Rex Turtle Beach - Room Only.
Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:40 am
Got back from our first visit to Tobago last week. We stayed at the Rex Turtle beach and thanks to this site I felt I already knew the Hotel – in fact it was slightly better than I anticipated.
Soon after we arrived we realised that our decision to go room only was exactly right for us – we wanted to see and experience the island, not sit in an all inclusive hotel for 2 weeks. In fact the extra cost to go all inclusive for 3 of us (one 11 year old) would have been £1000, we actually spent about £750 on all food and drink, so we still had money left over towards the 10 day hire of a jeep.
On arrival we immediately hired a fridge, then a 10 minute walk to the Black Rock supermarket the next day provided us with all we needed for breakfast and lunches, we then tried a different restaurant most nights – and I have to say we didn’t have one bad meal.
The Hotel was tired and in need of refurbishment, but the large rooms were kept very clean on a daily basis, the bed was the biggest bed I’ve ever seen (my 6foot 5 husband could have slept sideways!), the air conditioning was noisy but very efficient, we were so tired in the evenings that nothing would have stopped us sleeping. The service was excellent – room issues were sorted immediately. The pool was dreadful, VERY small and unattractive, but it has to be said that it was fine for children and my 11 year old spent hours in there, it was always full of other children and we felt quite happy leaving her there to play while we sat on the beach.
The location cannot be faulted, none of the other hotels we saw appeared to have such immediate access to such a large beach. It is a working beach and as such you will find lots of fishermen and traders around, but we didn’t experience any problems at all, we did get approached quite a lot but nobody was too persistant once you’d said no. The regular traders would only approach you once and were extremely friendly. My husband had a wonderful massage by Mary, and my daughter and I both had our nails done by Rachel.
We had breakfast in the hotel on the first morning – a huge buffet which was very nice but very expensive when on a room only basis (about £30 for 3), we also realised that we would no doubt over eat if faced with that every morning. We found the restaurant very hot as the ceiling fans were very ineffective and it was quite enclosed. Our breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit and fruit juice sat on our patio just feet from the beach, listening to the surf crashing on the sand was superb, and for us, a much better alternative.
We would definitely return to this hotel on a room only basis, it proved a perfect base for us to explore the island and a perfect location when we just wanted to chill. The hire car was essential to our plans and on a return visit we would hire one for the entire visit. This time we had the jeep for 10 days, but even on our last 2 days without car we took a taxi back to one of our favourite restaraunts for dinner (still cheaper including the taxi fare, than eating in the hotel!).
Thanks again Steve for such a great site that allowed me to prepare the perfect holiday, my husband was hugely impressed with my knowledge of the island and my ability to pick such good restaraunts! In fact I have so much to say that this will be the first of several reviews in different sections………..
Soon after we arrived we realised that our decision to go room only was exactly right for us – we wanted to see and experience the island, not sit in an all inclusive hotel for 2 weeks. In fact the extra cost to go all inclusive for 3 of us (one 11 year old) would have been £1000, we actually spent about £750 on all food and drink, so we still had money left over towards the 10 day hire of a jeep.
On arrival we immediately hired a fridge, then a 10 minute walk to the Black Rock supermarket the next day provided us with all we needed for breakfast and lunches, we then tried a different restaurant most nights – and I have to say we didn’t have one bad meal.
The Hotel was tired and in need of refurbishment, but the large rooms were kept very clean on a daily basis, the bed was the biggest bed I’ve ever seen (my 6foot 5 husband could have slept sideways!), the air conditioning was noisy but very efficient, we were so tired in the evenings that nothing would have stopped us sleeping. The service was excellent – room issues were sorted immediately. The pool was dreadful, VERY small and unattractive, but it has to be said that it was fine for children and my 11 year old spent hours in there, it was always full of other children and we felt quite happy leaving her there to play while we sat on the beach.
The location cannot be faulted, none of the other hotels we saw appeared to have such immediate access to such a large beach. It is a working beach and as such you will find lots of fishermen and traders around, but we didn’t experience any problems at all, we did get approached quite a lot but nobody was too persistant once you’d said no. The regular traders would only approach you once and were extremely friendly. My husband had a wonderful massage by Mary, and my daughter and I both had our nails done by Rachel.
We had breakfast in the hotel on the first morning – a huge buffet which was very nice but very expensive when on a room only basis (about £30 for 3), we also realised that we would no doubt over eat if faced with that every morning. We found the restaurant very hot as the ceiling fans were very ineffective and it was quite enclosed. Our breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit and fruit juice sat on our patio just feet from the beach, listening to the surf crashing on the sand was superb, and for us, a much better alternative.
We would definitely return to this hotel on a room only basis, it proved a perfect base for us to explore the island and a perfect location when we just wanted to chill. The hire car was essential to our plans and on a return visit we would hire one for the entire visit. This time we had the jeep for 10 days, but even on our last 2 days without car we took a taxi back to one of our favourite restaraunts for dinner (still cheaper including the taxi fare, than eating in the hotel!).
Thanks again Steve for such a great site that allowed me to prepare the perfect holiday, my husband was hugely impressed with my knowledge of the island and my ability to pick such good restaraunts! In fact I have so much to say that this will be the first of several reviews in different sections………..