Wyndham Nassau Resort and Crystal Palace Casino Report
Jul 22nd, 2009, 05:42 AM
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Wyndham Nassau Resort and Crystal Palace Casino Report
Background
We went to the Wyndham Nassau Resort (WNR) with 2 other couples for a long weekend from July 16-19. We booked our vacation through book-it.com and took advantage of the $200 Bahamas rebate (we have not been granted the rebate yet due to the fact I haven’t returned the appropriate forms). We also arranged ground transportation to the airport through Majestic Tours.
Summary: We had a wonderful experience at the WNR and would book to stay there again.
Airport
We arrived at the Nassau airport and quickly went through immigration. Remember to keep the Bahamas immigration card for your departure trip. As you go through the airport try to avoid the guys with carts who are offering to carry your bags. This is not a free service and they will expect to be paid a tip after they get your bags to your car. The trip from where these guys are to the curb is less than 50 yards. We had booked a round trip transfer through Majestic tours and found them to the left as we left the terminal. The trip took about 20-30 minutes, but it didn’t seem that long because there is beautiful scenery all around.
Hotel
The lobby of the WNR is clean and very spacious. When we arrived were told that our rooms were not ready and should be ready around 1:30pm. We ate lunch at the grill beside the pool. We ate here each day for lunch over the next couple of days. The food there is good grill fare and a lot of it ($8-$15 for an entrée). At 1:30 we went back to the hotel desk and discovered that our rooms were ready. My wife and I were assigned to the Casino Tower 1020 room. The other two couples were in the M and H towers. The room is nice and is essentially an oversized hotel room with a King size bed, double sinks, oversized bathtub, flat screen tv, and safe. The A/C worked at all times and we were comfortable. We lacked a refrigerator, but wouldn’t have used it anyway. Our room was an Ocean Front room with an amazing view of the ocean. The other two couples had booked the same room category and received Ocean/island view. At first they were upset about this, but by the end of the weekend they didn’t really mind due to the fact we were only in our rooms to sleep. One of the couples did have issues with their A/C, and after contacting the front desk it was promptly taken care of. The pool area is large and not dirty as have been reported on this site. Yes there is some dirt and sand, but that is expected due to the fact that you are outside. Also, if people would pick up after themselves there wouldn’t be trash on the ground.
The pool itself is warm with a fun waterslide. There is a swim up bar were you can order drinks and food from the grill. Drinks typically ran from $7-$9 with the automatically included 15% tip included. Any place we ate or drank at automatically added gratuity. There is a nice secluded beach at the WNR with plenty of lounge chairs.
The hotel has several shops on the ground floor that range from a convenience store, cigar shop, photo lab, jewelry store, and liquor store.
At the bottom of the escalators there are some desk with tour operators that offer various excursions. This is also where a Majestic Tours rep. was located, which was convenient because we had to confirm our departure time on the 19th. The timeshare people are also located in this area. They did not ‘badger’ us like others have reported. Either do not show interest in them or politely say no thanks when they offer you anything. After that they will leave you alone.
Service: overall the hotel service was good. I would call the hotel staff’s attitudes as ‘mellow’. We have been to St. Lucia and the people at the Sandals there were much more pleasant to talk to and interact with. At times at the outdoor pool bar we had to seek out a bartender to take our order.
Food/Bar: I have already mentioned the outdoor grill. The only other restaurant we at on property was Moso. The food here was very good and there drink selection was comparable in price to the outdoor bar, but were much larger. I would call the food more Thai influenced than Chinese influenced. A menu can be found on the Wyndham’s website and is identical to what we saw. We did not eat at the buffet or the steakhouse. Both looked busy and the food looked good. For breakfast we just went to the starbucks that was attached to the casino. This was quick and cheaper than eating at the buffet. We did eat at the snack bar attached to the casino and were not disappointed. There is a bar above the casino, Over 22, which was very fun. It has music and dancing. They have a very good house band that play on Friday and Saturday nights.
Check-out: we did not have any erroneous charges to our bill and check-out went smoothly.
