Guest Report

[Clive Longbottom]

We took a last minute/LastMinute decision to go to Tobago, finding a package deal for the Half Moon Blue. Searches on the Internet gave widely differing views on the hotel, so we thought that we'd put forwards our views.

The hotel consists of a main reception/bar/restaurant block and two separate accommodation blocks. One accommodation block consists of 4 standard rooms, the other has 2 standard, 2 junior penthouse and one main penthouse suite. We had 2 standard rooms - one in each block, it would have been nice if we had had adjoining rooms.

The rooms are of a large size, with direct phones, cable television, comfy seats, reasonable beds (they do creak a fair amount)and working air conditioning and good size fridges (we have seen repotrs that these fridges are falling apart - they are a little rusty on teh outside, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with how they work or the cleanliness inside). We found these fridges very useful to keep drinks in (the hotel bar is a dark little place that was not overly inviting) and also for food for those who do not fancy facing the joys of driving on Tobago's roads after dark. The hotel restaurant, although providing food of good quality, is very high priced and the only other option is an even higher priced restaurant across the road in another hotel.

However, breakfasts are good. A helping of fresh fruit (varied during our stay) is provided along with a glass of fruit juice, tea or coffee, choice of eggs cooked any way with bacon, cornflakes, toast and jam is the basic offering, with a reasonable choice of extras at an additional payment.

The overflow pool is fantastic - it's a bit small in itself, but is deep enough for gentle swimming. It's main draw, though, is the view over Bacolet Bay. The only pity is that the hotel doesn't have anyone around to serve cocktails or other drink to those using the pool.

The staff are, overall, friendly and we found them helpful when we needed anything. The cleaners are very good - not only did we find that everything was kept to a very high standard, but the sounds of them giggling between themselves while doing the cleaning was nice to hear.

In some write ups and hotel descriptions we saw indications that there is internet access in the rooms - there isn't. The hotel does have a dedicated room for internet access with 2 computers and they are happy for you to use the LAN connectors for your own computers. However, at a price of around 7UKP per hour, thi is 7 times the cost in Scarborough, so we woudl recommend only using this in emergencies.

We liked the hotel, we found it very pleasant and it met our requirements and was beyond our expectations compared to what we had read in other reviews. Without being able to break down the room price (as we were part of a full package), we can't comment on the true value. However, from looking at the hotel's web site and seeing the base prices for the rooms, it seems to be at the higher end of what I would expect. However, as part of the package we got, we can't fault it for overall value.

The hotel's position in Bacolet means that you have excellent access to Scarborough (about 5 minute's car drive), and via the main highway through to the main tourist areas of Pigeon Point and Store Bay. For those wanting the less touristy bits, the hotel gives easy access up the Atlantic side of the island, and it's easy to get across to the Caribbean side as well.

Just a quick bit on Tobago itself - a beautiful island (the rain forest is so unexpected), full of beautiful people, good food and drink mostly at good prices, good weather (don't pay any attention to this "wet season" stuff - the temperature is still hot, the rain tends to fall in the early morning, it's only the humidity that is very noticably high), great swimming (the water temperature is wonderful), good snorkelling (and we believe that the diving is also good).

For those looking for a good wind-down holiday, Tobago is a good choice - just make sure that you do hire a car, and then make sure that you rapidly understand the main driving style of the Tobagonians (Hey, I'm on a hairpin bend on a mountainside with a drop down to a gulley, but there's someone that I haven't spoken to for a couple of days, so I'll just stop and talk to them).

Enjoy!