Westin at Our Lucaya TR
Oct 7th, 2003, 06:32 PM
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Westin at Our Lucaya TR
My husband and I just came back from there for a 4-day/3-night stay (which was really a 2 full day stay).
We enjoyed the hotel very much. It's a huge property and has the potential of being ridiculously crowded. Fortunately for us, it was not. A friend of mine told me the Starwood group (that owns Westins and Sheratons and others) recently purchased the property (maybe 2 years ago or so??) and renovated the place. Everything looked good, we thought...the rooms, the restaurants, the pools and the landscape.
Our room was oceanview 5th floor of Breakers Cay. The view was lovely. We brought a candle, lit it at night, just sat on the pretty big patio and simply enjoyed the view every night. The room was a very good size.
We thought the best feature of the hotel was the two infinity edge pools...simply lovely. One has a swimp-up bar. The other (our favorite) is located towards the suites (away from the main Westin building and the Sheraton).There were even less people there (I think it's because most people didn't realize it was there). The beach on that side was also our favorite. The water was clear with gentle surf. There were never more than 3 other couples when we were on that beach. It was as if we had it all to ourselves.
There's a marketplace across the street from the Westin. It has restaurants and lots of shops. We had our breakfast there every morning. $4 for 2 eggs/toast/bacon. You can't beat that, especially compared to the notoriously ridiculous Westin food prices.
We'd have lunch and dinner at the hotel. We liked the food at Iries (caribbean fare) and Willy Broadleaf (international fare).
One morning, we went to Deadman's Reef at Paradise Cove to snorkel. That was pretty nice. The majority of our time there, we just stayed at the hotel, swimming in the pool and the sea, a bit of parasailing...and simply relaxed.
If you have any questions, I'll gladly try to answer them.
We enjoyed the hotel very much. It's a huge property and has the potential of being ridiculously crowded. Fortunately for us, it was not. A friend of mine told me the Starwood group (that owns Westins and Sheratons and others) recently purchased the property (maybe 2 years ago or so??) and renovated the place. Everything looked good, we thought...the rooms, the restaurants, the pools and the landscape.
Our room was oceanview 5th floor of Breakers Cay. The view was lovely. We brought a candle, lit it at night, just sat on the pretty big patio and simply enjoyed the view every night. The room was a very good size.
We thought the best feature of the hotel was the two infinity edge pools...simply lovely. One has a swimp-up bar. The other (our favorite) is located towards the suites (away from the main Westin building and the Sheraton).There were even less people there (I think it's because most people didn't realize it was there). The beach on that side was also our favorite. The water was clear with gentle surf. There were never more than 3 other couples when we were on that beach. It was as if we had it all to ourselves.
There's a marketplace across the street from the Westin. It has restaurants and lots of shops. We had our breakfast there every morning. $4 for 2 eggs/toast/bacon. You can't beat that, especially compared to the notoriously ridiculous Westin food prices.
We'd have lunch and dinner at the hotel. We liked the food at Iries (caribbean fare) and Willy Broadleaf (international fare).
One morning, we went to Deadman's Reef at Paradise Cove to snorkel. That was pretty nice. The majority of our time there, we just stayed at the hotel, swimming in the pool and the sea, a bit of parasailing...and simply relaxed.
If you have any questions, I'll gladly try to answer them.
Oct 9th, 2003, 04:07 AM
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Thanks for that TR. We're going Oct 16th and will stay at the Westin as well. Last time we stayed at the Pelican Bay Suites which we loved but we had been told that we could use the Our Lucaya facilities when we were there. That was not true. With a bit of a fuss, we got Pelican Bay to pay for our use of Our Lucaya chairs, pool and beach, but it was a hassle. So this time we're trying the Westin... I think we're supposed to stay at Lighthouse point. If you have any other restaurant suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Thanks again!
Oct 9th, 2003, 04:51 PM
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Hi..that's all we did for restaurants..we were only there for 3 nights. There are quite a few places to eat at the resort. I can't remember the names of the 2 places we had breakfast at, but the marketplace is right across the street and you'll see quite a few little restaurants there (nothing fancy).
Make sure you go the infinity pool that's all the way to your left (when you're facing the ocean), right next to the 2-story building that houses the suites. You'll love it. The beach on that side is really lovely too.
Have fun!
Make sure you go the infinity pool that's all the way to your left (when you're facing the ocean), right next to the 2-story building that houses the suites. You'll love it. The beach on that side is really lovely too.
Have fun!
Oct 9th, 2003, 05:13 PM
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oh one interesting thing..you'll notice a 15% tip tacked on to all your food/drink bills and another space for an additional tip. we thought that was kinda weird since we'd never seen that anywhere else we'd traveled. we usually tip 20% but we felt really cheap for adding only 5% to make up the 20%, so we'd end up adding another 10 to 15% tip! which we knew was a bit ridiculous but what the heck...they probably don't make much there!
