safety
May 21st, 2009, 02:33 PM
#1
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safety
we are an older couple thinking about a all inclusive in bermuda or st lucia & was wondering if the area away from the resorts are a safe place to walk/dine/shop especially in the evenings
May 21st, 2009, 07:15 PM
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Bermuda is completely safe (well, as safe as an island gets), but as far as I know, there are no all-inclusive resorts there. There are several in St. Lucia, and if you are staying in the Rodney Bay/Castries area, it's fine to walk at night, but you can really only do that in the Rodney Bay area. Most of the other resorts (especially all-inclusves) are not in town and not conducive to walking. That's really true no matter where you go. The big resorts are far apart. If you want to walk around, you go to a place like San Juan. But you will certainly be able to (have to) walk/stroll to the restaurant in a large AI resort regardless of where you go. But throughout the Caribbean, the stores are mostly closed at night, so there's not really much shopping.
May 21st, 2009, 07:52 PM
#3
I agree with Doug about Bermuda being very safe. The Grotto may have an all inclusive option, but most places have meal plans for breakfast and dinner. As an older couple, the Grotto Bay resort attracts a lot of families. I would recommend The Reefs Club. Nice meal plan with good food. Nice resort, few children if any. I have stayed there a few times. My parents honeymooned there and so did my brother. We have all gone back with our kids (we had the only kids there), but they were just the nicest people working there. The hotel is low-key quiet and elegant.
We are going and staying at the Fairmont Southampton as they were running an excellent discount recently. They may have some good deals left.
We are going and staying at the Fairmont Southampton as they were running an excellent discount recently. They may have some good deals left.
May 22nd, 2009, 03:18 AM
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I also agree with Doug. Bermuda is a great option. I would suggest if you are interested in walking you consider the Royal Palms or Rosedon in Hamilton. Both are well located for shopping and dining out and have lovely gardens.
May 22nd, 2009, 09:40 AM
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You could also find that level of safety in Grand Cayman. If you position yourself wisely on Seven Mile Beach, you can walk almost everywhere in the vicinity you might need to go. And you could take tours to see the rest of the island. There's also a regular bus that goes into town. But no all-inclusive resorts.
I think you may get stuck if you insist on an AI. To me, that doesn't sound like the kind of experience you want.
I think you may get stuck if you insist on an AI. To me, that doesn't sound like the kind of experience you want.
May 26th, 2009, 04:21 PM
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We also are an older couple (62 &70). We just returned from a lovely trip to Bermuda. This was my 10th trip. You can feel safe anywhere on the island. Bermuda has the third highest income per capita in the world. In Jamaica or other Caribbean islands you may feel safer in an all inclusive. I do think that Grotto Bay offers all inclusive. I have stayed at Grotto Bay 4 times and had their breakfast & dinner meal plan. In 2002 they had renovated their two dining facilities, but the guest rooms were getting a little worn looking. They may have renovated since then. If you want a large luxury hotel, the Fairmont Southampton Princess and Elbow Beach are lovely. You may get meal plans at those also.
The Princess offers 7 restaurants and since their grounds are so extensive being surrounded by a golf course, a shuttle
trolley that runs every 10 minutes takes you to the restaurants that are located outside of the main hotel and they will also take you to the beach which is small but lovely. The hotel sits on top of a hill and the beach is across the road at the bottom of the hill. 20 years ago, I might have walked the distance, but when I stayed there last year, we took the trolley. The Elbow Beach Hotel now belongs to Mandarin Oriental. It is a little smaller than The Princess. It is located at the best and largest beach in Bermuda. There are 5 dining facilities at Elbow Beach. Mickey's is right on the beach. We had a lovely dinner there last week. We stayed at a lovely smaller hotel next to Elbow Beach. It is Coco Reef. Every room has an ocean view. There are only 64 units. All of our needs were attended to. The staff was wonderful.We did not get a meal plan since Coco Reef only has one dining room and a cafe that serves lunch outside or inside. There are 4 entrees offered and the menu did not change during the week that we were there.
This was my first time staying at a small hotel and not getting the meal plan. Dinner at Coco Reef one night was wonderful. We also had a fabulous dinner at the Waterlot Inn
which belongs to the Southampton Princess. Dinners at Mickey's
and The Seahorse Grill, which both belong to the Elbow Beach Hotel were both elegant and fantastic. In town, a great place for lunch (they also serve dinner) is the Hog Penny Pub. Great fish 'n' chips! There are so many wonderful restaurants in Hamilton and St. George's, that you don't really need a meal plan, unless you want all your meals at your hotel or you may save a little money with a meal plan.
Everything is expensive in Bermuda. But, I think that it is worth every penny feeling totally safe in an island Paradise.
If you do not care about the beach, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess in town is a lovely older hotel. You are near shopping and you may have your meals there or at the Southampton Princess. You may take a complimentary ferry over to the beach at the Southampton Princess. You may look at the websites for all the hotels and even look at the dining facilities and their menus.
