| I don't expect to be pampered |
| Hotel Breezes Bahamas |
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JenCanada >
2 contribution(s) Canada |
| May, 2009 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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The arrival at the airport was quick and painless. A jump on the shuttle and off we went! The driver, Ken, shared lots of tips with us about things to do and interesting facts about the Bahamas. Upon arrival, the bellman took care of our luggage, we checked in effortlessly and off to the room we went. Seemed like we were off to a good start!
Rooms:
The room was fine. Nothing spectacular. The bathroom was very large, but the water pressure was lacking big time. Clean and comfortable, but nothing more than that. On our second day, we were not left any towels so had to go get some from the desk, and the third day she left her bathroom cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Most places I have stayed have made little things with the towels every day, so not getting any towels was a bit of a shock....ah well, in the grans scheme of thiings no big deal. |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| We did a Dolphin Cay Adventure at Atlantis which was awesome. Dolphins are so smart and amazing.....Atlantis was quite beautiful but Holy Mother it is HUGE! I may think twice about staying there for the time it takes to get anythere! It was really nice though. We did a Snorkel and Booze Cruise, which was a nice little getaway. They take you from Cable Beach to pick up more passengers downtown and on Paradise Island and take you to a snorkeling place. The water was pretty rough that day, so most of us only stayed in for about 15-20 min. Then, they take us to a private beach for an hour where the only people on the beach are the people on the boat - and the Jet Ski guys.....at this point I was convinced that they were actually stalkers. They saw the boat coming in and circled the boat like sharks waiting to attack! Once the boat stopped and we got off the feeding frenzy began! Jet Skis - hey lady do you want to jet ski....never ending for the whole hour on a tiny beach where the only escape was to throw yourself into the water. All in all, it was 60 bucks, including drinks, a good BBQ lunch and an hour of snorkeling and on a beach, and dancing and singing the whole way back. I'd recommend doing this. Because apparently we are masochists, we walked to the straw market, where we were continually approached by what I can only assume were the Ying to the Yang on the beach - a lot of very pushy sales people....if you stop breathing down my neck and let me look, I may buy something.....they didn't, so neither did we. Walked away shaking our heads at ourselves - what were we thinking? There didn't seem to be a lot of activity on the resort. Nothing on the beach. They called it "beach games" but really is was next to the pool area. They played a game called ringtones a few times (think name that tune), had a few beach games here and there and an off with your head game - essentially a gladiator pit only on a wooden stage. Any other time I had been away, you were hard pressed to find an area where there weren't activities, and the staff were very lively and encouraging everyone to get involved. Here, the staff were more relaxed than the vacationers, and you really had to go out of your way to find out what was going on and where. Had the best massage of my life there courtesy of Shelley.
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| Arrival |
| The arrival at the airport was quick and painless. A jump on the shuttle and off we went! The driver, Ken, shared lots of tips with us about things to do and interesting facts about the Bahamas. Upon arrival, the bellman took care of our luggage, we checked in effortlessly and off to the room we went. Seemed like we were off to a good start!
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The beach area was large and quite beautiful. This was the best thing about the place. There are very few Tiki huts on the beach, and there was always a mad dash in the morning to get one of them, lest you would be frying in the unforgiving sun all day. Luckily, we were part of the early to bed; early to rise crew, so we got one most days. We spent the vast majority of our time on the beach, partly because we wanted to and partly because the pool area was crowded and small. One pool?? Really? I must have missed that! Everything was clean though, so can't really complain about it. What I will complain about is the constant harrassing of the salespeople on the beach. This is the first time I have stayed at a place where they allow multiple salespeole on the beach, constantly harrassing the people laying there. They started with the jet ski yelling at 8am and continued all day. Singling out people all day and asking them if they want to jet ski. I didn't 5 minutes ago, and still don't, thanks anyway. There were up to 4 women at a time walking back and forth selling jewelery, t shirts and offering hair braiding. They had a little table set up, so we could clearly go to them at any time, but all 4 of them individually approached us a min of 4 times each per day asking if we wanted to look at the ankle bracelets or get our hair braided. I'm going to tell you the same thing I told the jet ski guy - I wasn't interested 5 minutes ago, and remain not interested. The final huge complaint is that they allow people from a time share company to come to the resort, suck you into going to a time share presentation (by assuring you that it is not a time share presentation) where the sales people are rude, aggressive and seem to not understand the word "NO". Unless you are interested in investing on the spot, or are able to tolerate an inhuman amount of frustration for some tickets to Atlantis or something, just insist that you don't want to go. We regret going to it big time. I've also written a letter to that company. (Who would have though I'd start my letter writing campaigns in my early thirties??)
