Blue Waters Inn review

[K Travers]

My husband and I just returned from 8 days at the Blue Waters Inn, which I have just rated on the poll as "Very Good". (You can see photos and commentary from our trip at: http://ktravers.smugmug.com/Travel/12476 )

The Inn itself has a fantastic location, and we opted for one of the bungalows, which was quite lovely. Several issues keep this at the "very good" level, in our subjective opinion.

Design issues.
1)I wonder who told them that the institutional green color all the buildings are painted with looked good?! I'm guessing they were going for a bright Caribbean feel, but it looks medicinal to me.
2)Also, my husband and I chose a bungalow because, well, we're spoiled by travel in the South Pacific where MOST accommodations, even budget ones, are in bungalows. Our bungalow was spacious and comfortable, and indeed right up on the beach. However, a footpath was situated directly in front of our deck, so one had to be prepared for passers-by quite often.
3)The Fishpot Restaurant lacks ambiance. Stringing nets up on the walls and tacking up fish models doesn't quite do much.

Food issues.
1)Food in Fishpot Restaurant was only ever just passable, rather than great, with the exceptions of the buffet of local food offered one night, and the consistently good breakfast buffet.
2)Food in the Shipwreck bar was quite nice, contrary to some reports I'd read. We really enjoyed their fried flying fish, nicely battered (not overly so as another review pegged it) and meaty. The bar is also casually decorated, with an easy ambiance much preferred to the Fishpot.

Staff issues.
As anticipated, some of the staff was a bit surly. This attitude came and went over our 8 day stay. We were not surprised, given previous reviews, but were happy to see that some staff were very pleasant indeed.

In any case, we really did have a great time here- it's easier to pick out the negative aspects, isn't it, and I don't want people to be dissuaded. Go with the right attitude yourself, and you're sure to have a wonderful time as well. It's value depends on what YOU value- for us it was the simple pleasure of having a spacious place to ourselves, a great location, and reasonable food nearby, both on hotel grounds and environs.

Hope this helps people out!

Karin

[Annie G.]

I have to say that our stay was a disappointment at the end of five great days in Tobago. We had ventured over to that side of the island for our last night and after a great days driving and exploring arrived around suppertime for check in. It really is in a beautiful location with amazing ocean view and a huge plus having to fall alseep to the sound of the ocean right outside your window.
We discovered upon checkin that there was a water shortage and when we got to our room there was a distinct odor coming from the bathroom. We called the desk about it and headed out for the evening. When we returned it was worse than ever and we slept with the windows open to ventilate the room. The following morning we were woken up to really loud thumping music at 6am and I could feel it in my throat it was that loud. I couldn't believe that someone would come on vacation to such a beautiful spot and want to listen to techo instead of the ocean at such an early hour. We called to see if anyone could investigate but it was still going an hour later. Breakfast was an adventure as they were really short staffed and we weren't in any hurry so we decided to wait and just hang out for a bit. My boyfriend who is from Trinidad ordered one of his favourites but was brought something completly different and was told "they were out and this would have to do"......the table next to us got yelled at for trying to attract some attention from our waitress.

Maybe we just got them on a bad night as it looked like it could have been a great place for some R & R. We decided to check out and just take our time driving back to the airport and just make the best of the day.

[Barry Baker]

As we're planning on visiting Blue Waters Inn in May, I'm wondering if the problems reported by Annie G. have been addressed by the management.

An update would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Barry

I think Annie was extremely unfortunate.

Annie’s only other post indicates that they were in Tobago "last year", but when last year? Yes, there was a severe water shortage in Tobago in 2003 and it did cause severe problems for everyone – all over the island. I can also envisage that if drains weren’t receiving an adequate run of water, they could start to smell. However, Annie says

a huge plus having to fall alseep to the sound of the ocean right outside your window.

How are you going to fall asleep to the sound of the sea if you’ve got the windows closed, which means you would also have to have air-conditioning on?

Music so loud that she could

feel it in her teeth

The hotel is normally so quiet that any loud music at any time of the day, much less 6am, would have half the guests in the hotel up in arms. I would also have been fascinated to know more about the culprits. The sort of person that plays loud techno doesn’t normally get up at 6am.

Told

they were out and this would have to do

and

yelled at for trying to attract some attention from our waitress

I’m sorry, but this is most definitely not the hotel I know.

