4 Reviews
Traveller Rating
-
Excellent0
-
Very Good3
-
Good0
-
Average1
-
Poor0
Review Overview
-
Cleanliness
-
Entertainment
-
Food
-
Service
-
Location
19 years ago
We arrived at Hawksbill Beach as part of a twin centre holiday/honeymoon after spending 7 fabulous nights at Divi Little Bay Resort, St. Maarten. What a shock! Kuoni describe this as a first class hotel same category as Divi but this hotel cannot be compared to Divi Little Bay on any level.
On arrival we were given a glass of "champagne", nice touch I thought, unfortunately this was where the "honeymoon from hell" began! We had booked a superior room, but were placed in a glorified B&Q shed, with inadequate ceiling fan and the decoration was circa 1973, there were holes in the mosquito screens, no glazed windows here chaps, louvre door minus mosquito net, 1 wardrobe door lent against the other, showerhead hanging off the wall,cracked bathroom mirror, no phone,t.v.or hot water!
I've stayed in African mud huts with better facilities. We decided to have dinner and hopefully see the Kuoni rep the next morning to move rooms, how wrong we were.The usual rep was ill and the stand in would not take responsibilty.
Another couple who arrived at the same time as ourselves, who were celebrating a special anniversary, had spent the night in the Reception as she was claustrophobic and the deep purple walls & black screens made her feel closed in.
He advised them & ourselves to ring the UK and sort it as he could not do anything. My husband decided to speak to the assistant manager, a suite had become vacant, at an extra cost of $275.
The other couple had to wait a further 36 hours.
Food: Breakfast/Tamarind Tree Restaurant. Only visited twice..Once on our first day & last. It's alfresco dining to the extreme as the chairs have bird poop all over them as you are dining in an aviary. Birds drinking out of your juice glass, sat on top of the food covers, stealing food & sugar.
Lunch:Beach Bar. Great unless it rained which it did 4 days running in which case the flies were of biblical proportions.
Dinner:Tamarind Tree. Find a chair minus bird poop to eat Luke Warm, non descript,I'm a caterer and I struggled to identify the food.
A la Carte: Fabulous. Extra costs of course!Sandy the fab head waitess made all the difference.
Weather cannot be controlled by anyone but our suite hadn't any drainage to the beach so twice ours was flooded and my husband & two other English men dug trench!
For 5 nights I walked on a plank of wood like Olga Corbett to access our suite until I spoke to the General Manager who provided stones to walk across.
The hotel guide says they fog twice a day to keep the mozzies/sand flies down. In reality they dont have a machine and I came home with 28 bites on 1 leg even though I used Tropical Jungle Formula as well as the Local "Off" which was recommended to me by one of the locals.
Entertainment: Apart from the steel band on our first vening. What entertainment? Crab Racing? Please we are adults & I do not get any joy from watch poor crabs being dragged under a pot to be released just to put back again.
Beaches: Nude beach, no sunbeds and covered in goat poop. Others satisfactory.
The nicest part of this holiday was flying home business class on BWIA.
On arrival we were given a glass of "champagne", nice touch I thought, unfortunately this was where the "honeymoon from hell" began! We had booked a superior room, but were placed in a glorified B&Q shed, with inadequate ceiling fan and the decoration was circa 1973, there were holes in the mosquito screens, no glazed windows here chaps, louvre door minus mosquito net, 1 wardrobe door lent against the other, showerhead hanging off the wall,cracked bathroom mirror, no phone,t.v.or hot water!
I've stayed in African mud huts with better facilities. We decided to have dinner and hopefully see the Kuoni rep the next morning to move rooms, how wrong we were.The usual rep was ill and the stand in would not take responsibilty.
Another couple who arrived at the same time as ourselves, who were celebrating a special anniversary, had spent the night in the Reception as she was claustrophobic and the deep purple walls & black screens made her feel closed in.
He advised them & ourselves to ring the UK and sort it as he could not do anything. My husband decided to speak to the assistant manager, a suite had become vacant, at an extra cost of $275.
The other couple had to wait a further 36 hours.
Food: Breakfast/Tamarind Tree Restaurant. Only visited twice..Once on our first day & last. It's alfresco dining to the extreme as the chairs have bird poop all over them as you are dining in an aviary. Birds drinking out of your juice glass, sat on top of the food covers, stealing food & sugar.
Lunch:Beach Bar. Great unless it rained which it did 4 days running in which case the flies were of biblical proportions.
Dinner:Tamarind Tree. Find a chair minus bird poop to eat Luke Warm, non descript,I'm a caterer and I struggled to identify the food.
A la Carte: Fabulous. Extra costs of course!Sandy the fab head waitess made all the difference.
Weather cannot be controlled by anyone but our suite hadn't any drainage to the beach so twice ours was flooded and my husband & two other English men dug trench!
For 5 nights I walked on a plank of wood like Olga Corbett to access our suite until I spoke to the General Manager who provided stones to walk across.
The hotel guide says they fog twice a day to keep the mozzies/sand flies down. In reality they dont have a machine and I came home with 28 bites on 1 leg even though I used Tropical Jungle Formula as well as the Local "Off" which was recommended to me by one of the locals.
Entertainment: Apart from the steel band on our first vening. What entertainment? Crab Racing? Please we are adults & I do not get any joy from watch poor crabs being dragged under a pot to be released just to put back again.
Beaches: Nude beach, no sunbeds and covered in goat poop. Others satisfactory.
The nicest part of this holiday was flying home business class on BWIA.
