I was with a party of 4 at Tamarind Reef from January 23-January 25, 2015 (weekend dates). The deals were about the same no matter where you found them, but we got them via Orbitz.
First of all, if you want extensive reviews, Trip Advisor has a lot for this resort. Last I checked the resort was at 4 stars there as well. Actually, the reviews from Trip Advisor made me reserve this hotel. It was comparable to other good hotels available for my dates, such as the Palms. I went with it and here was my experience:
The hotel is about a 30 minute ride from the airport through semi busy streets (no highways/freeways on the island). It's a chill ride up to the hotel, and the hotel grounds are accessible via a road that leads to the hotel and to the marine it shares some land with. Check in was flawless and we got our room keys right away. We asked for an upstairs room, which we had already been assigned to. We got two hotel cards/keys, and then we proceeded to ask some questions about the island/hotel.
I would have liked and expected to have received more information up front about what the hotel offered, what to do, etc. I had to do a lot of the asking to the friendly lady at the front. Every question was politely answered, but I had to be the one who kept digging. I think they could improve the experience by giving you a better welcome and run-down on the things you can do at the hotel and perhaps in the area. For instance, they should say you can kayak, snorkel, paddle boat, tennis, exercise, get tikis at the beach, benches at the beach, volleyballs, etc. all included with your stay. We were also not told that we had two free drinks at the bar. They didn't do a good job of highlighting all of these things.
The room itself (132) was nice and spacious. Had a closet and bathroom upon entering, and also a small fridge and microwave area with a coffeemaker. The kitchen area felt clean, coffee was provided, along with a bucket for ice, etc. The room was spacious, two queen beds with nice space between them, and a little lounge area by the balcony. The balcony was private with two chairs out there and a nice view into the carribean and also to the cay island and buck island. It was nice. The room is air conditioned and it worked well, and the beds were comfortable and felt clean. The room felt big enough to enjoy for a group of 4, which we were.
The areas all were very clean: the tennis courts, the fitness center, the hallways, the grounds, the pool, they were all clean and looking great.
You will often see the resort's workers outside walking around, cleaning the rooms or working the lands, etc. The workers were all very polite and nice. One of the gentlemen offered to drive me to the laundry area one morning because it is a good walk away. He gave me a ride on the golf cart and would also come around every now and then to see if I was done with my clothes. The laundry area could be bigger (only has 2 machines) as I had to wait for another couple to get done with their 2 loads. Laundry during vacation is not fun! A bigger area for laundry would be appreciated i am sure.
We thoroughly enjoyed the pool, which was clean, and the beach. The beach had a nice sandy area where you can lounge and you can get drinks at a shack they have on the beach. We also snorkeled right in front of their beach at their reef and it had very good snorkeling for the area, even according to locals. We saw a lot of fish just in that beach and they have floatables on the ocean to guide you through a snorkeling trail. This is a must.
We also took a kayak out to cay island which took less than 15 minutes one way. You must do that. The workers at the shack were all very helpful with any gear that you ask to use. The kayaks take off right behind the shack and before you know it you're in the marina and then in the ocean. It was very seamless.
The casual eating area called the East End Bar I believe it is always had nice service and decent American food (breakfast, brunch, lunch, etc). They also have entertainment there on nights or weekends so check the schedule.
Everything about this hotel was satisfactory and I would visit again. One thing that we noticed in the room that the hotel needs to correct asap is that we killed about 3-5 roaches in the bathroom and in our room. There were little ones and also medium sized ones. They need to figure out this problem and deal with it because everything else, including the people working there, deserve a big applause for their service and for how they maintain the place. Thank you all....till next time!!!
Btw the hotel location is good too. You can visit the Divi Casino in less than 15 minutes, or the east end beaches, or go to Christiansted in less than 10 minutes. There is also a marina at the hotel and there are excursions to buck island that take off from there (Cpt. Heinz I believe). He was busy when I was there, so I used Big Bear read more