My wife and I just finished a 5-night stay for a baby moon with our 9 month in tow. Due to Covid, this was our first international trip since being pregnant with our first so Bermuda seemed like a great fit due to strict Covid regulations and Zika free. We were excited to get out of the country and experience something new.

PRE-ARRIVAL/CHECK-IN

Since we were bringing our 9 month old with us, we weren’t planning for a lot of activities. However, I love to golf and figured it was a good opportunity to play Mid Ocean. The hotel helped secure a tee time, rentals, and taxis. They also took care of a few dinner reservations for us. However, they were unable to help book an arrival taxi from the airport since we were requesting a car seat for our baby and provided us a taxi company to book ourselves. We thought this was odd at the time, but it was simple enough to do on our own. Check-in was not the best first impression. No acknowledgement of my wife’s ambassador status, mention of a welcome gift, list of confirmed bookings, or suggestions for the island. We have been welcomed better at some “lesser” Marriott brands.

ROOM

We booked a standard guest room and my wife submitted SNAs, which were accepted for an upgrade to a Caroline Astor Suite (room 1530). We were excited to have the extra space with all the baby stuff we needed to bring. As described above, the suite was nice, but misses on a lot of key points.

First the bad, it has an odd layout with terrible furniture/design choices. There are large closet cabinets in the bathroom, but lacks appropriate shelving or storage. The bedroom has what looks to be a big dresser until you realize it is a mirrored console. The living room has an undersized 55” tv for the size of the wall and the furniture is uncomfortable and unpleasant in style imo. Overall, the room lacked decor and any wow factor.

On the positive side, the views were amazing. I really enjoyed drinking a cocktail on the patio and looking out over the fort, beach, and ocean. The AC worked incredibly well. Important to me in these type of destinations.

SERVICE

Service was a mixed bag with more bad than good. I’ve already touched on the initial check-in, but it was a theme for the entire trip. There seemed to be a lack of knowledge, which is somewhat understandable with the property being so new. A few examples that contributed to our building frustration as the trip carried on…

They offered on site Covid testing for our return flight to the US at $75pp. The rosewood offers this complimentary to its guests. Regardless, we didn’t mind as we used it as an opportunity to go into Hamilton and explore the island for a day. When we requested a taxi with a car seat they informed us it would be booked. However, it took us following up multiple times to find out that they couldn’t arrange this and we eventually gave up only to book the same company we used for our arrival taxi. We later found out this is cause of a poor relationship they have with this specific company.

As we were leaving for the airport, we requested for someone to come up grab our bags to bring down to the taxi (which again we had to book on our own) and they confirmed someone would come at 12:10. At 12:15, we called the butler service and again they confirmed they’d send someone right away. At 12:20, we decided to just do it ourselves so my 8 month pregnant wife was forced to help. As we got to the front of the hotel, we noticed a bellman just standing there on his phone and as we got in the taxi, it appeared that a manager was informing him to get off his phone. I’m not someone that needs everything done for me, but when staying at a luxury resort at this price point, I would think these things should be table stakes.

There were several other small items (i.e. room servicing and good luck getting turn down service), but hopefully this gives you an idea of what to expect. In talks with staff, they’ve had issues hiring and bringing external people in because of Covid restrictions. They are short staffed and most are trying hard, but then it begs the question if they should have opened yet. They did proactively take $200 off our bill at check out for the service issues when he asked why we didn’t have a taxi booked on file for our departure, which naturally fed into my wife explaining our taxi problems.

DINING

There is only one restaurant (Lina/BLT Steak) that serves as the dining option for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The breakfast buffet was included due to my wife’s status. It was a solid spread and all of the food was prepared well, but lacked anything special. No complaints, but it was mildly annoying there was no omelette option or ability to switch an a menu item when the price was $45pp.

We mainly had lunch by the pool and everything we had from fish tacos to chicken wraps were good. However, there is a gnat and fly problem that was beyond annoying to the point that we sat indoors for dinner and noticed others moving inside after trying to dine outside. The team is aware of it and trying a multitude of things to fix it, but it’s a problem for now.

For dinner, we tried several items ranging from steak to seafood. Again, everything was prepared well, but there was nothing that stood out. Overall, the dining was fine. There were no egregious service errors. The food was well prepared and the drinks were good. They made my wife some great mock tails, which usually can be hit or miss. The staff is friendly and is trying hard. The visiting manager, Avinash, was amazing.

As for the St. Regis Bar, the bartenders made some great cocktails and the burger was very good. The style again is rather blah with one unique tile work done above the bar, but that’s it.

LOCATION/AMENITIES/ACTIVITIES

I know some comments have been made about the poor location choice, but I very much enjoyed the location. It was a quiet part of the island with a lot of nearby historic sites in St. George. The beach and pool setup is fantastic. The beach has some rocks, but they are not bad at all. For our trip, it fit our needs.

As for amenities or activities, we didn’t bother much on site partly cause we had already planned off site items on our own (mid ocean golf, crystal caves, St. Peter’s church, unfinished church) and partly cause they never had any info on anything. The on site spa, boutique, and kids club looked lackluster at the bottom floor. In the original plans, I remember reading the spa being done in an old fort up the hill. I’m not sure what happened to that, but that is the type of wow factor I was hoping for at a St. Regis and the opportunity missed by the property to offer something unique.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this is a spectacular location marred by poor design choices, consistent service issues, and lack of wow factor. We loved Bermuda and had a fun trip, but more because of the island than the hotel. We would love to come back; however, we’d likely prefer to try another property, maybe Rosewood, unless reviews were to substantially improve, but some of the problems won’t ever be fixed. Hope this helps anyone considering this property.