Jill and I toured the Blue Waters Inn as a re-inspection in January. It is all looking extremely smart. All the buildings have been painted and the main restaurant revamped. I was very impressed. Yes, as I said in my review, they have had some problems with staff attitude. During the past year they have increased salary levels considerably and introduced staff incentive schemes. If you come across any “attitude”, please, please mention it to Duane Kenny, the General Manager. You are bound to meet him – he is always around and takes great pleasure in talking to guests. He really needs and wants to know about problems. By the way, if you have any spare room in your cases, please bring back Teddy, Duane’s 9-month old black cocker spaniel /Labrador (?) cross that always follows him around. He is the most delightful young dog I’ve ever come across and has become the total star of the hotel. Everybody just loves him.

Have a great trip and don’t take too much notice of this report – I find it difficult to take at face value. Make your own mind up, but be sure to let us know your own views when you get back.

[Cornelia Montgomery]

I wonder if Annie has the Blue Waters confused with another hotel. She mentions "calling" to complain about loud techno music at 6 a.m. I last stayed at the Blue Waters in February 2003, and there was no telephone in our room. My impression is that none of the rooms have telephones, but I could be wrong. During our stay, we had no problem with water supply.

[Steve Wooler]

Cornelia - may I change your username to 'Sherlock Holmes'?

I have always considered Annie's report suspicious and I am amazed that I missed something so obvious. I confirm that the rooms at the Blue Waters Inn DO NOT have telephones. Annie says they “called the desk” about the odour from the bathroom and then mentions “called to see if anyone could investigate the loud music”. OK, they could have “called AT” the desk as they “headed out for the evening” but where would anyone “head out” to in Speyside after dark? As far as the morning “call” goes, the front desk would be unmanned at 6am. They would have had to leave their room and find one of the patrolling night security guards and get him to call the Manager, Duane Kenny.

I would urge everyone to treat Annie's report with scepticism. It strikes me as being either a grudge report or just maybe she did confuse the BWI with somewhere else.

[Cornelia Montgomery]

Well, there are several "blue" hotels in Tobago: Blue Waters, Blue Mango, Half Moon Blue, Blue Haven -- to name four I can think of. So confusion is possible, but the description doesn't seem to fit any of them.

[Steve Wooler]

No, I don't think she woud be confusing it with any other "Blue" hotel. I suspect that if the post is genuine, Annie might have meant another hotel in the immediate Speyside area that I've heard regular poor reports about and which I would simply have nodded had she named.

[Cornelia Montgomery]

Just had one last thought on this subject. Could the loud "techno" music have been the "lovely" song of the cocoricos? They've woken me up once or twice -- very loud at dawn, these birds!

But I've never associated them with "techno" music or any other kind of music that people make.

[Steve Wooler]

You could be spot on there, Cornelia. If they had been "out for the evening" down at a local rum shop, they could well have been in a state to confuse the two.

Seriously, though, those bloody cocricos are a menace. Worse still, for the life of me I can't understand why Tobago should have chosen them as their national bird - never have I seen a less attractive un-redeeming creature. On top of that, they're protected so they can’t even be caught for the pot. I know they are unique to Tobago, but that is something they want to keep quiet about.

Funnily enough Jill and I have been having a lot of chats about our reviews. We need to get together a check-list of things to consider about every property we review so that we don't forget anything. One of the things we were discussing was how to evaluate the cockerel and cocrico problem. We need a cocrico-index or something. Food for thought!

[Barry Baker]

Thanks to everyone who took time to reply to my query about Annie G.'s comments. Sounds like Blue Waters Inn is what we are looking for after all. We're really looking forward to our visit. And I'll post an update to the forum when we return.

Thanks again.
-Barry

[Bob Kerr]

Hello,

We are going to the Blue Waters Inn next week (Thursday), we've booked a self catering apartment. It's our first visit to the BWI / Tobago / Caribbean. Judging by the differing posts it should be, well, interesting and I hope to post a review when we return.

We've pre-booked a hire car from the airport. Can anyone tell me how long the drive is likely to be?

Also my wife can swim but not out of her depth and gets nervous if the beach slopes quickly. Is the beach at BWI going to be OK for her? I read that Englishman's Bay is a must see beach.

Thanks in advance.

[Duane Kenny]

Good morning All. I'm sorry that I was not able to report earlier on this but I was away on a business trip. Let's go through the issues.

Techno music - Blue Waters Inn is an extremely quiet place so techno music would have been definitely an issue with all my customers. I do not recall any circumstance that was bought to my attention about this.

Water Issues - I do not recall any water issues last month. Although we have had a few issues with water this month as we are now into full dry season. All issues have been rectified as of my return today as we have added 20,000 more gallons of water capacity to our stock.

I can't imagine my servers yelling at customers, or telling guests that "this will have to do" with regards to orders. I train my staff regularly about customer service and it is just not the way we operate. If anyone experiences such things I would hope that they would tell myself or one of my managers right away so that we could deal with the issue.