Casino
The casino is open 24/7 with table games typically available for about 18 hours a day. There is no poker room. During the day the table minimums are lower than what they are in the evenings. For instance I found a $5 blackjack table and in the evening the min. was usually around $15. The one complaint I have about the casino are the dealers. They all had personalities of a gnat. No one smiled, they were just like robots. They also did not seem to want to help with the rules of the games. For instance the way you hit and stay in blackjack there are completely different than any casino I have played in the states, and they just expected you to know what those rules were.
Sheraton
Staying at the WNR allows you use of the Sheraton beach and pools. You can also charge to you room at the WNR while at the Sheraton. The beaches at the Sheraton were much more extensive and very nice. When went to the beach that is where we went. There are also 3 pools at the Sheraton, one large pool and 2 smaller ones. One is very nice for kids because it is shallow with faux rocks/reef to climb on. We did not go to the third pool. The Sheraton beach is also where you can rent jet-skis, go parasailing and snorkeling. Jet-ski Rates- $70 for ½ hour, $50 for 20 minutes. Parasailing - $60 for 8 minutes. Snorkeling- $35 for 1.5 hours. We did the snorkeling and went just off the resort about 15 minutes out and had a fun time snorkeling for about an hour.
Off Resort Dining
Poop Deck West- We ate there on Thursday night and it is very good food with seafood, beef, and chicken dishes. About $100 for 2. Taxi $25 for 6 people.
Humidor Churascaria at Graycliff- Very good food within an awesome atmosphere. It is a Braziliyahan style restaurant. $39.95 per person. Be sure to ask for a wine cellar tour after dinner, you won’t be disappointed. Taxi ride- $30-$35 for 6 people.
We went to the Wyndham Nassau Resort (WNR) with 2 other couples for a long weekend from July 16-19. We booked our vacation through book-it.com and took advantage of the $200 Bahamas rebate (we have not been granted the rebate yet due to the fact I haven’t returned the appropriate forms). We also arranged ground transportation to the airport through Majestic Tours.
Summary: We had a wonderful experience at the WNR and would book to stay there again.
Airport
We arrived at the Nassau airport and quickly went through immigration. Remember to keep the Bahamas immigration card for your departure trip. As you go through the airport try to avoid the guys with carts who are offering to carry your bags. This is not a free service and they will expect to be paid a tip after they get your bags to your car. The trip from where these guys are to the curb is less than 50 yards. We had booked a round trip transfer through Majestic tours and found them to the left as we left the terminal. The trip took about 20-30 minutes, but it didn’t seem that long because there is beautiful scenery all around.
Hotel
The lobby of the WNR is clean and very spacious. When we arrived were told that our rooms were not ready and should be ready around 1:30pm. We ate lunch at the grill beside the pool. We ate here each day for lunch over the next couple of days. The food there is good grill fare and a lot of it ($8-$15 for an entrée). At 1:30 we went back to the hotel desk and discovered that our rooms were ready. My wife and I were assigned to the Casino Tower 1020 room. The other two couples were in the M and H towers. The room is nice and is essentially an oversized hotel room with a King size bed, double sinks, oversized bathtub, flat screen tv, and safe. The A/C worked at all times and we were comfortable. We lacked a refrigerator, but wouldn’t have used it anyway. Our room was an Ocean Front room with an amazing view of the ocean. The other two couples had booked the same room category and received Ocean/island view. At first they were upset about this, but by the end of the weekend they didn’t really mind due to the fact we were only in our rooms to sleep. One of the couples did have issues with their A/C, and after contacting the front desk it was promptly taken care of. The pool area is large and not dirty as have been reported on this site. Yes there is some dirt and sand, but that is expected due to the fact that you are outside. Also, if people would pick up after themselves there wouldn’t be trash on the ground.
The pool itself is warm with a fun waterslide. There is a swim up bar were you can order drinks and food from the grill. Drinks typically ran from $7-$9 with the automatically included 15% tip included. Any place we ate or drank at automatically added gratuity. There is a nice secluded beach at the WNR with plenty of lounge chairs.
