My review - May 2004

[Rachel Harries]

I feel I have been back sufficiently long enough to write my review of Coco Reef ;O) As the part of our trip that we paid for (thanks Steve etc etc, again), I also think I can be quite objective about it and so write a fair review. I am a journalist and have been fortunate enough to stay in some great hotels in many different countries. And yet, Coco Reef is really quite unique!

Coco Reef is not five star. It's a four star establishment, with a great restaurant (truly incredible food) in Tamaras and some fine points. These include:

* Great maid service. Almost too much, with twice daily visits
* Good remote control air conditioning. Functional and not too noisy
* The true Ocean View rooms do have a great view (we were in room 242, and I'm glad :O))
* Good location near Crown Point - the chances to 'escape' are plentiful
* Courteous staff in the main (say good morning and good afternoon etc instead of hi and you will get a great response!)
* A great 'open air' feel to the place. I loved the balcony overlooking the terrace
* A good beach with safe swimming (matters more to others than it does to me)
* Kevah, Carla and Amos - some of the staff who made our stay really enjoyable
* The gardens
* Shower gel, shampoo and after sun - all provided
* Clock radio by the bed
* Decor and ambience
* Entertainment - mostly good, most evenings
* Breakfasts
* Clean, fresh hotel - almost new-looking in places

* Horrendous noise from the seagulls on that ugly wall. I never really got used to it and heard from many people that it was because it was mating season. I didn't believe them - I fear it's a problem all year round
That stupid 'bag a sun lounger at 6.30am' game. Urgh
* Mosquitos (hardly their fault)
* The fawning over repeat customers. While I appreciate their significance, I feel it's just as important to look after new clients. Newbies are almost brushed aside in favour of old friends. I saw a 'VIP list' sitting on the bar. Lucky you if your name's on it, and there was quite a list - it was about three pages long!
* The fact that the best tables get booked up quickly in the evening, and there are some which you are never likely to be seated at
* The house wine. Yuk!
* Hard, threadbare towels (the bath variety) and ditto for sheets. The bed wasn't the comfiest, either. Beach towels were better
* The extortionate price of drinks from the mini bar
* The shower - a trickle at best and often a bit too cool
* Internet access/computer availablility. This should be addressed
* Some embarrassingly British fellow guests who made my skin crawl with their behaviour. It's a REALLY mixed clientele at CRR
* Thin walls (we were next to a line of newlyweds and honeymooners ;O)). Again, there's not much they can do about that and I guess it was our bad luck! The air con does drown most noise out

Is that more negatives than positives? I didn't mean there to be. I would very happily go back (and be fawned over ;O)), but do need to get out every day so that I'm not all-inclusived out by the end of the holiday, as I got this time. I met some wonderful people, ate some incredible food (although I could do both outside of the Coco Reef) and thought that in the mainpart the customer service was good. Well, it was for us. People we met had problems with overbooking and overcharging on their final bill, but we escaped that.

Thanks for reading... I wonder how many got this far?!

Rachel

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Rachel

Thanks for that comprehensive report. As you say, the Coco Reef Resort is quite unique. Yes, it's far from perfect, but nevertheless, it's a very special place and the fact that it has such an incredibly high percentage of repeat guests at any time says an awful lot about the hotel.

Regarding the seagulls and other birds on the sea wall. Yes, it is a problem at this time of the year. April/May are the mating season and they have taken to nesting on the wall over the past three years. The hotel have apparently tried everything to scare them off and to prevent nesting, all to no avail. Between you and me, I am told that they would like to take more drastic action, but are being prevented from doing so. As everywhere, it is that usual conflict between visitors and ecology.

[Rachel Harries]

Hi Steve

I don't know what the solution is. I don't approve of shooting them or poisoning them (I was told several times that they poison the little black 'breakfast' birds but I don't believe that either - and it hasn't been successful ) I just think that the wall is unsightly, and it's attracted the seagulls... it's a downside of the resort, that's all.

Oh, and I forgot the fluffy white bathrobes. Another plus point!

Rachel

[Joe King]

Hi Guys,

I was just wondering, Rachel, did you see the sea-ward side of the wall? It is lined with barbed wire on the north side, apparently to stop local children and people from interacting with the guests. We heard this from Richard a life guard on Store Bay, so I'm not saying the reason is gospel and if anyone has another explanation please voice it! and apparently the reason the wall is there is to stop their man-made beach being washed away!?!?!

