Latest Reviews for Bahamas

This is an absolutely fab hotel , we were in a suite room , well worth the extra treat , simply divine , we had our own butler who opened our champagne and even turned down the bed at night . Fantastic to be dining with superstars ( elton john was there the same time as us !) we will being staying there again this christmas .highly recommended

Went to Sandals to get wed.

The wedding was 100% brilliant. Cannot fault anything about the special day. Had a wedding coordinator which they have done hundreds of weddings so there were no last minute hiccups.

Got married on a pier over the ocean. Really romantic and lovely views.

First room we had great views over looking the pool and the ocean which I thought was quite rare to have both but the bathroom had slight mould round the taps and to be honest if you pay that sort of money to go there I expected it to be 100% clean.

Moved rooms to a junior suite in the next block. Room much bigger but view wasn't as good but had a great big tub in the bathroom (didn't actually use it either, only for showers).

Sandals was great as no kids are allowed which I think did make a difference to our holiday. Thought the exterior of the buildings could have done with a lick of paint but to be honest I didnt care. As long as the wedding was fine - who cares.

Met loads from the UK and a couple of well known footballers and their other halfs (which I have to note the footballers and their wives were lovely and down to earth).

All Incl. - could not fault. Great not to keep having to pay or change currency.

Went to the Atlantis hotel by taxi but wish we had actually done a coach trip as the other UK couples did and they learn't more like who lives where etc. I recommend visting the Atlantis but I wouldn't stay there.

Would probably go to Sandals in St Lucia (the newest one) as it is new.

Have no fear - weddings are fab and they are not slap dash, or one in one out. They are quite discreet with the weddings. Your wouldn't actually think they done them unless you went to look for one.

Enjoy!

This destination was the second part of our 'adventure',having just completed an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable week in Florida visiting the theme parks.

We took a short connecting flight from Orlando to Nassau. The hotel was particularly busy on our arrival - in fact it was fully booked initially - mainly with American's attending what seemed to be wedding after wedding!

Unfortunately, we didn't get the room upgrade we had been expecting, having booked over a year in advance with Virgin, and we are still doing battle with them now - we wish we had used another tour operator, especially in view of the amount of money the whole holiday cost. All this aside, the hotel was very good and the beach was fabulous - pristine, white sands just as the brochure depicts.

Although there were 7 restaurants, not all open at the same time, in fact, the buffet restaurant (Bimini Market Grill) only opened at lunchtimes when we were there, which was a pity as the buffets were excellent. Amici's (Italian) was fantastic, as was Avocado's - which was slightly more up-market, but we were a little surprised at some of the attire worn to this restaurant. The Forge was a great experience - you literally had a barbeque in the centre of your table and had the opportunity to cook all your own food - it is also a great way of meeting people as if, like us you are in a small group you are allocated on to a shared table, which we appreciate isn't everyone's cup of tea, but we certainly enjoyed it! Islands (Caribbean cuisine) was also very good, as was the Dolphin Grill (for daytime snacks by the poolside). If we had a slight criticism to make of the food, it was not very varied, especially breakfast which didn't change in the whole week we were there and we were actually craving for vegetables by the time we left! (There's only so much meat you can eat!!)

The daytime entertainment however was particularly good, with Nutanse (We're spelling her name as it's said!) co-ordinating. There was anything from water aerobics, beach volleyball and quizzes to name but a few events and we quickly became firm favourites with her as we would always join in! The swimming pools were lovely, if a little chilly, but it was approaching the winter season when we visited. In fact the weather was superb for the whole week. We like to get our money's worth when we go on all inclusive so the only time we left the complex was when we swam with dolphins on Paradise Island - an experience not to be missed.

Parts of this hotel are looking a bit shabby, and we're not entirely sure it is worthy of it's 4 star status, but all things considered with the really friendly staff who can't do enough for you, this was a truly memorable vacation (as the American's say!)and one we would love to repeat when we win the lotto!!

We went to Hope Town on Elbow Cay, Bahamas, after a recommendation from a friendly bar man, Mike, in the Florida Keys.

We already had a flight booked to Nassau, but were advised to go that bit further and we would find heaven - he wasn't wrong!!