The hotel has several shops on the ground floor that range from a convenience store, cigar shop, photo lab, jewelry store, and liquor store.
At the bottom of the escalators there are some desk with tour operators that offer various excursions. This is also where a Majestic Tours rep. was located, which was convenient because we had to confirm our departure time on the 19th. The timeshare people are also located in this area. They did not ‘badger’ us like others have reported. Either do not show interest in them or politely say no thanks when they offer you anything. After that they will leave you alone.
Service: overall the hotel service was good. I would call the hotel staff’s attitudes as ‘mellow’. We have been to St. Lucia and the people at the Sandals there were much more pleasant to talk to and interact with. At times at the outdoor pool bar we had to seek out a bartender to take our order.
Food/Bar: I have already mentioned the outdoor grill. The only other restaurant we at on property was Moso. The food here was very good and there drink selection was comparable in price to the outdoor bar, but were much larger. I would call the food more Thai influenced than Chinese influenced. A menu can be found on the Wyndham’s website and is identical to what we saw. We did not eat at the buffet or the steakhouse. Both looked busy and the food looked good. For breakfast we just went to the starbucks that was attached to the casino. This was quick and cheaper than eating at the buffet. We did eat at the snack bar attached to the casino and were not disappointed. There is a bar above the casino, Over 22, which was very fun. It has music and dancing. They have a very good house band that play on Friday and Saturday nights.
Check-out: we did not have any erroneous charges to our bill and check-out went smoothly.
Casino
The casino is open 24/7 with table games typically available for about 18 hours a day. There is no poker room. During the day the table minimums are lower than what they are in the evenings. For instance I found a $5 blackjack table and in the evening the min. was usually around $15. The one complaint I have about the casino are the dealers. They all had personalities of a gnat. No one smiled, they were just like robots. They also did not seem to want to help with the rules of the games. For instance the way you hit and stay in blackjack there are completely different than any casino I have played in the states, and they just expected you to know what those rules were.
Sheraton
Staying at the WNR allows you use of the Sheraton beach and pools. You can also charge to you room at the WNR while at the Sheraton. The beaches at the Sheraton were much more extensive and very nice. When went to the beach that is where we went. There are also 3 pools at the Sheraton, one large pool and 2 smaller ones. One is very nice for kids because it is shallow with faux rocks/reef to climb on. We did not go to the third pool. The Sheraton beach is also where you can rent jet-skis, go parasailing and snorkeling. Jet-ski Rates- $70 for ½ hour, $50 for 20 minutes. Parasailing - $60 for 8 minutes. Snorkeling- $35 for 1.5 hours. We did the snorkeling and went just off the resort about 15 minutes out and had a fun time snorkeling for about an hour.
Off Resort Dining
Poop Deck West- We ate there on Thursday night and it is very good food with seafood, beef, and chicken dishes. About $100 for 2. Taxi $25 for 6 people.
Humidor Churascaria at Graycliff- Very good food within an awesome atmosphere. It is a Braziliyahan style restaurant. $39.95 per person. Be sure to ask for a wine cellar tour after dinner, you won’t be disappointed. Taxi ride- $30-$35 for 6 people.
Jan 12th, 2010, 11:05 AM
#4
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tdelano - i have not been on this site in forever.
We went about 1 mile off shore. there's a reef there. The sandals boat actually came out where we were at.
We saw all the normal fish including grouper. WE also saw a reef shark lounging on the ocean floor.
We went about 1 mile off shore. there's a reef there. The sandals boat actually came out where we were at.
We saw all the normal fish including grouper. WE also saw a reef shark lounging on the ocean floor.
Jan 12th, 2010, 11:28 AM
#5
Our first trip to the tropics was to Cable Beach in 1990. The sight of that gorgeaous blue water hooked us and we have been all over the Caribbean every March for 19 years now, but we always remember Cable beach fondly. We did go back the next year, and then 4 yrs. at Atlantis. I'm sure Cable Beach has changed alot, there wasn't much there in 1990----the hotels were there, but nothing on the beach like jet skis etc. It was very quiet. Someday we will return and check it out.
