We had 2 week all inclusive package with ground floor rooms overlooking the pool. Very convenient for hotel facilities, though could be noisy if music playing in bar.
Found staff helpful and service good. Weather variable - but staff excellent in moving you if raining or opening umbrellas for shade if very sunny.
Food average and repetitive, with buffet in restaurant.
Found hotel very clean. Beach small, but good water facilities. Scuba from next hotel along.
Short walk to Grand Baie town with restaurants - good Chinese & Indian. Worth experiencing as a change.
Regular evening entertainment good ethnic style.

My Mum and I stayed at the Veranda Hotel on our way home after a month in Europe. We were anticipating a relaxing few days around the pool...good food and lovely surroundings. What a disappointment! The hotel was suggested to me by my travel agent. I had read poor reviews, so I questioned her, but she reassured me I would find it very nice This was certainly not the case.
I don't wish to sound negative for no reason but this hotel is extremely basic, offering very poor food and uncomfortable accommodation. We were put in what I presume was the most basic of rooms. My mum and I had to share a double bed. She had a bad cold which made it very uncomfortable. The matress had a rubber backed sheet on it; the sort you put on a toddler's bed to rescue the mattress from accidents. Perhaps they are worried about incontinent guests! The sheet bunched up in the night, making us feel like we were sleeping on a line of ribs. The pillow slip has been stuffed with a piece of cut out foam, instead of a proper pillow. We slept with the air conditioning on all night, but it did not cool down the room. The bathroom was small; the towels were worn and thin; the shower was a raw concrete closet on which your elbows scrapped if you tried to move in any direction. My poor Mum turned the pressure up a little and the shower nozzle shot off, and flew around the room like an out of control hose...she came out like a drowned rat and we laughed hysterically.
The food at the hotel was really awful. The first night we were there the chef was frying up sausages and generously giving one per person. They were small and had an unpleasant chemical taste. The rest of the food was unappetising and there was a feeling that you were taking a risk eating it at all. A cat roamed around the dining room every night we were there. At breakfast the room became full of birds. The staff paid them no attention, and if you left your plate to go to the buffet, the birds descended on your plate and pecked around. They were also on unoccupied tables that were laid for guests.The staff were really quick to take your drink order, and the prices were what you would pay in a 5 star hotel.
The second day there we went on a bus trip around the island...this was organised by a delightful young girl connected to Horizon holidays. Several couples from the veranda also joined the tour and the main topic of conversation for the first 15 minutes was how everyone disliked the hotel and were very disatisfied. In my opinion, this is definitely a hotel to avoid. It did not make a good ending to our trip.

We stayed at the Veranda Grand Baie for 2 weeks in September 2008 and had a fantastic time.

We were very apprehensive after reading some of the bad reviews and to be fair, I can understand some of them but overall our stay was superb.

We booked our trip through Vigin Holidays and got a really good deal for all-inclusive at the hotel. We had originally booked a standard room with the intention that if we didn't like it we would upgrade.

On our arrival, the staff were very friendly and helpful. Usha went over all the information we would require for our stay and showed us our room. The room was on the ground floor. There was only a small porch and a solid wooden door which made the room very dark and was pretty dingy. We asked to see the 'comfort' and 'deluxe' rooms. The deluxe room was huge and we upgraded to this at a cost of 1500 rupees (£30) per night so that added about £400 on to the cost of our holiday but it was well worth it.
We arrived on the Monday and it started raining on the Tuesday evening and didn't stop until the Friday morning (88 mm in 24 hours) and September is supposed to be the driest month in Mauritius!

We really enjoyed the food at the hotel which was very fresh although there wasn't a huge amount of choice.

We found the staff at the hotel great and special mention must go to the waiting staff of Amanda and Sachin and Ajagen the barman all of whom made our stay that bit better.

The Spa is excellent too!

The hotel is being upgraded next year and is closing for 5 months in April - but if you can sqeeze in a stay here before then, then go for it !

Trips

One bit of advice if you decide to go on the sight seeing trips or a catamaran trip then don't book through your tour operator as they are completely overpriced. We booked one catamaran trip through Virgin at a cost of £58 and another locally from the guy who visits the beach outside the hotel at a cost of £24. The local trip was actually better than the one we booked with Virgin and the boat was bigger too.

We loved Mauritius and the people and really didn't want to come home!!

My husband and myself enjoyed the Veranda. We found the staff very friendly and helpful. We thought the food was very good and could not complain about it. There was enough selection for us and after all it is a 3 star hotel. The pool area is brilliant. Our only complaint would be the rooms need refurbishing, which we were told they are supposed to be doing next year over a few months. Dont stay in the comfort rooms they are awful. We upgraded to the standard room near the pool and it was much better. The hotel is in a good position as we could walk into Grand Baie within 10 mins if that. Sometimes we went next door to the Mauricia Beachcomber hotel for the entertainment as it was better. All in all we would stay there again once the rooms had been refurbished. We found it a friendly hotel.