We stayed in downtown Nassau, which was a tip!! Didn't feel safe going out at night, and there wasn't much to do. So we took Mikes advice and got a flight with Bahamas air to Marsh Harbour, then a water taxi to Elbow Cay. Bahamas air isn't exactly reliable with regards to time schedules, but has an excellent saftey record. After the short flight and boat ride, we arrived in Hope Town on Elbow Cay.

The island is beautiful, and the most common form of transport is golf carts! We stayed in a beach front cottage, which was vertually on the beach at Hope Town Harbour Lodge. As soon as we saw the cottage, we knew we would find no where better, so stayed for the rest of our holiday. It was stunnung, and the hotel staff were so friendly and helpful. Might not be the easiest place to keep children entertained as the Island is so small. But as a romantic gettaway, without mobiles, TVs and traffic, this IS the place to go. Snorkeling and diving is a must, with many reefs only 20ft off the beach. Local bars are great fun, everyone is so welcoming.

We're not the sort of people who go to the same place twice, but we will be returning here. Stunnning.

When looking for a family resort in the Bahamas, its true to say that it was like finding a needle in a haystack. The majority of hotels are catered for honeymooners and couples, so when we discovered the Radisson we were pleasantly surprised. The Radisson caters for all with a kids club, poolside entertainment, bars, 7 superb restaurants, evening entertainment and if you havent already guessed from the name-golf!

Upon arrival what struck us most was probably the fact that the resort was full of americans! However, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise because not only are they incredibly friendly and fascinated by the British accent, they also seem to have a culture less excessive in respect to alcohol which was a relief since the majority of holidaymakers are on all inclusive and can therefore drink from dusk til dawn if they wish. With the comfort that our resort would not be swarmed by lager louts we proceeded to take advantage of all the facilities offered at the Radisson.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are truly fantastic with as many pastries, cuisines and deserts as you can stomach (The Forge Restaurant became a favourite of ours as you cook the food right in front of you). It was therefore a relief that there were extensive gym facilities and 5 pools in order to burn off all the excess calories you can expect to consume during your stay!

During the day we found ourselves lazing around on the white sand beach which is always buzzing with Carribean music as well as soaking in the outdoor jacuzzis and playing watersports.

In the evenings the Radisson really comes alive. With stand up comedy, live dancers who take the audience around the first floor of the hotel in a parade, karaoke nights and live bands until 2 each morning its definitely worth staying up. What really makes the atmosphere though is the laid back and approachable nature of other people who you will find yourslef conversing with through the night at the Goombay Bar.

The Radisson came across to me as a resort full of classy people. For example, it is considered bad etiquette to walk around with just a bikini top on and everyone tends to dress up somewhat for dinner. This is not to say that it has an uncomfortable ambiance, it is more a relaxed place where everyone has mutual respect for each other.

The island of Nassau itself is truly picturesque. The purpose of our visit was actually a wedding at the Sandals which was just as beautiful but exclusively for couples so less lively as the Radisson. We also ventured out to the city to see the straw market and get a taste of Bahamian day to day life. However, the wide majority of activities can be found on resort (including a casino, shops and a masseuse) so we tended to spend most of our time at the Radisson.

All in all its hard to do the Radisson justice in just a small summary but i can honestly say it was the best holiday i've experienced. It truly caters for all and although its pricey, your experience will be unforgettable!

We went all-inclusive on a last-minute booking here.

It's around a 10 hour flight from Heathrow, but British Airways serve you alcohol within 10 minutes of being in the air and again with your meal around an hour later. Our tip: choose the 13% 187ml bottles of red wine, two of those are equivalent to half a bottle and you'll sleep like a baby for the flight!

On landing, the Customs were unusually quick for the Caribbean, we were through within about 15 minutes.

Transfer time to the hotel is around half an hour, you land in Nassau which is on New Providence Island and then travel across the main bridge which connects this island to Paradise Island.

The hotel was nice but nothing special. We'd heard stories of broken lifts (there are twelve floors), a dirty pool, a slippery restaurant floor and smelly rooms; the lifts actually worked perfectly, the free-form pool was great, the restaurant was fine but there is a musty smell everywhere in the hotel. Bear in mind the hotel is situated right on the harbour so there's always going to be a certain amount of dampness in the air, hence the musty smell.

