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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino: Hotel Reviews |
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By Trip Type... |
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| Based on 11 reviews |
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| Nice place for relaxing |
| Hotel Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
User Rating:
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Jeff >
5 contribution(s) Canada |
| Feb, 2009
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Royal Islander Great Bay (at Sonesta Great Bay Resort & Casino)
Arrival: Feb 3 - 10
Check in was smooth, easy and painless. We found the staff at the hotel's front desk to be very friendly.
Rooms:
We stayed in a one-bedroom "apartment" which we booked through RCI using our points. Our 2 young daughters slept in a very comfortable murphy bed located in the living area. The unit included a kitchen that came fully equipped -- except for an oven.
Restaurants and Bars:
As we stayed in an apartment, we cooked most of our meals ourselves or went outside the hotel. There are 3 bars in the hotel - in the lobby, on the pool deck and a swim up at the end of the infinity pool. They make a great Guavaberry Colada...an island specialty.
Beach/Pools/Grounds:
There were 3 pools at the hotel -- 2 located on the main deck (including the infinity pool) and one located close to the apartments. The beach is made from crushed shells, so it is not as nice as a sand beach.
Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
The hotel is located a short 10 minute walk from downtown Philipsburg...where you'll find great duty-free shopping. |
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| Old Reviews – Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Susan
Durham Region
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| December 2008 |
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Arrival: December 2008
We flew skyservice, it was fine. Going through customs was quick. This is a smaller hotel, but nice and handy to downtown. |
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| Rooms: |
| Room were fine. We had an ocean view, which was great, you could watch the cruise ships arrive. Others had the mountainview and complained about the noise from the road and roosters. I would pay the extra for the ocean view. |
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| Restaurants and Bars: |
| They have 2 a la carte, which are open different days of the week. The food was good at the a la carte and buffet. The buffet had a different theme every night. The BBQ and Prime Rib nights were excellent. |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds: |
| Two pools and a hot tub, which is actually hot. The beach is made up of sand and crushed shells. The beach into the water is gradual, but then drops off. You can still touch the bottom after the drop off, if you are 5'5". |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel: |
| You can walk downtown to back street (10 minutes away) and take a bus to other parts of the island. The bus is US$2 per person. Mullet Bay has a beautiful beach, you can see your feet when you are in the ocean. We took the sunset cruise offered through Airtransat and had a wonderful time. We visited Orient Beach as well, which has a lot of activities and very busy. |
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| Other Comments: |
| The other Sonesta at Maho Beach is very close to the airport and can get noisy. It is much larger. We visited the hotel and watched the planes take off, it is really cool. |
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Sarah
Columbus, Mississippi
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| November 2006 |
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My husband and I just returned from our weeklong honeymoon in St. Maarten and had a wonderful time. We stayed at the Great Bay Resort near Philipsburg and think it was a terrific experience, especially for the all-inclusive price. The hotel is very nice with spacious rooms, ceramic flooring, panoramic views (beach front very much worth the extra expense) and a wonderful infinite pool with a swim up bar. The food was fantastic and offered lots of choices during the week. The ala carte restaurants were wonderful with varied menus and wonderful cuisine. The buffet breakfast was terrific and lunch and dinners at the buffet were satisfactory, but not as good as the indoor restaurants. A couple of negative things… the staff was not particular friendly or helpful. It was the off season and the hotel was mostly empty, but the bartenders, wait and hotel staff were curt and sometimes even rude. The air conditioner had only one temperature… freezing. We kept it on during the day and then turned it off at night to be comfortable. The beach is not that great, with coarse, shell filled sand, but the pool more than made up for it.
Philipsburg is about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. The beach offers a quieter but longer way to town, while the street does have a crowded sidewalk and not so scenic shanty houses along the way. Front Street is crammed full of more jewelry stores than you can imagine that offer some amazing deals. It has clear sidewalks with liquor, electronics and linen stores for blocks. The traffic is very busy and as you get closer to the pier the solicitors are thick, offering tours and who knows what else. Back Street is a bit scarier with local clothiers and grocery stores. We stopped at a small bar, Indigo, on the boardwalk for afternoon cocktails and were pleasantly surprised by super friendly service and reasonably priced drinks.
