Which Resort: Palm Island, Young Island or Biras Creek?
 

We are a mature couple who like beautiful beaches, snorkeling, good food/drinks, and relaxing in a child free resort. To give you an idea of what we like, in the past we enjoyed our stays at Galley Bay in Antigua and LaSource in Grenada. We've been very impressed with what we've read on resorts such as Petite St. Vincent, but they are more than we wanted to spend. Would appreciate all advice and comments. Thanks.

Scuba Mom has reviewed Biras and Young at her site:

www.scubamom.com/caribbean/

We loved Young Island. It is mostly adults- when we were there (April) - there were only a few children who we rarely saw. The resort is very lush and tropical and the service was excellent. The food was bountiful, fresh and tasty. For the price, I think Young Island is a steal compared with many other high end resorts. Also, since the resort is small and on its own island- you have plenty of private space! Also, it is nice to know that you are contributing to the local economy as it is owned, managed and operated by Vincentians (sp?). In fact, we hadour own little private beach right outside our back door at Young Island.

I have heard that Biras is terrific- but the one thing I did not like about it is that the swimming beach is not near the rooms- you have to walk/bike to get there. I usually like being beachfront.

Palm Island- looks great but it has been taken over by the elite islands group of resorts and I have heard complaints that 1. It has lost that unique feel because it is owned by a big corporation and 2. the island used to be swampy so they have lots of bugs which the old owner used to spray for every evening, but the new ownership is not as repsonsive too.

Good luck!

Biras is teriffic. If you search for reviews of it here, you'll find more details about the location of the swimming beach. It is about a 10 minute walk from most of the rooms. However, they provide you with bikes, which makes it a lot of fun to get to the beach. On the way, you often see iguanas. While we were there, the winds were pretty high so the snorkeling was ok; not absolutely fabulous. We took the Biras sponsored snorkel trip out to the reef, and it was better out there. You can also pay for additional snorkeling trips -- can't say how they were as we didn't go! We loved the seclusion of Biras; you could go almost all day without seeing other people. I never ever thought I'd say that I wanted to go back somewhere -- I prefer to see a new place each trip -- but man, I'd go back to Biras in a heartbeat.

Thanks for the responses on Young Island and Biras Creek. I hope someone who has stayed at Palm Island since the renovation can comment, as I have seen conflicting reviews elsewhere. While Scuba Mom's site is really great, it includes a review of Young and Biras, but not Palm, so it's hard to compare.

I have been to Palm Island, Biras Creek and Galley Bay (2x). We were at Palm in January 2003. The beach is just beautiful, extremely private. Excellent accomodations, service and food. We were at Jamaica Inn this month. I would rate our experience at Palm and the Jamaica Inn as exceeding both Biras and Galley Bay.

Lisager15,

Thanks for the feedback. Did you take any day trips off Palm Island? How was the food and drinks? Any special rooms to request? Basically, any tips you can give us because we are seriously leaning towards Palm and need to decide ASAP. Thanks!

B_and_B

We did not go off the island but many of the other guests did. The Tobago Cays are very close and we were told they are beautiful. Also, the resort will take you for a sunset cruise at a minimal cost. I thought the food was some of the best we have had in the Caribbean and the drinks were great! We stayed in Room #4. There are a string of rooms before the restaurant that are beachfront. The rest of the beachfront rooms are on the other side of the restaurant and they do not have as much beach. I would not go with the Palm View rooms. You can get a good deal if you call Elite Island resorts directly. . .

Thanks for the response about your visit to Palm. We just got the quote for when we want to go and it is more than we are comfortable spending this year because of some upcoming continued employment uncertainties. So I think we may have to pass on Palm until a later year, and we are back on the search for somewhere nice, but a little more reasonable.

B_and_B

Have you considered Friendship Bay Resort on Bequia? We just got back from the Grenadines and just spent an afternoon on the beach at Friendship Bay and had drinks at the bar there. It was a lovely setting but I cannot compare rates or anything else to Palm Island. The have a website at friendshipbayresort.com

Maria

Just returned from Palm Island last week. Had a wonderful time, but did have a problem with overbooking. We had booked a beachfront room but was told they were overbooked, so they put us in a palm view room for two days. This room was in a great location it should have been called an oceanview room. The room faced the ocean and was much bigger than the beachfront room. When a beachfront room was available, we looked at the room, but it was further away from the ocean than our palm view room, so we opted to stay in the palm view room. We asked management to credit the difference in pricing (which turned out to be about $1000.00 for the week). There were several other couples with the same overbooking situations, so beware. When we spoke with management about the overbooking problem, they blamed Elite (who I booked thru) and Elite blamed the resort. Either way we have received our credit thru Elite.

The food at the resort was good, the staff was very accomodating and the guests were very friendly.

I didn't have a problem with the bugs, though, some people did. They sprayed the beach and the resort area several time while we were there.

Took the Tobago Cay excursion it was fun.

If you are looking for complete relaxation, with a beautiful view, this is the place.

Gabby40, thanks for the feedback. What room were you in that you ended up keeping?

Lisager15 and Gabby40, how did everyone dress for meals? We want to do the Tobago Cays trip too. Was the trip wtih the hotel or just arranged by them? Was the snorkeling good anywhere right off the island?

Any other tips you can give would be appreciated. It looks as if our trip may come together after-all at the price of the first quote instead of the higher priced second quote they gave us when we moved the date. Meanwhile we are keeping our fingers crossed.

B_and_B

We are back to looking again as the Palm Island price is coming in too high. Any other ideas on someplace similar but less pricey?

B&B
We stayed in palm view room #32. It was a nice room, from the front you could see the ocean and from the back you saw the palm trees and the other side of the island.

Dress is pretty casual. Shorts and tees for breakfast. Shorts with a coverup for lunch. Dinner is a little more formal - men wore pants with collared shirts - women wore dress shorts, sundresses or pants.

Yes we snorkeled at Tobago Cays - had a lunch with cocktails on the beach all included with the price I believe was $60.00 pp.

You can also snorkel from the beach at Palm Island, I didn't, but I heard it was pretty good.

I thought my trip was wonderful even with the small room problem. I would recommend anyone to go. We stayed only 8 days, but next time I will stay two more days because you loss 2 days in travel.

Young Island is wonderful! The food is fantastic (GREAT seafood and fantastic, unusual breads). The staff are friendly, helpful, and thoughtful. There are 30 rooms, so it's not crowded. Some rooms are on the beach (you literally step out of your room onto the beach). Other rooms wind up the hill. Some of the higher rooms are more secluded, but beware, if you have trouble climbing (it can be a long walk, if you forget something and have to run back to the room). If you stay a week, you get 3 meals a day, and can trade 2 nights on land for 2 nights on a sailboat. Wonderful!!!

The negatives? Not many and not important. The beach is small. The wine list is not wonderful and is expensive for the quality. Keep track of the bar bill, it can mount up in a week.

It's a great place!!!! It's a bargain in the 'off' season.