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| Other Comments |
| When I go away, even though it is an all inclusive for R&R, I don't expect to be pampered. I'm very easygoing and self sufficient. I do, however, expect the same level of service as at a Wendy's for example. The staff in general did not seem motivated, and while nobody was rude at all, little things like "hello how is everything going", making sure a guest has a place to eat the meal they just put together from the buffet, bringing the glass of wine to a table with the people sitting at it and filling the soda machines when it is brought to your attention is important to me. I don't expect that the soda machines are checked - but when a guest lets you know that it is empty, change it! It was amazing how many staff members would walk past you without so much as a word. The maintenance guys were the friendliest and most outgoing people on the whole resort! I will not be going back there, and I would not recommend it. The Bahamas is a beautiful country, and I will return there, but I will be searching for somewhere else to stay.
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| Restaurants and Bars |
| We went for the day life, and found the food at the buffet to be very good - better than most of the resorts I have stayed on. There was something for almost everybody and we found it to be very tasty. They had a great salad bar. The drinks were terrible. The soda machines were often empty, forget about getting ice from the machine and the water was absolutely terrible - we tried, but we just could not drink it. We spent the majority of our money at the gift shop buying bottled water. I'm not a big alcohol drinker, so can't comment much on the variety, but the few drinks I did have were not very tasty. The coffee was awful. Getting a reservation at one of the 2 restaurants was quite a hastle. We were told that they start taking reservations at 11:00 for the next night. My friend was celebrating her 30th birthday so we tried to make reservations for a birthday dinner only to be told that because only one restaurant was open, they started at 10 that day and the restaurant is full. (You need reservations for both.) We went to MASO restaurant at the Wyndham up the street (delicious water, wine and food!) We did manage to get a reservation at the Italian estaurant for our last night, and it was very good. That's where they hide the drinkable wine and water BTW. The food and service was great. And that is about the only place that the service was great. The dinner hall is set up buffet style, and while the majority of the tables were empty a lot of the time, they had not been cleared and cleaned, and finding cutlery was a nightmare! Many staff members simply walked by the dirty tables and left them uncleared. Many times we sat for our entire meal, including dessert surrounded by dirty tables that were never cleared. Amazing. We would offer our unused cutlery and condiments to people walking by who had asked for knives and forks and didn't recieve them. My friend ordered a glass of wine at dinner, 25 min later she still didn't have it. Another staff member walked by the table and she asked her for a glass of red. There was no "yes", "no" - no acknowledgement whatsoever. About 10 min later, after she had all but given up on having a glass of wine, the lady returned to our area and put the glass of red down on the dirty table next to us - NOBODY WAS SITTING THERE! You think I'm kidding, but I am not! The beach grill was pretty good, but the soda machines were empty 90% of the times that we went there. We let them know, nicely that the diet pepsi was empty, and returned an hour later - Still empty. Unbelievable! |
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| Rooms |
| The room was fine. Nothing spectacular. The bathroom was very large, but the water pressure was lacking big time. Clean and comfortable, but nothing more than that. On our second day, we were not left any towels so had to go get some from the desk, and the third day she left her bathroom cleaning supplies in the bathroom. Most places I have stayed have made little things with the towels every day, so not getting any towels was a bit of a shock....ah well, in the grans scheme of thiings no big deal.