Other island stops included the Butterfly Farm and Paradise Peak. The Butterfly Farm is terrific if you are fans of the winged creatures. Watch out at Paradise Peak! It seems like a really secluded spot, but criminals are staking you out! You park on a deserted hilltop road and are lead down a step and slow-going path to a grown over view point (not really worth it as there are many on the island). While gone, our car was broken into. Just another lesson of never leave anything worth taking in your car, even when you think no one is around. Orient beach was a wonderful excursion and the Bikini Bar offered chairs, umbrellas, drinks and lunch for a great price. The highlight of our trip was sailing on the Lambada to Anguilla for a day of snorkeling. It was a terrific, albeit exhausting trip that created some great memories.
We also traveled all over the entire island (a rental car is the way to go) and were amazed by the beautiful scenery. We stopped in Marigot, the French capital, and were appalled by the raw sewage in the streets and abject poverty all around. People were very rude and not at all helpful in any of the shops or cafes.
We met lots of great people on our trip, other tourists who had been to St. Maarten many times. It obviously has a very devoted following.
Overall, we had a wonderful time in St. Maarten and would certainly go back.
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
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This was our third trip to this island and our second visit to the Great Bya Resort. We were very curious to see what changes have been made to this resort after the multi-million dollar renovations. In my humble opinion very little seemed to have been done. The new area for the pool was nice but nothing great. Not much in the animation team doing anything either. As for the activities on the beach very little is provided in way of free equipment that you can use. The beach is a very fine crushed sea shells that at first is hard to walk on but eventually you get use to it.
We had a ocean view room that was clean and had what seemed to us to be fairly new furniture in it. It was nice to go out on the balcony and watch the ships come in to dock.
The food was in my opinion fair to good but not that much variety. The staff were very good as long as a tip was coming. I would guess the best part about going to this island is of course the duty free shopping which is only about a ten minute walk away from the resort. Make sure if you go to rent a car or jeep and explore this beautiful island as there is so much to see and do especially off of the resort. They rate this resort as a four star but I would think a three and a half would be more like it. However for the money you just can't go wrong in picking this resort. The staff do try to make your stay with them as great as they can and in most cases have done just that.
Would I go back, well the answer is yes. Not just because of the cost of the package but because of the location, staff, friendly people and of course the great weather.
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Mauree
Ontario, Canada
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| March 2006 |
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| Overall, we found this hotel to be very nice and the island of Sint Maarten to be lovely. We had a fabulous vacation and I would visit this island again and recommend it to others. Just next time, I would bring a lot more spending money. The jewellery is fantastic and I underestimated our spending. |
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| Hotel |
| Although our tour operator ranked this hotel as a four star, I would think 3 to 3.5 star rating would be more appropriate. Our room was very clean and spacious, but it does not carry the nice-to-haves of an iron, mini-bar or outdoor clothes line. On the plus side, all rooms have a roomy balcony. If you can afford the extra $200, go for the ocean view rooms. We had the mountain view room, but I think the extra money would be well spent on the ocean view – it is truly spectacular with the white sand, turquoise waters and beautiful cruise ships.
The sand, although white and beautiful, is full of small crushed shells, making it a little tough the walk on. After a while though, your feet toughen up and you don’t really notice it.
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| Food |
| The buffet food is fine, but after a while it does start to taste all the same. After 4 or 5 days, you do tire of chicken and fish. The breakfast is great, but we found the chef prepared omelets and eggs were always undercooked. Do yourself a favour, and rent a jeep and go to the French side for some meals. We visited the California restaurant in Grand Case for lunch and had a fantastic meal overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The a la carte restaurants are nice but the menu never changes. The Italian restaurant is a little better than the Caribbean. |
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| Shopping |
Phillipsburg, the capital city, is a 10 to 15 minute walk along the beach or main road which gives you very easy access to shopping. We sometimes walked in two or three times a day. Bring at least $1,000 in spending money or room on your visa. The jewellery is very cheap you don’t want to miss out on the bargains. Beautiful topaz rings of all colours can be picked up from $100 - $200. Try the jewellery stores just off the main road (Front St), they don’t get as many customers and their pricing and willingness to bargain are better. Offer 50% of the price they are quoting you when buying jewellery.
