Hayman Island
 

Has anyone stayed in a Beach Front room at Hayman? Just curious on the quality.<BR>Thanks!

I have just booked a Beachfront room at Hayman Island and also would like to know if anyone has stayed in one of these? Any other info. on the way to book meal reservations and especially the weather in January would be appreciated. Thanks, Barb

We stayed in a lagoon room, so I can't offer any expertise on beachfront rooms. Our view was okay, not great. The room itself was well-equipped and nice.

As for meals, reservations are a bit tricky. Only certain restaurants are open each night. You can always get in somewhere to eat at a reasonable hour, but on a given night your preferred restaurant might only have very late seating to offer, say around 9PM. I don't know how early you can book ahead on the restaurants, but if you can book before arrival, I'd do it. At least try to book for the first night or two of your stay. We also found that existing reservations sometimes got lost or multiplied. I didn't mind ending up double booked, but it was disconcerting when reservations just disappeared out of the system. In short, the whole restaurant reservations experience at Hayman is a minor hassle, an area this upscale resort should improve. Fortunately, the food is good to great almost everywhere. We especially enjoyed a couple of very special dinner buffets, well worth the hefty price. The exception to the good quality food is lunch, by far the weak spot.

I'd second Miranda's comments--we just got back from 5 nights on Hayman, so I'll be posting a longer trip report soon, too!

Amazingly enough, we found that the room service meals are the least expensive. (I've never found a hotel before where this is the case!) We were less impressed with the one restaurant meal we ate, given the price and quality of the food. It wasn't bad, just not particularly special. Lunches are definitely a weak spot--several days into our trip we figured out that ordering the picnic lunches (you can take them with you to on any of the many day trips) were much better than the onsite lunches.

We had a Pool room, so I can't offer any comments on the Beach Front rooms, sorry.

Thanks for the info so far. Does anyone know if they will take reservations for dinners before you arrive? and which restaurants were the best in your opinion? Thanks,

On any given night only some of the restaurants will be open, so you won't have that much choice. You'll probably want to try all the dinner restaurants during your stay --- it's really just a question of deciding which one on which night. The Asian and Italian restaurants were harder to get into than the main restaurant so if you can get a reservation at one of those, I'd go for it. The seafood buffet at the main restaurant was outstanding though, much more fun than the regular menu, so the night that is offered is the best night to eat there. We never ate at the super formal restaurant as this was a casual family trip, but I would assume it has the best food of all.....

Hi all: I contacted Hayman and found out that they will allow you to make reservations a week in advance of your arrival, when they decide on their itinerary. So I may try to do that to avoid disappointment. I guess I won't know which night the Seafood buffet is until they decide on that weeks menus. I hope that our hotels have internet access so I can contact Hayman prior to arrival. Thanks for help, Barb