We spent a week at Galley Bay resort at the end of June. These TripAdvisor reviews were very helpful to me leading up to our trip, so I wanted to make sure I posted a review with my experiences as...
We spent a week at Galley Bay resort at the end of June. These TripAdvisor reviews were very helpful to me leading up to our trip, so I wanted to make sure I posted a review with my experiences as well, in hopes of helping others!
I will start by saying that we traveled with another couple who arrived three days prior to us, and we requested side by side rooms which were thankfully given to us. We stayed in the premium deluxe rooms (17 and 19) which were a great location. I loved the layout of the room and my only complaint was that the bathroom was a good 10+ degrees warmer than the bedroom, which made it a little too warm when getting ready to go out each evening. We found the bed to be very comfortable and even though there were rooms over ours, we didn't hear any noise. We wanted the convenience of walking directly onto the beach, which was amazing!! We did have some teeny bugs in our bathroom, smaller than gnats even. Not really a problem aside from being annoying. I did get quite a few bites on my legs one night at dinner so I would suggest bug spray for evenings.
The beach in front of our room was great. Although we would have loved to have an "umbrella", we did have a tree that we pulled our beach chairs under each day to get some shade. We were also told that the water sports folks would bring an umbrella if needed. The sea was just breathtakingly beautiful. It was warm without being too warm. Entry into the sea was a couple of steps down and getting back out was sometimes a challenge. We jokingly called it the "stair master".
The resort grounds were also gorgeous. There was never a time we were walking to/from our room and didn't see someone either watering, leaf blowing, weed whacking, etc. They really take pride in their landscaping and the beauty of the resort!
Restaurants - here lies my main complaint with the resort, which some may not even consider to be an "issue". The restaurants are all open air. I'm not very comfortable when I'm hot, and there were a couple of nights when I really wished there had been an air conditioned restaurant option, or more fans, etc. I found The Gauguin to be a little more comfortable, I think because the individual huts each had their own ceiling fan, which helped. At the Sea Grape, we were often sat in the middle of the restaurant and it was just too warm. Very little breeze would come through. Some nights were warmer than others. I would always ask for an extra cup of ice to help cool me down. They usually brought it, but not always. Our friends that we traveled with do not get bothered by heat as easily as me, so it wasn't much of an issue for them. But after laying by the pool or beach during the day, then taking a shower & dressing up per the dress code for evening, I didn't want to sweat at dinner.
In terms of the food - we would read the menus for Sea Grape and Gauguin each morning to make our choice. Sometimes they were similar. Also I found the Gauguin to be quite a hike and again I didn't want to arrive sweaty so we did request a ride (golf cart) a couple times. I found I tended to like the food at Gauguin a bit more. And you could order as much or as little as you wanted at the Sea Grape & the Gauguin.
For lunch, both restaurants are open in addition to The Barefoot Grill which is totally casual and you can sit there at wooden tables, or sit under the Teepee Bar (as long as you're dry). They offered sandwiches and quesadillas which all came with fries. Their food was pretty good! We would have liked to be able to eat by the pool but I understand that it would be messy if food were allowed there.
We opted to pay the extra fee for Ismay's on the night of our friends' anniversary. We ate on the sand with our own butler, Vaughn. He was really nice and tended to us often. My honest opinion though - I didn't think it was worth the extra fee. The appetizer course was a little bland (a salad of melon and goat cheese) and my entree, which was shrimp, was slightly overcooked. We only had 2 options for dessert, which we later found out was different than those who dined under the roof at Ismay's (they had a molten chocolate cake option). Sitting outside under the stars was very lovely though, and it was a nice touch that they had umbrellas in the sand in case it rained on us! It did rain but only for a couple of minutes, so no problem.
Breakfasts were always at Sea Grape which is the only option. The menu is the same daily but in the course of the week, I found plenty of choices (I'm not a picky eater), plus the small buffet has breads, fruits, cereal, yogurt, and a few hot options too. There really is plenty to pick from! Andrea was one of our favorite restaurants at the Sea Grape. She made us laugh often and told us lots of stories!
We also found the Teepee bar had "bar bites" around 5pm but both days we went there, it was just chips & salsa.
We loved the reusable water bottles in the room. The ice machines around the resort also have water dispensers, as do the bars, so we had plenty of ice cold water to drink in between cocktails.
Guest services - Iba was our buddy at guest services! He always had a grin on his face and checked in on us often. He helped us book our excursions and answered any questions we had. We rode bikes, the guys fished, we snorkeled at the resort, and also took out kayaks and the Hobie Cat from water sports. The resort has plenty to do! The guys also played tennis, and there was billiards, ping pong, volleyball and croquet as well. Each night there was music near the Sea Grape. Two nights we found the music to be lots of fun. One night it was kind of boring but we were tired anyhow, so not much of an issue.
Poolside, we found the "call buttons" for drinks to be hit or miss. Sometimes we would hit the button and wait & wait, and finally go get drinks from the Teepee bar ourselves. But some days we were helped regularly, and Annika was one of our favorite waitresses. She was very friendly & always smiling! The pool was really nice and we spent lots of time there. It was usually easy to get chairs and we would leave our bag & towels on the way to breakfast. Since we had 4 of us, sometimes we had to pull extra chairs over, but it was okay. The water was a tad chilly but refreshing! We often found that the beach towels were hard to come by. You had to get them from guest services and there were days when every time we checked, they'd say "30 more minutes" and then we'd return, only to find that we missed the batch of towels. I think they need to order more towels! We did take a water fitness class on Wednesday morning in the pool with McKenzie. She was very nice & we learned she was also the yoga instructor. I would have liked the water aerobics to be offered maybe twice or three times during the week since it was only 30 minutes. We also found out she lived near us in the USA which was pretty neat!
The restrooms around the resort were also a little warm... I would have loved a little air in there to cool them down.
We had one minor issue in our room on day 1 where one of our sinks was draining very slowly. We asked for a repair and it was done the following day which was fine. But then the day after, our phone rang at 7am with someone calling to ensure it had repaired. 7am was a little too early for that type of phone call, although we appreciated them checking on us. We did receive champagne in our rooms which was also a nice touch, to celebrate our anniversaries. We had sodas and beer in our fridges and coffee as well with a small brewer.
I'd also like to add that our travel agent, Ruth from TripGuy Travel, was very helpful and if you need assistance booking your trip, please reach out to her! She took care of everything for us and was always available to answer our questions!
We met lots of new friends during our trip and most of the guests were very friendly and eager to chat. It was a nice mix of relaxing and fun. I would recommend this resort to anyone as long as the heat doesn't bother you too much. I did speak to one of the managers about the heat in the restaurants and he assured me it was something that was being discussed. Aside from our room, the only other places we found air conditioning was the coffee shop, gift shop, and gym. The spa I believe was also cooled but I didn't visit during the trip.
I hope you found my review helpful! If you book your trip, enjoy & take some time to truly enjoy all that the resort has to offer!
P.S. The "whistling ducks" at the resort were adorable and became friends with us! Leave out a cup of water for them, they will love it.
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92% of travellers recommended this hotel
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Jul 11 2019
Jul 07 2019
