My 2008 review:
Sandy Port Beaches - Nassau, Bahamas
Check-in May 3, 2008
1BR “A” unit #311
I DO NOT RECOMMEND STAYING HERE !!!!!!! We arrived late on Saturday night. Our plane was about an hour late and we got here about 5 minutes before the office closed. They were expecting us, had a welcome packet and the keys ready. Very nice reception and the bellman took us to our unit, #311, a first floor unit in the third building. It was just past 11pm and we just got the basics out and hit the bed after a long day of travel. Things went downhill from there.
Major Problem first: Apparently they were having a lot of problems with the fire alarm system. It went off just about every day at some point, often more than once, but was quickly turned off. Monday night of our second week was another matter. About 3:45 AM the alarm goes off again. Only problem is that no one is on site at the office between 11pm till 7am. So there is no one to find out what is wrong. So get dressed and go outside to see what is going on. Every building is in alarm mode. Obviously this was not planned very well in construction since there is no phasing in the system. Several people are already walking around trying to find out what is wrong. About 15 minutes later 2 security guards show up on the resort golf cart coming from the direction of the beach. What on earth are they doing at the beach at that time of night and why did it take them that long to arrive??? Without even checking out anything they announce that it is just a false alarm. Somehow I am not reassured. Never did get back to sleep that night. All they did was go into the office and shut the alarm off. The fire department never arrived, so I have no confidence in the system at all. The following day it goes off yet again. I go back up to the office to complain. Every time it is the same answer, somebody cooking in the kitchen. They say that when the alarm company was there 2-3 months ago to service the system, they set the system to be more sensitive. When asked they had no plans to have them come back to make a repair. I told them that the next time it went off I was calling the police. Later that evening, the power went off on a large part of the island, including us. But the alarm did not sound in the timeshare. Interestingly enough, it was sounding in the shopping complex and homes across the canal that are all part of Sandy Port. Apparently they had cut the system off rather than call for a repair. Now I am feeling really reassured.
I contacted RCI and they were not able to move us since there was no other accommodations open, even at Club Land'or. The RCI rep said he would call me back within an hour after he had talked to Sandy Point. We waited in the room for 3.5 hours, but no call. I then finally called the RCI rep back again to find out what he was able to find out. He had been trying to call me repeatedly for several hours and they told him we were not in the room. Apparently Sandy Port was not putting RCI through to our room. Now I can't wait to get out of this he** hole. If you value your safety do not stay here, because they have no sense of security.
Now back to the beginning: I had read reviews where people were not assigned to the correct unit size and was prepared with RCI information to argue, but were correctly assigned the “A” unit which is the full 1BR with a full kitchen, 1.5 bath. The 1 BR is part of a 3BR lockout with a separate studio with mini kitchen as well as a separate plain BR on the other side of the lockout door. The unit is about 25.5’ by 31’ including a small covered deck or patio, or about 790 sq. ft. You enter into the LR/DR area through a side door. The entire unit is floored with white ceramic tile. The unit contains white wicker furniture that looks to be original to the unit ( 1996 ) with newer pastel print cushions which were showing about 3-4 years of wear. Lemon yellow and pastel blue drapes. Ceiling fan in LR area. Queen size pull-out couch, two end tables, coffee table, 2 side chairs, and a 4 drawer chest with a 19” TV in the LR area. The DR area has a glass top table & 4 chairs, a server table and a decorative bookcase. Couple of nice pictures on the white walls. There is a ½ bath just to the left of the entry door with several rolls of TP.
Kitchen is original to 1996 and need to be ripped out completely and re-done. Very small, but if updated could work fine. Cabinets are literally falling apart at the base. Full size refrigerator with doors that opened the wrong direction. No light in the frig and the door would not stay closed. The DW was located directly under the sink and leaked terribly on the floor every time I used it. Very poor 4-burner gas stove that hadn’t been cleaned in years. There was gunk under the burners and consequently we have ants all over everywhere. I had to keep all food in the fridge to keep the ants out of the food. Microwave over the stove with light burned out. Dishes and cutlery for 6, with nice set of pots. Blender, toaster, & coffee maker. Phone in the kitchen was broken. Liquid soap and Cascade supplied, metal scrubby, but no sponge or paper towels. Starter pack of coffee supplied. Hand soap supplied at each sink and the tub. Kitchen really needs a lot of work to be considered acceptable. As it is now, it is really disgusting.
The pastel blue BR has a king size bed that is need of replacement. It was somewhat uncomfortable with very little padding. Small dresser in the room with another 19” TV, but a nice walk in closet. Very small safe in the closet, more about that later. There was a dual size jet tub in the BR with dual sinks next to it. But since there is never any hot water and rarely is it even warm, you simply can’t take advantage of the tub since there isn’t enough water to fill it up. Through the door into the actual bath with a toilet, bidet and a small tiled shower. Ceiling fan in BR. Plenty of TP. No shampoo or toiletry products supplied. There is a door in the BR that exits onto the patio.
