My husband and I recently took a trip to the Sunset Beach Resort and Spa. I had several pros and cons with this hotel. I will give you my rating on this resort. We visited this resort August 12-16, 2004 for a wedding. Understand that 1 means poor and 5 means excellent. Remember this is only my opinion.

Location: I would rate this hotel a 2 for location. There is nothing near the hotel. You cannot leave the grounds and go off shopping. Because of the location, you have to pay either a cab or pay the hotel bus to get anywhere. I felt it was a task to go shopping. I had to schedule transportation. Please take time to read my opinion on transportation.

Cleanliness: I would rate this hotel a 5 for cleanliness. The staff did an excellent job ensuring this hotel was clean. The cushion covers in the lobby were washed and changed everyday. The maids did an excellent job with the room. Normally, I do not walk around a room bare footed, however, I felt fine in this hotel. The staff was up all night cleaning the grounds to the hotel. The dining room areas were extremely clean as well. This hotel has a top notch cleaning crew.

Beach: I would rate this hotel a 2.5 for the beach. When you travel to the Caribbean, you always expect to see beautiful blue water. I did not see this. The water was not horrible, but it was not like other islands I have visited. The sand has lots of rocks and the water has lots of grass in it. Make sure you carry your water shoes with you. I did see a few sand crabs. That was exciting. There are three beaches. The main beach is located in the center. This beach is very popular because it is near everything. If you are looking for a place to relax, this is not where you want to be. There is a beach near the basketball courts. This is smaller, but less populated. I liked this side because it was quite. The third beach is a nude beach. Only the brave soles head there. It was nice, peaceful, relaxing and no one was there to bother you.

Food: I would rate this a 5. The food was superb. There were 4 areas to eat. The first was the area where you can get a burger, hotdog, grill cheese and jerk chicken. This was a good alternative if you did not want to sit down. I would get myself a cheeseburger and my husband some jerk chicken and we would sit on the beach and eat. The food was good. Not that you can go wrong with a burger. The second place was the buffet. They had different food on the buffet every day we were there. I never felt I was eating the same thing twice. I really enjoyed the breakfast. The muffins were really good. The third place was the Italian restaurant. Great ambiance. Very romantic. The service was superb. I highly recommend the Lamb. It was to die for. The last restaurant was the Chinese. This too was very nice. If you do not get anything else in life, you have to try their curry conch. If you are not a spicy food eater, please tell them to not make it too spicy.

Drinks: I would rate this a 3. All I can say is BRING A LARGE CUP. I got so tired of going back and forth getting something else to drink. They are not familiar with the latest drinks. So if you enjoy different drinks, bring a bar recipe book with you.

Transportation: I would rate this a 1.8. I bet you wonder how I come up with this number. Well this is how. Upon arriving, my travel agent told me transportation was included in the package. I consider myself a savvy traveler. I understand that I will have to tip my driver. I know they strongly depend on our money to survive. But our driver would not leave until we all tipped the person carrying our bags. When I say we all, I mean all 30 passengers on the bus. I felt like I was being held hostage. I do not fault the resort for what happened at the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, I had to tip the driver. I did not mind that, but they would not take the bags off the bus for a young woman who would not tip. Then there was a man wanting to help me carry the bags to the font desk, he wanted a tip. We just decided to carry them ourselves; we could not afford any more assistance.

Over all I rate this hotel a 3.3. This is a good place for a weekend getaway, but I would not stay past 3 maybe 4 days.

thester88@yahoo.com