Point Grace Review
 

Feel I must chime in here in response to the long discussion thread on Point Grace. Sorry to start a new message but for some reason message board won't let me reply on the already existing thread. We went to Point Grace in April 2001 and loved it. Yes, the service was not the kind you get at the 4 Season where someone stands by your chair waiting to fulfill your every wish -- but you have to understand that PG is a condo resort with many owners in residence, not a hotel resort with a ton of staff. We found the service to be fine, particularly Jerome the pool/beach attendant who took very good care of us. We are not the kind of folks who need constant service, we stayed there for the fabulous rooms, gorgeous landscaping and pool and spectacular beach and we were not disappointed. I visited every other major property on Provo and Pt. Grace by far is the nicest. In fact, except for its very nice restaurant, I found Grace Bay Club to be a very mediocre property, its location is not as nice as PG's, the pool area and landscaping are nothing special. I even heard lots of complaints about Parrot Cay (that it was boring and the bugs were bad and it was too inaccessible). So, to each his own. We would definitely return to Point Grace. By the way, while we were there they had a wedding on the beach and the staff seemed to be doing a fabulous job. And they couldn't have all been fired if Jerome is still there. So if you want 4 Seasons-type service, you won't be happy at Point Grace, but you will get much better accommodations at Pt. Grace than almost anywhere else in the Caribbean. Even the smallest rooms are 1,000 sq. feet.

We are headed to PG on 3/22 for 9 nights w/our 2 daughters. We are paying over $1000.00 a night for a 2 bedroom. I have benn trying to communicate w/the hotel for the past month via e-mail and phone w/o a lot of luck. Thats when I decided to do additional research on the place to see whats going on. I am absolutly heartsick reading all these posts. I made my reservations almost a year ago and have been looking forward to this stay so much. I would love to cancel but I am within the 30 day cancellation time frame. Five years ago we stayed at the Ocean Club and loved it. This time we wanted something more upscale. We too don't need 4Seasons sevice however broken toilets that are not repaired etc will not be tolerated. Stayed at Cap Juluca last year for the sme price and it was wonderful! Help---don't know how to get out of this reservation. Called Ocean Club and all they had left was 1 bedroom ov suites. A little hard to swallow after we've been looking forward to a 2 bedroom OF suite. I'll try to reach a manager at PG tomorrow.

hi mary... call the PG directly, or call their 1800 number to speak with shirley in reservations. it took me some time to cancel my reservations as well... there's another post on this site that says they recently hired someone else to be manager, so maybe it won't be so bad. i'd ask for the manager when you cancel and say that you tried to get through. by the way, the woman at PG in charge of reservations is Beverly. susan

Mary, this may help in reducing your costs -- We reserved and paid for a 1 br last year and actually got a 2 br. Looking at the floor plan, I determined that all the units are actually 2 bedrooms and there is no way to "lock off" those units into a 1 BR. I saw a lot of different units so I am pretty sure of this but not 100% certain. So you could try changing your reservation to a 1 BR and see what you get. Even if it did turn out to be a 1 BR there would be plenty of room for the kids to sleep. I think $1,000 a night is too much to pay for Point Grace -- we paid $425 a night.

Maybe cancelling is too extreme. Be excited to go. I would suggest calling the resort and asking to speak with the new manager and discuss your concerns. If the new manager has not started yet, you will probably have the same problems as most of the other people, but it is still a beautiful resort. If they know you have concerns coming in, you may get a little extra attention if they really want to turn things around.

good suggestion dudley! maybe they'll give you the upgrade to the 1000 dollar room for the lower price. however, considering that they wouldn't keep taxi reservations,fix toilets or change a 20 dollar bill...i wouldn't get my hopes up for special treatment.

And just be sure you don't get room 301!

I am going to PG in April. I, too, got very nervous when I read the posts. I have insurance where I can cancel 24 hours in advance, but I think I will keep my reservation.<BR><BR>I spoke with the assistant manager at PG (Pamela Ewing!?) and mentioned the problems that I had read about. She said that they had hired a trainer for the staff. She seemed to appreciate the comments - hopefully they will take care of them soon.<BR><BR>Mary - maybe you should call her and voice your concerns - It can't hurt to hear it from too many people.<BR>

Pamela Ewing is not going to fix your problems. In my opionion she is part of the problem. After I had been eated alive by mosquitos and she noticed it, she said she would send someone over to spray our room. That never happened.

Thanks for all the advice. I spoke w/Shirley today in reservations in NY. She didn't do much to alleviate my fears. Her attitude was "I'm in an office in NY not in Provo, so I don't know whats going on down there" Nice, huh? She did say they hired a new manager and he is trying to recruite new "professional" help from off the island, however he is not on the island much. The concierge Chris finally got back to me about our car rental after a month of e-mail tag. He said jeeps were sold out and I would have to get a car after I was told I did have a jeep rental. Oh well-as long as the sun is out and the beach is still there we will try to kepp a positive attitude-----and drink a lot.

mary... did you try talking to beverly at the club? good luck. susan

"Concierge Chris" is very friendly, but repeatedly made promises that he could not keep. While he is very friendly, I would not count on even a single thing he says. He promised to get us inot Grace's Cottage (the restaurant) the night we arrived and he did not follow through. He tried to charge us twice for our stay. If the new manager is not on site, I doubt things will change.

Again, Mary ,don't get room e301. They probably didn't fix the toilet. That was our room too. It's a pretty popular romm. I saw Pamela too but it didn't seem that see was doing anything. You're better off making your own dinner reservations. I made my own at the gbc and called chris to make the others. When I got to the restaurants each night the only restaurant that had our reservation was the one i made at the gbc. Also, Jerome, the beach attendant, goes home at 3:00 and you cannot get any beach towels after that, so stock up before that.

Again, Thanks for all the input. I made my own dinner reservations for the first 2 nights then I e-mailed Chris w/ the list for the next 7 nights. He got back to me within 24 hours and said everything was confirmed including a babysitter for one night for our kids. I guess when we get down there on the 22nd I will follow up at each place. I hope he has my car rental confirmed since it will be spring break and I heard all the rental agencies have run out of cars.

Mary - <BR>Which restaurants did you reserve? thanks<BR><BR><BR>Do you think I need to rent a car or can I just play it by ear and get one at the last minute?<BR><BR>Which snorkeling companies would you recommend? I have booked a trip that comes with the package from Point Grace but I'm sure we'll want to take more than one. How are the sunset cruises?<BR><BR>thanks<BR>

If I were you, I'd find out which car rental place they went through and follow up (in advance) with a call to them yourself. That is, if having a car is important to you. Its too bad you have to do it all yourself but I'd rather be sure than get down there and be sorry! Good luck!

To Jackie:<BR>We will be there the last week in March and I was told most rental cars are gone. I wouldn't leave it to the last minute. As for restaurants we booked Graces Cottage, Anacoana, Baci, Caicos Cafe, Mango Reef, Coyoba, Coco Bistro, The Terrace, & Hemingways.

i am keeping my fingers crossed for a great vacation at Point Grace. I spoke to Beverly and told her about my concerns given the negative posts on this board. She said that they are aware of both the posts and the problems and they are trying to improve upon them. You could tell that the resort management is upset about the negative publicity, and hopefully they are doing something about it.

who wants to be the guinea pig while they figure it out. i'll go there when i start hearing good things for a change.

Lori -<BR><BR>When are you going to PG? I am going April 6-14.