I spent three nights at the hotel and it is as stunning as the photos. Upon arrival the check in process was smooth. The room beautiful with a very soft and comfortable bed. I absolutely loved how quiet the hotel was. The handwritten notes and complimentary bouquet on my birthday made me fall in love with the hotel for sure. The food was great. The only issue with the hotel is that there isn't as much food readily available and it's on the more expensive side. However service and quality was great. I would recommend a stay at the Cabrits Kempinski for sure, it's a beautiful establishment deserving of Future success.
The service was top notch. Fernando( manager I believe) was very nice and kept making sure everything was fine. We are vegetarian, my son pescatarian and he made sure the chef knew and could accommodate any request . They have an excellent vegetarian menu and the special menu they have (someone mentioned $125 but it is in fact 125 EC) and very reasonable for the quality and a luxury hotel. The grounds are amazing, I wasn’t sure before booking because I like eco friendly resorts but Kempinski is blended somehow in the surrounding mountains. It was a treat to have a view from the Cabrits National park from our balcony. On Valentine’s Day we had an amazing dessert waiting for us at the room. The beach is amazing and the cleanest I visited in the island. I snorkeled there and didn’t see one single piece of trash which unfortunately was not the case in the other places. The only minus point is that they allow smoking in the grounds so every morning in the balcony I had the beautiful view but also the smoke from the guests next door who unfortunately smoked non stop, even by the pool. The kids club is amazing! I had a hard time convincing my son to leave. Overall I would definitely recommend Kempinski but make sure you have a room far from smokers if like me that bothers you…
First, the staff is friendly and kind. ZZ at the kids club for my 6 & 8 year old was lovely, she was so wonderful with kids! However we paid a premium $$$$$ to stay and it was lacking in many ways. I’m writing this for others considering the long journey to Dominica and what to expect. Especially for the high cost! We were here 3rd week of March which is spring break in USA and it was empty. Aside from our friends we traveled with I only saw 4 other groups on a property that is massive. There is a lack of energy- no staff walking the pool to service guests, no music, no local entertainment in evenings, no one working the beach engaging with guests to try kayaking etc. none of that . The meals are mediocre- and we had a hard time finding meals for kids. No activities or ideas for guest to explore the island. Our room was very nice, clean, well designed. But again sooo expensive!!!! It just feels like a massive hotel chain built this and left- no intention behind the details. We will not be returning. If you’re coming all this way Secret Bay is just down the road and very intentionally designed around nature, intentionally helps guests plan their stay and the food is incredible.…
They all daily took care of us my wife and I during a four night stay there early March 2022 despite of Covid-19 hard constraints. Attentive staff, kindly within efficiency, professionalism and respect, providing support at any time. Good meals from breakfast to diner. Clean room and resort. Stunning views everywhere. Beautiful design and huge amenities where some of them were not daily available due to Covid-19 but everyday employees did their best efforts to make the stay unbelievable. Truly a customer's experience to live.
Very great resort (actually the only 5-star resort on the Island). Not all services were available, SPA was closed because of Covid, one restaurant was closed also, there were only a few guests, but nevertheless, the new direction and the new team gave their best to make our stay fabulous. Breakfast is very qualitative, pools are very clean, gardens always well maintained, gym is by fare the best I’ve every seen in such a hotel, view is breathtaking. Portsmouth is easily reachable by foot (15’) and a few restaurants are near the resort so that you can also eat outside sometime. The Hotel Manager is fantastic, very friendly and active on-site. If you can, book a Plunge pool room: best are 1145 and 1146, otherwise 1121 to 1123 or 1129 to 1127 (avoid 1131 to 1335). Dominica is a beautiful island with an amazing nature and less mass tourism. We’ll definitely come back and especially at the Cabrits Resort.…
After a four night stay at the Cabrits Kempinski, I have many thoughts to share. In summary, this is not even close to a five star property. Using COVID as their excuse, the hotel has chosen to underinvest in the guest experience which results in an extremely frustrating experience. There are a handful of great employees who helped to make our stay more enjoyable, but the majority of employees need a significant amount of training. Given this is the only resort of its type on the incredible island of Dominica, I hesitate to say you should not stay here, but it's important to know that this hotel has significant issues and a hefty nightly rate. Physical Resort: The resort is stunning — it is a series of three story buildings set around an impressive pool complex overlooking the Caribbean Sea and surrounding mountains. There is a (closed) spa with neat looking treatment rooms with thatched roofs. They have an covered outdoor restaurant/bar between the pool and the sea, a beautiful bar in the main building with an elevated outdoor firepit, a large gym, two tennis courts, an in-water pool bar, and two additional restaurants (one completely closed, one only serving breakfast). Room: We had an oceanview room, which was quite comfortable with a nice balcony. The bathroom was large with both a free-standing soaking tub and a double shower in addition to double sinks. One thing to note about the bathroom is that it has very little privacy, especially sound privacy. The room has both a desk and a small sofa and table. The bed was great and there was plenty of closet space. The most frustrating thing about the room was the internet. The internet on the property is slow (5 Mbps) upload/download) and they try to upsell you to “premium” internet for $14.95/day. This is pathetic for multiple reasons — 1) a “five-star hotel” should not be charging for any kind of internet. It is tacky and insulting when people are already paying top dollar. 