This year I read hundreds of reviews before deciding to book Coco Reef. We were very happy with our choice. It has had a 10 million dollar renovation and is lovely. It is closer to the ocean than any other hotel. We walked down a flight of steps and we were right on Elbow Beach. We were closer to the two beach restaurants than the guests staying at the Elbow Beach Hotel, since that sits a few levels above the beach. If you don't mind spending the money and love a great steak(their specialty, although they offer much more),
try the Waterlot Inn for dinner, you won't be disappointed.
Mark Twain frequented the Waterlot during his stays in Bermuda. It's also THE place to see a Bermuda sunset.
Forgive me for rambling, but I could go on forever about the charms and beauty of Bermuda.( I should work for Bermuda
Dept, of Tourism)
The Princess offers 7 restaurants and since their grounds are so extensive being surrounded by a golf course, a shuttle
trolley that runs every 10 minutes takes you to the restaurants that are located outside of the main hotel and they will also take you to the beach which is small but lovely. The hotel sits on top of a hill and the beach is across the road at the bottom of the hill. 20 years ago, I might have walked the distance, but when I stayed there last year, we took the trolley. The Elbow Beach Hotel now belongs to Mandarin Oriental. It is a little smaller than The Princess. It is located at the best and largest beach in Bermuda. There are 5 dining facilities at Elbow Beach. Mickey's is right on the beach. We had a lovely dinner there last week. We stayed at a lovely smaller hotel next to Elbow Beach. It is Coco Reef. Every room has an ocean view. There are only 64 units. All of our needs were attended to. The staff was wonderful.We did not get a meal plan since Coco Reef only has one dining room and a cafe that serves lunch outside or inside. There are 4 entrees offered and the menu did not change during the week that we were there.
This was my first time staying at a small hotel and not getting the meal plan. Dinner at Coco Reef one night was wonderful. We also had a fabulous dinner at the Waterlot Inn
which belongs to the Southampton Princess. Dinners at Mickey's
and The Seahorse Grill, which both belong to the Elbow Beach Hotel were both elegant and fantastic. In town, a great place for lunch (they also serve dinner) is the Hog Penny Pub. Great fish 'n' chips! There are so many wonderful restaurants in Hamilton and St. George's, that you don't really need a meal plan, unless you want all your meals at your hotel or you may save a little money with a meal plan.
Everything is expensive in Bermuda. But, I think that it is worth every penny feeling totally safe in an island Paradise.
If you do not care about the beach, The Fairmont Hamilton Princess in town is a lovely older hotel. You are near shopping and you may have your meals there or at the Southampton Princess. You may take a complimentary ferry over to the beach at the Southampton Princess. You may look at the websites for all the hotels and even look at the dining facilities and their menus.
This year I read hundreds of reviews before deciding to book Coco Reef. We were very happy with our choice. It has had a 10 million dollar renovation and is lovely. It is closer to the ocean than any other hotel. We walked down a flight of steps and we were right on Elbow Beach. We were closer to the two beach restaurants than the guests staying at the Elbow Beach Hotel, since that sits a few levels above the beach. If you don't mind spending the money and love a great steak(their specialty, although they offer much more),
try the Waterlot Inn for dinner, you won't be disappointed.
Mark Twain frequented the Waterlot during his stays in Bermuda. It's also THE place to see a Bermuda sunset.
Forgive me for rambling, but I could go on forever about the charms and beauty of Bermuda.( I should work for Bermuda
Dept, of Tourism)
May 26th, 2009, 04:40 PM
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To alsob55,
I'm sorry that I did not address your original question about going out at night. If you stayed in Hamilton, you could go out in the evenings. They have festivities on Wednesday evenings in town. There are lovely shops and restaurants in Hamilton. Shops for clothing and jewelry are first class. There are a few places that offer evening entertainment. There is not really much night life in Bermuda. There are no casinos. I think that is one reason that it remains such a dignified elegant island.
If you stayed anywhere on the island, buses run every 15 minutes. They run until about 10:30 at night. Of course,
there are taxis if you did not want to take a bus at night.
The Southampton Princess and Elbow Beach hotels do have
entertainment in the evening. Bermudatourism.com or bermuda.com offer a lot of information on things to do and places to go. Again, I feel safe going anywhere in Bermuda.
The bad thing about Bermuda is leaving. No one wants to leave.
I'm sorry that I did not address your original question about going out at night. If you stayed in Hamilton, you could go out in the evenings. They have festivities on Wednesday evenings in town. There are lovely shops and restaurants in Hamilton. Shops for clothing and jewelry are first class. There are a few places that offer evening entertainment. There is not really much night life in Bermuda. There are no casinos. I think that is one reason that it remains such a dignified elegant island.
If you stayed anywhere on the island, buses run every 15 minutes. They run until about 10:30 at night. Of course,
there are taxis if you did not want to take a bus at night.
The Southampton Princess and Elbow Beach hotels do have
entertainment in the evening. Bermudatourism.com or bermuda.com offer a lot of information on things to do and places to go. Again, I feel safe going anywhere in Bermuda.
The bad thing about Bermuda is leaving. No one wants to leave.
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