Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Weekend in bermuda

Yes, we found our moongate and took a repeat photo from our honeymoon - thanks to all who responded to my question on that! Arrived with no issues via US Air thru PHL. Hotel was Grape Bay Hotel and was supposedly just renovated. Our room must have been missed!! When I arrived at our hotel at the designated check-in time, the room was not ready (this is a 24 room hotel). I waited 2 hours for the room!! Not a happy camper at that point, but what the heck, I was on vacation. We paid extra for an deluxe ocean view room...yes, we could see the ocean but the immedate view was of the restaurant roof top and the cracked, peeling sidewalk and wall behind it as well. what the heck, I'm on vacation! Took a shower, it leaked and the entire bathroom floor was flooded, the sink faucets were very loose and also flooded the countertop when used and the toilet had to be jiggled to reset each time. I'm on vacation....why is nothing working as planned??? Registered my concerns with the front desk and headed out for a cab to Hamilton. DH was arriving quite late that night so I had a couple of hours to just walk and try to remember what it was like many years ago. First, the traffic is very intense. Even the roundabouts are backed up and the cab driver said there was a possibility of allowing tourists to rent cars in the future!! Not a good idea. Triminghams and Smiths are out of business and there are a lot of boutiques on Front Street with familiar names - Max Mara, etc. Not the same quaint British atmosphere we loved. I had dinner at the Hog Penny - excellent pasta and glass of wine and headed back to the hotel. DH arrived around 11pm and we crashed.

Day 2 - Pouring rain but that did not stop us. We grabbed a shuttle to Oleander Cycles and rented scooters. the young man immediately assumed that we would want only one and instructed my husband on all the workings. When we explained that we wanted 2 scooters, he went thru the process again for me and again and again. OK, I'm blonde but not that stupid. Took off on our respective scooters and stopped in Hamilton for breakfast. Walked a bit, shopped a bit and then headed out to the Royal Dockyards. The day was brightening up a bit weather wise. We made our way from one end of the dockyards to the other. Sampled the rum cakes...and ended up at the Frog and Onion pub just as the world cup match between Portugal and UK was going into penalty kicks. Great fun to watch! It was again pouring rain by the time we left so we bought ponchos and gutted it out. Tried to have dinner at the hotel that evening but were told the restaurant was booked with a large group. The place was vacant and the group was not arriving for another 90 minutes but they refused to seat us. Hey, this is vacation!!! So, we hopped on the scooters and went to the Swizzle Inn. Not too crowded, good pub fare and the excellent swizzles they are known for!

Day 3 - Bright and sunny!!!! On the scooters and off to St Georges. Since this was Sunday, many shops were closed. We lost our way and found so many little winding roads and hidden treasures that would have been missed otherwise. Had lunch at the White Horse - right on the water and so pleasant. It was some sort of celebration day for Portugal so we stayed for the parade and given their recent success in world cup, it was on steroids! Stopped at a couple of beaches on our way back, drove thru the ramshackle and deserted ex-Club Med/Holiday Inn/whatever hotel on the shore (such a shame to see!!!). Back to the hotel and off to dinner at Tom Moore's Tavern. Truly a highlight with outstanding food and service. DH had grouper and I had a mushroom studel that was fabulous. Back at the hotel, we tried to sit on the balcony and enjoy the 'view' but the restaurant staff was taking breaks just below us and smoking. Ughhhh

Day 3 - A mixed bag weather-wise. We headed up the south shore road and had breakfast at Le Paraquet. Its a little local type place with good food and quick service. From there, to Gibbs Lighthouse and then on to the Royal Dockyards again to pick up some glass we'd bought. Had a quick soda there and took the ferry over to Hamilton. Lunch at Flannagan's (nice view and again, decent food). Zipped out to Tucker town and found the most incredible beach....Windsor. Huge, quiet and only 5 of us there. Vegged out and then wound our way back towards the hotel. Dinner that night was at Elbow Beach (our honeymoon hotel). So nice, excellent food, romantic. A great way to end the trip.

Day 4 - returned the scooters and off to the airport.

Comments - Grape Bay was not a place I'd ever return to. The room was shabby, staff was indifferent and their idea of a continental breakfast was a joke. Most of the people we talked to who were also staying there were not pleased but had made plans at the last minute as had we. No maintenance was done even after we told them twice about the problems in the bathroom, manager was not on duty over the weekend at all or even accessible.

Bermuda is expensive - expect $50 for lunch at a pub with no liquor. There are no free refills on soda or iced tea - and those are about $4 each to begin with. A 15% gratuity is added automatically. Petrol for the scooters was about $4/liter - very pricey. A cab to hamilton was $10 each way, the airport about $30.

Shopping is not quite what we remembered. The British atmosphere is still there but many shops carry the same US Brands as we'd find here - Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. Very congested, much more commercialized.

yes, we will return within a few years. However, this time, we'll stay at either Elbow Beach or rent an apartment.