Our room had two double beds, a super air-con unit (we actually had condensation on the outside of the windows!), a tea/coffee maker, a fridge and a 65 channel cable tv with access to the latest Nintendo games (great if you've got kids in tow). Just bear in mind, though, that almost all the channels are US-based and if you thought UK tv was dire, you ain't seen nothing until you watch primetime US television! It's about as entertaining as having a tooth filled.

The bathroom was fine, lots of hot water although some of the metalwork was showing signs of rust (damp atmosphere again).

We had probably two bouts of rain whilst there, otherwise temperatures were in the late 80-s, early 90-s. And this was late October!

There's no shortage of sunbeds around the pool although umbrellas are non-existant. Plus, being right on the harbour means there's a certain amount of noise from trawlers and those funny aeroplanes that can land on water......when they're revving up to take off, you'll know it :-)

Food: breakfasts are buffet-style, you help yourself to fruit, cereal, sausages, scrambled eggs, waffles, corned beef hash, toast, muffins, boiled eggs, bacon, cinammon toast, yogurt, fruit juice, made-to-order omelettes, tea and coffee.

Lunch is either buffet-style comprising of mainly pasta, salad and pizza in the Harbour View Restaurant or you use the pool bar/grill which serves cheeseburgers, chicken wings etc.

Dinners are themed at the Harbour View Restaurant - it's either Oriental, U.S, Italian, Jamaican, Mexican, Bahamian or a Neptune night (fish). If you don't like that, you can reserve a table in the Captain's Table Restaurant and be waited on (but the menu is limited there and the dress code is more formal). If you're still not happy, you can use the evening menu at the pool/bar grill (we recommend the 10oz steaks, excellent).

All in all, we'd describe this complex as a downmarket Sandals........you won't go hungry or thirsty here, the locals are friendly and it's safe to walk the streets. Service is a little slow, particularly at the pool bar but that's the way things tend to be in the Caribbean.

A few final pointers......apparently, BATELCo (the Bahamas telecom company) don't allow their network to be used by overseas telecom providers, so you might have problems getting your mobile to work there - we're on Orange and got diddly-squat and Orange confirmed when we got back that they have no coverage there. It's apparently a ruse to ensure that you *have* to use BATELCo's phone lines whilst there. We did and we ended up paying US$170 for about 60 minutes worth of calls to the UK!

Secondly, get your duty frees on a day-trip to Nassau ($3 each way from the Harbour Bridge). Don't leave it until you're due to fly home, Nassau airport has a duty free shop but it was closed when we got there! (That's just about all that *is* at the airport, it's very sparse).

Thirdly, use earplugs whilst in the hotel. This isn't a reflection on the hotel but on the residents who are mostly Americans (bear in mind you're only 180 miles from Miami). You'd be amazed how many people think nothing of slamming doors or shouting to each other at 3a.m. The high point of all that came when a large American woman fell over a deceptively flat piece of corridor floor at 2.45 one morning and her first exclamation was not ";get me a doctor"; but ";get me my attorney";.

However, a highly recommended holiday.

We went to this resort for our honeymoon. I would not recommend it to couples as it is full of children.

The rooms were poor and we even had ants crawling around ours, the room smelt musty and we did not even have a mini bar (despite hearing from other holiday makers - mostly Americans that they did). We asked to be moved to another room which was a little better but nothing like the luxury we were promised when we booked the holiday, to upgrade it would have costed much more which we couldnt afford.

There is 5 restaurants, the al a Carte ones were lovely and the food was excellent, the buffet type Italian restaurant was not very nice at all. The lunch during the day was very nice - mostly BBQ food. Breakfast was quite busy as they would pack as many people as they could into the buffet restaurant but the food was ok - quite a selection to chose from.

Entertainment at night is ok - there are a couple of adult only bars which was good to escape the crowds with children. Most of the staff were friendly, however there were a few who were quite rude. Overall a good holiday if you had a family but definitely not for honeymooners or couples seeking a relaxed atmopsphere. And it is definely not worth the money that we paid for it! It spoilt our honeymoon and we wished we had of gone somewhere else.

