Everything about the hotel was grand and beautiful. I would love to return. I fell in love with everything I didn't want to leave. The pools and access to the beach lovely. The casino was a added plus.
I’ve always wanted to visit Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas because of all the great reviews I’ve read on this forum and others. I will preface this review by saying it’s a major pain in the ass getting there now with COVID testing requirements. You have to apply for a visa to get to the Bahamas which was $60 per person if you’re staying over 4 days. To apply for the visa you have to upload a negative COVID test. And the test can’t be more than 72 hours before you arrive. We uploaded our tests and it was a bit stressful waiting for the visa to come back. We got it 2 days before we left for the trip but I read on TripAdvisor of many people that didn’t get it until 12 hours or so before their plane took off. I read from reviews that you can take a taxi for $36 + tip for a family of 5 but I always like having a driver ready and if possible to stop at a grocery store for some snacks and drinks. I used Sandra’s Transportation - https://sandrastransportationbahamas.com which was great. She charged $100 for a round trip airport transfer for 5 people and charged $15 extra to stop at the grocery store or liquor store. The driver, Jade was awesome and stopped at the store. Food here is REALLY expensive. I just got some drinks (water, sodas, chips, etc) and it was expensive. I didn’t know about the VIP lounge and if I did I wouldn’t have stopped by the store). The hotel wanted $75 each way. We had to immediately take another COVID test before checking into our room. Doctor’s Hospital of Bahamas had set up near the Club Lounge and had many nurses giving tests. They did the nasal swab rapid antigen tests and then someone from the hotel checked us into our room. They didn’t give us the keys yet. They said we could wait in our room until the results came back. Within 30 minutes, I got the email that all tests were negative and someone brought us our room bracelets that served as room keys. Then we had to get another test on Day 5. And luckily that test worked for our test to get back into the USA as they required one too. But if we stayed another day we would have had to get yet another COVID test. Our room was FABULOUS! The Reserve East Tower is really nice. The Club Lounge is closed but if you are staying in the Reserve Tower you are allowed access to a private VIP lounge in the back. They had private butlers that would help you. Ours was Vincent and he was AMAZING! I can't comment enough how wonderful Vincent was in the VIP Lounge. Such a friendly guy and he was the best part of staying in the hotel. We looked forward to seeing "Uncle Vincent" every day. But the VIP lounge also had an assortment of pastries, coffees, teas in the morning from 8 AM to 10 AM. And during the day you could get unlimited water or sodas. From 6 PM to 7 PM they had wine, champagne, and small appetizers. The VIP lounge was a great score. There was VAT taxes and tip included on all bills in the restaurants so things add up quick. I really wish they would just list the all-in price on all the menus because when you see the actual bill it always felt like a bait and switch. The tap water there which I’m told is safe to drink tastes horrible so we didn’t drink it at all. We got rooms #2446 and #2448 in the Reserve East Tower. The Reserve Tower is where the high rollers mostly stay. It was cool that one day while my wife was going to pick up lunch for the kids on the beach she went to go get some drinks in the VIP Lounge and she heard all this commotion and Rob Gronkowski was checking in (see video). He was staying in the Reserve Tower and we ran into him and his entourage several times in the hotel and next to us on the beach. The Club Lounge wasn’t open anyway and having access to the VIP Lounge was great. Plus you could take a shortcut to the pool by going to the 7th floor and then walking down the side stairs which took you to the pool area if you didn’t want to walk through the casino. At check-in, they said they didn’t offer daily maid service unless you requested it so we did request it and they cleaned our room daily. Our room was amazing. The view was incredible, shower pressure was probably the best of any Hyatt we’ve been in. Bathroom products were Balmain Paris in the Reserve Tower. Our room had a living room and bedroom had a King bed and our kids room which had a separate entrance off the main entrance had 2 queen beds. The only thing that I didn’t like was the bathroom door had see-through glass in the toilet which is ok if you’re traveling just with your partner/spouse but not if you’re also traveling with kids. We requested a fridge and microwave but we never used the microwave oven at all. We ate out for every meal. And let me tell you the food here is really expensive. At least the maid left 8 bottles of water daily between the 2 rooms but we also used several more from the VIP Lounge daily. As a Globalist, they also give you a voucher for 2 free alcohol drinks each night of