BEST HOTEL IN BERMUDA??

Old May 1st, 2006, 03:38 AM
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BEST HOTEL IN BERMUDA??

My husband and I are going to be in Bermuda this July for one week. We will be there for business/pleasure, so the price of the lodging is no factor. Do you have any suggestions for our "one time only" visit to the island?
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Old May 1st, 2006, 04:15 AM
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For a larger upscale resort, there are two, Elbow Beach which has a great stretch of beach and Southhampton Fairmont which sits high atop a hill. Both are large and upscale. These are your top hotels. For small intimate and more Bermudian hotels, The Reefs is excellent. The food is good and the location is great. The Reefs will have no tv's in the rooms (I think they have them in the suite category rooms). It is more adult oriented. You will see very few kids at the Reefs(I was the only occupant with kids outside of my brother who was also staying there at the same time.)
Elbow is large and I am not sure about the rooms and food. I have not stayed there, but have been on their beach. It is, in my opinion a great looking hotel. The Fairmont Southhampton is high on the hill so you must walk down to the beach (or shuttle). It is very nice and there are shops and such downstairs. There is tennis and golf. (I think many of them have this feature).
The Reefs is friendly and small. They have a meal plan that includes breakfast and dinner and afternoon tea daily. The food was very good and it is easy to not have to think about it. If I had a free week in Bermuda, I would try the Elbow Beach. If you have only the room covered, then go for the Reefs. It includes the meals! Have fun. You really can't go wrong with any of these places
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Old May 1st, 2006, 05:38 AM
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I find the Fairmont to be very large and old-fashioned. Very 70's looking.

For a true Bermuda experience you may want to go for a cottage colony. My DH and I stay at the Pink Beach Club in quiet Tuckers town. for around 550 a night, you get full breakfast and a 5 course dinner. No TVs, but splurge for ocean front, leave your french doors open, and fall asleep to the waves.
www.pinkbeach.com
Ahh...

Other "colonies" are cambridge beaches all the way in Sandys, pompano beach club (not as luxe) and Horizons and Cottages which is Relais and Chateaux.

Book soon as July is high season!
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Old May 1st, 2006, 07:42 AM
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If I had the budget to afford it, I would go to Cambridge Beaches and take one of the cottages. Spectacular.
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Old May 1st, 2006, 02:44 PM
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I second Cambridge Beaches. It is great and some of the best food on the island - different souffle every night (I tried them all the week we stayed there). I would like to try Elbow Beach on our next trip. Have had dinner there, but not stayed there. Location is more central than Cambridge Beaches. Think the Pink Beach Club is supposed to be quite nice, too, although I have no personal experience with the place.
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Old May 1st, 2006, 04:13 PM
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I posted this before (and got no resonse) and hope you won't think I'm threadjacking, but you have been suggested the Reefs; has anyone been to the Reefs lately--we are booked there for June and it is a special trip that we won't get to make very often (if at all) and the recent Trip Advisor reviews are not very good; in short, good food is important to us and the reviews say that it was not very good; having just taken a trip with unexpectedly lousy food we are not eager to repeat. Any reassurances or another suggestion for a luxury hotel in Bermuda with good food?

many thanks,

Mary in D.C.
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Old May 1st, 2006, 04:27 PM
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Last time I was at the Reefs was October 2003 so I can not give a recent review. The food has always been excellent in the past and I am surprised at the bad reviews.
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Old May 1st, 2006, 04:50 PM
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marymarra, I hate to break it to you, but Bermuda is just not a "food" destination. Having said that, the food at Cambridge Beaches was pretty good and I do not recall being disappointed there. I last had dinner at the Reefs about a year ago and also had no complaints there. Will I rave? No.
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Old May 2nd, 2006, 03:33 AM
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Food in Bermuda has always been very good. I am a foodie from nyc area, and we find great food on the island. Not always at the dine around at the hotels--some such as Horizons, The Reef, Waterloo have had some good reviews. Ascots, Waterloo House, Port-o-call, Lobster Pot, Frescos, Aqua,Fourways Inn, Silk, Little Venice---even The Seahorse Grill in Elbow Beach are interesting dining spots. I really hate to read about not great food on the island. Each year the choices get better and better.
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Old May 2nd, 2006, 05:15 AM
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For foodies - actually, the Lido at Elbow Beach is terrific. You can't beat the views either.

For a taste of Old Bermuda, Tom Moore's Tavern is over 200 years old I believe, and is in the poet's old house. There's a mangrove out back that's just lovely.

For a cheaper slice of authentic, try the Swizzle inn for a dark and stormy and a side of fish soup.