Oct 10th, 2003, 04:45 AM
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Hi, thanks for the great info. I am planning a girls weekend for next March. Do you think this would be a good place for 4 women in their 30s? My friend really wants a nice spa, and I heard they had one. Did you try it? We also dont want too many kids around (we are leaving our kids at home with the husbands!) Is it just a short walk to get across the street to the restaurants? Did you feel safe at the Marketplace? Can you rent waverunners on the beach? Do you feel like you have to walk forever to get to the pool or beach? Could 4 women comfortably share one room, or would you get 2? Sorry I have so many questions!
Oct 10th, 2003, 06:33 AM
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I can't speak for the 4 women in the room question but we stayed at the Pelican Bay Suites last time we were there and it's right across the street from Westin and right next to the Marketplace. The Westin is RIGHT ON THE BEACH! ...and a beautiful one it is! I think that was some of the clearest water I've ever seen! We felt very safe there and felt that it would be fine to bring back our 2 teens and let them hang out in the marketplace on their own, as well as the Our Lucaya resort. Hope that helps with the safety issue!
Oct 10th, 2003, 11:22 AM
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hi jzak..absolutely it's safe for 4 women (kanoneli is right). you'll love it! we saw quite a few women who had traveled together there.
the marketplace is really just across the street and safe.
we did not try the spa...sorry!
i think we only saw 2 kids when we were there. i believe the sheraton next door is more family oriented so more kids there.
there's a watersports cabana right on the beach, you can rent waverunners, do banana boat rides and parasailing.
the beach and the pools are right there. now if you're in the main westin building (breaker's cay), it's maybe 1500 feet to the quietest part of the beach and that other infinity edge pool i raved about in my previous post...it's not far though.
i can't tell you about the rooms. we stayed in one with one king size bed, big but not big enough to hold 2 king size beds..so i presume the rooms with 2 queen or kings beds are bigger.
let me know if you have other questions.
the marketplace is really just across the street and safe.
we did not try the spa...sorry!
i think we only saw 2 kids when we were there. i believe the sheraton next door is more family oriented so more kids there.
there's a watersports cabana right on the beach, you can rent waverunners, do banana boat rides and parasailing.
the beach and the pools are right there. now if you're in the main westin building (breaker's cay), it's maybe 1500 feet to the quietest part of the beach and that other infinity edge pool i raved about in my previous post...it's not far though.
i can't tell you about the rooms. we stayed in one with one king size bed, big but not big enough to hold 2 king size beds..so i presume the rooms with 2 queen or kings beds are bigger.
let me know if you have other questions.
Oct 12th, 2003, 02:38 PM
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Hey Jzak,
We'll be at the Westin this coming weekend and I have every intention of checking out the spa. (I heard that we've got 50% probability of rain so I might be in there more than I planned!) Anyway, I'll post my comments when we return! Caribtraveler... have you eaten at the Greek Restaurant at the Marketplace? I think the name of it starts with a Z... Do you know it?
We'll be at the Westin this coming weekend and I have every intention of checking out the spa. (I heard that we've got 50% probability of rain so I might be in there more than I planned!) Anyway, I'll post my comments when we return! Caribtraveler... have you eaten at the Greek Restaurant at the Marketplace? I think the name of it starts with a Z... Do you know it?
Oct 12th, 2003, 05:43 PM
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kanoneli:
do you mean zorba's? if so, yes we had breakfast there. we didn't do lunch nor dinner though. it's not a fancy restaurant at all.
and just so you know re: weather. when we looked it up before the departure, it said thunderstorms the entire time we'd be there...well there wasn't a drop of rain! so don't worry to much about it. Have fun!
do you mean zorba's? if so, yes we had breakfast there. we didn't do lunch nor dinner though. it's not a fancy restaurant at all.
and just so you know re: weather. when we looked it up before the departure, it said thunderstorms the entire time we'd be there...well there wasn't a drop of rain! so don't worry to much about it. Have fun!
Oct 13th, 2003, 05:09 PM
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Thanks again for all the info. I am definitely going to check this place out. One more question: if we go at the end of March, will the weather be in the high 70s, or in the 80's? Will it be warmer than southern florida?
Oct 14th, 2003, 04:18 PM
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Kanoneli--we just returned from Our Lucaya and I will post a trip report soon but I wanted to answer your question about restaurants. Zorba's has good, inexpensive food in a casual atmosphere. We had a good breakfast (eggs, bacon, toast) for $4 per person. I'd highly recommend La Dolce Vita in the Marketplace for dinner. We had a delicious Italian meal. The pasta is made on the premises. Also check out China Beach for Asian food on the Our Lucaya property. The food is expensive but excellent. For example, we had a sushi roll that cost $17 (would have been $6 here in the US) but it was some of the best sushi we've had. We enjoyed dinner at Fatman's Nephew in the Marketplace. It's Caribbean food in a casual atmosphere overlooking the Square. Overall, we had a very nice time. Enjoy your trip!
Mar 9th, 2004, 02:13 PM
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Any comments from the golfers out there? We are a family of 5 including teenagers that all golf and are looking for a beach vacation. Our Lucaya sounds wonderful... would you consider anything else?
Karen
Karen