2) the “premium” internet was twice as fast, a still pathetic speed (10 Mbps up/down). Kempinski, you can do much better. Food: the biggest issue with this hotel right now is the food situation. There aren’t a ton of options in the general area outside of the resort to eat so you will likely eat most of your meals on property. Food options are very limited and food quality is poor. As of January 2022, there is one restaurant serving a truly mediocre buffet breakfast and the outdoor restaurant mentioned above serving a hodgepodge menu of pretty low quality food for both lunch and dinner. The lunch, dinner, and room service menu are all identical. The breakfast is bad — it you go to their website and see the picture of their breakfast bread selection from the buffet, you will be disappointed to see that the actual selection is about 25% of the picture. The buffet food was consistently old/cold, juices were usually missing, employees were tough to track down, and tables sat dirty. If you go, highly recommend you order eggs/pancakes/french toast from the chef as it's the best food there. The F&B manager admitted to us that the buffet was in its current state because they were trying to save money. I get that this hotel is struggling (I’d estimate that occupancy was about 20% during our stay), but they can and should do better. Dinner was better, but still not great. Food was often overcooked and the menu was unimpressive. Service: there are a handful of great employees at this hotel who are proud of their island and hotel who were a delight to chat with over our stay. Dianna at the front desk was great and answered e-mails before the trip. Darnell at the Rumfire Bar is an outstanding bartender. Desline and Marbeth were both excellent servers at dinner. Outside of these people, the overall service was lacking. Housekeeping was underwhelming each day, forgetting towels and doing the bare minimum. There is no concierge (despite what their website says). The breakfast servers were non-existent and remarkably unhelpful when they showed up. At no point over our five days at the resort did I feel that anyone went above and beyond, this is especially true of the management. We chatted with Fernando (the F&B manager) and Pascale (the General Manager) multiple times and shared feedback. To their credit, both were happy to listen and acknowledge the things we were pointing out. I appreciate their willingness to talk with us (and all of the other guests, this resort truly was empty), but was disappointed that they did not take action to try to fix any of the things we pointed out or to make things right. They are both very new and I hope they are able to take this resort to the next level. Summary: This resort has significant issues. Service is lacking, many amenities simply do not exist, and the dining situation is terrible. If you are going to use the Kempinski as your base to explore Dominica, go for it — just make sure your expectations are set properly. If you want to just chill at a resort, do not stay here — you will be disappointed. I have high hopes for the future of this property — there is a ton of potential, it’s just not there yet.…
I live in Dominica. However, the hotel made me feel like I was somewhere outside of Dominica. The environment was different, and the experience was exceptional. Dante gave us a good ride and welcome as we entered. The check in process was professional and smooth. We loved every experience of the hotel. The beds and pillows were extremely comfortable. The view from the room of the pond and pool was fabulous. The service at the barbecue was on point. This is definitely a hotel I'll return to.
The experience was excellent, rooms are beautiful and the surroundings are exceptional. I love the look of the main pool, makes you feel like you are at the beach. I Will recommend this hotel to anyone.
I realize the effort to maintain a resort in the middle of a pandemic is an incredible challenge but the resort goes out of its way to make things difficult. After a long twelve hour day to get there we sit down at an incredibly beautiful facility for dinner. There were three white wine by the glass to chose; my wife chose the sauvignon blanc, the next question from the staff, "what is that", so we spelled it for them and told them that hopefully the bartender can explain it to them. This was our fist 30 minutes at the place and basically a preview of how the week would go..... On most nights there was one restaurant open, which under any normal circumstance would be fine, except when they closed the restaurant for special menu. December 28th was "champagne and lobster dinner", which is fine but we were not in the mood for either. So our dining choices for the night were either sit in our room and order room service or pay $125 per person for the spaghetti and meatballs. I am sure their spaghetti is delicious but at $125 a person, it would have to really be excellent. In all fairness they did try and offer that the chef could make "something" else for us but they made it feel like a true imposition. My point, why not advertise that the restaurants will have a limited menu? Information is everything, finding out when you sit down at a table is not appropriate. ( And yes there really was a $125 spaghetti choice on menu, I am kicking myself for not taking a picture) One bright spot, Marbeth, she was a breathe of fresh air and an incredible pro, why she was not put in charge of training the staff is a mystery, she ran circles around everyone. Without her the week would have been a total disaster. If you go, make sure you ask for her! The resort is gorgeous, and at some point it will be a real five star resort, I just don't understand why they make it so challenging in already challenging times.…
Nice room and the property. Clean, quiet. But. It is not 5 stars, do not think so when you consider paying 500€/night! There are no food options for vegetarians, the cook in the restaurant offers you chicken as vege protein! Really?! The only food the cook offered us was rice and vegetables. What ?, there are so many veggie proteins nowadays and a five star hotel Chef has no idea about them? And the all day in room menu is just not available, although it is there and tells you to order. He reception did it’s best but would really not pay these prices for this ”service”.
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