Restaurants
Food in the buffet restaurant was good and varied (children had options too so no trouble finding something to eat) Desserts were fabulous – lots of coconut and banana items! Service was good – especially at breakfast where our server was always ready with the coffee when we showed up! The Bellagio (Italian a la carte restaurant) was absolutely wonderful! If they have Salmon as the catch of the day – you MUST have it! and definitely try the "Baccarat" – we ate at this restaurant 5 times during the course of our stay and it was wonderful every single time! Service was great! Silk (asian a la carte restaurant) was alright – food was good but paled in comparison to the Bellagio. Service was good though! We ate at this restaurant 2 times during out stay. Beach Grill was great, my son loved the "free grilled cheese" – he must have eaten at least 20 while he was there. Service was good and fairly quick considering it is just a small grill. The minute steak they serve in the evenings was delicious too! Other stuff – there were several nights that BBQ was served by the pool – food was great, had some of the best flank steak ever and the chicken roti they served on the Caribbean theme night was the best I’ve ever had! Service was a little slow it seemed on these nights but I think mostly because everything was so spread out.
Bars
The drinks were always good and definitely not watered down. It is domestic bar so people expecting tonnes of choices may be disappointed BUT try something new! (Coconut Express and Dirty Bananas are YUMMY) The bar staff in the lobby bar could be a little more friendly but the pool bar bartender was great as were the disco bartenders! The resort could use a couple of wait staff going around the pool during the day since some of the pools were a bit of a distance from the bars and mini bars in the rooms would be nice but apparently that is in their plans for the future.
Pools
Absolutely fabulous! Lots to choose from – beach entry pool, adult pool, deeper pool with volleyball nets, lazy river, water slides, wading pool etc etc…if you are a "pool person" this is the resort for you!
Beach
Absolutely stunning views from the beach but since the resort lays on the south tip of the island the ocean does kick up the seaweed. The water was not a rough as I was expecting it to be and we certainly went in the ocean several times but with such wonderful pools we spent most of our time there.
Tours
We did four tours and went in to Vieux Fort on our own.
Vieux Fort – small, you can buy the usual trinkets and sit and have a Piton with the locals. You will not need lots of time so when making arrangements with the cab drivers keep this in mind. We were there only for 2 hours and that was time for shopping, bar stop, more shopping and ice cream stop.
Snorkelling Tour (booked through the hotel) Absolutely breathtaking! We are only novice snorkellers so not sure how it compares to other place but the trip was great! Snorkelled at 2 different places and were fed lunch in between aboard the boat. The crew was great and we saw some wonderful creatures down below.
Soufriere Experience (booked through travel rep for Air Canada) – this is a full day tour and you see tonnes. Arts and crafts centre, a working cocoa plantation for lunch, the Pitons, sulphur springs, a waterfall and then stop at Jalousie for a swim! It was great and definitely worth the money!
Castries Shopping Trip (booked through travel rep for Air Canada) – you are taken to a boat and then brought by boat from Soufriere to Castries for some duty free shopping. It was great and I think everyone visiting the island should see Castries and all the cruise ships. We also found some wonderful deals in the markets too! On the boat ride back, the stop in at Marigot Bay and at the foot of the Pitons so make sure to bring your camera – we got some truly awesome shots.
Martinique Splendour (booked through travel rep for Air Canada) – definitely worth the money even if it seemed pricey when we were booking! You get it all on this trip – a 90 min. boat ride from Rodney Bay to Martinique while you eat breakfast, a walking tour of Fort de France, time for shopping, a big BBQ lunch back on board, then snorkelling and swimming off the boat and the boat ride back – all the while with a fully stocked open bar. While making the crossing we saw dolphins, a whale and flying fish, the captain also took us to see a vampire bat cave were we saw them sleeping (from a safe distance still aboard the boat) It was fabulous! The only warning with this trip is that the crossing can be rough and several people were feeling a little queasy (myself included) but a dramamine or gravol will solve this!
The Wedding
Of course – this was the best part! The way the Wedding Gazebo is situated is perfect. It is somewhat private so if there are onlookers they won’t wind up in the pictures. The wedding coordinators were friendly and helpful. It was very easy and completely stress free for us! We opted for a private dinner in the "wedding centre" and the meal we had was the best we had during the whole two week vacation. We had 2 servers and a bartender and the service was excellent. Definitely worth the extra money for the privacy!
Overall
This resort was perfect for the kind of vacation we wanted – something low key where the 16 of us could easily spend time together. This resort is great for people travelling in groups and for weddings or for couples looking to be alone or for families. The food is good, alcohol is plentiful and the island is absoluteky beautiful. Also a huge plus is that it is literally 5 mins from the airport! The only suggestion remains that some of the bar staff could have been a little more pleasant.
If you are looking to spend your vacation partying – this is not the resort for you unless you bring the party with you like we did!