Review of Le Grand Courlan Hotel - stayed 18 to 26 March 06
Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 4:06 pm
We travelled to LGC looking forward to a relaxing break in the Caribbean, and weren't let down. We're both in our late twenties, and so are quite young compared to the average LGC guest, but this was no barrier to having a good week.
Despite hearing horror stories about Excel airlines, we had no complaints about the flight over, and fifteen minutes after leaving the airport at Crown Point, we arrived at LGC to be greeted by a champagne cocktail.
Our travel operator had made an error, as we later discovered, and in the darkness, we didn't realise that the room allocated to us was a Garden View room, rather than the Ocean View which we'd booked. Thus we spent our first night in the "lower" category accomodation. This room had two major problems for us - firstly, the air conditioning air intakes were just outside the doors, and while it didn't trouble me (a heavy sleeper), my other half (an extremely light sleeper) struggled to get any rest due to the noise coming from these machines.
First thing in the morning, we were rudely awakened by the shrieking of the Chakalaka (spelling?!) birds, who appeared to live outside the room.
However, the mistaken room issue was spotted on our first morning, and the new Ocean View room was excellent - no air con noise, and almost zero bird noise (not much the hotel can do about that, of course, although we did learn that it was legal to shoot these particular birds...!)
The pool area is great - plenty of loungers for all, and both the poolside bar and main bar area are right next to the pool - shade and refreshment never far away.
The main bar also sits next to a games room - pool table etc - in which we found an ad libbed library, mainly from books left behind by guests. This was to prove a great resource, as we both got through the books we'd brought with us very quickly.
The beach bar is also good - two areas (shaded and non) - and our only regret was not realising that food was served here for lunch (more later) - a definite plus.
Drinks at all of the above were great, especially the cocktails (and mocktails), which were ice cold - always a good start.
Breakfast was good every day - wide range of food, including omelettes cooked to order while you watch; and the local birdlife is fully aware of breakfast times, as it gives them a chance to shun the early bird in favour of the easy pickings. It's wise to cover your juice up while heading back to the buffet - the fresh pineapple juice was a particular favourite of some of the smaller birds...!
Dinner was also good - I'm a fully fledged meateater, and loved the choices - the two restaurants each alternated between buffet and a la carte, so you'd always have a choice of styles each night. My other half is a vegetarian, and while her choice was somewhat limited (especially with the a la carte options), she did praise the quality of the dish (although vegetarian lasagne gets a bit samey after the third repetition in a week!).
Lunch was a let-down compared to dinner and breakfast for her, though. Very limited choice for the veggies, and I was surprised that there wasn't an allday snack bar - we had two excursions which ran until 3pm, at which point the restaurant was shut, leaving us food-less until dinner. However, the fare at the beach bar (where we went for an after-lunch drink on our last day, having eaten up at the hotel - d'oh!) looked much better.
The guest relations office is extremely good - Dan, the guy running it, knows his stuff, and all of the tours can be organised for you there by him. We'd prebooked an island tour, but the rainforest trip we booked with Dan was great, and he helped us throughout the week. The turtle watching trip is worth signing up for, although you won't know when you'll go until the last moment, when a turtle is spotted on a beach, nesting. Take money with you though - several guests seemed to think it was on the house!
In all, our week flew by, which is always a sign of a good vacation, and this was in large part due to the quality of the hotel and it's staff.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and would recommend this hotel to anyone.
Despite hearing horror stories about Excel airlines, we had no complaints about the flight over, and fifteen minutes after leaving the airport at Crown Point, we arrived at LGC to be greeted by a champagne cocktail.
Our travel operator had made an error, as we later discovered, and in the darkness, we didn't realise that the room allocated to us was a Garden View room, rather than the Ocean View which we'd booked. Thus we spent our first night in the "lower" category accomodation. This room had two major problems for us - firstly, the air conditioning air intakes were just outside the doors, and while it didn't trouble me (a heavy sleeper), my other half (an extremely light sleeper) struggled to get any rest due to the noise coming from these machines.
First thing in the morning, we were rudely awakened by the shrieking of the Chakalaka (spelling?!) birds, who appeared to live outside the room.
However, the mistaken room issue was spotted on our first morning, and the new Ocean View room was excellent - no air con noise, and almost zero bird noise (not much the hotel can do about that, of course, although we did learn that it was legal to shoot these particular birds...!)
The pool area is great - plenty of loungers for all, and both the poolside bar and main bar area are right next to the pool - shade and refreshment never far away.
The main bar also sits next to a games room - pool table etc - in which we found an ad libbed library, mainly from books left behind by guests. This was to prove a great resource, as we both got through the books we'd brought with us very quickly.
The beach bar is also good - two areas (shaded and non) - and our only regret was not realising that food was served here for lunch (more later) - a definite plus.
Drinks at all of the above were great, especially the cocktails (and mocktails), which were ice cold - always a good start.
Breakfast was good every day - wide range of food, including omelettes cooked to order while you watch; and the local birdlife is fully aware of breakfast times, as it gives them a chance to shun the early bird in favour of the easy pickings. It's wise to cover your juice up while heading back to the buffet - the fresh pineapple juice was a particular favourite of some of the smaller birds...!
Dinner was also good - I'm a fully fledged meateater, and loved the choices - the two restaurants each alternated between buffet and a la carte, so you'd always have a choice of styles each night. My other half is a vegetarian, and while her choice was somewhat limited (especially with the a la carte options), she did praise the quality of the dish (although vegetarian lasagne gets a bit samey after the third repetition in a week!).
Lunch was a let-down compared to dinner and breakfast for her, though. Very limited choice for the veggies, and I was surprised that there wasn't an allday snack bar - we had two excursions which ran until 3pm, at which point the restaurant was shut, leaving us food-less until dinner. However, the fare at the beach bar (where we went for an after-lunch drink on our last day, having eaten up at the hotel - d'oh!) looked much better.
The guest relations office is extremely good - Dan, the guy running it, knows his stuff, and all of the tours can be organised for you there by him. We'd prebooked an island tour, but the rainforest trip we booked with Dan was great, and he helped us throughout the week. The turtle watching trip is worth signing up for, although you won't know when you'll go until the last moment, when a turtle is spotted on a beach, nesting. Take money with you though - several guests seemed to think it was on the house!
In all, our week flew by, which is always a sign of a good vacation, and this was in large part due to the quality of the hotel and it's staff.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and would recommend this hotel to anyone.
Hi, I just wanted to say thank you very much for this honest and detailed review of Le Grand Courlan. Myself and my partner have booked to go there, and after reading some reports were starting to get worried that we have chosen the right place. Thank you for putting our minds at rest!
