Were back, and as promised, here is our honest opinion of the RTB. firstly i must say how wonderful tobago is. a happy, happy island. we love it.
as for the rex, on arrival we were met with refreshing towels and a rum punch. lovely touch. when we began to take our surroundings in we were pleasantly surprised. the pool is simply beautiful, much better than the photographs show, tired and travel weary, we staggered to the low wall to check out the beach. WOW. no picture did this justice. maybe a mile and a half of emptiness. ok, it wasnt the calmest of seas, and it was a liitle steep, but my goodness! and, despite previous reports, it was perfectly clean. no dog poo, no rubbish, just a heap of fishing nets here and there. the reception staff were very welcoming, and we were in our rooms in no time. as said, rooms are basic, but spotlessly clean, and the beds were superb. yes, the bathrooms DO need replacing, but remember where you are, the caribbean, and if it works, you dont need a new one! step on to the balcony, and the view from your room will amaze you. to lay in bed in the morning and watch the palm trees ang sparkling sea....
so far so good! remember i said we have never been AI before, so cant really compare for you that side of things, but can confidently say for food and drink it was value for money. im a veggie, and have never had so much choice before! fish fans will be in heaven, and carnivors will be more than happy too. chef is from sri lanka, and an absolute dear. he will do his best to make you happy. the waitresses are jolly girls too. but make the effort to talk to the staff, i think they get some really arrogant AI guests and they can be a bit wary till they know you. the other facilities offered to AI guests weren't that exciting, to be honest, but being tobago you can forgive anything. well almost. the grumbly bits.......
tennis courts. usable, just, and a bit of a job to find 3 racquets. watersports. per brochure. nice guys. got us a jet ski (charge) with superb tuition. t.v room. is just that. big room some chairs. big tv. accounts office watching you through two way mirror. euro 04 was on during our stay, and as the cable system crashed regularly.there was a near riot when england played and off it went. ping pong. the table is in the tv room. its almost a "u" shape from people leaning on it. very wobbly, two bats if your lucky. we found a cracked ball, asked for a new one, to be told they only had the one more. hmmmm. the bars. the lounge bar, very relaxing though it is, would close by 10.15. the shutters would come down, and that was that. "company policy" we were told. surely they should be open until guests had finished their drinks? another nice touch would have been popcorn or nuts on the bar as you find elsewhere, but no. the pool bar. two fantastic barmen made us all laugh with their dancing and laughing to the music, but a third, when he was on,killed the atmosphere dead, virtually threw drinks at you, and didnt do the job. people left for their rooms. i was really miffed one night when i requested a whiskey. "weve run out". run out!!! this is a big hotel! what was going on!. the same applied when my daughter wanted a coke. we smelled a rat. the staff are severly stretched to breaking point at the surf bar. with just one guy on a saturday night with maybe 40 people to serve, and restaurant orders too. we began to look at the management of the place. i think its fair to say that the staff do a difficult job under a bad management. you can see that some of the cooks are just going through the paces, and we heard whispers that no one was that happy with the way things were with the rex bosses. personally, we felt sorry for them all. we felt that EVERYTHING was run on a meagre budget, apart from the food. but the smiles and the generosity of spirit of almost everyone who works there made you forgive anything. the cleaners were a bunch of pink housecoated gems. what stars! cleaning up to 125 rooms in that heat, and they didnt even put the air con on! mind you, they probably couldnt stand the noise. yes, it was rattly and loud, but you do get used to it...
the peace and quiet could be found right outside your room. some days i lay on my sunbed on that long golden beach, and saw maybe a handful of people stroll along all day. it really did feel tranquil. bliss. the hawkers were no problem, a pleasant "no thanks", then after that they would just wave at you daily like an old friend.
one thing we couldnt understand was, why spend SOOOO much money on the new pool, bar and jaccuzi, and spoil it by returning all the 1970s sunloungers, some of which were mouldy or broken??
so, in overview, a pleasant enough hotel, in a fantastic position, which could be an absolute gem in the rex chain if they just tidied her up a bit. we hope the management wake up, and realise what good staff they do have before its too late. we love tobago, had a wonderful time, and will return, but not to the rex.
oh, and by the way, we did get the kids to cristals on a saturday night, but they couldnt see the fun in their parents jigging around to soca music after a few rums. wonder why?!
)