This is the most amazing island you could possibly go to. We went for our honeymoon for two weeks and did not want to come back !!! The beaches are so beautiful, highly recommended is the Gold Rock Beach, hardly anyone goes to it. You can swim with dolphins and a place called Pardise Cove is brilliant for snorkling.
Our Hotel was fanstatic and the staff were so friendly and helpful. We went all inclusive which believe it or not was the best option to do as our hotel had eight places to eat.

Travelling around the island was expensive and we recommend the local bus to Port Lucaya $1.00 rather than taxi's $16.00. We flew with virgin and the flight was excellent however, the virgin rep. was never around. We saw her when we arrived and when we went home.

We recommend this hotel and island to anyone / any age.
Overall we would defintely visit Grand Bahama again. May be I can ask my husband to go back next April for our 1st wedding anniversary !!!

We had a ball at this hotel. This is the best al-inclusive I've ever been to.The kids clubs are the fantastic, food is amazing, entertainment is great for families then goes for adults only after 10pm. The staff are all really friendly and get to know you all by name. My favorite restaurant was the japanese. Kids are welcome here. The chefs are amazing and create a good atmosphere. We stayed in the French village, the new part of this hotel. Rooms all had air-conditioning,T.V.and safes. Phoning the U.K can be expensive at 6 us dollars a minute. The drinks are all brand names smirnoff etc beers are miller bud etc..

The watersports are great and u don't pay for a thing.This was our best family holiday ever. Our daughter had a ball. The staff are fantastic with kids. We will be back next year.

For someone looking for a holiday out of the ordinary, Small Hope Bay Lodge might well suit them. Basically, the Lodge offers activity holidays, mainly aimed at scuba divers from complete beginners to advanced, but for non-divers as well.

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
Neither my husband nor I dive but he is a keen angler and had always wanted to fish for bonefish in the Bahamas. He found the Small Hope website and was atracted by its ecological ethos. He then found a package deal in a Discover the World brochure in a travel agents and booked the holiday by phone and email direct with Discover the World. The arrangments (flights between Heathrow and Nassau, internal flights on a 20-seater plane between Nassau and Andros Island, one overnight stay in Nassau, and transfers etc)were all efficiently arranged with no problems at all. I thought the package was rather expensive, so anyone thinking of going to Small Hope might like to arrange their own travel - contact Small Hope via their website for advice about the Bahamas end.

ACCOMMODATION
As to Small Hope Bay Lodge itself, it is quite different from any other hotel/resort I have been to. Look up its website, that is quite an accurate description. At first it is a real culture shock, it was like going to an American summer camp, but after a couple of days we relaxed and entered into the spirit of the place. It is very informal, many guests and staff wander around in bare feet most of the time, even in the main lodge itself, which consists mainly of one large room which acts as a combined living/dining/meeting room. Guests are encouraged to mingle and move around from table to table for different meals (all buffet style)and we enjoyed lots of extended mealtimes chatting with a wide assortment of people. The food is good, generally well-cooked and plentiful. The accommodation is all-inclusive and there was plenty of alchohol freely available, but the type of people who are attracted to Small Hope are not really the type to get drunk. Some of the guests were return visitors and a couple of the staff were former visitors who had liked the placed so much they applied to work there.

ACTIVIITES
The emphasis is very much on scuba diving, but snorkelling, fishing and bird-watching are also very popular. One morning we went kayaking on a large inland creek close by. Fishing trips with guides can by purchased. Evenings are very much quieter than at an ordinary resort. The divers must wear themselves out as everyone seems generally to go to their rooms at around 9 or 9.30. On a couple of evenings a diving video was shown and also a slide show detailing fish and coral that can be seen in the area. A visit was arranged to the local batik clothing factory.

ANDROS
This is apparently the largest island in the Bahamas but is also one of the least populated. It is very rural with few people and buildings. The vegetation is mainly pine trees and mangroves, and unless you are particulary interested in botany or bird-watching, quite boring with very little variety. The island is completely flat. There are sandy beaches with some rock pools. For an island that states it is committed to preserving the environment and has such a small population there was a surprising amount of rubbish and litter around. The local people are very friendly and when they see you will frequently call out a greeting, wave or honk their car horn.

SUMMARY
Small Hope Bay Lodge offers a specialised holiday. If you would like an activity holiday with good food and sunshine and good company with like-minded people, then you will probably like it. If you like shopping, pubs and/or clubbing, then choose somewhere else.