My fiance and I recently got back from a one week stay at Blue Waters in November 07. Let me preface my review by saying that we did not have a bad time by any means, but the hotel was a little different than what we were expecting and it definitely took a few days to get used to it. We are in our 20s, from New York City, and are used to high quality food and service, so perhaps our expectations are a little high as well. Regardless, Blue Waters was missing something that we could not quite put our fingers on.

We arrived at the airport late in the afternoon, and the hotel was about a 15 minute, $13 taxi ride away, through many back roads. This place really is secluded. We had a great experience at check-in, as many people seem to.... we were given a rum punch, cold towel, and they had us sit on the couches in the lobby while they took care of everything. The hotel does not have a grand entrance though, and in terms of looks the first impression is just OK.

We were brought to our room by a very nice guy named Mark who gave us a quick tour of the resort as we walked through the grounds. We had reserved a Superior Hillside room through Travelocity. When we checked in, we asked if there was an upgrade available (as I had read on this site that many people were given one), and they said they were fully booked, however we were happy to see that our room clearly WAS an upgrade to "Oceanfront" (although it is really just ocean view, you can't just walk out onto the beach). We were in room 706, which was the last room all the way down at the end of the resort. This meant our porch was very private, with the exception of the occasional staff member walking by. Most rooms are part of a two-story building, but since ours was on the end, we did not have a room above us and had very high ceilings, which was nice. Many of the other oceanfront rooms are right along the pathways that everyone has to pass through when walking to the pool, beach, restaurants, etc. They completely lack privacy. We were very lucky, but it almost seems smarter to forget the ocean view and save money with a hillside room, because those are not in the high-traffic areas.

Our room was nice and clean though, and the porch outside was big, with full lounge chairs and a table. The bathroom is big but has one of those very high tubs and the shower door only goes halfway across, making it easy to get water all over the place... and then having to step down out of the shower onto a slippery floor. The hotel advertises having a plasma tv in every room-- well, the tv is 13" and so far away from the bed that you cannot even read what channel you are on. We were not there to watch tv all day, but it was just too small.

Since we arrived pretty late on our first day, we decided to just relax and then have dinner at the Palms restaurant. We found out upon getting there that it was Friday night, which means their "international buffet." Regarding the all-inclusive: They charge $100 per person, plus about 20% in taxes and fees, that's $250 a day. Although we liked the idea of not having to worry about the cost of drinks and food, we did not want to feel stuck in the resort all week and enjoy trying new restaurants every day, so we decided not to do it. Back to our dinner-- we had no idea what the cost would be. Since most guests seem to do the all-inclusive, the hotel staff seems to assume that no one is thinking about money. The buffet was just mediocre to good at best, and with one drink each the bill came out to $150. At this point, we realized that the $250 all-inclusive fee is probably worth the money, but the food was so lacking that we definitely did not want to be forced to eat this every night. (We never ended up eating at Vyvien's because it was so expensive and we were not confident that the food would be much better than the Palms. Even if you are on the all-inclusive, many of the dishes there have a supplement of about $20.)

The next morning, we went to breakfast expecting a basic, continental breakfast but were surprised to see a full buffet. The food was pretty good, although repetitive and we got sick of it by the end of the week. Breakfast and afternoon tea are included in the basic room rate. We found that if we ate a good breakfast, it held us over until 4:00 for tea, and we never had to buy any food during the day. Afternoon tea consists of small assorted tea sandwiches (varied between vegetable, american cheese, tuna, smoked salmon, etc), a plate of cookies, scones and other pastries, and a fruit plate. The problem with the breakfast and tea food is that it always felt a little like eating leftovers. You could tell that the potatoes at breakfast were really from the previous night's dinner, and tea sandwiches were made from leftover breakfast food. But it was decent and good enough for free food.

Another huge problem at the Palms restaurant was the bugs. During breakfast and tea, the tables were literally swarmed with flies. All food at the buffets had to be covered to (try to) keep the flies off. I know this is somewhat of an unavoidable problem, but it did not seem that the hotel did enough to prevent it. At the lobby bar in the evenings, they had citronella candles on the tables... so why not all the time? Several times I simply had to leave the area because the flies were so annoying. This is an example of what I mean when I say the hotel was missing a feeling of luxury. We stayed at the Hyatt in Aruba last year, which we loved, and I don't remember ever being bothered by flies.

