Lagoon Lodge

[Trish]

Anyone out there stay at Lagoon Lodge?

[Kat Blomfeld]

The friends who introduced us to Tobago stayed there. Said the chap who runs it was great at first but then became really unfriendly. They said it was all rather weird. They moved to the Kariwak Village and now go back every year. Yippee – we’ll be there next month.

[Matt D]

Trish did you end up staying at Lagoon Lodge? Please let me know as I am booked to stay there next month. I'd like to know about your experience there!

[Trish]

Hi there--
Yes, we spent 10 nights there March 2004. I will start with the positives...the cottages themselves were pretty nice. Pretty much what they look like on the website. The private little plunge pool on your deck is awesome. The dinners provided were awesome and we thought that was a neat touch. It gave us the chance to try local cuisine without going out. We also ended up having left overs most nights, so it provided us with dinners other nights as well. It was nice to have a car provided for us so we didn't have to deal with that. The privacy factor was nice, as well. There was another couple there the first two days, but we were alone the rest of the time. A couple negatives...while we were there, the dingy talked about on the website that you can take over to the little island was out of commission. It seems that previous occupants didn't know how to use it properly and ran the motor aground so Norman stopped fixing the motor. Norman repeatedly told us he'd try to get it fixed, but never did. That was one of the selling features for us, so that kind of ticked us off. The hot tub wasn't working either. That wasn't as big of a deal, but also irritating. Finally, Norman can be very nice, but also rather prickly. It was apparent to us that he didn't have a very positive view of Americans. By the end of our days there, though, we seemed to get along very well. He gave us some parting gifts which were nice and we still have displayed in our house of a reminder of our time there. His moods are just hard to read some days. He is very willing, however, to help you with any arrangements for dinner or fishing, or whatever you may need...and he will definitely tell you his opinions of places to eat. For us, the fact that not all the things advertised were available to us made it not worth the money.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Trish

[Matt D]

Hello Trish,

Thanks for all the info, positive and negative. I wanted to make sure we could enjoy ourselves there as it will be our honeymoon. Luckily my fiancee is from Trinidad so maybe he'll cut us a break on the American thing:)

I'd like to know a couple of things, if you don't mind:

- when the other couple was there, did you still have privacy? it looks like the cottages are parallel to each other and kind of close in proximity?

- how far is it to travel to the goings-on in Crown Point?

- can you walk to a beach to swim (i.e. where the dinghy is or the little island) or do you have to go to Pigeon Pt or Store Bay to do this?

- did you leave him a tip for helping to arrange things for you or what not? we are planning to do some of the boat ride, snorkeling, etc. and we were going to look to him to organize those things for us...i didn't know if a tip was appropriate. also i didn't know if we should tip whoever it is that is bringing us dinner....your insights on that would be helpful as i'm trying to nail down my budget for this thing

- how do you actually pay him? does he have a credit card machine? do you have to pay in cash?

- does the A.C. in the room work well?

- i read where you talked about his moods. did you find that you had to deal with that every day? or was it only when you wanted him to help arrange somethin for you? I figure if I can find out what we want to do each day ahead of time I can lay it all on him the first day and not have to worry about it for the rest of my stay:)

- any other do's or don'ts you might have about staying there would be great!

Sorry for all the questions but I do thank you for your assistance!!!

Matt

Hi there--
Yes, we spent 10 nights there March 2004. I will start with the positives...the cottages themselves were pretty nice. Pretty much what they look like on the website. The private little plunge pool on your deck is awesome. The dinners provided were awesome and we thought that was a neat touch. It gave us the chance to try local cuisine without going out. We also ended up having left overs most nights, so it provided us with dinners other nights as well. It was nice to have a car provided for us so we didn't have to deal with that. The privacy factor was nice, as well. There was another couple there the first two days, but we were alone the rest of the time. A couple negatives...while we were there, the dingy talked about on the website that you can take over to the little island was out of commission. It seems that previous occupants didn't know how to use it properly and ran the motor aground so Norman stopped fixing the motor. Norman repeatedly told us he'd try to get it fixed, but never did. That was one of the selling features for us, so that kind of ticked us off. The hot tub wasn't working either. That wasn't as big of a deal, but also irritating. Finally, Norman can be very nice, but also rather prickly. It was apparent to us that he didn't have a very positive view of Americans. By the end of our days there, though, we seemed to get along very well. He gave us some parting gifts which were nice and we still have displayed in our house of a reminder of our time there. His moods are just hard to read some days. He is very willing, however, to help you with any arrangements for dinner or fishing, or whatever you may need...and he will definitely tell you his opinions of places to eat. For us, the fact that not all the things advertised were available to us made it not worth the money.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Trish

[Steve Wooler]

Hmmm! That's the third report I've heard in a year saying that the dingy wasn't available. Strange that all three say it was damaged by the "previous occupant".

Having been on the receiving end of Norman's bad temper, I can tell you that Trish is being rather more polite than me when she desribes him as "rather prickly".

Mind you, in fairness I had one reader who bombarded me with praise for Norman and his place a few years back. They'd been there four or five times and couldn't sing his praises enough. In fairness, he did admit that Norman doesn't take to everyone. As I've said before, it all seems to depend whether Norman "approves" of you and whether or not you do anything, knowingly or unknowingly, to upset his sensibilities.