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| Lobby is spacious, beautiful, well lit |
| Hotel RIU Paradise Island |
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ChrisCindyBarrieOntario >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Oct, 2006 | Leisure | With Group
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Six of us stayed at the Riu Oct 1-8 and found:
Airline: Skyservice is a flying sardine can. They should really do away with the rock hard bun in a box lunch and maybe more leg room. I am under six feet and I was so cramped in, it was unbelievable. Also, they were late getting back into Toronto (3 am) and with the baggage carousel breaking down 5 times, we didn't get home until 5 am. Not the Riu's fault, of course, but it does put a damper on a GREAT VACATION |
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| Drink |
| Premium brands, well made (heavy on the booze, so ask them to put only a little in if you're not a drinker) and good selection |
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| Food |
Six of us, seven days, three meals a day, we had about 120 meals over the course of the vacation and we had one meal that was...suspect. Breakfast on Thursday was not the greatest and the coffee was a little strong that day. Other than that - excellent. We went to the steakhouse one night and the Japanese another, buffets the rest. The steaks were good, though you have to be very specific with the order (medium rare is almost blue, so you may have to bump it up a bit). My father-in-law and sister-in-law had never had sushi before and were unwilling to try, though I managed to coerce them into it. "Absolutely marvelous" was his response and the entire meal was spectacular - you must try it if you can.
We all found it amusing that the hotel manager comes out right at 6:30 to ring the dinner bell - lterally, as he yells DINNERTIME at the top of his lungs. Everyone found that hilarious. |
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| Hotel |
| Lobby is spacious, beautiful, well lit. The people, both on and off the resort are some of the nicest, gracious people I have ever met (taxis, wait staff, servers, etc.) We went over to Atlantis (which is right next door) a few times and found the people very stuck up and, quite frankly, irritating. We were happy not to have booked rooms there. |
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| Outside stuff |
We tried the moonlight dinner cruise (quaint, food was mediocre, ambiance was good if you go to the top deck). The dolphin experience was good, worth the $85. We golfed at Ocean Club ($200 +$70 for clubs) which, if you are a golfer, is an amazing experience. Shopping was not bad, especially if you like jewellry. We went downtown to the Straw Market, which is like an industrial sized flea market, good bargains.
Overall, no complaints, nice place, we plan to go back. |
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| Rooms |
Clean, though a little tired (the washrooms need an update, though they are clean) and the balconies are small, though good to sit out and have a smoke or a drink while watching the waves come in. We had rooms on both the pool and "air conditioner" side, and while both were nice, a word of advice, avoid rooms with even numbers on the 2nd and 3rd floors (you will be directly over the AC units) and try to get higher numbers if you want beautiful ocean views (we had 428 which was near the ocean end of the hotel and it was spectacular) The minibar was funny (a fridge, which was well stocked and a little "medicine chest" above with a dispenser of brandy, vodka, gin and rum, which is something I've never seen before)
One interesting note, the hotel is a smoking hotel, but the rooms (except for the Calipso room downstairs) were not stale and did not smell of smoke at all. |
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| The service at the restaraunts for dinner was great |
| Hotel RIU Paradise Island |
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LizMike >
1 contribution(s) |
| Mar, 2006 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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My boyfriend and I recently got back from a stay at the RIU, paradise island resort in the bahamas. The reviews on this page helped us out a lot on our vacation, so I wanted to give some input.
Weather:
Beautiful...it was sunny every day with a light breeze. However, it did not get hot enough for me. It was 75-80 degrees each day we were there, but the pool was cold so I did not go in even once! The ocean was warm enough for me though! I bet it will really warm up in a couple weeks |
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| Food |
| To me, food is a huge deal. I was so impressed at the RIU. They have everything. There are buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, for dinner you can make reservations at 1 of 3 restaraunts. If you wish to make a reservation, you may do so by waiting in line (from 9-10 am) in the lobby. There was a huge line from 9-9:15, so I just went at like 9:30 each morning and it was a breeze. The gourmet restaraunt was the only one that you have to wait in line for if you want to go to it (its a very small place and fills up fast). I really liked the gourmet and the japanese, I wasn't hot on the steakhouse...it was kind of smokey. The buffets for breakfat and lunch are impressive...the fruit is great! Off the resort food is very expensive, like $15 appetizers and $50 entrees.