Travel operator: Kuoni
19 years 1 month ago
This hotel was excellent we expected 7 nights of help yourself buffet food, it wasn't by any means the food was was fabulous couldn't fault it especially the key lime pie in the beachside restaurant at lunchtime.
We had a slight problem with a leaky toilet when we arrived but this was dealt with promptly and we were moved to another room which turned out to be a better room.
Hotel staff were brilliant very courteous even the cleaners continuously asked if everything was ok.
The only thing that could have been better would have been the entertainment in the evening.
We would definitely visit again but would probably go at a different time of the year as the humidity was unbearable ceiling fans not really adequate to deal with it.
We had a slight problem with a leaky toilet when we arrived but this was dealt with promptly and we were moved to another room which turned out to be a better room.
Hotel staff were brilliant very courteous even the cleaners continuously asked if everything was ok.
The only thing that could have been better would have been the entertainment in the evening.
We would definitely visit again but would probably go at a different time of the year as the humidity was unbearable ceiling fans not really adequate to deal with it.
Travel operator: Kuoni
Recommended
19 years 2 months ago
We visited the Hawksbill for the 2nd year in a row this summer and we were as delighted as we were last year. The All Inclusive selection is very good, I loved the breakfasts and the lunch by the pool was fab, in fact the dinners and afternoon tea were excellent as well ! No wonder I put on weight !
The rooms were delighteful, we had 4 in a row wit wonderful views of the sea, it took me 23 steps to get from the room into the sea - fantastic !
The rooms were very clean and well kept, no luxuries but who needs them ? The only 'problem' we had was that we were so relaxed we never locked the room when we were on the beach just in front, and we left the key in the room, then the lovely cleaning folks came along and locked up after them - so we had to find them to get the room opened again - our fault of course !
The location is perfect, the first view down across the gardens takes your breathaway - the beaches are very nice and the incredibly quiet 'au natural' beach is the best for looking for sea shells.
The beach bar-b-q is great fun and crab racing a laugh, some of the evening musicians are very good too, but if you are looking for night life, this isn't the place, but it's almost perfect for everything else.
Richard, the GM is incredibly hospitable and always has timefor people, his staff as well as his guests - it shows, the staff all seem very very happy.
We would go back again and again to this hotel, having been twice we would probably go somewhere else next year and come back again the year after.
There's not much for the kids, although there is a small very nice kids club, but we found the kids were happy in the pool (although it is small and deep) they loved the watersports (kayaking with adults) and they just chilled out and played.
We would thoroughly recommend this hotel - just beware if you have severe walking difficulties, there are quite a few steps up to the main restaurant.
The rooms were delighteful, we had 4 in a row wit wonderful views of the sea, it took me 23 steps to get from the room into the sea - fantastic !
The rooms were very clean and well kept, no luxuries but who needs them ? The only 'problem' we had was that we were so relaxed we never locked the room when we were on the beach just in front, and we left the key in the room, then the lovely cleaning folks came along and locked up after them - so we had to find them to get the room opened again - our fault of course !
The location is perfect, the first view down across the gardens takes your breathaway - the beaches are very nice and the incredibly quiet 'au natural' beach is the best for looking for sea shells.
The beach bar-b-q is great fun and crab racing a laugh, some of the evening musicians are very good too, but if you are looking for night life, this isn't the place, but it's almost perfect for everything else.
Richard, the GM is incredibly hospitable and always has timefor people, his staff as well as his guests - it shows, the staff all seem very very happy.
We would go back again and again to this hotel, having been twice we would probably go somewhere else next year and come back again the year after.
There's not much for the kids, although there is a small very nice kids club, but we found the kids were happy in the pool (although it is small and deep) they loved the watersports (kayaking with adults) and they just chilled out and played.
We would thoroughly recommend this hotel - just beware if you have severe walking difficulties, there are quite a few steps up to the main restaurant.
Travel operator: Kuoni
Recommended
20 years ago
I arrived at reception to be greeted with a glass of champagne. Kwame carried my very heavy suitcase down a flight of stairs and into the main block. Good choice, as some of the clubrooms were far away from the main building.
My room overlooked the garden and had a wonderful view of the sea. The room was spacious. The balcony was larger than other hotels. The bathroom was small, but as I was there alone it didn't matter. It did seem very hot, but once the ceiling fan kicked in, it was perfect. Also, the rooms have louvers (front & back), so you can get a perfect through breeze.
The mozzie nets make sure nothing gets through. There was a fridge, and iron/board. The safe cost extra, but they did have some small safes at reception which you could use for free. I was quite worried at not having a TV/telephone, but it made my holiday all the more special, as I had no excuse to sit in the room all night. Had to go out and do stuff.
It was explained to me that the main restaurant served breakfast and dinner, and the beach restaurant served lunch and afternoon tea. I thought
My room overlooked the garden and had a wonderful view of the sea. The room was spacious. The balcony was larger than other hotels. The bathroom was small, but as I was there alone it didn't matter. It did seem very hot, but once the ceiling fan kicked in, it was perfect. Also, the rooms have louvers (front & back), so you can get a perfect through breeze.
The mozzie nets make sure nothing gets through. There was a fridge, and iron/board. The safe cost extra, but they did have some small safes at reception which you could use for free. I was quite worried at not having a TV/telephone, but it made my holiday all the more special, as I had no excuse to sit in the room all night. Had to go out and do stuff.
It was explained to me that the main restaurant served breakfast and dinner, and the beach restaurant served lunch and afternoon tea. I thought
Travel operator: Kuoni
Recommended
Ask a Question
Got a question? Ask our community of over 1.5 million users.