The most amazing place i have ever stayed in Marathon it was awesome loved everything about it and so many people that worked there made it the most enjoyable! Pools were great, food was great and staying out at 1:30AM just listening to the dolphins breathe is so calming you can tell they are well cared for as i was loving just watching them interact with the trainers and play together. read more

This one is a hard one to rate. This is our second visit to this resort. This time we stayed at the private "townhouse" like residences. Upon check-in, I asked about possibly extending my stay by a half a day, thereby checking out at 6pm rather than 11am. Upon check-in I was told residence was available and that I would get a call with the rate. I asked if they could at least reserve it so that someone else didn't rent it by mistake and was told "done deal." We proceeded to our residence. It was basically as per online floor plan, a 2/2. Problem #1? Much smaller than the floor plan depicted. In one of the rooms, the room was so small you couldn't walk around the queen bed without "squeezing" through. It's as if they used doll furniture in the online floor plan. Problem #2? Disgustingly dirty. The point of staying at a residence is the ability to take advantage of the kitchen. Problem is the utensils, plates, cups, etc were disgusting! I mean I would obviously rinse or even wash anything I intended to use anyways but this was bad. I'm talking food still on the fork, in the drawer, yuck! Also, the dining room table was unusable due to the amount of "ant activity". Yuck yuck! Going for a triple yuck? Yep. My 5 year old walked around the residence in his white socks for a few minutes while I unpacked the car. They were black within minutes. Yuck yuck yuck! Three to four hours after we checked in I realized I still hadn't gotten a call regarding the 1/2 day rate. I tried calling the front desk from the residence phone. Problem is NONE of the phones worked. So I called from my cellular. Again promised it was not gonna be an issue but they would have to call with a rate. The next morning we convened at the pool. While the girls got comfortable poolside, I went to the front desk. Surely by now the hotel would have figured out the 1/2 rate. Good news is they had! Bad news is they rented the residence that morning to someone else. Yes. They. Did!!! After a few hours at the pool, my 5 year old began getting hungry. So we proceeded to Ocean to have lunch. They were closed... Opened at 12pm. Closed? This is the only poolside indoor restaurant and they're closed? At a family resort? So, I proceeded to walk around the property, 5 year old in hand, waiting for the 1/2 hour. Ridiculous! Lunch was ok though I hardly touched my over peppered grouper. When asked if I liked it I explained why not. Didn't get a single "oh so sorry" comment. Instead I got billed. Nice! Back to the pool. Pretty nice pool. Somewhat dirty but with the amount of guests I guess they can't do anything about it. The pool surface was pretty bad though with the hair and all... Yuck again! Another issue is pool service. 2 maybe 3 servers for the entire pool? I mean it took forever to get service and once we did it took even longer to get the drinks and/or food. So much so that on our second day I went straight to the bar to order. Not best case scenario but it did go faster. Overall this is not a good vacation resort... Except for the unique ocean like lake in the back. If your kids are into that then I guess this is a "must visit" place. For us this unique area did not matter. Thus, the likelihood of us visiting Hawks Cay ever again are slim to none. Thankfully we have friends that got us a great rate and thus, the experience hurt a bit less. Plus our group was lots of fun and so it was easier to overlook the lack of service this place provides. Note: best part of hawks cay for me is Alma, the restaurant. You can see my review for this restaurant under its name. Only reason this place even got three stars. read more

We went with a groupon special we bought a couple months ago. The resort is beautiful with great pools for the kids and the beach-like pond where the kids can rent kayaks. The room was very clean and cozy but beware we bought and "island view" room but there was no view of the island or water view. When I asked the receptionist she said "oh that's a trick". The service was not great considering the hotel price and rating and the food on the resort is horrible tasting and ridiculously expensive so if you venture just a few minutes drive like we did you can actually eat some great seafood without having to break the bank. Overall we had a great time and would definitely come back again! read more

Outstanding resort on a best location but was very difficult to get both phone or later walk in reservations. Poorly executed management, although some of the staff are very kind and proper but in contrast to them they were a few including the desk supervisor were non responsive and indifferent. We requested to see him but he refused our request to talk to. He seemed to be protected by his staff. We hope these coments help the organization to improove things. read more

