Rex Turtle Beach May/June 2003

[Lee Somerton]

Having used myTobago.info to a great extent to find out as much as possible before we went, I thought it only too fair to post a review of the Rex Turtle Beach Hotel for others to assist their own research as to whether or not the hotel is for them.

We used Ian's comments from January/February to guide us, so this should really be read in conjunction with that.

The Rex Turtle Beach is situated on the Grafton Road at Great Courland Bay

The beach itself is quite long, although the hotel has positioned itself on the best part. The end towards Plymouth (away from the hotel) is a little smelly and the end towards Black Rock (also away from the hotel) is quite littered adjacent to the residential areas.

The sea is very changeable. Sometimes it is reasonably gentle and clear but most times there is a strong current and waves that can crash over and drag a person under even near the edge. At 6ft tall, this happened to me a number of times. If you bring a boogie-board, you would get to use it frequently. The strength of the sea means that many families opt to use the pool (more on that later).

The hotel has direct access to the beach. This does make it better than the Le Grand Courlan and Grafton Beach Resorts, in my opinion because, when we walked down to these hotels, we noticed that there is a small road to cross to get to the beach (Stone Haven Bay). According to rumour, however, the Rex Turtle Beach should have been built on the other side of the Grafton Road, which would have made access less easy.

The beach shelters (rondevals I think the hotel calls them) are lined up along the hotel at the top of the beach. These start to be reserved (towels on sunbeds) from 6.00am and is not limited to German holidaymakers. This practice is reprehensible when there are normally enough sunbeds to go around but it is tolerated and is used throughout the hotel grounds.

There are plenty of shaded areas in the gardens in which to pull up sunbeds, particularly near a large mango tree by the kayak stand at the bar end. Note that this is near to, not directly underneath as mangoes fall frequently and heavily at this time of the year. Watch out for the cows that come along and eat the mangoes in one bite, stones and all.

Beach traders walk up and down, offering various items & services, such as bamboo pots, aloe, massages, boat trips, etc. Be polite and they generally leave you alone (not as persistent as traders in Antigua). The garden is generally off their beaten track.

Calling the hotel pool a swimming pool is an insult to respectable swimming pools. A wading pool would be more accurate and is probably still an overstatement. Three people would and do make it seem crowded. Bizarrely, this pond is actually split into two circular areas, one shallow and one for swimming.

Around the edge of the pool is and area for picking up complementary pool/beach towels and arranging watersports (including lessons) such as kayaking, snorkelling and scuba diving.

Immediately in front of the pool is the entertainment area. Whilst I agree that that the view is partially obscured and the area is in need of upgrading, generally the position in relation to seating is difficult to improve in the current circumstances. Perhaps the low fence should be removed because when entertainers do not use the stage, i.e. the Limbo Dancer, the view is obscured from the seating area. The actual standard of entertainment is no more or less than expected (more of a background style than audience participation).

There are 125 rooms, mainly accessed from central areas of six (three up a set of stairs, three at ground level). A three-floor block of around 45 rooms is at the far end from Reception. All have balconies / patios with views of the beach / sea and our room (348) had an excellent view between two tall trees. Sunrise comes from the entrance side of the hotel, so sunset can be viewed from the balconies / beach when not obscured by clouds.

The rooms are of an expected standard for the class of hotel, e.g. large bed, easy chair, large vanity mirror with fixed seat to one side next to a hairdryer. The washbasin, shower & toilet all functioned adequately, although a water shortage currently exists, for which a schedule is sometimes in effect. This water schedule did not affect us and water was always available when we required it, although some people did experience loss of supply on occasion.

The rooms are cleaned on a daily basis and towels are changed as required. As with most hotels, the stated policy is that towels that require changing should be left in the bath, otherwise they will be left for re-use. However, unlike most hotels, the Management is to be commended in this area for their adherence to this policy. Too often, hotels pay lip-service to this policy by putting a notice in the bathroom but still replacing all used towels, whether required or not.

According to the holiday brochures there are two restaurants: The Kiskadee Restaurant (breakfast & dinner) and Courlanders Coffee Shop (lunch). In reality, there is a doorway between the two marking inside & outside and, apart from breakfast, both are open at the same time, operating the same menu (A la Carte & Buffet). In fact, buffet collection is always from one location inside The Kiskadee.

Even though A la Carte is offered, the restaurants are geared towards buffet. There is a limited A la Carte menu, for which you have to ask, which differs between lunch and dinner. The lunchtime menu offers such things as burgers (TT$50-60), club sandwich (TT$40-50) and dessert (TT$25). The limited dinner menu does not include burgers & toasties, but a small few items in the TT$60-100 range, and others of mainly TT$130-160, not including dessert. The reason I mention prices for the A la Carte is because even on 'All Inclusive' the A la Carte is only included up to a value of TT$135, whereas the buffet, which is fully covered on All Inclusive, has a price value of TT$185.