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| Hotel/Service |
| We got booked into a room with double beds for the first night...and since there were no extra rooms we had to stay there until they could move us into a room with a king size bed. We had to spend two nights in the double beds...but then we were moved up to the penthouse level where we had one huge bed so it was alright.The lobby at the RIU is very impressive...the rooms are alright, I wouldn't say five star quality, but they were clean. Who goes to the bahamas to hang out in the hotel room anyways? The views from both of our rooms were fantastic...we hung out on the balcony alot. I was 100 % satisfied with the service at the RIU. Everyone was super friendly...drinks did sometimes take a little while to get, but its not a big deal to wait 5 minutes sometimes. The service at the restaraunts for dinner was great. |
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| Some other things |
~You cant drink the water from the tap...but the hotel provides you with gallons in your room, so I would recommend bringing a small travel sized bottle to fill up and take with you daily.
~The bar gives you drinks in small plastic cups if you are going to go outside with them, but if you bring large ones from home, you can take these out on the beach with you.
~People have said that they were stingy with the towels...I didn't think so. Heres the deal: They give you a card to trade in for a towel. Whenever you want a new towel, you have to trade in the old one. THen you have to give the towel back before you check out.
~If you go into downtown Nassau, you can take a cab there for $10 and get car sick, or a ferry for $3 each way. The ferry is nice because you get a boat ride, but you do have a 10 minute walk back to the hotel. If you are downtown, the ferry is located by the cruise ships.
~there is a hot tub in the resort that almost no one knows about (not even some of the staff). It was really nice, mike and I had it to ourselves most of the time. The first thing you should do when you get there is find it!
I though this hotel was great overall. If you are really into going out clubbing and stuff it may not be the right place for you though. There is not much nightlife at RIU, but plenty of options closeby, so you just have to venture off the resort. Hope this helped! ENJOY!! |
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| Things we did |
We did the snorkel at Stuarts Cove. Cost was $52 a person and included the bus ride there. The bus ride was very long, RIU is always the first to get picked up and the last to get dropped off because of its locattion.
Snorkeling was AWESOME! We had a great tour guide. This tour was snorkeling with sharks, which was optional (Mike did it and I didn't). Buy a waterproof camera either before you get on the plane down there, or before you go on the snorkeling trip. They were $22 at Stuarts cove and only $17 at the hotel...the pics came out great too! Also, BUY FISH FOOD!
Dolphin Encounters: This was a lot of fun too. The whole trip was about 3 hours. The encounter was $85 a person and the swim with the dolphins was $160 a person. We did the encounter, but I would honestly recommend the swim if you are going to do it. They charge an arm and a leg for the pictures, but we brought a camera down with us and traded taking pictures with another couple and their camera.
Atlantis: There are so many awesome things to do at atlantis. "the dig" is a huge aquarium and its amazing. During the day there is a charge, but if you go after 8 pm you can walk through for free. The casino is good...I think, but Mike tells me that there aren't enough tables and the minimum is too high! We went to the comedy show (the one at 9:30 is the dirty one) It was something fun to do. $20 a person for admission, but the drinks are like $200 each, so I would recommend getting liquored up for free at the hotel bar first. |
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| We did one day trip, the Dolphin Encounter |
| Hotel RIU Paradise Island |
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PeterHamiltonOntario >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Dec, 2005 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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| Stayed 4 nights at the Riu Paradise, had a great time even though the weather was less than the best. Although this was a nice resort and good value for the money, we much prefer the Riu’s in Puerto Plata D.R. (particularly the Riu Bachata) as the property there is much larger, many more palm trees, and you really get the feel you’re on an island vacation. The Riu Paradise is a high-rise hotel (much like those in Cancun) and has a comparatively small ‘footprint’ on the beach compared to those in the Dominican and elsewhere.
