Grafton Beach Resort
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:20 pm
I have just returned from a 2 week honeymoon at the Grafton Beach Resort (21 Sept - 5th Oct). We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend Tobago and the Grafton Beach Resort but nowhere's perfect! September is very humid so probably not the best time to go. Also, I wouldn't recommend flying with BWIA if you're used to flying with BA, Virgin etc. Its slower, with lots of stops (St.Lucia, and Trinidad to change plane) and you only see one or 2 movies in 10 hours, and only get one real meal plus a light snack which leaves you very hungry. Alcoholic drinks are chargeable and there's not really any in-flight duty free. The radio didn't work on the way there either.
Our room at the Grafton was totally adequate with a seaview balcony right on the beach, TV (ariel didn't work that well but you don't go to Tobago to watch TV do you?), bath with shower and plenty of hot water(bathroom could no with a refurb) very clean, huge kingsize bed (most rooms have two queens), large mirrored doored wardrobe. The maid cleaned it every morning but was a bit slap dash at replacing towels. Iron etc delivered to your room if you ask but takes them a while. Air con kept leaking and wasn't the best. Patio doors were a bit old. Could have done with a kettle etc as there's no room service.
Food was very good. This was our first time at all-inclusive hotel as we usually like to try different places but I don't think we missed out too much as the variety and quality was excellent. With a full buffet breakfast with loads of hot choices and a chef to prepare your eggs how you like them, tea/ coffee served to your table, overlooking the ocean, fresh fruit, yoghurts, pastries.................and the service was excellent. The waiters and waitresses are very good. Make reservations for dinner the morning before to get the time you want though and if you want to eat at Neptunes for dinner (small Seafood restaurant) book before you go or as soon as you arrive if you want to eat there more than once as you have to book at least a week in advance. Having said that, Neptune's is not a whole lot better than Oceanview on an a la carte night. Oceanview has buffet and a la carte on alternate nights but both are equally good. That is to say the food on the buffet is of the same quality but you help yourself (chef does carvery) and there's a lot more choice so in some ways the buffet is better (and I'm not normally a fan of buffets). Neptune's is just more intimate as it only seats around 8 - 10 people at a time with one chef and one waitress. Lunch is either buffet or menu at oceanview or menu at the beachbar which is burgers & chips, toasted sarnies, chicken/ fish/ veggie roti, fish & chips etc. We preferred to eat lunch at oceanview where you get a choice of soup with fresh baked rolls, and 3 or 4 main buffet choices, usually with pasta, rice and potato choices, 2 or 3 salads, and fruit salad and 4 or 5 desert choices. They also usually have pizza plus you can order from the snack menu with roti, sandwiches, burgers etc all served with chips. This menu changes every day.
Drinks are premium branded and local drinks. They have a huge list of cocktails which are great although some of the bar staff make them better than others! Most of the bar staff are friendly but there are a few grumpy ones but on the whole service was excellent and we never had to wait very long. There was evening entertainment every night, sometimes with 2 or 3 acts on one night. Some of the acts were a bit dodgy but the majority were entertaining to a certain extent. The steel pan band perform at the beach bar/ restaurant every sunday lunchtime, they're v.good. They also ahve a beach barbecue every sunday. Most night its one or 2 musicians accompanied by one or two vocalists, we also had a cultural dance group (v.good), a limbo dancer with fire!, an asian choir, & bongo type drummers.
We used the beach every day but people who used the pool complained that it needed a good clean. Also there were not enough sunbeds at the pool or the beach so you get people getting up at 6 or 7am to put their towels down! There was even talk of sunbed rage where arguments were caused by people putting towels down in the morning but not using the beds til the afternoon. We stayed out of it by laying on towels on the beach in the shade of the coconut palms! The beach is nice, the sea is very warm and clean. Snorkelling can be had at the end of the bay by the rocks. It is a public beach so you do get locals trying to sell you tours/ jewellery/ coconuts/ weed/ CDs/ aloe vera/ sob stories etc but they don't hassle you like they do in Thailand etc. There are also a number of craft stalls on the beach itself.
We did a couple of trips while we were in Tobago, one to Speyside and Little Tobago and another to Pigeon Point. Both trips were very good and lunch at Gemma's in Speyside (an institution) was very good. The roads are very windy and it takes longer than you think to get anywhere so I would recommend doing a tour but we went alone and found that the car we hired to get to speyside had no working lights and only just arrived back at grafton before it was pitch black (about 6.30pm)!! You can just take a taxi to PP and get a boat trip when you get there, no need to do a tour as its not far from the Grafton. PP is stunning and of the two trips, PP is better although you get to see more of Tobago by going to Speyside.
Sunday School was a bit of a let down but we got there too early at around 9.30pm. Best to arrive after 11pm I think. Also, TobagoFest was on that night so all the locals were partying somewhere else.
Internet cafe, ATM, mini mart and pizza takeaway are all a five minute walk from the hotel. We visited the Grand Courlan for a massage and to use the gym but it didn't seem much different to the Grafton. You pay alot more to stay there but I think its only worthwhile if you want to have a beauty/spa treatment every day or go diving every day. They share all the beach facilities with us and their menus are all identical. They even share staff!
Anyway, don't let any of the negatives put you off as they're such minor things. We had a fantastic time and would definitely go back in the future