Pros: Very clean, well appointed, friendly staff Cons: Food expensive This is my first trip to the keys. I am glad we found Hawks Cay Resort. We stayed in the hotel (the resort also offers vacation homes). Rooms: Our room was clean and well appointed. Rooms have a mini fridge and safe. The bathroom was very nice. Our room only had a shower (a very nice one I might add). The Kurig coffee maker in the room was a nice touch. The hotel supplies the coffee pods. Staff: The staff was very friendly and went out of their way to be helpful. For instance, I am sitting out on the front porch of the hotel and a bellman walks over and offers me a bottle of water. Activities: There are two pool areas - one for adults only and one open to all. There is also a large saltwater lagoon. We stayed in mid week and never had problem getting beach chairs. Other activities include tennis, volleyball, kids pool area, gym, and spa. You can pay to swim with dolphins, fish, parasail, kayak, snorkel, and other water sports. Food: We ate at Tom's Harbor House for dinner and the breakfast buffet in the morning. Almas is a nice full service restaurant on property that serves dinner. We did not eat at Alma's due to the cost ($40+ a plate). Tom's has a nice view but the food is just so so. The breakfast buffet is very good but expensive ($23 including tax and service). The buffet became breakfast and lunch for us. There is a sub shop close by that is not part of the resort. It is called Deep Dive Deli and is located at the marina a short walk from the resort. Overall the resort is fantastic. We had a great stay. read more

They are either catering to the type of crowd that doesn't care, or management is asleep at the wheel. What could be a great place is marred by the poorly trained staff and facilities that have seen better days. The rooms are large, and there is one bright spot: an adult section of the hotel. Our room and the pool next to it were for adults only. A big bonus since there were lots of children on the property. This is a solid middle market hotel half way to the Keys. Restaurants on the property and the surrounding area are not that great. We ended up driving from MM 61 to MM 88 for a decent meal. The breakfast buffet is nice, but nothing to write home about. The room was very clean and the bed comfortable, although a bit soft...noisy AC and you can hear your neighbors flushing their toilets. Bring ear plugs. read more

I should have read the reviews... Seriously. I would have then known that the parking stinks. Among other things, I wouldn't have been surprised of the midnight challenges like the toilet running continuously throughout the night, The ceiling fan and refrigerator does not work, a/c was hot/cold. We had them come to fix the next afternoon to prevent another sleepless night. You can imagine our moods after a first night of poor sleep. The next morning we decide to have breakfast at their buffet style restaurant.Thought we were being cautious and asked how much the buffet was before sitting down. $20 each. Fine. Looked okay. Someone in a previous review mentioned about the omelettes - they were right. Pretty much burned eggs and a mouthful of half melted cheese. Rest of food was mediocre. Note: The acoustics in the restaurant amplify wailing children. Dolphin Swim: We had booked at the front desk for the 11:30 am Dolphin Experience (which is where you get into the water with them) but we had luckily went by earlier that morning and saw on the sign in front of the lagoon that 11:30 was for only the dockside experience. By this time, I had begun reading some of the reviews (finally) and realized that mis-bookings had happened before. We were able to get into the earlier 10:00 am dolphin experience, so we lucked out. This did turn out to be the highlight of our trip. Trainers were enthusiastic and the dolphins seemed happy.$175 each - expensive, but what the heck. Add it to the room! Main Pool: NASTY. Again - really take note on those reviews. Disgustingly correct. Went to the adult pool, still gross and would not go in. Pool staff: inattentive. Waiter came by only because we grabbed him as as he tried to sail by. No towel station at the adult pool and had to walk all the way back to main pool. I'm not lazy, but I'm looking to relax! That night, we went to get a bite at the bar on the far end of the resort. Bartender said food isn't being served there since it was the holiday weekend and they had a holiday dinner buffet that evening (private? open to guests? We knew nothing about it). But since it was rained out, they closed it early. He then said there wasn't any food being served anywhere on the resort, and only room service was available. That didn't seem right to not have any food anywhere, so we went to the front desk. They told us we could get dinner at the "fine dining" Alma, the acoustic hell from breakfast, or the tiki bar out front. Went to said tiki bar. Nope, no food there on account of the holiday buffet. So, by process of elimination, we ended up at Alma, where we proceeded to sit at the bar (we like to sit at the bar - usually get the best service) and as I was about to sit down, got shooed to move by a bartender trying to get around me. Curly haired woman - didn't get a chance to get her name since she wanted nothing to do with us after we sat down. So the other bartender with the same charm (again, should have read the reviews about the staff) helped us. We ordered an appetizer that came with our entree. The churrasco steak was excellent. After dinner, we went to walk around the resort. This is only when I question the dolphin sanctuary only because the garbage containers nearby were overflowing and it was very windy. The trash was getting blown into their lagoon. Does this happen all the time? I promised I wouldn't write a lengthy review, but I blew over $1,100 (a birthday gift to my fiance) and completely regret it and writing this helps to ease the pain of regret. Would not go back and would not refer to anyone. I'm glad it works out for some and I hope the resort gets better. read more