And…don’t forget to mention you are thirsty; when you do they are quick to hand you a free Heineken beer, also know as Dutch coffee. |
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| Tours |
| We booked a couple of tours and were not disappointed. We booked a catamaran boat ride to Anguilla, a British Island nearby, for snorkeling and sunning on the beach. The beach, Shoal Bay, is ranked in the top 10. It is gorgeous with the softest sand I have ever walked on. The snorkeling is disappointing though. I think I saw three gray coloured fish. The catamaran ride, on the “Sweety Pie” was lots of fun, riding just a few feet above the waves, sitting on the nets. On our own, we rented a jeep and visited Pic Paradise on the French side. Here we flew from tree top to tree top, with harnesses at the Lotterie Farm. If you like walking tight ropes, swinging from ropes and sailing on rock climbing harnesses, I highly recommend this. Although we are in pretty good shape, we did find this a little challenging but tons of funs. Bring your running shoes; our sandals were a bit of liability. Our tour operator did not mention this in their list of tours, but if you ask around, they can easily give you directions. If you are in Phillipsburg the first weekend of March, make sure you go to the Heineken Regatta; watching all the beautiful sailboats race around the island is really worth d
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Marg
Canada
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| February 2006 |
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| We just got back from the week in hell at this resort. |
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| Food: |
mediocre: same fruit every day of week. Meat overdone. Oatmeal like soup. The cucumbers served on Monday became cucumbers in yogurt by Wednesday and were mushy in the center. The two restaurants at the site would close in a week here in Canada. There was an appetizer, two soups and a salad offered before the main course. You could only have one of the three. Beef on Valentines needed a saw to cut. Pork chops were dry and overcooked.
Deserts were the same every day at the buffet...a cake, some kind of tart and one day, cookies out of a Voortman's box and a mousse that should have been cold but was warm. Pasta was cold and rubbery at buffet. Meatballs were premade and the sauce was out of a can. The last Saturday, the cheesecake was put out and sat out and by 1:00 pm was mushy and warm. The best night was the BBQ with the ribs being the best ever. You could not get food after lunch until 7:00pm..unless you had the "snacks". Who wants a hamburger and fries or a hotdog after you have just had lunch. One day the snacks were put out at 2:30 for three o'clock. They were on a bed of ice, but not surrounded by ice..little cheese sandwiches, some salad with warm dressings. The last Saturday they served tacos with beans etc...neither the melted process cheese nor the sour cream was on any kind of ice etc... There was no 24-hour food service.
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| Virus: |
| The week prior to our visit there were people ill. We weren't informed that there was a problem or told to wash hands frequently etc..
Last week, during our visit at least 30-40 people were ill. It wasn't food bourne as everyone appeared to have eaten different things. Hotel Management was most unco-operative. The manager, who was never visible, said only 3-4 people were sick. Don't know what planet he lived on. My husband's job is food safety for a large, international company and he was appalled at the lack of hygene and training exhibited by staff. Utensils dropped and put back on table. A spoon left on table after breakfast put back at servery for the next meal. All salad dressings not on ice the Sunday. After he complained, they were on ice the rest of the week but not surrounded by ice so only the bottom was cold. Clothes for washing tables were put on any surface and then glasses were put in the same spot as the rags, rims on the rags. Again, after complaining, there were containers at each station that the cloths were put in. Who knows if there was sanitizer in the water. No effort was made on the part of the management to mitigate the spread of the virus...no hand sanitizer put out,no wiping down of surfaces with soap etc... I was so ill that we almost went to the hospital. Anyone who was really sick, lost about four days....stomach still unsettled and the food, unappetizing anyway, did not appeal.
