jill9916

We're heading to GC in Oct and other than the usual "weather" concerns, we're looking forward to getting away. Primary goal will be relaxation! Any suggestions for dining, shopping, etc that will make this trip a memorable one?

girlonthego

I am not a shopper, but downtown did not impress me.
Dining: I loved the 7 restaurant at the Ritz Carlton. Good food and nice atmosphere.
We liked Ragazzi (italian) and Deckers was pretty good.
I did not like the Wharf. The food was not good at all. I also saw a cat licking the sour cream at the waiter's station. Totally gross. If I hadn't mentioned it to the waiter, the next table would have been eating that. Yuck.
We stayed at the Marriott and had a really nice time. The people are very friendly and helpful. I felt the island was very safe and everyone seemed to walk the beaches at night.
We did the snorkel tour through Red Sail sports at the Marriott and it was a nice trip. My husband and daughter scuba dived with them as well. The instructor Kevin was good. My daughter had never gone before and went down 45 feet! My husband had only been once before and liked it as well.
Enjoy. It is a great relaxing island.

jill9916

Thanks for the dining recommendations. We will be staying at the Marriott as well.

girlonthego

Just a few tips. When you pull up to the Marriott the left side of the hotel has some construction going on. They are building a condo complex. I would make sure that I was staying on the opposite side. I noticed no real noise while sitting at the beach.

The beach side service was good. The lunches were tasty. Bring water shoes! There are little rocks when entering the water. I found the sand very soft, but rocky.

There is a Texaco about a block down that sells sodas and snacks. Behind the Texaco, is a strip mall and they have a liquor store there if you want beer, wine or liquor. There is also a sandwich shop there that gets good reviews.

The Marriott was a nice hotel and I would return there. Have a great trip!

maki

We just got back from the GC and we actually did some snorkeling off of the Marriott beach, which I thought was very small and rocky when entering. We stayed at the Westin. There was however some great snorkeling right off the beach. For food recommendations- I would say Calypso Grill, Deckers was below average, and we liked Hemingways quite a bit. There is some jewelry and watch shopping in town as well.