Mango Bay Hotel, Holetown, Barbados Holiday Review by Caroline, W. Midlands

Hello,

I just wanted to say that the Mango Bay Hotel, Holetown, Barbados, was practically perfect for Amanda, Felicia and my holiday requirements this year - so I thought I would email you to say so!

They changed our room from 3rd floor to ground when they saw me struggling upstairs with my knee (no lift), at no extra charge. And it had 3 separate beds in it, as requested - ready and waiting instead of re vamping when we arrived as in most other hotels. They cheerfully moved these same beds downstairs for us to the new room - perhaps they only had 3 singles in the place? Amanda came to tell me when it was all ready, but said the room was a bit of a squash: she was teasing as it was huge!

Inclusive food and drink was exceptionally good. Mostly waitress service food, good quality and included interesting local stuff. Restaurant looked onto the beautiful clear sea from about 30ft away, and we could easily walk into the sea for swimming and snorkeling. (My knee improved greatly with the swimming - need to return there frequently!!) Local fish and fresh tropical fruits of what was in season, smoothies freshly made throughout the day and really delicious coconut ice cream. Yum yum (I'm told by my neighbours that Sainsbury’s sell it!)

The girls ran a long way every morning, so they tell me, as I didn't see them till breakfast time after their run and swimming a mile or two. They were totally safe, even if only one of them was running - had no probs. One of their favourite routes was across Sandy Lane golf course, where there was a family of green monkeys.

We had a late checkout till 3pm - again at no extra cost. The staff were extremely pleasant and helpful. The Grenadian Manageress came round to chat every couple of days, to check that everything was running smoothly, and gave a drinks party: both good practice of course.

Inclusive activities: we swam with the Turtles, went in glass-bottomed boat and Amanda and Felicia water skiied with me in the boat. My first attempt at jumping into the boat ended with me falling over backwards with a big splash. The skipper didn't laugh at all but just backed the boat round so I could use the ladder: (Don't know why he thought I could jump in backwards like Amanda and Felicia in the first place!).

We also used the hotel's free minibus into Bridgetown and an interesting local bus back.

A fellow guest said that Mango Bay Hotel had been voted best on the island and the owner is head of the Barbados Tourist Board.

Mongooses (mongeese?) played around the sitting areas. And I picked up Frangipani flowers on the way to breakfast every day.

Lovely! A good holiday.


This contrasted sharply with Virgin offering to upgrade our plane seats to 1st Class - for an extra thousand pounds each on the way out......!! Felicia and Amanda insisted on paying 600 pounds for the three of us for a minor upgrade to middle class? because of my knee.

Many thanks
Caroline

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