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| Amenities |
| There was nothing to do...no windsurfing, no free snorkeling, no little sail boats, nothing but two lonely kyaks and three sea-dos (which were not free) Your option was to go shopping in Phillisburg or to go on a tour. The cheapest tour, a sunset sail around the island was $45.00 American each. It would have been great for the hotel to provide free shuttle service to the town as it was a long hot walk for seniors and anyone physically challenged. For two people it was $12.00 a day if you took a cab there and back. It was just that small services were lacking here. If you were physically challenged you could not get into the hot tub (which was barely warm, hence a breeding ground for bacteria) as it had a ladder. The infinity pool was out as well. The main pool, which was quite small and needed a lot of work had steps in. The beach was impossible to walk on for anyone with challenges as it had quite a slope. One of our party who likes to swim in ocean was in only once. It drops off very quickly and the wave action gives you little control . At five o'clock the local dogs make their way down the beach, urinating on seating and defecating at will. They head to the open windows at the buffet where some guests were foolhardy enough to throw them scraps.
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| Rooms: |
We were first given a room on the bottom floor so I could walk out to the beach. It smelled so bad, I was almost ill. I froze the first night cause the sheets were so damp and clammy. I have been other places and there is always the damp smell but this was over the top. Even the newpaper was damp and the money stuck together. We asked to be moved but couldn't be moved until Wednesday. The next room was lovely, drier and had little odor.
By then our pillows were ruined and I have had to wash clothing twice. Smell is still there. One woman was so bothered by the intense mold that her asthma started and they had to move her right away.
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| Service: |
The staff was friendly, if tipped. However, the kitchen did make broth for me and chicken noodle soup at lunch. When my husband got ill, they did the same, but no-one offered to carry the soup etc...up to the room.
Check in was easy but the line ups to get to use the elevator from the lobby was very long...luggage plus one or two people could get in. If you were on the floor up the stairs from the lobby, you hauled your stuff up there.
The town dump has been on fire below the surface for a month, so you often had to close your windows to keep the smell out. Sitting by the pool was not great because of the constant smell.
A Canadian who lives there, won't bring his parents to Great Bay Resort. He sends them to Divi.
We would never go back, nor recommend this. People who have never been anywhere else have nothing to compare to. |
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Trisha
Toronto, Canada
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| November 2005 |
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I just returned from my second trip this year (Nov 2005) to Great Bay and it was just as good as the first time. The food is still great, the staff is friendly and the hotel is inviting.
Do not let other people complaining about a moldy smell put you off from this hotel. How much time do you spend hanging out in the hallways anyway? You will find that because of the high humidity there that some of your clothes or the bed sheets may feel damp. However this is normal in tropical countries. It is nothing to be alarmed about and you should not let it ruin your vacation. Just open the balcony door and let some fresh air in.
On to more pleasant topics - The Italian restaurant is now open and the food is great. They have a good selection of pasta as well as steak, veal, pork, chicken and fish dishes. However the one thing they are lacking is any kind of salad for an appetizer.
If you can swing it, request to sit in Dawn’s section at the a la carte restaurants. She is amazing. She made our whole dinner experience twenty times better. She will do everything possible to make sure you enjoy your meal. She even went out of her way to get me the aforementioned salad because I am a fussy eater and did not like any of the other appetizers offered. We ended up leaving her a $10.00 US tip the first night and she deserved every penny of it.
One tip – book your reservations for the a la carte restaurants early in the week as they tend to fill up fast.
However, do go to the buffet on Friday nights as the prime rib is great. Where else can you get prime rib at a three star all inclusive – I will answer that question for you – nowhere!
The bartenders are great and will make you any drink you want. If they do not know a drink, tell them the ingredients and they will figure it out. My friend had Michael making her chocolate banana martinis one night that were very good. Don’t be afraid to ask for their speciality as well, if you want to try something out of the ordinary. Michael also makes good shooters at the lobby bar at night. However do not let him serve you ‘liquid crack” if you cannot handle your liquor. Maritza, Kevin and Destine are all great too.