Overrated, Expensive, Underwhelming. Sure the pictures are beautiful, but what you don't see is that there is no beach. There is only an enclosed dirty lagoon that is full of brown water. There are only two restaurants, one for adults only and one for families and both are mediocre on their best days. The palce is bastard expensive with each meal for three costing about $70 for the same menu daily. If you want other food, you will have to drive at least 30 minutes in either direction. Room service was late every day, however the staff was very friendly. Based on it's remote setting, costliness, poor food quality and poor beach facilities, I'd say skip it. read more

If I could describe the service at Hawk's Cay in one word, it would be incredulous. The front desk agent was rude to my fiance when we checked in. We were shunned at the Pirate's pool because we were accused of having the wrong hotel room key. Apparently when you rent out a privatized villa, you are set to a different standard than what the resort offers. However, all of the properties are located on the same grounds. There is no policy or signs posted as to who is and is not welcomed to certain facilities on the grounds of Hawk's Cay. Just when I thought it could not get worse, we were told by one of the waiters at the Lagoon, his name was Selberne, that since we did not have the right room key, we must leave NOW! Again, no signs posted in or around the lagoon stating who was and was not allowed on the grounds. If guests are not aware of the policy, at the very least, the staff could have been more cordial in rejecting such services. At the Lagoon, we refused to leave and Selberne just rolled his eyes and walked away. We spent good money to stay at Hawk's Cay and this is how we are treated!?!?! In three separate areas: Front Desk, Pirate's Pool, and Lagoon we were treated horribly. If Hawk's Cay does not want to provide services to certain guests because of the identified room key, then lock your doors allowing the specific room key to allow access to certain facilities. We had one waitress, who was from a different area at Hawk's Cay, help us at the Lagoon during the mentioned incident. Another positive experience was that of a bartender at the tiki bar. My overall experience was awful and I absolutely have no intention of returning to this resort...ever. Resorts in the Keys are not going to be cheap, by far. That's a realization. But if guests who rented out a villa from a private party want to purchase certain items/services that are offered at the resort grounds, why not just let the guests purchase your beverages and food at the higher price? It would be a win/win situation; the business gets the incoming purchases and the guests receive the services. Everyone's happy. The management staff at this resort needs to rebuild the etiquette of their staff. read more

We had been waiting to stay here for 20 years! Every time we went to the keys, which was about 5, we said, next time. Finally made the reservation for my husband's 60th, and wouldn't you know, Irma comes along. We of course were cancelled while the resort rebuilt. Came down for another reason to Key West, so we decided to go a day early and at least check the place out for one day. Overall we were pretty happy, almost a Marriott level experience. The staff was friendly and helpful, we arrived at around 12 noon, early for some hotels, but they gave us a room right away. They have a lot of exchange students from other countries working here, Jamaica and South Africa were pretty popular. It was interesting talking to them and hearing about their experiences, and they seemed eager to work and please guests. Most things were newly remodeled and new. The signage around the resort is a little confusing, although there was a map, walking around it was hard to find stuff. The formal restaurant was quite nice and the food rather good with both indoor and outdoor seating. There was a place called the "Marketplace" that had grab and go and 7-11 type stuff, but also offered a breakfast buffet in the am that was quite good. The dolphin experience was amazing, and they didn't fence it off so if you were not participating, you could still watch what was going on with the dolphins. The protected lagoon was a nice clean place to ocean swim, or learn to paddle board or kayak. There was a family pool and a tranquility pool. Our room walked out onto the adult only pool which was nice to sit at in the am before we checked out. Not a fault of the hotel, but we had arranged a fishing guide well in advance from the marina and the guide ended up cancelling due to illness. It would have been nice if they had had another option for us. Fortunately they did not charge us for the trip, and there had been no deposit to refund. Unfortunately we had been looking forward to fishing there since we had seen their resort featured on Sportsman Network. So again, it will have to wait for another time. Will definitely come back and try again. Maybe will bring the adult children. We have a lot of Marriott timeshare, and this resort was was pretty close their quality. read more

Very disappointing. The main pool area was over crowded. The lagoon is tiny. Many things wrong with our villa form door knobs missing, dishwasher didn't work. My husband had to kill a cock roach. Not many food options available Way too expensive for what you get. read more

We rented a 2 bedroom villa for 2 nights here, on our way down to Key West. Our villa was cute and clean, although the furnishings were a little run-down. The beds were comfy, and we had a nice balcony off the master bedroom, along with a terrace off the living room. This is pretty insignificant, but every night while lying in bed, I would gaze up at the ceiling and marvel at the horrible paint job this place had. It looks like they raced to get it painted, and it was so sloppy. Very noticable. Anyway, the resort itself is nice. Several pools and a little lagoon to swim in, complete with dock you can swim to. The breakfast buffet is WAY overpriced, but it was good. Just not $20 worth of good. I ate lunch here, too, and it was pricey but good (veggie ciabatta plus fries). There's a little store on the property to get stocked up on groceries. We got beer, wine, ice cream, and bananas. This place is very nice, clean, and expensive. And the free wi-fi was slow and spotty. read more

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This hotel treats customers poorly and food is terrible. Houses should be renovated. Poor management.