The hotel grounds are very pretty. There are nice flowers everywhere, and the pools were clean. The pool closest to the lobby was probably the nicest looking, but small. The infinity pool down by the beach is the most popular and also the largest. We had a big problem with towels though. The place to exchange towels is all the way down at the far end of the hotel, meaning you had to walk all the way across the hotel from the pool to get there (unless you were in one of the rooms right there). About half the times I went, there were no clean towels available and I was told that he had no idea when there would be more. It does not make sense why they could not have a towel hut right by the pool, which is central to all the rooms and of course easily accessible in case you want to change your towels in the middle of the day. We found this to be incredibly inconvenient and poorly planned.

The hotel staff also sometimes left something to be desired. Some of the staff was so nice and really went out of their way to help you. Others either looked annoyed to help, or were just completely useless. Example- the "guest services" desk, which could not even give me a restaurant recommendation. One time, we were laying in bed and the maid just walked right in to turn down the beds. After that, we learned to use the inside locks on the doors, but that was ridiculous. She just knocked and let herself in 5 seconds later. Overall, the staff was also very visible. I appreciate that they were always doing work on the grounds, but we felt that these things could have been done during less visible times. Another example- one morning it rained at about 8:30am for a few minutes. Two hours later, we are laying at the pool and a guy comes around with a mop to get rid of all the puddles. He's standing over us mopping under and around our lounge chairs, banging into them. This is something that could have been done at 9, even 9:30, before the pool was crowded.

The crowd at the hotel was also not great for us. Most of the guests were middle aged (and up) British couples, with a few families here and there. I believe there were only 2 other American groups there our week- one couple around our age who were on their honeymoon, and one family. So besides feeling very secluded at this hotel, we did not feel that the guests were a good mix for our age group. There is really nothing to do here at night. Most people seem to hang out at the Pelican Bar in the lobby, where there is live music, but again this has a very old, stuffy feeling. It felt like being at my grandparent's clubhouse in Florida. The hotel also has ridiculous dress codes, which they actually enforce, such as requiring pants for men at the Palms restaurant dinner, which is so unnecessary. They even require pants at the bar in the lobby. They really will kick you out if you are not dressed as they require. This might be OK if there were ANYTHING else to do here at night. Most nights we had an 8pm dinner reservation, got back by 10 and went straight to bed.

The one part of the hotel that actually appalled us was the spa, and I use that term loosely. We walked in to what looked like a cheap hair salon, and made massage appointments. Our massages were done in tiny rooms, like the waxing room in a nail salon, right off the main room where you could hear the women in there talking the entire time. The massage itself was good though. We later found out that for an extra $20, you can arrange a massage out at the gazebo, which we would have eagerly done had we known. So what the hotel calls their "spa" is a room with some sinks to wash hair, a manicure table, and some shady rooms in the back for massages. No sauna, steam room, showers, or any other amenities that you would expect at a hotel that is supposedly 4-star. We could not figure out why the hotel wouldn't invest in a full spa because it would GREATLY improve the appeal of the resort overall.

If you are not doing the all-inclusive, or even if you are, we went to some great restaurants around the island. All were within 15 minutes of the hotel. Our favorite was Le Bistro, which we went to twice. We also enjoyed Home Restaurant and Papa Zouk's. Please avoid Coconut Grove at all costs. One of the worst meals we have ever experienced. We also went to The Cove one night, which is somehow affiliated with Blue Waters although we are not exactly sure how. It is a 5-minute or so walk up the road, although this walk is extremely dark, slightly scary, and the area immediately leading up to the restaurant is like an obstacle course of rocks. Once we got there though, it was very pretty and the food was surprisingly good. Every other restaurant we had been to had a very typical Caribbean feeling and The Cove was more modern. Again, there was a big problem there with bugs but the waitress brought us some bug spray when she noticed we were bothered.

Overall, despite our complaints we had a good time at Blue Waters. I don't think it is the right place for people of our demographic-- I think we are used to better food, service, and a little more to do.