I love the Pink Beach Club - they treat us like family there.
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Old May 2nd, 2006, 04:49 PM
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thanks everybody; cantstayhome--of course, I'm not going for the food, but we just went to a resort where the food was really awful and I'm trying to avoid paying alot of money for mediocre food; past reviews of the Reefs mention good-great food and new reviews mention that the food is not very good so I was wondering if anyone on the board had stayed there recently.

thanks everybody!

Mary
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Old May 2nd, 2006, 05:51 PM
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We have been to both Cambridge Beaches and Pink Beach Club, and we prefer Pink Beach. Their beachfront cottages are right on a lovely beach. In the morning, your maid serves your breakfast on your patio. Incredibly nice way to start your day. The food in the dining room was pretty good for dinner, but we ate there only once, prefering to dine at various places around the island.
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Old May 3rd, 2006, 05:05 PM
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thanks angler, still hoping for a recent Reefs visitor!

thanks,

Mary
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Old May 5th, 2006, 09:44 AM
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I find Trip Advisor reviews unhelpful. So I wouldn't forgo the Reefs which is one of Bermuda's best because of some disgruntled folk.
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Old May 9th, 2006, 08:11 AM
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What is best room category at reefs in the mid-cost range (i.e. not a higher end suite)? It appears some may have been upgraded and other could be in need of it and I can't tell which room categories if any have been upgraded. Which has the larger bathrooms? thanks
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Old May 14th, 2006, 02:53 AM
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We have been to Bermuda 5 times and have checked out every hotel - the best (hands down) is the Pompano Beach Club (and it is also #1 on trip advisor). It is very private, gorgeous views, the best 6 course meals anywhere w a Monday "barbeque" - all you can eat gourmet!. They are doing renovations currently - to be completed by July. It is hard to beat their service.
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Old May 16th, 2006, 04:14 PM
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I stayed at the Reefs last July. It was our second trip to the Reefs and I do not have a bad thing to say. Check out their website to see what hotels are included in their dine around program. Their on site restaurants are all lovely and dinner & breakfast are included in your room price. We had breakfast delivered to our room each day and dinned on our terrace overlooking the ocean. We had a sunset dinner on the beach at our own private table to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary at Coconuts. The rooms are not spectatular but all over look the ocean from a cliff and the views are fantastic. It is a small property which allows the staff to provide more attention to guests and I never felt crowded there. I love their infinity pool. Like I said, I do not have anything bad to report I will always go back to The Reefs anytime I am in Bermuda.
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Old May 16th, 2006, 05:07 PM
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LisaGee--thank you for your lovely comments; as it turned out, I have been so busy, I didn't do anything about changing/switching, but so appreciate your nice comments.

Mary in D.C.
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Old May 17th, 2006, 01:19 PM
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Feiny01, if you still haven't decided, feel like I have to share my Pompano thoughts. I really don't understand why Pompano is so loved by so many. If this is your one and only trip, don't stay there! One or two slips in service would be something that I wouldn't even think twice about over the course of a week or any one of my complaints on its own would not leave me with a negative impression of the place, but having just discovered this weekend my trip notes from last year's visit, I really don't think I would go back.

If I were expecting the Holiday Inn, I would have had a great time, but this place is trumpeted as a luxury resort. It is not.

The housekeeping staff seemed poorly trained (we had a suite with a sofa bed for my mom - they asked us specifically upon check-in whether we wanted housekeeping to pull it out in the evening, we said yes - twice it wasn't pulled out), twice the housekeeping staff tried to clean the room while we were still there - sorry, but staff at a luxury resort doesn't do that, they stay out of your way unless you want them there, the water glasses in the room were not washed, they were just turned upside down and put back onto the little paper circle - I witnessed this when housekeeping insisted on cleaning the room before I left, the decor in the rooms was tired, there was mold in the grout in the bathroom (these two problems may have been rectified by their recent renovation), one of the waiters that we always seemed to get was surly and inattentive (his name was "Chris" if anyone wants to know), the food was really not good - meat was never cooked as requested, not even once, dessert was abysmal and lacking in choices, there were never enough newspapers no matter how early we got up, and there was what appeared to be a large garbage dump on the property (presumably from the construction materials on site) as you approach with no effort to conceal or disguise it.

These may sound like petty complaints to some, but, hey, as I said if I were expecting this stuff, no problem, but I was expecting something quite different. Having been lucky enough to have stayed at some really amazing places in my life, I just can't say Pompano is one of them.
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Old May 17th, 2006, 01:41 PM
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O.k., now I'm feeling guilty for not sharing my good thoughts about Pompano. The positive things are the Lamb family owners - they are delightful and the reason I feel guilty for not sharing good thoughts. The beach is great - you can walk very very far out into the water. There were servers in the restaurant that were really wonderful, too, and the view from our suite was perfect, but it just goes to show how many negative things can outweigh the good.
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