I never saw an adult pool (as mentioned in another post here) - I would have liked it. Basically, there are alot-alot of families and not so much staff. The property is huge and you have to walk far to get to the main pool/lagoon area if you are staying in a villa. They had a pool and deli by my villa, but I never went to the deli and though the pool was fine, I never went in. I think this place is not so set to be staying at pools - rent a jetski, go to the spa, take a day drive to key west... and bring your own food when on property. The food is garbage at this resort except for the breakfast brunch which is pretty good. The lagoon looks nice, but I think the water is very gross. The dolphin thing is great, but don't expect to get any eye-to-eye with the dolphins. They seem to be soooo disenchanted, but I guess we all would if we were them. They live in a tiny pool and only eat when it is showtime. I tried my damnest to do a Free Willie sign to tell them to jump out, but not sure they want to... they cant fish or really think on their own, it is obvious. Anyways, all you need here is your room key to charge stuff on and definately cash - you get better service if you tip a $5 or $10 to people you use for anything ($10 if it is your first and last tip and you used them alot, $5 if you tip them every other time). It makes them happy and you will have a better time - like get or borrow stuff you didnt know you could get/borrow without buying. You can drive all throughout the property which is not bad. I think many people do and it is easy instead of walking... plus it can be fun too when you just need to have your own break. Probably one of the best resorts in the keys. Too bad no golf or driving range, but I promise you will miss it when you leave. read more

first time staying at this place & it wasn't all it was talked up to be. we're paying $429 for our villa a night & the rooms are dirty. the bathrooms are way to small, & when you look at the pictures they don't even show the bathrooms. the actual resort pool is way over populated & the prices for drink are ridiculous, $17.50 for a Miami vice & $4.50 for a kids sprite. the Lagoon at the back of the resort is dirty, has murky water & just wasn't pleasing. we're paying a fee for unlimited wifi & it doesn't even work. they told us we had to go up to the main hotel if we wanted to us it, but that was told to us after the fact. if you're looking for places to stay, stay at the new Hyatt Place or the blue green resort! read more

My husband and I recently stayed here during a conference booked here. The resort was OK-kids everywhere, if you don't have children I wouldn't recommend this resort. Our biggest shock and complaint comes from the bartender changing our tip every time we ordered. That is stealing. I am going to alert the resort that they employ crooks. I hope they don't train their staff in this behavior. We had two different bartenders and both altered our receipts. Needless to say, I won't be returning nor could I ever recommend this resort unless to my mortal enemy, then I could laugh at their surprise when they go to their banking site. read more

What can I say.... I was here in the 90's... They did a total renovation. The place is STUNNING!!! The pools, the tiki torches at night, the fire pit with those comfy chairs around them, the lagoon is a slice of tropical paradise. The rooms are well appointed, large bathrooms with deep tubs. Dark mahogany furniture . Tommy Bahama toiletries that smell awesome. Dolphins on the premises. My biggest complaint, yes this is a luxury resort, I really feel charging $30/day. Resort fee is ridiculous! With the night rates ranging $300-600/nite the fees should be included. read more

Stayed here for 4 days. Beautiful area/location, but anything good and positive was ruined because of the ridiculous fees and prices for everything! Highway robbery. We were charged a mandatory 18% gratuity on drinks by the pool, food, etc. Why???? The service was horrible at times, just horrible, but yet we were forced to pay an 18% tip in addition to the already ridiculous prices for the weak cocktails!!??? Enough is enough!!!! People need to quit staying at places that completely rip you off. We were charged a "resort fee" in addition to the already sky high room rates. Are you kidding me????? We will stay and spend our money elsewhere!!! Never again!! read more