That said, the buffet food selection and quality, especially breakfast, is usually very good (meat, fish, pasta, rice, salad, desserts). However, when brochures claim A la Carte is offered under All Inclusive terms, All Inclusive is expected, at least up to the corresponding buffet value, along with the presentation expected with A la Carte.

Sadly, the service in the restaurant is very erratic and also geared to buffet style. To that effect, clearing of tables is good and prompt. Taking of orders and presentation of A la Carte food is the opposite. Indeed, drinks service has sometimes been so poor that it has been necessary to go to the bar and take one back to the table. The issue is not so much the service per se (which is normally very friendly), but the lack of the required number of staff members for the size of the restaurant. One person taking drinks orders (and sometimes not even that, when the trainee appeared too afraid to ask) is not enough.

Watch out for the Dress Code. When they say 'No Shorts' in The Kiskadee in the evening, they mean it. Even smart or dress shorts seem to cause you to get pushed out to the Courlanders area. That said, this was on a Barbeque night and on this and Carvery night, there seems to be an inexplicable push to seat you outside (it's always noisier and smokier there).

One other irritating policy is the idea of smoking / non-smoking areas, which barring the complete banning of smoking sections, usually works quite well. Here however, the non-smokers are crammed into a small end section of The Kiskadee, whereas a much larger smoking section remains half-empty. This needs a bit of a re-think by the Management, especially when the Courlanders area has no segregation.

The bars suffer similar problems with regard to All Inclusive here. If you want to drink between 11.30 in the evening and 10.00 in the morning, you are limited to coffee and fruit juice at breakfast, and not much else. In fact, the shop opens earlier than the bar, and sells drinks!! This does prevent excessive drinking in most cases, but is it really All Inclusive? Even when the bar is open coffee appears to require a special order, and is not worth waiting for when it arrives.

As stated, the circular Surf Bar at one end of Courlanders Coffee Shop, opens at 10.00 and closes at around 11.30pm. The Crusoe Bar next to Reception, serves a large inside / outside lounge area but is only open from 6.00pm to 11.00pm. This is wholly inadequate and should also be open all day.

The drinks selection is not especially extensive. Many times a basic cocktail, such as a Margharita, was not available due to lack of ingredients. The non-branded spirits appear to be rougher than some branded versions, although this could be due to liberal quantities served! Three rum punches were enough to incapacitate us one afternoon, so much so that the evening could not be enjoyed.

As with the restaurants, service could also be slow in the bars. Staffing was not always scheduled correctly according to the time of day. Sometimes in quiet parts of the day in the Surf Bar, three people could be serving, whereas in the busy evening hours there was occasionally only one person (although to be fair, these may have been when one member of staff went to replenish the ice). The Crusoe Bar only ever seemed to have one member of staff, who was also taking orders from a hatch in the restaurant. This meant that sometimes there was nobody actually behind the bar at times.

Aside from the service and drinks selection, the main irritation with the Surf Bar is that it is at one end of the hotel. The hotel covers a significant length of the beach and it is quite a long walk from the far end to get a drink from the bar at the other end. A beach bar, centrally placed (or one at either end), would be useful.

In summary, although the hotel is of the expected standard, certain areas need to be addressed. The pool and entertainment area should probably be replaced with a larger pool. The entertainment area could be moved to the other side of Courlanders Coffee Shop, in an unused section of the garden, which is overlooked by Courlanders, Kiskadee and the Crusoe Bar areas.

A long, hard look needs to be taken as to whether A la Carte should really be offered. If so, the service needs to improve to handle this, perhaps a dedicated restaurant. Also, bearing in mind that half-board and room-only options are available, should the limited 'All Inclusive' option remain limited or be scrapped all together?

We heard a rumour that this Rex Hotel is the only one in the Caribbean not to have had a recent face-lift. If this is true, now is the time. We have no plans to favour this hotel above others, unless these elements are addressed.

Although this review seems to have picked out many negative aspects, we did however have a good time.

Incidentally, the walks mentioned by Ian were very easy to follow and we also ventured a little further afield, particularly to the Adventure Farm and Nature Trails along the Arnos Vale Road. This was quite severely affected by the dry season that Tobago is experiencing at present but was made quite pleasant by two dogs that virually led us around the trails.

Hope this helps...

[Steve Wooler]

Lee

You are a total star!!!!

Thanks so much for that. Your report - and Ian's - will be of so much benefit to readers thinking of the Rex Turtle Beach. I was going to publish Ian's review as a main feature review on myTobago, as soon as time permits, but I think the two reports should be integrated. Perhaps you would be good enough to contact me at [email protected] just to let me know if you would mind me doing that. Cheers and thanks again.

[John Hill]

Lee Hi

We stayed at Rex early May and I agree with lots of what you say however the one point you did not make which I hope you will agree that it is great value for money. I am not sure which company you used we went Virgin I was just under you in 247 great report. Thanks

[iansmithofotley]

Hi Lee,

I'm pleased that you had a good holiday at the Rex Turtle Beach Hotel. I am also pleased that my previous reports were of some value to you.

Regards,

Ian.