Paradise Island Harbour Resort

I've just returned from a very comfortable stay at the Holiday Inn Sunspree on Paradise Island. I found all the staff to be helpful, and the rooms are great... this hotel has one of the most comfortable beds I've slept in in a long time. The all inclusive package is great value for money. This is a great 3 star property... it does exactly what it says on the tin!!!

We celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary at this hotel, because of mr Davis our trip was perfect. We were disappointed with our room at first, but Mr Davis upgraded us to a beautiful suite on the eleventh floor. We slept with the balcony door opened at night and enjoyed the ocean breeze and the sounds of the ocean. Clinton Davis has the most pleasing personality, he makes the stay at the Holiday inn Sunspree worth going for a visit. We are planning our 32nd wedding anniversary at the Holiday Inn Sunspree because of Mr. Clinton Davis.

Work/pleasure have taken my wife and me to Nassau in September and November 2003. Each time we stayed in this resort for a few days. The room was excellent with great views over the harbour and the sunsets and twinkling lights at night across the water. The staff could not have been more helpful and everything was spotlessly clean. Reading negative reviews on this hotel make me wonder if we did not stay at the same hotel as those reviewers. Yes the beach is man-made, small and not where I would choose to swim, but the pool is a large interesting shape and clean. The staff and others try hard but the "entertainment" is nothing special and mainly takes the form of live background music. The variety of food available is such that we could always find something we liked. We really had no complaints and thoroughly enjoyed staying in this resort. We are looking forward to a few more days there in December.

The Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort is located in an excellent location. It is a few blocks from the beach on one side and a few blocks from the Atlantis Casino on the other. The hotel is a self contained vacation in and of itself. You can find just about anything you want there; food, drink, pool, spa, gym, etc. The staff was courteous, full of laughs and just plain good people. I would recommend the Holiday Inn to anyone who wants to vacation in the Bahamas.

Myself and 3 other friends stayed at this hotel last year for spring break and had a great time on the island and at the hotel. We bought the all inclusive package which was well worth it, if not for the drinks alone. The food was great- i miss that pasta bar they had during lunch, and the higher quality restaurant inside the hotel (must book in advance) had wonderful food, as did the outdoor restaurant. Beautiful pool, beach was a little tiny, but within a 5 minute walk of a HUGE beach so that wasn't even a big deal. All the bartenders and hotel personnell were wonderful, extremely friendly and helpful with regard to all aspects of our trip. We will definitely be going back.

A friend and I wanted an inexpensive fun in the sun trip in August. Being from Miami, we thought it would be great to go to the Bahamas as it is just a hop away. I will just say this, you get what you pay for! We went realizing that we were paying a low price and so of course, we didn't expect 4-stars or Sandals-quality. So if you go with an open mind like we did, you'll have a good time. The food is just OK. There are a lot of kids at the pool. Go to Cabbage Beach which is a 10-minute walk away. But I seriously recommend the snorkeling tour. It is awesome. For $35, we took a boat out to 3 reefs... including one with sharks! The fish are gorgeous and plentiful. And the snorkeling with the sharks was just plain cool. That said, if you want an inexpensive place to sleep after a day around the Bahamas, you'll get one. If you want service and to be treated like royalty, go elsewhere.

I had a blast staying here. It felt like we got the VIP treatment from all of the staff. I'll definitly makes plans to stay here again in the future