We recently stayed in the Sunset Village villas for 10 days. These units are privately owned. 45% of the rental revenue goes to the owner of the unit. This leaves the resort short on cash. The phones on many of the units don't work. That wouldn't be too bad if you didn't need to call the front desk when things weren't going well. No WiFi service either. The same villa size and layout can run between $250 and $1,000 per night. Booking far in advance does not help to lower your price. We ate at the Ocean's Restaurant on our first night. This is their mid-level family restaurant. The bill was over $200. That's where the money is coming from when they are paying villa owners 45% of revenues. That one very expensive debt service. The villas are cleaned once every four days. They leave four towels for four people. I guess you are supposed to wash your own towels for $1,000 per night. You can request daily cleanup. They will reluctantly agree to clean your villa every day for $35 a day. If they show up at all, they will do a lousy job cleaning up. The facility could be fantastic. It's not worth the money. If you can get a villa for $300 per night and you like the service you will get for that price, you've found the right place. If you are willing to spend $700 - $1,000 per night, go somewhere that values your business and provides the service to go with it. read more

Loved the villas, loved the separate kids play area, loved the fire pit. Food was a bit expensive, breakfast for 4 cost me $90 bucks! Not many food options, but since I had my own kitchen it was fine. I will definitely be back! read more

This place is truly a 4 diamond kind of place. From the moment we arrived, we've been amazed by the attention and service we've gotten. From the valet and the front desk to the housekeeping and wait staff. Everyone is here to make your vacation time memorable and enjoyable. It's definitely pricey but the service you get definitely is worth the price. 5 days worth in a Jr Suite was about $2300, food, activities etc came to another $1250. We're thinking this may be the place to call our yearly family vacation spot. Our 3 year old loved it. Personally, I can't wait to bring him back when he's 5 and can participate in the Hawks Camp kids program which means some adult time for my wife and I. Until then, we're still happy to keep coming back. First night we kept waking up to the elevator. As it turns out, all the L shaped Jr Suites are J shaped because they wrap around the elevators. Talked to the front desk and they immediately took care of the problem in a very generous and attentive manner. The food at Ocean (one of the onsite restaurants) was very good. Not excellent but definitely very good. We didn't eat at Tio's based on reviews here and speaking with other guests who had, unfortunately, eaten there. Only one food issue that came up with our stay - room service was kind of a miss. We got back late from Key West one night and the 3 year old was getting ornery. We ordered 3 meals - Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp, A Club sandwich with veggies hold the avocado mayo and a kid's order of Penne with Marinara. The person on the phone taking the order was very attentive and asked all sorts of questions about the way we would like the food prepared. 45 mins later, I got a garden salad with Grilled Shrimp with a weird green but very tasty dressing on the side, a club sandwich with fries and avocado mayo and no Penne pasta. Guess the ordering was just a suggestion? Everything else was awesome. Diving with Dive Hawks Cay at the onsite marina was also awesome. read more

We went with our friends and shared a 2 bedroom sunset villa. The villa was perfect! 2 separate bedrooms, each with their own (very small) bathroom. Beds were amazingly comfy. Full kitchen. Dining area. Living room. Back porch facing the water. Just lovely. We brought a lot of food and used the kitchen a lot. Thought we would be able to grill, but no grilling allowed near the villas. Found this inconvenient. We were told that we could use the grill at the marina. That seemed like a hassle as we wanted to eat in our villa. It never seemed to get cool enough in the villa until the sun went down. And NO WIFI even though there is a router in the room. We called the desk and were told that we need to go to the check in area for wifi. We had a great time in the salt water lagoon. Our kiddos went to the pirate ship splash pool area and loved it. We went in the middle of the week and it was moderately busy. Expensive food and drink so we brought our own food and drink (beer) to the pool. Probably not permitted but no one said a word. Overall great place. Made great memories for the kids. We would go back! read more

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Hawks Cay Resort has the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I have ever experienced in my years of traveling. The lack of customer care, time management and lack of complaint follow ups were mind boggling to say the least. The food would take over an hour and a half to be delivered to the table with not even a blink of an eye as if this was reasonable. When the food came, the side dishes that came with the main course were placed in front of the wrong person not to mention the wrong side of the table. Drinks took 45 minutes to be served at the dinner table. I ordered a drink along with some else at the same time and their drink came 30 min after we ordered and mine never came. I finally asked after 45 min where my drink was and the waitress very casually said, "Oh, it is on the other side of the table", as if I am a mind reader. Not even an I am so sorry or please let me get you a fresh one. This is the service we received for three days. I had lost my keys and called the hotel 3 times with not one call back to let me know if they had found them or not. I am disgusted on how poor their customer service ALL around is at this very overpriced hotel/restaurant. I will never return nor will I ever recommend this to anyone. There are plenty of expensive resorts with great service that can be enjoyed! The beds were uncomfortable and the decor was lacking to top it off. The only nice thing was the view that Mother Nature provided! read more

