Guest Report

[Brian Oxley]

On behalf of my wife and I, I would just like to add a report in case like us any of you have any doubts about visiting this hotel due to negative comments (which we were at first worried about). The hotel is classed as 4 star plus but we feel it should have been 5 star!. First of all the location was perfect, 5 mins from the airport (you couldn't hear aircraft noise) and great to be the first drop off after a long flight. Rooms- if you have booked like us De luxe Ocean View that is what you will get, that said because they have beautiful grounds some of the foliage is rather overgrown so not a complete sea view (the Junior Suites are completely clear but then that is on the next price band), however when we left they did appear to be tidying up the trees and foliage. The rooms were spacious, colourful with cane furniture and beautiful decor and the maid service with fresh towels everyday was second to none. Restaurants - Tamaras and Bucchinals. Tamaras is part of the all inclusive package and is A La Carte and you do have to book for this and the best time to do this is first thing in the morning from your room if you like to eat before 8.30 pm, otherwise if you are quite happy to eat say 8 - 9 pm, then no problem you will get a table waiting maximum time only say 10 - 15 mins. It is worth going to, the food is superb, the only requirement the hotel ask is that gentlemen wear long trousers, no shorts, beach footwear etc but certainly not collar and ties so it isn't strictly formal. Bucchinals downstairs is the beach restaurant but that also is excellent and it certainly isn't the case of McDonalds downstairs and A La Carte upstairs, its just its a buffet instead of waitress service in the evenings. At lunchtimes they had a wonderful bbq serving wonderful fish such as catfish, tuna, steak, stir frys, you name they have it, it was so good that we had to force ourselves to make sure we were eating salads as we were having two dinners daily!!! There were restaurants locally but to be honest the ones we saw looked more like snack bars and we weren't sure how busy they were at night and we didn't venture out at night as the street lighting looked a bit non existent!
However, we did hear from other people that Dillons nearby was quite good so maybe that is worth a try.

Swimming Pool. Yes it is small but I would say average than small, you certainly can have a decent swim, but not safe for small children as there isn't a separate section and most parents opted for the sea which was safer.

Entertainment. Excellent, not repeated - likewise neither was the food, so we never felt like oldie holidaymakers the second week. Mostly finished before midnight.

Staff. Excellent, always ready to help, some people complained because of slow service, we didn't experience this and most of the staff loved it when you chatted to them and quite a few of the young girls were trainees and again loved it when you asked them about thier lives etc. Everytime we turned round someone was always there to fill up your wine glass! Leroy does a wonderful beach service serving cold water, cold drinks and the fruit kebabs were great!!

Chill-Out Service. This is for people who have booked with Virgin Holidays, excellent service, the ground staff come into the hotel on the last day (including passport control) take your heavy cases, give you your boarding passes then that's it, the rest of the day is free until you are ready to be picked up! You can keep your room on if it isn't being used (charge applicable) or else book a courtesy room. We were not able to keep our room on but fortunately for us we made friends with another couple who could and they very kindly allowed us to use their shower). Just remember though keep some money on the last day as all inclusive finishes 3pm and flight times can change as well.

Excursions - We loved 'The Island Girl' which can be booked via rep, wonderful food, catamaran, beautiful beach 'cotton bay' only accessible by boat (crew feeds a local stingray there - great for snorkling) also Speyside which is a walk in the rain forest and visiting the Argyll Falls was excellent. However to get to the waterfall you have to negotiate some rocks so use sensible footwear such as trainers, that said my wife had trainers but as they get wet they became slippery and she was a bit concerned as she had recovered from a torn cartiledge operation before she came to Tobago and so was a bit nervous of negotiating the rocks, that said the guides were on hand and helped everyone through okay and it was worth the getting passed the rocks to get to the waterfall which we both enjoyed swimming under. The best type of footwear our guide wore was windsurfing sandals which had a grip on.

Hotel good for honeymooners, couples, children (just watch pool for little ones)not really suitable for teenageers nothing to do for them, no games rooms etc unless they like swimming, snorklling etc or people who like nightclubs and busy night life, Tobago is not the place, Barbados is busier for this.

My only gripe is with trips, most were late pick ups- i.e. 8.15 pm for Sunday School ( we recommend this trip) on our ticket, others told 8.45 pm pick up, likewise with car hire, 9 am pick up, one chap had to wait until 11 am for his car!! and we heard about others complaining re-late pick ups. Any questions?