your stay since the Club Lounge is closed. These were worth around $50 per day with various taxes/tips. The hotel was fairly dead at the beginning of our stay. They said occupancy was around 25% but it looked empty. We had no problem at all with pool chairs or chairs on the beach. Employees ranged from really great to really bad. I think COVID just has a bunch of employees depressed as there were a bunch that didn’t seem that friendly and since the 15% tax is automatically built into EVERY bill, not many of the employees seem to offer great service. I’d highly recommend going on the main website for the hotel https://bahamar.com/culinary/ and making reservations ahead of time. It lists all the restaurants currently open. Many are closed and we didn’t know this before we arrived but many aren’t open every day. Plus add to the fact that many people from outside hotels come to eat here and it creates a situation where if you don’t book ahead of time, you probably won’t get in. Luckily we booked all our meals ahead of time. Better to book it and you can always cancel up until arrival time vs. not being able to get in. We ate at Katsuya, Cleo, Swimming Pig, Filia, Pizza Lab, Stix, and some of the food trucks and also by the pool. The food outside by the pool I thought was HORRIBLE. Expensive and the quality of the food was pretty bad. You’d see a bunch of tables with tons of leftover food. Plus it took forever to get. We did that the first day and then never ordered outside again. I didn’t think the food trucks were good either. Instead, we went into Stix or Pizza Lab and put in an order to go and brought it out by the pool. Much better quality. Several of the restaurants had kids menus which helped save a bit but portions were fairly small. (And my kids eat adult sized portions). Katsuya, Cleo, Swimming Pig, Filia all had kids menus. The food in Katsuya, Filia and Cleo were great. The pizza at Pizza Lab I thought was good too. The same company owns Pizza Lab and Swimming Pig. Swimming Pig was easier to get into vs. the others as it was bigger. They have some smoothie places outside but again things are expensive. I think 2 smoothies for my kids was around $38 with the various fees. But on the plus side, a pro-tip is to walk over to the Rosewood from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM they have free ice cream served in a mobile ice cream truck by the pool. They typically had 2 flavors. I’m not sure if this is an offered service for all members of the Bahamar. We saw people with wristbands at all 3 hotels (Rosewood, Grand Hyatt and SLS) all walking over. I highly recommend the Jazz Bar. They have really fabulous live jazz music playing starting at 8 PM each night. Sometimes they were late and start at 8:30. They don’t take reservations and first come first served. Cheryl there was fabulous and always got us a good table each night. Typically after dinner we’d walk over a bit before they started and she would save a table for us. Then we’d go play billiards at the SLS lobby with the kids and then walk back over. No problem with kids sitting at the tables in the bar here and tons of little kids dancing to the music. The beach area was FABULOUS. Cable Beach has pristine clear blue water and gentle waves due to the artificial reef area set up which breaks up the waves. We travel a LOT (typically 100+ days per year) and the kids said this was their favorite beach of all time. They had a bunch of free activities like paddleboarding, canoeing and floating little mini pools set up on the ocean. They also had several pools including Dean’s Blue Hole where kids could jump off a cliff into the pool. Our kids really loved it. They don’t advertise it but they will give you sunscreen (Sun Bum 30 SPF) in little disposable plastic cups. The only place they really seemed to have it is at the main towel hut. So ask in the morning as by the afternoon they would run out. A bottle of sunscreen in the hotel was $30. The hotel was beautiful and the beach was gorgeous. The same complaint I'd have as many have posted about is the really expensive prices for food. At a minimum, they should add in the price of the VAT tax on the menu as it's deceptive to not already include that. I wish more of the staff were like Vincent in the VIP lounge and Cherly in the Jazz Bar. Those two really stood out and should be recognized by the Hotel.…
I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I was with the hotel, amenities, service, and most importantly the people. The extensive Covid protocols, friendly faces (under masks), immaculate rooms, and world class service will make you come back for more. This was the first trip we took as a family since the pandemic started. I cannot I have felt more comfortable and relaxed because of the hard work, ownership, and dedication of the entire staff. Not to mention, the restaurants, facilities, and beach are to die for! We are already planning our next trip as the hotel is opening up a waterpark. The cool part is that the Hyatt team personally invited the kids back and my two boys felt so engaged. Thank you for an amazing stay! We can’t wait to return.