As for Coco Reef, and Tamaras we went there one night during our stay. I rang at about 4.30pm to make a reservation. The extension in Tamaras was busy so the girl on reception said she would take my booking. I asked if there was a set dinner menu or if it was a la Carte. I was told a la Carte. I proceeded to book a table for 6.30pm. (we needed an early booking because we were going out Turtle watching at 8.30). The Girl confirmed that my table was booked for 2 people at 6.30... so imagine my surprise when we were met at Tamara's at 6.30 by two bouncers, who claimed to be waiters. We were laughed at when we said we had a reservation at 6.30, and we were told the restaurant wasn't open until 7. I explained that the girl on reception had taken our booking for 6.30 but again we were laughed at!! I asked if we could sit at 7, which, after about a 10 minute wait, we were told we could.

We went up to the terrace and had a drink. The Piano and the service were fantastic on the the Terrace, and the view is well worth the visit. I must admit I never saw or heard any sea-gulls, but I was raised beside the sea!!

At 7pm we were making our way down the steps to the restaurant when I was grapped from behind by our 'friendly' waitress, and told I couldn't leave until I paid for our drinks. I explained that we were going for a meal and asked if the drinks could be put on our main bill. The staff must be really happy in their job, because again I was laughed at and told no!!! While this was going on Cheryl had been grabbed by the girl at the entrance to the restaurant and was told she would be seated, so she was escorted off by one of our bouncer/waiter friends from earlier! I was left standing at the foot of the stairs from the terrace, firstly waiting on my bill and then waiting on my change. Then I went looking for my wife, with no offer of assistance from the staff!!! That is until Dawyne, our waiter for the evening asked me if I was looking for someone, he immediately brought me to our table and for the rest of our dining experience he and the rest of the people who waited our table were fantastic. Unfortunately when we were seated we were handed the set dinner menu!! No a La Carte at this point I became a little agitated, but I was calmed by my wife and we stuck with it.

The food was exceptional, Cheryl had half a giant tuna which took her almost 40 minutes to eat, and god love her, she persevered until it was no more!!! I had a fine sized fillet of Steak which was cooked to perfection. The deserts, obviously homemade were also out of this world.

The wine was also fantastic and our glasses were always topped up at exactly the right moment. We made the really hard decision to ask for a manager, even though at this stage our anger/frustration had subsided with the help of a good feed and an excellent bottle of Macon Village.

We waited on the manager for 15 minutes (an acceptable length of time given that the restaurant was extremely busy). He denied that any of the reception staff would have taken a booking for 6.30 and said that she must have thought we were saying 7.30!!! Talk about the customer always being right???!!!??? He never once apologised for the level of service, and was again laughing most of the time we were speaking to him.

As I have said before a bad experience always ignites a more fervent response. But I feel it is my duty as a My Tobago citizen to voice my opinion. I accept this may have been an isolated incident, and I hope it was, because despite all the negatives we found, the food and the service once seated in the restaurant were 5 star plus.

Joe

[Julie]

hi

I agree pretty much with Rachel's review of Coco Reef having just returned. A couple of things I would add.

We had a sea view on the ground floor which was fine but the lighting is awful and the room was quite dark. Makes it really hard to read sometimes.
The food did get a little repetitive at lunch ( having BQ everyday and then once as a theme evening)
The sea wall which i was prepared to hate having read so much about it on this site was a source of great joy to me and my husband as the snorkelling around it is just wonderful. We saw some wonderful Queen Angel fish, huge parrot fish, trumpet fish and lots of stuff I didn't recognise some of which was about 4 foot long.
Also one day after the weather had been a little rough out at sea two large rays decided to shelter inside the bay which in itself is full of literally thousands of fish.
The whole ugly creation is actually turning ( slowly ) into the most fantastic house reef complete with noisy gulls, quiet pelicans and most amazing frigate birds overhead.
The only downside to the bay was the two jet skis that came over from Pidgeon Point everyday!!! Every snorkellers worst nightmare.
I fully respect people who love to lie on the beach all day but the best stuff happens below the water in Coco Reef. You can hire snorkel gear at the dive shop on the beach free of charge and it is so worth doing it.
By the way we snorkelled right around the sea wall and there is only a small bit of barbed wire on the right hand wall of the hotel ( as you look out to sea ) and not around the wall. I don't know what the purpose of it is but I suspect to stop beach vendors climbing in to the resort.