I am familiar with this hotel because I first stayed there on my first trip to the Bahamas. My girlfriend and I booked it and after one night there, we moved to another hotel on the beach side of Paradise Island. People who are unfamiliar with Paradise Island do not realize that this hotel is on the harbor side and has no decent beach to offer. It's location makes it the least desirable hotel location on Paradise Island. Furthermore, it was in a terrible condition years ago. A year after this trip, following 4 more trips there, I moved to Nassau and lived there for 3 more years. I am not at all surprised that despite their claim of renovations a few years ago, it remains in terrible condition. It is a terrible shame that tourists are still being fooled by misleading brochures and travel agents. If there is mold on the ceilings and walls, it is no wonder that guests are experiencing coughs - mold like that is highly dangerous. Unfortunately, the government of the Bahamas is not very efficient when it comes to health standards and other functions. For example, their ambulance service is terribly inefficient and dangerously slow in response. Accident victims often die needlessly after waits of over an hour for the ambulance to arrive. Tow trucks will arrive on the scene in 5 minutes. Even native Bahamians, if they can afford it, travel to the U.S. or Cuba for surgery. This being said, Paradise Island and Nassau can be a fun time, but you have to pay for what you get. Another alternative for budget hunters is to book a cheap flight to Paradise Island and then take a taxi across the bridge to Nassau and stay in an inexpensive motel on the harbor near the bridge for less than $100 per night. Paradise Island is close enough to walk or take a taxi. You will still save money, plus you can experience places on Nassau Island, like the Poop Deck restaurant overlooking the harbor and other places downtown that the locals frequent, the boating crowd, etc. and get to know a bit of the local culture, the food, meet people who live there, etc. Confine your explorations to the perimeter of the island, West Bay and Bay street, the areas that border the water. It is much more fun than just playing tourist on the beach and in the casinos. Of course, this advice is for adults, couples or singles, not people with kids in tow. People who actually live there rarely go to Paradise Island for an evening out. The population is racially mixed, although the 8% white population live and play along West Bay, the perimeter. If you drive across the bridge from Paradise Island to Nassau and go to the left and drive up West Bay you will see lovely mansions and restaurants.

I went in late September and before I went I read the reviews and was worried but was pleasently suprised. The food was great along with the pool and the staff. Cabbage beach, and Atlantis were a short walk. Snorkeling at Rose beach was fantastic. The only complaint was the man made beach at the hotel. It has potential but there was some garbage in the water and on the bottom, but probably more fish for snorkeling than a tour to Rose island. And its right there. Don't believe every review you read and keep and open mind. The food alone was worth the trip. Try a dinner or two at Harbor View and then go see the prices at Atlantis.

