently, with many of the storefronts covered in paper. There was a drugstore inside that sold drinks and snacks, as well as the usual pharmacy items (e.g., sunscreen, cosmetics, prescriptions).