mamamia66

Just found some great deals for Royal West Indies and Coral Gardens. Would love feedback from someone who has been to one or both. A few details about us...we are family of 5 (kids 9, 13, 15). I love to snorkel & so that is my draw to Coral Gardens. Also their onsite restaurant seems great and love that you can see the water from tables. RWI looks to have nicer pool, kayaks, snorkeling equipment included also use of bikes to go to grocery store, etc. Not looking to rent a car more than a couple of days. Also Tripadvisor reviews of RWI seem to be consistantly better than Coral Gardens. Seems to be quite a walk from RWI to Coral Gardens...if anyone could confirm...if we wanted to walk there to snorkel. Money is an issue this year and found 2 bedrooms at both for under $300/night!! Too good to pass up. Other resorts near Coral Gardens seem to be much higher. Thank you for any help/tips you could provide!!

beachdreams3

I have stayed at the Royal West Indies but not Coral Gardens and agree with what you have said regarding the differences. I would pick RWI for a nicer overall resort and better beach, but I'm not much of a snorkeler. If you want to snorkel frequently without renting a car, RWI is a fairly long walk to Coral Gardens (I estimate about 2.75 to 3 miles on the beach, or about 45 minutes or so).

I have not been to Provo since the restaurant "Somewhere" opened at CG, and from what I have read, it is better than the old restaurant there. Mango Reef at RWI also is a good option, but it is not beachfront.

You might look at the Alexandra and the Sands too. They are in the same general price range as RWI without specials, but both hotels are closer to snorkeling. The Alexandra is about 15 minutes to CG and the Sands 25 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Vrbo.com and Skyauction.com may give you some lower prices too. RWI and Alexandra units have been on vrbo. Sands and Alexandra have been on skyauction.

vlcd1

Mamamia66, I've been looking for a 2 bedroom on Grace bay as well and $300 is our price range. Could I ask if you went directly through the hotel for RWI??? Thank you so much for your help!

steve

Stayed at the RWI on 3 trips and have not not stayed at Coral Gardens. With that said, I did drive to the Coral Gardens one trip to see it for future reference. The exterior and general appearance of it compared to the RWI turned me off. Just has a different feel to it.

We ate lunch at the Sands and I would consider it based on my experience with the property and what I saw during lunch.

Also, the RWI is a bit more convenient in my opinion.

One other comment in regards to the RWI. If you have a "2 bedrooms" it is actually a 1br and a studio side by side in an outside 1br and an inside studio. With that said, you will need to leave the 1br and studio doors open and lock the outside door that accesses the two units. The kids will basically have their own room with balcony and kitchenette.

We really like the RWI although the pools are a bit small, but who comes there exclusively for the pools.

shirleyk

We have stayed at Coral Gardens and The Alexandra. If snorkeling is important to you and you plan on snorkeling several times a day (which we did), then stay at Coral Gardens. There are large turtles right out front of Coral Gardens besides the sea gardens for snorkeling. You won't be in your room that much, only to sleep and use the facilites. We spent all our time either on the beach or in the water snorkeling or just paddling around on floats (bring your own from Walmart). There are two parts to Coral Gardens, the beachfront section and the back section (obviously not on the beach) - which part are they quoting $300 a night? We also stayed at Alexandra in a two bed oceanfront. From there we walked over to Coral Gardens in about 15 minutes to snorkel. Both places were fine, but of course you can't beat the snorkeling right in front of Coral Gardens.

mamamia66

vlcd I went through Hotels.com for RWI...rate was under $300 for 2 bedroom PLUS I found a code on www.retailmenot.com that took off another 10%! We are paying a bit more for 1st night because that appears to be still in high season. When I called Hotels.com they said they had 3 2 bedrooms left at that point. I checked all of the other hotels recommended & can't come close to that price.

vlcd1

Thank you so much for sharing where you found that deal. I really appreciate it. Hope you have a great time!

mamamia66

Thanks so much for all of your replies....looks like I probably can't go wrong with either. My husband & kids want to stay at RWI because of the benefits mentioned so think I'll keep my reservation there. Guess if I was going alone, I would pick Coral Gardens because I love the snorkeling and really don't care about the room, pool, kyaks, etc. I'm sure we'll head down there a couple of times to check out the reef.