I have visited this beautiful resort many times for the day by cruise ship, this is my first stay. Covid testing upon arrival was smooth. I have mixed feelings on check in and what occurred. The staff was very pleasant at check in I asked if there was an upgrade available for platinum Amex and Hyatt members and was told that would be an ocean view and there were none available. We then discussed upgrading to a suite which all said and done would be about $900 additional for 3 nights. Knowing that at other grand Hyatt’s it would include access to a lounge that provided continental breakfast, snacks, happy hour and heavy night appetizers we initially said yes. We were escorted to the tower and shown the lounge along the way where we we were told there was danish and coffee, snacks during day consisted of cookies and a happy hour at night. The host was not friendly and it didn’t sound like a huge perk. We then were taken to the suite which although nice had The same view as a regular room and really didn’t seem worth the extra $900. We then went back downstairs with our luggage when I told the desk what are feelings were. We were then offered an ocean view room for what we had paid for the suite. We declined but as we were walking away towards our room we said it’s amazing that when we checked in there was no Oceanview room available for us to upgrade to but magically there is an ocean view room available if you want to pay. This is extremely disappointing and makes me feel like it is a game! We have now wasted close to an hour just on checking in and getting to a room. We had asked the front desk to make us a dinner reservation and we’re told we had one at seven my husband did ask them to change it to 730 and we never heard back from them after that. In the meantime I had had some water and other items sent to the resort from the time they arrived at the resort it took them about 40 minutes to get the Bellman to bring them to our room and I had to call 4 or 5 times. Right now we were hungry and we were agitated. We then walked down to the restaurant only to be told they had no reservation for us, it happens at the front desk person walked by at the same time when we pulled him over he told my husband oh I never said you had a reservation I just said that if you wanted to go down at seven they had availability. Once again another ding in the start to our day. We were able to sit at the bar and eat but much would’ve rather enjoy the beautiful view and outside. Being that we are both big gamblers at home we then decided to try the casino. I noticed that most people in the casino tend to be card players and not slot players. During the four hours I was down there I was only approach for a cocktail once. The machines were extremely tight probably because people don’t pay so I dropped my bets down significantly. Normally I will pay $2.50 to $15 a spin but definitely wasn’t feeling the vibe. So here we are starting day two, waiting for our out-of-town friends to join us today. We do think the resort is very pretty but I feel based upon our first day that it really put a damper on our first weekend away since the pandemic started being somebody in healthcare that has been dealing with the pandemic on going I was really looking forward to a weekend away feeling spoiled…
Pros Delicious food options (3 Tides, Drift Bar, Carna, Swimming Pig) Easy to get to other areas outside of the hotel Nice spacious rooms Beautiful resort Friendly staff—- Mauricia Ford at 3 Tides was very welcoming and friendly. Complimentary rapid Covid testing—process was very smooth A little nightlife was available in the lounges which was great since all other islands I have traveled to did not have that. Cons Very expensive!!!!! Breakfast for two was $64!(Pancakes and French toast) Be prepared to open those wallets!!! Suggestion Offer guests staying at least 3 nights breakfast or a voucher for drinks/meal at the pool bars
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