We booked to stay in the Holiday Inn Sunspree resort on Paradise Island from 24th September to 8th October 2003 to celebrate my wifes 30th birthday. This all inclusive resort was advertised as a 3.5 rating and marketed as the newest beachfront resort on Paradise Island. Now my wife and I have stayed in many all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean & Indian oceans, both 3 and 4 star rated but we have never ever experienced anything like the uninhabitable Holiday Inn. We were so disgusted with the state of the accommodation that we had to move to alternative accommodation for 7 days of our stay. There are so many things wrong with that hotel that I will list later on. However, irrespective of all the other problems, from a hygiene point alone the hotel is not fit for human habitation and in our opinion must breach health regulations on numerous counts. My wife has been in tears many times and so upset that the experience has totally ruined our holiday and our faith in ever booking a holiday through Thomsons again and has caused so much stress that we need a holiday to get over this one.When we arrived at the hotel there was a disappointment on the face of almost everyone in our party at the state of the place. Just looking in the lobby and restaurants, the place was in an obvious state of disrepair. One couple, with their two infant children, were so disgusted that they demanded to move straight away. As we are not naturally the type to complain, decided to give it a chance for a couple of days. I so wish we had never done this. By the third day we could not take it anymore and had to get out asap. We spoke to our Thomson rep and she arranged for us to move to the Radisson Cable Beach Resort for the second week (which is very good by the way, but a bit overcrowded at the weekends). We would have moved earlier had we had enough funds to do so but we could just about afford the $1059 we had to pay to get out of that hell hole for the 2nd week.During our miserable 7 days at the Sunspree we got chatting to numerous couples, all of whom were not at all happy with the hotel. However, many had decided to make do as they could not afford to move. One couple we befriended moved with us on the same day as they could no longer put up with the disgraceful conditions either.The following complaints were all registered with our Thomsons rep & the hotel duty manager during our stay at the Sunspree :-- Our room, numbered 904 had a strong smell of urine, seemingly emitting from the air conditioning unit. - The room was also damp and mouldy. There was mould all over the ceiling, emanating from where the air conditioning unit was positioned. There was more mould on the back of the bathroom door and a mouldy damp patch on the shower ceiling, where the paint had bubbled up and broken. There was more mould on the roof of the storage cupboard in our room. When we complained to the duty manager about this, they seem to just put some air freshener in the air conditioner unit as the horrible smell disappeared for a while but the urine smell came back after the air conditioning was switched on a few times. My wife developed a nasty cough during the first few days, which we think was because of the condition of the room. When we spoke to some other guests it appears that our room was not alone in this state and it soon became apparent that the hotel was like this throughout. - There was rust on the towel racks. - There was corrosion on the bath/shower fittings and they were loose and wobbled about. - There was rust on the toilet fittings. - The water from the taps was so full of chlorine that even hours after you had a shower, you could smell it really strongly on yourself and others. - Most of the corridors outside the rooms had some sort of damp mouldy patches on the ceiling tiles. - Most unbelievably from a health & safety point, there was a huge damp mouldy patch with fungus on the ceiling in the main Captains Table buffet restaurant, virtually right above where the food was served. - There was more mould and dirt around the air conditioning outlets in the a la carte Harbour Restaurant. - All the furniture in the lobby and bar area had a general grubby feel to it and a lot of it looked shabby. - The table tops in the lobby/bar area were never cleaned and had drink stains and a film of dirt on them. - Far too few staff were employed. One barstaff was on duty most of the time during the evening, leading to big queues at the bar. - We had to wait up to 1 hour for lunch to be served at the outside pool bar restaurant. - At breakfast, the lady who made the omelettes and fried eggs, pancakes etc. wasnt even on duty for 3 days of our stay and we had to request that someone went to get her. - When the food was served in the buffet restaurant of an evening, it was stone cold. The BBQ night, the chef started cooking on the BBQ at about 5.45pm. The restaurant didnt open until much later and by the time we ate at 7pm, or attempted to, the food was all in trays outside and the chef wasnt barbecuing anything. I sampled a piece of virtually everything that had been cooked and it was all stone cold and not edible. We had to leave and go to the Harbour restaurant instead. - Food was very disappointing. The Conch fritters in the Harbour restaurant tasted as though they were cooked from frozen and not fresh. The Conch Chowder tasted like it had come from a tin. The Snapper and Grouper was tasteless and tasted and looked the same. The presentation of the food was also not up to scratch. - The attitude of the staff in the main buffet restaurant was bad. If you asked them anything you felt like you were putting them out. - There were no little touches, which dont cost anything but make a holiday special. For example :- No one showed you to your seat in the buffet restaurant. You had to go and get your own coffee & juice at breakfast. No one asked you whether you were enjoying your meal. There were no flowers or decorative plants at all in the hotel lobby or rooms. There were no candles round the tables by the bar in the evening. In fact there was absolutely no romantic feel at all to the hotel. God help anybody who was planning to get married there!! - Gym equipment was broken. The treadmill didnt work on our last 2 days and the buttons operating the computer on the cycle machine did not work throughout our stay so you could not set a program correctly. In addition, the other cycle machine used to turn itself off after 5 mins. There was also never anyone on duty in the Gym to supervise or offer advice etc. - The area around the public laundry room was more akin to a run down homeless persons hostel than a hotel in the Bahamas. Paint on the floor had flaked off, watery damp patches were everywhere and dirt all over the place. - The hotel entertainment of an evening seemed to be on at 7.00pm just as everyone was getting showered ready to go out, or having a meal. It was over by 7.30pm !! - The brochure photographs do not represent reality. The view over the harbour was of a busy industrial boat yard. - The hotels man made beach was a joke, it was so small and there was even a bulldozer on the beach on our last morning re-arranging the sand. - The water in the so-called Lagoon had thin oily patches on the surface all over it because of all the boats passing up and down the estuary, even though the water below seemed clean and there was fish swimming in it. - The brochure description is misleading. The hotel was built a long time ago, in the 1960s I believe and had some refurbishment in 2001. It is therefore not by a long way the newest resort on Paradise Island as you advertise. - The taxi driver who took us to the Radisson could not believe that that hotel was still allowed to continue operating in the state it was in. He knew the place well and of the many complaints that had been made. - One of the local girls we had met in the Radisson had even advised that the Sunspree was re-known as a place where Call Girls hang out.As you can appreciate, the first week of our holiday was sheer hell and I would not wish a trip to the Sunspree on my worst enemy. Please please believe me. I just wish I had been more scepticle of all the negative reviews when booking. The positive reviews in my opinion are either from people with a vested interest in the property or are from others who have never stayed in a decent hotel before in their lives.