[Rachel Harries]

Nice to see you agree

I also enjoyed the underwater side of Coco Reef and agree that the wall is creating a lovely new environment for the fish and other below-water-dwelling life. It's just to look at above water... maybe I wouldn't have thought twice about it if it weren't for the seagulls, and the fact that they've planted palms and put those white statues on it - so drawing even more attention to it!

Joe - I can picture your experience as a paying visitor to the restaurant - how infuriating, and agree that the table service is impeccable. I can't think of a single restaurant in the Uk where the aiting service is so slick and professional. I hated the 'if your name's on the list, you'll sit at that special table' thing, but again I accept that often it's a business decision thing. I didn't notice the barbed wire, but whatever it is for, it worked! I didn't get hassled by a beach vendor/glass bottom boat salesman/calabash man once inside the resort. Outside it's a different matter. I'm sure it's not to keeo the locals out. Any time someone local came to visit us they were welcomed, no problem.

Rachel

[Joe King]

Don't get me wrong, I think Coco Reef is one of the most spectacular hotels I have ever set foot in. The drive, the lobby, the terrace bar, the beach. They are all beautiful, and I am sure the Hotel richly deserves the Caribean Hotel of the Year award that it has recently received.

But I'm afraid Julie, that we saw more than just 'a little bit of barbed wire'!
It just doesn't belong there. Why make the outside of a spectacular hotel look like a prison wall?

Joe

[Cornelia Montgomery]

I was under the impression that all beaches on Tobago are public. So how can the Coco Reef use barbed wire to cut off access to locals and others? I seem to remember that these tactics on the part of Pigeon Point were widely criticized on this board.

[Rachel Harries]

Interesting point, and I'm not sure I know the answer (but someone will!). I am still not entirely comfortable with the man-made beach thing at Coco Reef and lots of other resorts, worldwide. They have created a sandy/cove/bay which didn't exist as such before. They paid for it to be created, so they own it? It's certainly not a public beach - it very much belongs to the hotel.

Rachel

[Cornelia Montgomery]

But what's the definition of a beach? Does it have to have sand? Isn't a beach just where the water meets the land? If I have mud where the beach ends and I place sand there, have I created a beach or just altered it?

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Cornelia

The situation is not as clear cut as it ought to be. Rachel is right; the Coco Reef Resort avoids the law because they created the beach on their own land. As Rachel also mentioned, the ugly sea wall was built to prevent sea erosion of the beach. Although Tobago is south of the hurricane belt, the original “beach” was devastated in November 1999 by storms and tidal conditions initiated by Hurricane Lenny, which was raging further north. In fact I would mention that problems during the building of the sea wall directly led to the creation of myTobago.info, so believe you me, the resort has come in from more than a bit of criticism from us. However, that is all past history now.

The barbed wire on the areas around the sea wall is very much for the protection of guests. Without it, it was just too easy for toe-rags to climb the wall and enter the hotel. This is not a problem during the day, but a different matter at night, given the lovely open layout of the hotel. Imagine having to put security doors on all those entrances. In fact, while staying there in 2002 I witnessed an incident that made me realise how necessary the security is. At around 2am early one morning, a dinghy suddenly appeared in the lagoon and the occupants disappeared into the bedroom wings. They subsequently appeared in the Reception area (we were sat in the Gallery Bar overlooking all of this). In this case they proved to be a party from one of the yachts moored in the bay. By coming in through the bedrooms, they hoped to appear as guests so that the night staff would not question it when they asked them to call a taxi. Heavens knows where they were thinking of going at that time of night. However, they may have just been late night revellers (or hoping to be) but they could just as easily have been up to no good. The hotel has constant night patrols, but it’s a big area and so they have to do something to prevent anyone slipping over the wall at night.

I’m not clear on what the law says and would be fascinated to hear from anyone on Tobago who can clarify the situation. I get the impression that it probably states that the public have full right of access provided that entry/access to the beach can be made without crossing private land. A good example of this is the Canoe Bay. Nobody objects to paying for access to the beach and facilities there – in fact I would say that Canoe Bay is arguably one of the very most popular beaches with locals.