Good luck, Matt, I'm sure you'll have a great time.

[Trish]

Hi Matt--
I'll do my best to answer your questions, as best I can remember!

-The cottages are side by side, but there are many shrubs shielding you from one another. We were in the second cottage and did have to drive right by the first cottage, but that didn't seem to bother the other couple from sunbathing in the buff. When we were on our deck, you could hear the other couple but couldn't really see them. But yes, the cottages are fairly close to one another so it was nice when the other couple left.

-Crown Point is only a couple minutes away by car. You'll need to drive to the beach...it's not really within walking distance. If the dingy is working, you just use Norman's private dock to launch from, but there isn't a beach by his place.

-I don't think I'd tip Norman for arranging trips, since he's the owner. We should have tipped Marilyn, who cooked and cleaned our place, but we had no cash on our final day. But yes, I'd budget to tip her. She'll also wash your clothes for you, which was helpful for us since our luggage didn't arrive until 4 days after we did!

-when we were there, he had no credit card machine so required either cash or Traveler's Checks. We payed with Traveler's Checks.

-the AC unit is up in the loft by the bed, and it worked very well but was a bit loud. We usually just turned it on when we went to bed...there was a nice cross breeze during the day. You'll probably not want to sleep with the windows open because those peacocks, although beautiful, are also VERY loud!

-Norman will give you all the privacy you want. He's was usually kite surfing during the day so he wasn't reallly around. He's very helpful about arranging things for you and will probably be willing to do it ahead of time. He was pretty bent out of shape when we made our own arrangements with a dive shop, and didn't use the one he suggested. I think that was one reason he was offish and moody with us. I felt like I had been scolded by my parents when we went with another dive operator. Anyway...we let him arrange a deep sea fishing trip for us, and we lucked out because he knows one of the best captains out there. We actually had Captain Frothy take us out and we caught and released two huge marlins. It was one of the highlighs for my husband. So...let him book things for you and you should be just fine!

-FYI...like I said, the peacocks are beautiful but are also loud. They also like to poop on your deck! There was only one ostrich there when we were there. He had gotten rid of the others because they were dangerous. The one there is very cute.

Hope I covered it. Feel free to ask more questions...wish I had known some of this stuff before we went.

Trish

Hello Trish,

Thanks for all the info, positive and negative. I wanted to make sure we could enjoy ourselves there as it will be our honeymoon. Luckily my fiancee is from Trinidad so maybe he'll cut us a break on the American thing:)

I'd like to know a couple of things, if you don't mind:

- when the other couple was there, did you still have privacy? it looks like the cottages are parallel to each other and kind of close in proximity?

- how far is it to travel to the goings-on in Crown Point?

- can you walk to a beach to swim (i.e. where the dinghy is or the little island) or do you have to go to Pigeon Pt or Store Bay to do this?

- did you leave him a tip for helping to arrange things for you or what not? we are planning to do some of the boat ride, snorkeling, etc. and we were going to look to him to organize those things for us...i didn't know if a tip was appropriate. also i didn't know if we should tip whoever it is that is bringing us dinner....your insights on that would be helpful as i'm trying to nail down my budget for this thing

- how do you actually pay him? does he have a credit card machine? do you have to pay in cash?

- does the A.C. in the room work well?

- i read where you talked about his moods. did you find that you had to deal with that every day? or was it only when you wanted him to help arrange somethin for you? I figure if I can find out what we want to do each day ahead of time I can lay it all on him the first day and not have to worry about it for the rest of my stay:)

- any other do's or don'ts you might have about staying there would be great!

Sorry for all the questions but I do thank you for your assistance!!!

Matt

Hi there--
Yes, we spent 10 nights there March 2004. I will start with the positives...the cottages themselves were pretty nice. Pretty much what they look like on the website. The private little plunge pool on your deck is awesome. The dinners provided were awesome and we thought that was a neat touch. It gave us the chance to try local cuisine without going out. We also ended up having left overs most nights, so it provided us with dinners other nights as well. It was nice to have a car provided for us so we didn't have to deal with that. The privacy factor was nice, as well. There was another couple there the first two days, but we were alone the rest of the time. A couple negatives...while we were there, the dingy talked about on the website that you can take over to the little island was out of commission. It seems that previous occupants didn't know how to use it properly and ran the motor aground so Norman stopped fixing the motor. Norman repeatedly told us he'd try to get it fixed, but never did. That was one of the selling features for us, so that kind of ticked us off. The hot tub wasn't working either. That wasn't as big of a deal, but also irritating. Finally, Norman can be very nice, but also rather prickly. It was apparent to us that he didn't have a very positive view of Americans. By the end of our days there, though, we seemed to get along very well. He gave us some parting gifts which were nice and we still have displayed in our house of a reminder of our time there. His moods are just hard to read some days. He is very willing, however, to help you with any arrangements for dinner or fishing, or whatever you may need...and he will definitely tell you his opinions of places to eat. For us, the fact that not all the things advertised were available to us made it not worth the money.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Trish

[Matt D]

Trish and Steve,

Thank you both for your help with this...I look forward to my trip and sharing the info about the place when I return!

Thanks,

Matt