Best Bermuda Hotel
Mar 4th, 2002, 09:06 AM
#1
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Best Bermuda Hotel
I am looking to take a trip to Bermuda with my husband and am looking for the best hotel that offers beach front property, AC, pool, attentive staff, good cuisine, exercise room and peace and quite. The sky's the limit as this is our last big vacation before I deliver my baby! Thanks for your help.
Mar 4th, 2002, 11:10 AM
#2
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Be sure you consider The Reefs in Southampton Parish. It offers everything to requesed. It is one of Bermuda's small hotels, which in my opinion, offers the opportunity to better appreciate the charms of Bermuda and it's people. The Reefs is adjacent to large Sonestsa Beach Hotel so you can still stroll over there for its stores and activities if that's important to you.<BR><BR>Good luck!
Apr 2nd, 2002, 07:42 PM
#3
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Sandy, I've come to the conclusion that Bermuda has no really high end hotels. Some very good, but nothing on the level of say a Four Seasons type place. The best ones seem to be Southampton Princess (very generic rooms though and quite large, almost 600 rooms), Pink Beach (small place, discrepant reviews), the Reefs (again, nothing too special about the rooms).
Apr 2nd, 2002, 09:13 PM
#4
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About the Sonesta hotel which is adjacent to the Reefs: it's ugly, really ugly, motel-type ugly large hotel. I would not consider it a plus to be next to my property of choice. <BR>I have not stayed at the place and would not if they paid me. I've read good things about the Reefs on this board - haven't stayed there either - only went to lunch there and it was OK but nothing special. Wait staff was kind of below average as far as service. I certainly have not seen all of the hotels on the island but would recommed the Waterloo Hotel in downtown Hamilton (no beach) or its sister property which is located on the beach (its name escaped me-but if you do a search on the subject you'll get the name). These hotels seem to have much more class. I'm not sure if I've been very helpful here....Best of luck. Bermuda is wonderful !
Apr 4th, 2002, 09:03 AM
#6
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My husband and I went to Bermuda last June and stayed at Pompano Beach. I can't say enough wonderful things about this resort. It has been a family owned resort for over 40 years. It is a small resort, but I found that very appealing since every time we went to lobby the staff knew our names. You do have to go stairs to the beach since the property is right on the cliffs. But the walk down the stairs is worth it since you have a nice private beach. The food was excellent and they have what they call "dine around" so that you can try other restuarants. They take care of getting transportation to these other restuarants. I'm not sure if there is an additional charge since my husband and I were happy just eating at Pompano. They have a terrace that wraps around the restuarant and if you get there early enough you can request seating outside and watch the sunset and "WOW" what a sunset. Their accommodations vary in price. It is a matter of what you prefer/afford. All of the rooms have an ocean view. You can go on the net at PompanoBeach.com and see the property and special packages they offer. I would not hesitate one minute to refer anyone to this beautiful and friendly resort. I wish I could go again this year.<BR><BR>Jinnie
Apr 4th, 2002, 05:05 PM
#8
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Stayed at Stonington Beach last August after leaving a DISGUSTING ELBOW BEACH. The Stonington is on the same long beatiful, long beach as the above mentioned resort without the heart attach inducing walk to your room. Stonington was very lovely with a nice restaurant on the patio and snack/bar on the beach. It has a small pool and rooms were clean, updated, great views, and very nice. Staff was fine. For the price, it can't be beat!
Apr 5th, 2002, 06:52 AM
#9
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Re: Aerial Sands<BR>I didn't stay at the resort. Stayed in a private home just adjacent to it but we used the facilities. I didn't hear any complaints from the guests. Locals in Bermuda are able to use the facilities as a private club as well so it speaks highly of what is offered. There is a web site that will give you more info. Very quiet, lovely spot. About 10minutes by taxi to downtown Hamilton. Couple of restaurants down the road - Specialty Inn (mostly locals good food) and a Brewery/Pub/Restaurant. <BR><BR>Hope this helps.