Visited the resort with my family over Christmas break. Unfortunately, the hotel was not equipped to handle the crowds and overlooked many details. For example, there were no glasses for water in the rooms, no trash in the bathroom and the cleaning crew made a ton of noise early each morning (their equipment closet was next to our room). There was never a spare lounge chair to be found so we just left early on our last day after the manager insisted we check out a "hidden gem of a pool". with lounge chairs (and there were non there). read more

Not worth the $$$$. This is not an ocean front resort. the little circle of sand you see, is it! You can not go past that. The other side is for boats and you are not allowed to swim there. The "no tipping" is somewhat of a little lie, because at the Beach Cliff Bar we ordered 2 Pina Coladas, which is served in little plastic cups and 25% is tacked on, ending up with a total cost of $25. There are much better places with beaches in Marathon that are a better value!! read more

My wife and I stayed there 1 June 2014. Very expensive resort does not live up to the hype. The townhouse rooms are extremely small with the smallest bathrooms I've ever seen. I've seen bigger bathrooms on an airplane ....really The photographs are very deceiving. There is no beach on the property. When I called to see if there was something we could do about the room they said no nothing they could do. Do everything you can to avoid this property.. read more

Quite disappointed. Not work the $$$$ that you are being charged. Nothing included for an all-inclusive price. Crazy! Main issues were the following... The pool and surrounding chair areas are just plain dirty. There are other peoples food crumbs and debris on and around chairs and we didn't see those areas cleaned in the 3 days we were there. Water from the pool splashes onto deck creating puddles of grossness that you have no choice but to step in. Pool and lagoon get filthy throughout day with people's hair, snots, and whatever other grossness - which made me not want to even get into them. The bar cocktail drinks are horrible - every drink we ordered was bad, especially when they put their little added alcohol topper with cheap rum - this ruins whatever drink it is. The group of young people that you have singing everywhere you turn are really not good. The simply don't sing well. It was unbelievable that they were the singers for all different shows and performances that you offer. Every time we turned around, there they were singing again. I am both a singer and piano player, and I can tell you - they are not good singers. These issues really need to be fixed because they are your MAIN attraction! Otherwise, we enjoyed our junior suite room overlooking pool and lagoon - very nice. The dolphin swim was a great experience for our family. We also really enjoyed the kayaking. The fireworks on 4th of July were wonderful. The 61 prime restaurant was very good for breakfast and dinner. read more

The property is beautiful but parts of the hotel have seen better days! The food was so-so, the "signature" cocktail was great but for the price it should be. It was a busy weekend so I guess I can't really fault the hotel for the motel-like vibe I felt at the pool. You couldn't pay me to get in the hot tub.... ugh! While the staff was pleasant there just wasn't enough of them. I did like the kid-friendly atmosphere but not sure if I would stay here again. read more

Come here every May with the whole extended family for a fishing tournament for as long as I can remember, and never want to go home! The rooms are beautiful and well kept, the staff is wonderful, the food is great, and the amenities are amazing. The whole family looks forward to it every year, as I'm sure we will continue to do for years to come. read more

I didn't know what to expect, but had heard good things about the resort and love the keys. My husband and I and some friends headed down with our boats. The boat check in was a little challenging and the process was not clear. It's more of a fend for yourself and figure it out situation. You need someone to operate the boat and someone to take the trailer to the lot, it's not at the ramp. After we checked in our room we were disappointed with the cleanliness and overall condition of the room. I brought that to the manager's attention and he corrected this quickly. Our second room was nice and clean. The food at all the pools and restaurants was great. Recommend the smoked fish dip and if they have the dinner buffet at Ocean while you're here, well worth it. Staff was mixed. We tried to rent a canoe and she ran off saying her blood sugar was low. Another lady came and said she had 1 minute and was going on break. The gift shop cashier never put down the phone. Was on a personal call the whole time I was making a purchase. The bellmen were helpful and the manager was accommodating when we needed him. The servers were friendly for the most part too. The pools are nice. There's an adult pool, kids pool, main pool for everyone. The lagoon is nice and protected. The Dolphins were cute. Most areas well maintained. The boat slips were nice. Overall great resort for kids, families, couples, boaters. Not a five star, but definitely nice by Keys standards. read more

We were here for a family vacation and found the resort to be very nice. We stayed in a two bedroom villa in the sunset village part of the resort and it was very well appointed but the rooms were a little small. On the plus side, the beds were fantastic. Restaurant meals and drinks were pricey as expected for a resort in the Keys. Service was a bit spotty but everyone was very friendly. read more

Great place to stay. Clean and friendly staff. Pools are nice and food good. The only downside is place is a little small.