There are limited activities at the hotel but you will find enough to keep you busy. See JJ, Luce, or Lawrencia for some suggestions. They are all super friendly and are there to entertain and inform the guests. There is live crab racing on Sundays which is a hoot.
You can also play pool, cards, checkers and other board games in the activities room. You can borrow books or watch movies on their large screen TV as well.
All in all, this hotel is great for an intimate, friendly vacation. Do not expect a 5 star experience and you will not be disappointed. It can be as action packed or as low key as you want to make it. I will definitely be making another trip to Great Bay next year.
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Trisha
Ontario Canada
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| June 2005 |
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I stayed at Great Bay Beach Hotel the week of June 11-18th. I had previously stayed at this hotel 3 years ago, also in June. I was anxious to see what the renovations were like and how the hotel had changed.
A lot of the original staff is now back so you will see a lot of familiar faces if you return.
Check in is fast and painless. You get a package explaining all of the restaurant and bar hours. If they are really busy at reception, they may not give you your safe key right away. They may ask you to come back later. However I was the last person of our group to check in so I got it at the same time. It is $3 US a day or $15 US for one week.
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| Rooms |
My room was in the main tower facing the mountain. It is not much of a view but I did not spend much time in my room. I did not want to pay extra for an ocean view since you can see the same view from all the public areas of the hotel. The elevator that services the lobby is very small and you can only fit two people and their luggage in it at one time. There really are no bellhops so everyone carries their own luggage to the rooms. If you can drag your luggage up a few stairs, you can use the bigger, glass elevator, which is located just above the main lobby. This services all floors except the lobby level. This elevator is much quicker to use.
The rooms have all been renovated and have new furniture in them. My room had a very strong tobacco odor, which was very unpleasant. If someone is allergic to this smell, you may be in trouble since there are no designated non-smoking rooms.
There was lots of storage space in the room including drawers and hanging space. There is no mini-fridge but there are ice buckets and ice machines. Cold water is provided at the bar at all times, so you can bring your own water bottle or mug and keep filling it up.
I had a king size bed in my room and it was very comfortable along with thick king size pillows.
The bathroom is a good size however the shower can overflow if you are not careful. There is no door to the shower just a partial glass panel. The lip of the tile floor is only about half an inch lower inside the shower. If you are taking a long shower, be careful that the water is draining properly or you may find the floor flooded when you are done.
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| Resort |
The resort itself is very compact so you can find your way around very easily. The main floor contains the reception, lobby, casino, restrooms, lobby bar, lounge and a la carte restaurant. The lounge has live music most nights and is open until 12 am. If you want to drink after that, you have to go to the casino. The music was fairly good but rather tame most nights. Thursday nights, the band is the Chocolate factory and they are the best. They had the whole crowd dancing all night long.
The second floor has the pool area, gift shop, buffet restaurant, bar, swim up bar, towels, activity room and spa as well as restrooms. The brand new infinity pool is great. It has the swim up bar as well.
The pool deck has a few umbrellas and some shade pavilions. However most of the lounge chairs are in direct sunlight.
The first floor is the beach area and the beachfront rooms. There are many chairs on the beach but you have to get an umbrella from the towel desk if you want shade.
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| Beach |
| the beach is man-made and the sand is very coarse. The entrance to the water is down a slope. The water drops off very quickly and there is a bit of an undertow. On most days the water is not clear. All of the cruise ships dock in Great Bay so you have a good view of them from the beach. |
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| Restaurants |
the buffet restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The menu at breakfast is the same every day: oatmeal, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, French toast, pancakes, cereal and fruit. There is also a chef making omelets. Lunch was a variety of hot dishes including rice, potatoes, veggies, fish and either chicken, beef or pork. There was also soup and salad. Dinner was the same. However there are different theme nights for dinner including seafood night, Italian night, Mediterranean night, Caribbean night etc. The best is Friday night, which is American night – they always have prime rib. It was great.