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| Arrival |
Stayed 4 nights at the Riu Paradise, had a great time even though the weather was less than the best. Although this was a nice resort and good value for the money, we much prefer the Riu’s in Puerto Plata D.R. (particularly the Riu Bachata) as the property there is much larger, many more palm trees, and you really get the feel you’re on an island vacation. The Riu Paradise is a high-rise hotel (much like those in Cancun) and has a comparatively small ‘footprint’ on the beach compared to those in the Dominican and elsewhere.
Three-hour direct flight from Toronto through Sunquest Tours and CanJet airlines. We did note the Canjet seating is a little roomier than Skyservice even though the plane was smaller. Check-in at the hotel was well coordinated – all Sunquest passengers were directed into the lounge where you room had already been assigned to you and you got your wristband, room and towel cards immediately. We were in our room within 10 minutes of arrival at the hotel, much faster than with other resorts. |
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| Beach |
| You can always get a sun lounger at the pool and on the beach and few people did the old towel-toss to reserve a chair they didn’t appear to use until later in the day, a rule that seemed to be respected by most everyone. The beach itself is beautiful and the ocean here is much nicer than the Dominican – crystal clear turquoise water, no coral or rocks. Beach vendors wander around selling braids, coconut drinks or other trinkets, but are not pushy and leave you alone for the most part. Hotel security guards are always on the beach and no doubt this keeps the vendors in line (on a couple of occasions we saw the police stop vendors and search their bags). You can rent a jet-ski (price negotiable) and this seemed to be the one thing you got asked about every ten minutes, but the vendors are quite friendly and take no for an answer (though they’ll ask you again every time you walk past). Some of them will even pull beach chairs down for you, then tell you their name and ask that you remember them if you want to rent a jet-ski later. Other beach vendors further down towards the Atlantis were similarly friendly, and far less ‘pushy’ than the ones you find in the Dominican (plus no language barrier!)
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| Conclusion |
| Although we personally prefer the other Riu’s to this one, the Riu Paradise is a very nice resort and good value. If we come back to the Bahamas we would stay here again.
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| Food |
| The food was excellent – lots of choices, including local flavours, and even vegetarians will find plenty to choose from. Our room was clean and well-appointed, though we much prefer the tile floors and more ‘Caribbean feel’ of the rooms in the D.R. – this room had worn carpeting and the bathroom was smaller by comparison. Most importantly though, it was clean and maid service was prompt if you hung your green tag on the door when leaving for the beach in the morning. The balcony overlooking the ocean was large enough for two chairs and a table, and the towel-drying rack. It is particularly nice that all rooms have an ocean view, either facing west over the pool (great sunsets) or east over the top of the restaurant roof. The more you pay, the higher up your room is - we paid the standard rate and were on the 6th floor, plenty high enough to get a great view of the beach, ocean, and back across to the mainland. TV reception was okay – that became critical the day we were stuck inside due to the storm front – but channels you got one day disappeared the next, and a couple of them had pictures but no sound. Two channels showed uninterrupted movies, and were a great way to unwind before bed or when the weather was crappy.
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| Service |
| Service overall was excellent, and after many holidays in Cuba and the Dominican, it was odd at first to hear english as the spoken language of the staff. However, I agree with an earlier reviewer who remarked that they preferred the Spanish-speaking resorts as it really seemed you are on holidays somewhere rather than the more ‘Americanized’ atmosphere of the Bahamas. Our resort was mostly Americans and some Canadians, but few if any from other countries, which is part of what made the other vacations a little more interesting.
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| Tours |
| We did one day trip, the Dolphin Encounter, and it is highly recommended - $85 each for close interaction in the water including hugging and ‘dancing’ with them, to $160 each to actually swim alongside them. This includes the ferry ride out to the island (15 minutes away) and you can easily walk to the marina from the hotel. Well worth every cent.
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