Just left Hawks Cay, the property is very pretty but the accommodations are by no means up to par with the price. There is a $29 resort fee that includes Internet but the signal is so poor it isn't usable, the overall quality of pretty much everything is on par with a standard motel (towels, Food, service, bathtub (or lack of)), the food was horrible except for at Alma, the gym was small and amenities didn't work like the TVs on the treadmills, overall this hotel is nice, but not for over $300 (after taxes and resort fee) a night. In addition, all the water sports were cancelled for various reasons so we couldnt experience what we went there to do, snorkel and kayak. My money will be better spent elsewhere in the future. read more

It was a nice place - but not really worth the money I paid. Food expensive and pretty much the same every place you went to. Went with my six year old - they boast this pirate ship water playground - not very impressive. Much smaller than what they made it out to be. My daughter was too young to swim with dolphins so we did dockside Dolphins - $60 per person to pet a dolphin for 5 minutes is a little much if you ask me - but my daughter enjoyed it. Sunset cruise was wonderful. Jet skiing was fun too. We went just before mini lobster season so it was very packed. On the upside - the pool was great - staff was friendly and helpful. Jason from Ocean Grill kept us laughing (we had him 3 times in one day). read more

Beautiful resort w/ a lot of potential to be great - but very over-priced, crowed and activities over exaggerated. The prices would be ok for an all-inclusive resort that has a true resort offering, but that's not the case, everything is extra $, and smaller then expected. the good and the bad: The hotel room we stayed in was ample and beautiful and very clean, but our view was overlooking the parking lot. I get it, every room can't have a good view, but then don't charge so much. The staff was very nice - I particularly liked Tzippora's friendly energy when she checked us in! It has a lot of potential, like the lagoon where you can "try" paddle boarding and kayaking is a great idea, but it's so small and filled with young kids swimming, that I felt it was dangerous for the kids to be in there at the same time, I almost 'ran' over several. Lagoon is so small, it's really just for "trying" these activities. It was a very frustrating experience. The main pool is not big enough to accommodate everyone- people just stood and drank in the middle with kids jumping between them, so no swimming was possible & I'm not sure it was safe for the young kids to be in there because it was so crowded. There weren't enough lounge chairs by the pools & tiny lagoon (honestly they don't even have room to add more chairs, but where did they expect us all to be?) The adult pool was ok, smallish in size, crowded & no place to swim. Many people were taking advantage of the convenient concept of full liquor bottles & mixers brought to you poolside in ice buckets with refills conveniently brought over and over, great concept, but then they just stayed in the water for hours standing & drinking in the pool - they never got out. Nice idea, but where did they pee?? hmmmm.... FYI: no convenient restrooms. All in all, it would've been great to have more food options. The oasis bar by the adult pool was just ok pool food. bar tender was ok. The Market restaurant didn't have healthy a la carte options, we don't eat most of what was offered in the Sunday buffet and for the high price tag it wasn't worth it for us, we just wanted eggs and a few sides, but couldn't get that, it was the buffet or just a la carte muffins & chips, so we were stuck and needed to drive out and find a breakfast place. To get to the The Angler & Ale restaurant and boat dock area we needed to waited for 15 min. for tram. The Angler & Ale restaurant food was excellent- but very pricey. We had hogfish and grouper and mahi mahi, salads, etc. and all were excellent, drinks were great, waiter was nice and the view is great on the dock. At the dock, there's a company that offers kayaking and paddle boarding and fishing charters, all for a very pricey fee. (the resort should include the kayaking and paddle boarding for free ) We don't have young kids, so i can't comment on the kids pool, but I think if you do have young kids, you would enjoy this resort as long as they don't get trampled over by a paddle boarder in the lagoon. what they offer is just ok for couples, adults, older kids. All in all, its a pretty resort, it's clean, and well-kept, i liked the idea of the salt water lagoon, just everything was on a smaller scale then what was expected, crowded- even though this wasn't the high season, and the $400/night room plus +, seemed high, IMHO. read more

The best vacationing spot! The service, hospitality and amenities are amazing. We highly recommend visiting Hawks Cay Resort, you will not be disappointed. We've been there a few times and always have a spectacular time. read more