Unit comes with towels for 6, which are changed out mid-week. Beach towels are readily available at the office. Unit gets a mid-week cleaning on Wednesday. There is a laundry room with two washers and dryers for the guests to use. Also an ice machine and a drink & snack machines in the laundry room. The office has a computer in the lobby for usage by guests. WiFi is available in the office area, doesn’t reach to the units, for an outrageous fee; $6/hr, $60/week, $100/mth. Long Distance phone charges are with the same company we got ripped of with when in ST Martin where we were charged $39 for a 3-5 minute phone call. We used our Skype service instead.
These units could be very nice, but it appears that as with other Festiva run resorts, it has been allowed to fall into disrepair. The units are nice sized and were laid out very nicely, but need a lot of work to even be considered adequate. Had to ask for TV remotes. The locking mechanism on the slider door going to the patio was broken and would not stay locked. One of the windows in the LR had obviously been pried open and would not shut properly, nor would it lock. When I asked for a key to the safe the day after we arrived, I was told that was on the maintenance list, but he didn’t know when it would be taken care of. Since it was Sunday, I didn’t press the issue. I asked again on Monday and Tuesday about the repairs, but got no action. By Wednesday I was really pissed and tired of having to carry all of my valuables with me everywhere I went. So I talked to the lady at the desk, a different person, and very firmly told her I expected to either have them repaired today or to be moved to a different unit. I was not going to put up with this lack of security for 2 weeks. Within 20 minutes the General Manager phoned me and within two hours of the complaint the maintenance man had been and gone. He replaced the lock in the safe as well as the one in the slider. But when I saw how easily he popped the safe open with a screwdriver, I wasn't really very happy. He performed a sort of jack-leg repair on the window, forcing it closed and somehow got it locked, but heaven forbid when the next person decides to open it for fresh air. I decided to skip on the DW repair, instead just kept a towel in front of it on the floor to sop up the water. And frankly felt that cleaning the stove was a lost cause, it would be better to be thrown out with the trash. I really didn’t want them spraying for the bugs while we were there, so I didn’t complain about that till we left. I can see why it has so quickly lost its Gold Crown rating and slipped all the way down to standard. Looks like the owner has switched his attention to all of the construction in the surrounding housing subdivision and is uninterested in what happens at the Timeshare. Such a shame, because you can see that it was nice at one time. And we know how Festiva manages resorts.
Speaking of Festiva management, I am not sure of their status at SandyPort. The SandyPort website has Festiva links posted and the literature packets handed out have Festiva on the literature. But there were no sales overtures at during my two weeks here, which I find counter to the Festiva business model. While talking around the pool, someone said the Canadian owner of SandyPort had thrown Festiva out. Regardless, if they have been replaced by other management, the current maintenance need to really be taken up several notches and some money needs to be spent to get the resort back in acceptable condition.
The first 4 buildings built face directly onto the pool area. 4 more buildings were constructed later which face onto the lagoon. Each building has 4-3BR units, 2up and 2 down. The pool has a gradual entry with a sandy beach area. It does not appear to be heated, or maybe just wasn’t working while we were there. It has a slide at one end of the pool. They were working on the pump for the slide for several days, but never got the water to work. The beach next to the pool also faces to the lagoon. Ok for lying on the beach area, but I would not advise swimming there. There is a building next to the pool that appears to have been a pool bar at one time, but obviously unusable in its current state of disrepair. They are really missing a lot of opportunities to make money, no restaurant, bar, food of any type on site. You can walk across the street, about a block, to the main beach. There are lounge chairs at both locations for guests to use, but no shade at the beach area across the street. The beach on the ocean-front had a lot of rocks and pieces of broken glass in the sand.
No real on-site activities offered. They hold an orientation on Sunday morning @10:30 which is a sales opportunity for Diamonds International & Columbian Emeralds, and for Big Al, a fun character who sponsors activities three days a week, to tell you about the trips he offers. Monday was a snorkel trip for $55 ea. Tuesday was an island tour for $39, and Wednesday was the Rose Island trip for $55. On Sunday around noon they offer a free shuttle to the local grocery. Several nights a week, the tourist group sponsors a free shuttle to/from the Casino on Cable beach.
There are several restaurants within walking distance, only one that serves breakfast. There is a shopping area that has been constructed and which continues to be mostly vacant, apparently for many years. Could be very nice, but is kind of a ghost town. A small convenience store is located about 2-3 blocks away at the marina.
There is public transportation available to take you into town. The bus stops at the main road, about 2 blocks walk, and costs $1 each way. They run on no set schedule, but you don’t really have to wait very long. They stop around 7pm.
We were trying to keep costs down, so ate most meals in and decided not to rent a car this trip except for one day. Had good lunches downtown at Iguanas and Hard Rock Café. DO NOT EAT at the Bar/Grill next to the Pirates Museum. Had a nice meal at Capriccios Italian on Cable Beach. There is a Pizza Hut within walking distance of Sandy Port. We decided to take advantage of the day passes at the Crystal Palace. For $15 ea, you can have full access to the beach, pools, towels, chairs, umbrellas and usage of the showers at the SPA to clean up afterwards. Made for a nice day.