Apr 5th, 2002, 07:44 AM
#12
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I stayed at Cambridge Beaches a couple years ago and loved it. There is a very nice spa there, with both indoor and outdoor pools. The property is beautiful, and their restaurant was very good. We had a beautiful suite overlooking the ocean ... the sunset views were incredible. We also liked that they arranged activities (sailing, snorkeling trips) right from the resort and you leave from the dock right there. If you do a search on this site and type "Cambridge Beaches" you will find lots more specifics.
Apr 5th, 2002, 08:24 AM
#13
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We only visited Ariel Sands but the place looked like an abandoned property ready to close. No people -- no life.<BR>Very strange. <BR>The restaurant and bar were empty. Only the bartender and us and another single person. This was at the end of August 2001.
Jul 19th, 2002, 08:37 AM
#17
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Mike, <BR><BR>I spent 5 nights at the Elbow Beach Hotel at the end of June. There are a lot of good reasons to stay there, and we had a lovely time, but I have to say that some of the criticisms I've read on the internet about the rooms seemed justified. I wouldn't say our room was "disgusting," as one other poster said of her room at Elbow, but there were problems. <BR><BR>Our room was not in the main hotel, but in one of the one-story buildings closer to the beach. (That was a good thing--much less of a walk.) I was told the room was renovated 3 years ago. The floor was tile, which was okay, but the light-colored area rug in the sitting area looked pretty dirty, as did the light-colored upholstery on the sofa and armchair. What bothered us more were the problems in the bathroom. The exhaust fan didn't work. Also, when you stepped into the tub, which was plastic, there was a squishing sound, and the tub bottom had a squishy feel to it, as if water had accumulated under there. And water kept appearing on the floor near the tub even though we hadn't spilled any. It seemed to be oozing up through the grout between the tiles. <BR><BR>We called someone about the bathroom problems, and they were promptly looked into. But the fan never did get fixed before we left. The tub problem was alleviated somewhat (I have no idea what they did), but not really fixed. (Not surprising--probably would've required ripping out the tub liner.) It was kind of disappointing, considering the $485 a night we were paying. A polite chat with the manager at the end of our stay resulted in 15% being deducted from our room rate. The manager was apologetic, and said he was "familiar" with the tub problem, which suggests to me it might occur in other rooms besides ours. The manager also noted that, had we wanted to switch rooms, he wouldn't have had anywhere to put us--the place was fully booked.<BR><BR>I just remembered: at the very end of our stay, we saw that some ants had burrowed into the room under the sliding glass door. Glad we didn't notice that sooner.<BR><BR>On the up side, the beach at the hotel is absolutely beautiful, and that's where we spent most of our time. There's a bar and restaurant (Mickey's Bistro) right on the beach, where you can get a drink to take back to your lounge chair--just charge it to your room. I think you can get carryout there as well. The hotel is centrally located, just a short cab ride from Hamilton. Also, there are bus stops on the road in front of the property. You can buy a bus pass at the concierge desk. The hotel staff is very nice. The concierge was very helpful in making dinner reservations at several restaurants on the island.<BR><BR>We had dinner one night at the Cafe Lido, and while the food was quite good, the service seemed somewhat confused. The restaurant had been renovated and had only reopened 6 days before, and I think the staff was mostly new. So I expect the service will improve over time.<BR><BR>The grounds of the hotel are lovely, lush and green, with flowering plants. There's also a lovely-looking pool, some tennis courts and a putting green. But we couldn't pry ourselves off that beautiful beach.<BR><BR>Anyway, if you're considering staying at Elbow Beach, you might call the hotel directly and ask some pointed questions--like whether they have any rooms that have been completely renovated recently, and if so, how recently. But even if your room's not so hot, I predict you'll have a great time. We did. <BR><BR>
Jul 19th, 2002, 10:05 AM
#18
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When I was there many years ago I saw this place called Castle Harbour Inn or something like that, it was incredible looking, on a cliff and looked just like a castle. What happened to it? I was talking to someone who had been there and they said no such place?
