Doug-Kennedy
Google
The hotel is in a lovely location with hills behind and great views of the coast, but it is a 5-10 minute car ride to the 2 main beaches. The hotel is very obliging with providing shuttles and lifts wherever needed and has connections with the beach bars that enables people with all-inclusive, or other deals, to get drinks and food at no extra cost. They also have staff on duty to help the hotel clients whilst on the beach.||||Staff all very pleasant and there are lots of them, especially since the bars, restaurant, pool were all very quiet. Some seem to spend their day doing very little, although those in reception, the drivers, room staff & gardeners all keep quite busy. They have many roles and systems for everything that can be perplexing, and are often messed about with so they don’t really work as intended. Also, the lack of activity means that some get into chatting or their own thing so can be less than attentive when needed, in contrast to the busy staff who were delightful. ||||Everything is pretty well set up - clean, nice surroundings, plenty of space, big gymnasium, spa, a shop. Car shuttles run to the rooms which are spread through the estate, some high up the hill. The main bar is usually empty and the main restaurant only busy at breakfast and mid evening. There is a second, up-market restaurant at the top of the hill called ‘Carmichael’s’ along with an infinity pool and fabulous views over Jolly Harbour.||||Our room was spacious, clean and very well set up with a very comfortable bed with a full mosquito net. This was comforting, but not essential as they spray the area with vaporised diesel to rid the estate of mosquitos and flies 3 times a week: something done across much of the island with very mixed outcomes (see below). We had a big balcony with lovely views over sea, hill and harbour.||||The menu in the main restaurant is rather restricted and unchanging: ‘catch-of-the-day’ was mahi-mahi for the 4 nights we were there. There are lots of shrimp and steaks on offer, good vegetable soup, and another vegetarian option. The quantity is ample, but the quality indifferent to quite good. Strangely for the Caribbean, fruits and salads seem to be in short supply so there’s lots of lettuce, which comprises 90 percent of their ‘signature’ salad. The wine list is small, but the wines quite drinkable - mostly chilean. Breakfasts are of indifferent quality, with a very limited free choice of bread, buns and cereal in the buffet, and an identical offering every day: again, this seems lazy. Only golden shred marmalade is openly on offer, but they do have honey if you ask for it. The fruit bowl ($9) contained only melon (not very ripe) and pineapple: tinned fruit would be tastier! Cooked breakfasts are prepared to order and not exciting: I had an omelette and some ‘pumpkin pancakes’ which were horrible - they seemed uncooked, being gooey inside. ||||Prices are in US dollars and, to my mind, very high for what’s on offer. I was glad we were on an all-inclusive deal while the service is unpredictable, and not greatly helped by the multiplicity of staff.||||Carmichael’s restaurant is in a glorious position and a different proposition, with a more interesting menu and first-rate service. It is expensive, but prepared to a high standard and with great flavours on offer. The view from the infinity pool is amazing.||||In the main concourse is a small normal warm-water pool and a much larger long thin pool of extremely cold water which no-one swims in, although it seems only good for lengths. The pool and bar area was usually empty, and the 6 people was the most we saw: everyone is down at the beach or exploring elsewhere.||||The grounds are extensive and, where cared for by the team of gardeners, closely manicured. There is lots of bourgainvillia, hibiscus and other tropical flowers. The variety of wildlife is restricted by the spraying for mosquitoes (3 times a week) which kills almost all insects and affects heaven-only knows what else. There are also roaming cats and the mongooses, imported from India to eliminate snakes, but between them, these two predators must clean up any small mammal or invertebrate that might feed a more diverse biology.
