honflyer

If anyone has insight here, let me know
Also, how much of an upgrade is the St. Regis Overwater Suite vs. the Villa, for those who've seen both?

Is the platinum breakfast only good for the buffet or in-room as well?

Best

Pseudo Nim

There is basically zero way to see into the neighbouring villas. You have to go out of your way to do it. I cannot see anything except the sunset.

IMHO, I actually prefer the first villa on the walkway. In Thalasso, it was the worst one, because you neither had a view, nor did you have any privacy. Here, it's the opposite: you're more or less facing the sunset, AND you get to see the "back end" of the sunset (the pink clouds etc that come alive when the sun drops beyond the horizon). If you're in one of the middle villas, I suspect you're less likely to see the back end of the sunset.

This is what it looks like:

http://imgur.com/a/7YqLI

honflyer

Thanks a lot! Still trying to figure out the sun-route I guess the downside is you're closer to the bar/restaurant and people can see your deck?

What's your view on the St. Regis suites at the very end of the other dock (particularly the one that is stand-alone, facing the ocean)?

Privacy is important to me, so is the amount of sun the deck gets during the day, too. Should I be worried about being able to sunbath all day in my villa when I choose the suite/side of villas=

Thanks!

tylerc

Honestly, the St. Regis suite is nice but I certainly wouldn't say it's worth the extra (what is it, $650/night?).

I toured most of the room categories last week, and yes it's bigger and has a few more features, such as jets in the pool, but for that price...just not worth in IMO unless you're REALLY set on a slightly bigger room with bubbles in the pool. Keep in mind the standard villa is already quite .......

Pseudo Nim

If you draw a line perpendicular to the walkway and through the centre of the first villa, the sun sets to the right maybe 17-20 degrees.

People from the Whale Bar can see you indeed, but it's VERY far: if you're simply sunbathing or whatever, you'd need binoculars to gain any useful information about you (and it would look a bit odd if someone stood with binoculars at the whale bar). Obviously, if the goal is naked sunbathing or R-rated activity, one of the other suites may be a better choice, though.

The St-Regis suite is obviously larger, but I wouldn't pay the $650 upsell they're asking for on points. If you're booking on cash, it's $3,400 or so vs. $3,200, so that's a no-brainer upgrade (as long as you get the *sunset* version of it), but I wouldn't do it otherwise.

honflyer

Thanks! This is all very helpful. Do you get sun during the day from there as well?

Any insight on the platinum breakfast benefit? Does that include room service breakfast too?

Thanks

Pseudo Nim

Sun begins around 11 (well... it ended around 12 and it's been pouring since, hah) and shines all day. So definitely LOTS of sun.

I've been meaning to ask about the breakfast. I feel like they'd do it, but there's so much stuff on the menu at Alba that it's well worth going. Also the breads and cheeses are just spectacular. So even in a tropical rainstorm we had a buggy come drive us.

honflyer

Ouch, hope weather will be better in a few weeks!
Has the Alba breakfast menu been posted? What's the policy for plats, order anything you like as often as you like?

Pseudo Nim

If it's not posted above in the wiki, I can post it.

It's as much as you want of anything. I like to sample various foods so I keep ordering stuff, so at one point when I get up to go to get more food, two of the waiters go "Thanks for coming, sir!" and I kind of raise an eyebrow and walk towards the buffet door, they correct themselves "Oh, you're going to get more!"

The service isn't 100% polished yet, I must say.

honflyer

Ha! Ok. Haven't seen the menu yet.
On another note: is there a sound system in the villas/on the deck to connect with your phone?

Pseudo Nim

The connectivity is seriously impressive.

First off, there's a wall panel that'll take HDMI (but no cable, so bring your own, what the hell), headphone jack or Bluetooth input (i.e. you pair your phone).

Second, there's an AppleTV that you can AirPlay to, or an Android whatever they call it that you can cast to.

There's likely a USB accessible port too (there are at least 10 USB ports around the room, I don't know if any of them are data).

The only thing is... the TV is very weird. I can't figure out what's wrong with it. It's a wild Bang & Olufsen that you can make rotate with an iPad, so the pointless luxury element is totally there, but something is wrong with the picture that I can't quite grasp. It's like it's too sharp, or the framerate doesn't match what I have in my source (which doesn't make sense, because a TV just displays content.... but maybe its signal processor is weird?...); basically, something is imperceptibly odd. I watched a TV show episode yesterday night, and I couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong: do you know how a professionally made TV show is different from the afternoon made-for-TV drama that looks like it was shot with a handycam? It was that. It's like the "film" effect was artificially missing from my episode, making it feel incredibly fake and irritating. This is really a bizarre way to explain it, and I'll watch a few more, different, shows to see if I can replicate it, or if that particular episode just ran out of money (but it seemed fine on the laptop...)

honflyer

Ok, odd, but the B&O TVs do that sometimes .. I know what you mean.
So there's a proper sound system that works in the villa and the deck? Great to hear re all the connectivity options.

Anything else to know, be aware of?

Pseudo Nim

Oh yeah, sorry, I was so involved in writing up the B&O complaint that I missed the original question. There isn't a separate sound system - only whatever's built into the B&O TV (it's a decent speaker system, though).

BobbySteel

That's the soap opera effect
http://hometheaterreview.com/what-is...ke-it-go-away/

There should be a setting somewhere for gaming mode that would sort it out.

some dude

Yeah, it is definitely soap opera effect, I don't know if you can disable it though, there's no normal remote control, just the iPad which fully automates everything.