Smells in the room I'm not sure about, as there could be a dead fish on the beach, or maybe even a clogged line to the soak away. It is not an issue that our customers have complained about.

We do have phones in our bungalow rooms so maybe they stayed there.

I hope I have answered all of your questions with regards to this review. I can not say whether or not this customer stayed at the hotel but I will say that Blue Waters Inn is working hard to become one of the best hotels on the island. We do care about our customers and every day we add something new to our product or make steps towards an overall improvement. My management team also works hard to be on call at all times during the day and night so that we are there if the customer needs us. I look forward to any further questions you have. Have a great day. Duane Kenny General Manager Blue Waters Inn

[Duane Kenny]

Hey Bob, I look forward to your arrival next week, and don't worry we have plenty of rum punch waiting. Now down to your questions.
1) I like to tell guests it takes about 1 hour and a half (its normally less but you never know how many chickens are crossing the road, or goats, or who is getting married)
2) The beach at Blue Waters Inn gradually slopes out, so its not an instant drop, and its sandy. I'm sure she will be fine.
3) Englishmans bay is stunning but it on the other hand does slope fairly drasticly and when its rough on the Caribbean side (the swell season is almost over now) it can be tricky entering the water. Don't worry though I can tell you what the waves are likely to be when you come as surfing is one of my past times, so I check the wave reports almost daily.

[Kevin Hampson]

Hi Bob,
As Duane said the drive is about 1 & 1/2 hours . If your used to english roads and driving it may take a bit longer. We were there last November and the day we had a car it took around 2 & 1/2 to drive back from Crown Point.

If your wife is a nervous in the water I'd suggest one of the glass bottom boat trips you get to see a lot of the coral and fish even if you don't go snorkeling.

the BWI beach is OK but I'd take a bit more care over Englishmans Bay, it is very nice but from what I remember it does shelve down quite quickly to just over a meter then levels out for a bit then shelves steeply again this time down to over a couple of meters.

I would not be to concerned about Annie's comments, a good number of the guests at BWI were return visitors and I have booked to go back in October and I would not have done that if we had had any problems when we were there in November last year.

Oh I lie there was one thing, if your a diver check the dive shop parrot is NOT in the tree above you when you are kitting up.

Regards
Kevin

[Duane Kenny]

Especially when he's just eaten watermellon!. Hey steve how do I insert a picture. I took some new ones of Trini and he is in full form!
Duane

[Steve Wooler]

Come on, guys, I thought it was supposed to be good luck when a bird poos on you!

Duane, you can't insert a photo yourself. You can either put the photo on your own site and then provide a link to it within the post, or send the photo to me and if it's a nice one, I'll shove it in my photo-library and add it to whichever of your posts you would like. A nice one of Trini would be good - he's a smasher. One of Teddy would be even better - that dog's coming home with me next trip, for sure!

[Bob Kerr]

Thanks for your answers and reassurances Duane & Kevin. Two other questions: I understand that the mains power on the island is 110V. So that I can prepare in advance, can you let me know if this is supplied via the same sockets as those used in North America? Also is there a local shop for basic items nearby or should we stop off in Scarborogh on the way through?

Thanks in advance.

Bob.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Bob

Yes, plugs are the standard two-pin flat type found throughout North America.

There are small stores in Speyside, but you would be best to stock up at PennySavers at Canaan, the island's biggest (relative term) supermarket. It's only a shade over 2 miles fromthe airport and you'll be driving right past it. You can miss it - it's on the left and you'll spot the traffic jam outside.

[Annie G.]

In response to your reply from my post mentioning our unfortunate stay at Blue Waters I can tell you it was very genuine and definetly not a "grudge" post as you so nicely phrased it.

We actually ran into our neighbours (people next door) who I spotted on the balcony after being woken up at 6am. There were a few other rooms also out on the balcony looking around and I thought they were also looking for the source of such loud and disruptive music. As it turns out they were the culprits and apolgized for waking us up. What I was surprised about was that it was let go on for so long as it was impossible to get back to sleep. What would it be a grudge for. If you monitored the other posts on this website you would have read a very favourable post from me for "Coco Reef" and the restaurant "Indigo" which we loved. The smell from the bathroom was definetly there and like I mentioned in my first post we probably caught them on a bad night but this website is for expressing an opinion and that was mine. Randal did not get what he ordered for breakfast was really was told that this would have to do in those exact words and he just let it go as they were short staffed and we didn't want to wait any longer. Having being raised in a bed and breakfast in Ireland I know a couple of things about friendly service and we simply did not get it at the Blue Waters in.

You can treat this with sceptism or any way you like but when you ask for opinions and get them you could at least take them seriously and not respond to them as you did mine.