Sonesta Beach Resort
 

I am planning a trip to Bermuda, and have heard good things about the Sonesta, however, this site seems home to many poor reviews of the place. Is it really that bad? What can anyone tell me about it?

Hi Melanie,<BR>I have never been to the Sonesta in Bermuda but have been to the one in Anguilla and in Key Biscayne. They are both beautiful and the service/staff at both were great. Hope this helps...

I have never stayed at the Sonesta,but it has a nice location near the beautiful Southampton beaches. However by the looks of Sonesta beach first hand it is closed off from the Atlantic and appears a little merkey <BR>( if thats a word ) basically not very clear as most of the beaches are in Bermuda.<BR>There are so many great places to stay in Bermuda if you are looking for a large resort check out Elbow Beach or the Southampton Princess, as for smaller resorts peolple seem to like the Reefs had drinks there, was very nice. It is located next to the Sonesta. Good luck there is so much to choose from.

Hi Melanie --<BR>We just got back from Sonesta in July 2002. It is a nice hotel. I would call it "standard" in terms of rooms, but the food was very good, the beach is just outside the door, the view is exquisite, and the service was excellent. I read poor things on the message boards as well but we had a very pleasant experience.

I was there in 7/00. I wouldn't call the hotel great, but it was nice. The price was great and the location was great but rooms and food were standard. Location to us was most important, so this fit the bill. Service was good too, we were on our honeymoon and they sent chilled champagne to our room the first night. If cost is an issue - this is the place to go.

My wife and I went there 7/01. We are 50. The rooms were clean, but only "adequate". The view and location are great&gt; Right on the water! Definitely get a room overlooking "Honeymoon Point". Service was very good. If you have kids, this is the place to be. If you want "seclusion", there is a beach on the resort us "older" folks went to.

Melanie,<BR>My wife and I just returned from our first vacation in Bermuda. We had a wonderful time and would recommend a Bermuda vacation to everyone.<BR><BR>We stayed six days at the Sonesta Beach Hotel. From some comments on the Bermuda forums, I was concerned about the hotel selection (which was made by our children who sent us on this trip). <BR><BR>The hotel does not have the typical pastel Bermuda house/cottage look. But since it rained for parts of three days during our vacation, it was great to be able to walk inside the building to one of the restaurants, or go inside for a while and then back to the beach as soon as the rain stopped. <BR><BR>Also it was great to take the elevator to the lobby and walk out to the pool and less than 100 feet to the beach. The water at the beaches at the Sonesta isn’t as clear as the water at Horseshoe Bay. We walked to Horseshoe Bay (about 25 minutes at a slow picture taking pace). The water was crystal clear and the waves excellent. We spent a few hours there and after a snack took a cab back to our hotel. As I said the Sonesta water isn’t as clear. I guess the narrower openings to the bays keep more sand in suspension. Sinky Bay (Bay Wing of hotel) was shallow and had no waves. Boat Bay, which is closest to the main part of the hotel (Carlton Wing), had small waves. Cross Bay, which is east of the hotel (you can walk from Sinky Bay or take the shuttle bus from hotel entrance), was the nicest Sonesta beach. It had good waves just a little smaller than those at Horseshoe Bay. We found the water very salty and easy to float on.<BR><BR>We tried all the restaurants at the hotel, and the food was very good. Lillian’s, their premier restaurant, had a price fixed ($40/person) three-course dinner special, which we ordered. Both the food and service were excellent. The SeaGrape, where you dine outdoors overlooking the beach and water, featured an entr&eacute;e plus a salad and desert bar for $38. We had a problem here when the waiter brought our entr&eacute;e before we had finished our salads. My wife complained to the Maitre d’, who took our entr&eacute;es and bought new ones when we had finished a few trips to the salad bar. My wife said the soft-shell crabs were the best she had ever tasted. The Longtail caf&eacute; had good food at a reasonable price. The junkyard salad ($7) and pizza ($17-23) made a nice change. We had requested a refrigerator (another great tip) and the leftover pizza was the next days lunch. We brought cereal, and had that for breakfast.<BR><BR>When we arrived the room had two full be rather than a king size. The front desk told us two other rooms were available. The bellboy, who brought up the luggage, showed my wife the two rooms and we made a room change without problem. We saw some tiny ants (I see from other people that they are everywhere) and Housekeeping came and sprayed.<BR><BR>