The a la carte restaurant has the same menu every night. It consists of soup, salads, appetizers, main courses and desserts. The main courses are seafood, steak, chicken, pork chops etc. I had the steak one night and the pork chops another night. Both were very good.
The activity center books a lot of excursions for the guests, as well as running the daily entertainment. There are shuttles from the hotel to take you shopping to Phillipsburg or Marigot, to Orient Beach and on an island tour. Some are free and some have a small charge. You must sign up on the list in the activity room by the day before. They also offer nighttime shuttles to the Greenhouse, which is a bar/restaurant in Phillipsburg, and to Maho.
The activities are the standard pool aerobics, beach volleyball, beach Olympics, bingo etc. However they also offer some more unusual activities such as crab racing (which is a lot of fun), mixology lessons, and blackjack lessons. There are some nighttime activities planned such as a fashion show, Mrs. Great Bay contest, steel band etc. These all take place on the pool deck. On Thursday nights, they have a merengue contest in the lounge.
All in all the resort is good value for your money. It is not very fancy, but the food is good and the people are nice. They have a wide variety of alcohol available and some premium brands. There is no menu for drinks, so if the bartenders know how to make it, they will. This means you can get some variety and don’t have to stick with the standard fare of rum and coke or pina coladas. I had lots of different kinds of shooters as well as Mudslides, BBC, frozen grasshopper, guava berry coladas etc. They have real Kahlua and Baileys at the bar as well. The beer offered was Carib, Heineken or Coors Light. They also offer specialty coffees and bar sacks such as pretzels, peanuts.
I took a few excursions while I was there including a day trip to St. Barth and one to Anguilla. These are both neighboring islands, which can be reached by a short ferry ride. Both trips cost about $85 US. The trip to St. Barth did not include lunch or chairs on the beach. Both trips include a short island tour and 3-4 hours free time at the beach or shopping. The ferry ride can be kind of rough so take precautions if you are prone to seasickness.
This was my third time on the island and my second time at Great Bay. I had a wonderful week and will definitely be heading back soon.
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Alan & Colleen
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
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| April 2005 |
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We just got back last week from Philipsburg (April 4, 2005). We were with the Reunion Group (there were 55 plus our travel agent). We flew on WestJet--we've never had so much fun on an airplane! They have definitely got an advantage over other airlines--they hire people who have personality!
Check in at the Great Bay Hotel was a breeze. Front desk staff were ready and waiting for us with everything including our locks for the safes--and continued their excellent service throughout the week. Our room was ready, clean, bright, and fresh with a beautiful view of Great Bay. It was wonderful to wake up every morning and go out on the balcony to see which cruise ships had come in overnight.
The Italian Restaurant wasn't open during our stay but we certainly didn't allow this to dampen our spirits. We simply alternated nightly between the buffet and the restaurant. Buffet breakfast, lunch, and supper were very good with a wide variety of choices. The Molasses a la carte restaurant was amazing! We sampled everything on the menu and couldn't find anything we didn't like. The staff, especially Marcia, were so friendly and full of fun! Although the hotel doesn't have a nightly show, it didn't really matter to us because we could leave the property and go into town for entertainment if that's what we wanted. The activity staff were fun and always tried to include a variety of ages in their planned activities. The pools and hot tub were cleaned daily. The beach was clean and we found lots of places for shade.
It was obvious to us that the management and staff at the Great Bay work very hard to ensure the hotel is clean and welcoming. We saw the hotel manager, Renato Moretto, making his rounds everyday. He would always check in with our travel agent to make sure everyone was happy and took the time to talk with us. Check out was easy and could be done the night before for those wanting to beat the daytime rush.
There were dogs on the beach and they were friendly. We have dogs so it was nice to have them around during the week.
All in all, we would highly recommend the Great Bay Hotel. We have stayed at many 4 1/2 star resorts in Mexico, Cuba, and D.R., and this property allows you the flexibility to walk into a safe, clean, beautiful town for shopping, food, and drink (including the water)... or you can stay on the resort and relax.