Just returned from visit. Comments: Rooms are noisy. All had connecting doors to next room. These doors allow the slightest sounds to be heard. Bathrooms are tiny, have one sliding door. Tubs have no safety bars. Three times asked for turndown service, never appeared, on third try, person at desk asked: "what is a turndown service?" Stopped requesting. Only one sink in bathroom. No night light. Bars of soap were designed for Liliputians. Had to request room to be made up every day we were there. In pool area, a dog went by, man smoked a cigar and a person was vaping. Several people were throwing small footballs around the pool with no one paying attention. Food was way overpriced, e. g. $28 per person for buffet breakfast. One day was awakened at 7.30 am by a gardener mowing lawn below room. 7.30! Today was awakened early by the sound of a sander or some such device. Called desk. Then called again 40 minutes later and they still had no clue as to what was causing noise. For more than $500 a night should be quiet. People were sprawled on the few seats in lobby no real indoor places to sit. No business center to printout any needed items. Doors to room did not fully close, noticed a few room doors that appeared to be inadvertently left opened. Doors give appearance of shutting, but they do not always do so. For the price, including a daily "resort fee" of $42, should include a complimentary coffee cart service in lobby. Only real coffee available was at a sundry store that had long lines. Wi-Fi was spotty and quite slow. Mobile phone service was poor. No welcome drinks. Telephone system was ancient. Constant busy signals when calling operator/front desk. No way to call housekeeping, bellman or any other service. Last call they asked for our mobile number " room phone is unreliable" in order to respond to an inquiry. This place should have been fully renovated rather than the quick job that was done. Kids enjoyed pool. Cannot describe this as a "luxury resort". Employees try but need training and supervision. If management deigns to respond please reply with specificity as to what will be done and when. Recent follow ups contain platitudes and pats on back but do not address the real issues that need fixing. You need a program with definable objectives and a timetable to achieve them. Then and only then would we consider returning. read more

We usually go to the Caribbean for spring break but this year we had a lot going on and we're not planning on spring break. At the last moment we changed our mind and because of the ease of getting there we chose Hawks cay. We rented one of the town homes and we ended up having a great 4 day stay. Everything is there once you arrive if you don't want to drive. We chartered a boat for deep sea fishing, went scuba diving and our youngest had plenty of activities to stay busy at the family pool/ play area. It was a great and quick get away and if we had 4 or 5 days to re charge I would go back. The only two warnings I would give is this is the keys, do not expect 5 stars and the ritz Carlton but everything was clean and nice. Also the food is just ok, but that is the case at many resorts. If you want to relax and recharge with easy flight and car ride this could be a good option. I am kind of a hotel snob and traveling for work stay at high end locations, this is not that but I did not mind just go in with proper expectations and relax. read more

This place gets 3 stars for location location location. Unfortunately the service and dinning get no stars. The price you pay to stay here calls for gourmet dinning and impeccable customer service. It's sad that such an amazing property does not make more of an effort in providing their guest top notch service as well as fabulous food. We ordered fish in 2 of their 4 eateries and each were very dry ... This should not be happening in The Keys- I can go on but you get my drift. The Villas are uhhh just ok ! Definitely not what you expect. The Villa we stayed in this weekend had super greasy floors and outdated decor. The view from our balcony made up for the negative! Everyone should stay there at least once. Since their is a Kitchen in the units ... Be Sure To Bring Your Own Food read more

The Good: Employees, all except one, are amazingly friendly and really do try to accommodate your needs. Generally clean and in decent shape overall. The snorkling trip was well done and organized. I would recommend one parent per child (I took 2 small kids by myself and it was a challenge and I'm a very good swimmer). Make sure to bring towels, a big bag for the wet stuff, food and drinks (the water from the dispensers tastes very much like plastic). The shuttle drivers are super nice and helpful. The restaurant on the docks was decent and Willy the server was very patient and accommodating. The Bad: For almost $500/day with taxes, resort fees and all the other fees I expected an amazing resort. I was sorely underwhelmed. Understaffed especially at the restaurants. EVERYTHING and I mean even the morning coffee is an upcharge (even the 10 cent glow necklaces for the 4th of July party. Come on you could have given those away). Our room's bathroom door was very hard to slide open/closed. The room wasn't cleaned for 3 days. The carpet in the hallway was badly stained. The pools weren't super clean (in their defense, it is hard to have that many patrons use the pools and have them super clean). The lagoon is disgusting (why not have greater water flow into and out of it to refresh the swamp?) The Dolphin Encounter is really fun, but EXPENSIVE and the unprinted pictures are outrageously over priced. They charge by the person in the pictures and for the price they don't even print the pictures, they only send you a digital file so you have to do the printing. My kids yearbook wasn't this expensive and we got a book. The steak place had only OK steaks (for the price I've had much better). They failed to tell us what events need reservations so we missed the July 4th BBQ because we couldn't get a dinner reservation. The gym is small and had 3 out of 10 weight machines broken the one time I went. I could keep going but those are the highlights. They really need a quality control team to come in and get this place up to snuff. read more