The Rhino Tour was good fun for the money and a trip to the Sunset Beach Bar near the airport is a must. If you're looking for cab while at the hotel, we used a couple through the week but once we met Nathaniel Wyatt (taxi #71), we stuck with him--thanks Nathaniel, you're the best!
Thank you Travel Store & Bruce for the best vacation yet!
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
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Contrary to many of the negative comments that I reviewed prior to going to the Grand Bay Hotel and Casino in Sint Maartin I found everything to be first class, as did the fifty + others that traveled with me and my wife. There was no smell from the lagoon, the hotel accommodations were very good and the staff very hospitable and friendly. The rooms were clean and well looked after with the towels in the bathroom being changed twice a day as an example. Even the beach area was regularly groomed (it was hard to find as much as a cigarette butt). The meals were excellent both at the buffet (omelettes in the morning are excellent) and in the restaurant where service was first class and the staff dressed and attentive far better than many high class restaurants you find else where.
Would I go again....without a doubt, would the others that we were there with.....from the comments that I heard when we landed back home the answer would be a resounding YES.
The only downside of the stay at the Grand Bay Hotel and Casino in Sint Maartin ......................was having to coming back to reality after a great week of fun in the sun.
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| Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort & Casino |
Trish
Ontario, Canada
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| March 2005 |
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We decided to stay at this resort due to the fact that the hotel was going to be upgraded to a 4 star, and the renovation was due to be completed first in Dec/04, and then Jan/05. As it turns out, we were the first group to arrive when the hotel reopened on Feb. 12/05. We were not advised that they were still undergoing renovations. They should not have opened until the work was completed.
It was unacceptable to have to listen to saws, sanders, and general construction work while trying to relax around the pool.
Once the work is completed, I think the resort will LOOK nice, HOWEVER, there is a swamp on the property next to the resort, and the wind is constantly blowing from that direction and the SMELL of SEWERS permeate the air. Unfortunately, the open air buffet restaurant that guests have to eat their breakfast and lunch (and dinner 4 times a week), was in the direct path of the smell. It was like sitting beside a toilet eating your food!!! Because it was so breezy, and the food is buffet style, the food was luke warm at best, often cold. Selection was reasonable.
It has to be said that the staff at the resort are excellent. The activities staff in particular got guests involved in the games around the pool and at the beach, and really seemed to enjoy their jobs. The waiters/waitresses were efficient and friendly. The bar staff didn't seem to be looking to only serve people with tip money in their hands. The bar at the pool was understaffed however, with only one bartender working during the day, as the swim up bar wasn't opened until 2 days before we left.
Guests should be aware that Time Shares are being sold at this location. The staff all seems to be nice on the surface, and there isn't a great deal of pressure as in some locations. HOWEVER, we went to a timeshare presentation, of our own free will, and received a gift certificate from AMAX Jeweller's for $100. toward jewellery. When we went to redeem the gift certificate, the woman at the store refused to take the certificate and claimed that it was for fine jewellery only (diamonds etc.) and that it was good only at the Ama Bella store. I was not happy to say the least, as I spent about 2 hours at the timeshare presentation, and about another 2 hours looking for the jewellery I was going to purchase. When I returned to tell the timeshare people what had happened, the one lady was quite sympathetic and tried to have my certificate changed to another gift, but was told that it couldn't be done by another employee. Then the "boss" got involved and was not in the least trying to resolve the situation, in fact made a bad situation worse! Now, I would never trust the "gifts" they give, nor trust these people to buy a timeshare from!!!
The island itself is nice, if you want to go to a place where things are like they are at home, i.e. shopping, restaurants, fast food, movie theatres etc., but there isn't a whole lot of feeling of culture, particularly on the Dutch side. Didn't really hear anyone speaking Dutch, and many of the residents are not originally from the island, they have moved there from elsewhere in the Caribbean. Overall, one must be aware that it is an expensive island, and that you may feel you get more for your money elsewhere i.e. Mexico etc.
Would I return to the Great Bay Beach Resort? Only if the swamp next door was cleaned up and no longer smelled!
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