Almond Beach Resort — Hotel in Stann Creek District

I am torn on how to leave this review. . ACCOMMODATION We stayed at one of the Almond Beach Resort private villas and didn't realize that it is the same property at Jaguar Reef and Colonial Inn. Our first impression of the room was "WOW", we entered through a private gated patio with an outdoor shower into a HUGE bathroom with oversized double vanity and a rain shower head shower with seating large enough for two! The bedroom featured a platform bed, couch facing the ocean, water station, coffee (with cream and sugar), mini-fridge, ironing board, and tv. There were plenty of curtains and light. The biggest wow factor was the view! Almond Beach has rooms a mere 50 steps from the water, with another patio facing the view and a hammock. SO STUNNING! . FOOD There is only one main restaurant on the property, with 3 fresh options for breakfast/lunch/dinner (pricing $10-25 US per item). There is also a ceviche bar open on the weekends, and the pool bar offers a few snacks (hummus and chips/salsa). Picky eaters may not fare well. Hopkins is a $5 bz taxi ride per person, but there are a few other restaurants within walking distance. . CUSTOMER SERVICE OUT OF THIS WORLD. Everyone is so genuinely nice. From our waiter (Edgar) to the pool bartender (Bruno), to ground maintenance (Gilbert). They all know your name and make a point to say hi. They want you to have an amazing experience. . THE BAD I wondered if I should post about this, because I don't want it to eclipse our lovely experience. But, I was stung by a scorpion in our BED three times and two nights later my husband was stung by a separate scorpion in BED once. We also found scorpion claws in bed. The first time the manager made sure to have our room deep cleaned, and came over to make sure I was okay and not suffering any side effects. The second time happened at 10 pm and the hotel lobby was closed so we found a security man who helped us get into another room, we were checking out in the morning so we only stayed in the other room one night. The hotel offered us one night comped and comped food for our troubles. While not as much as we were hoping for, we still appreciate that they did something. (we still have not received the refund) . Besides this, I also was stung by a jellyfish swinging from the rope on the dock and broke a finger on the property. . We were told by the night staff that Almond Beach recently reopened and the huts were left vacant for almost a year. They sprayed for pests, but they didn't spray under the platform beds (they reached the floor, so they would have had to remove the mattresses to get under the bed). my husband and I believe there was a scorpion next under our bed since the bed is the only place scorpions were found. . BEACH This was the other "bad". It is a public beach. So, kids run up to you multiple times a day trying to solicit you for money. They start in the morning asking for money to support their sports team getting new jerseys, then they try to sell you hats and cookies and by the afternoon they start playing the drums for money and will come up to the pool even and play. When they were not there it was a lovely beach experience with covered lounge chairs (not enough) and hammocks. There are a ton of sand fleas, so make sure to bring bug spray. The sand is also hot and coarse, so you will need beach shoes. . OVERALL We loved our time here, but I cannot in good conscience recommend the Almond Beach portion only because of the SCORPION IN THE BED issue. HOWEVER, the room we were given at Jaguar Reef was beautiful and safe. So, if you want an amazing experience in Hopkins and want to stay somewhere beautiful then check out the Jaguar Reef section until Almond Beach has been fully cleaned and sprayed. Two scorpion attacks in one room in 48 hours in two too many. I cannot say enough good things about the service we were given, and that is why I did not...

My family (2 adults and 2 children aged 13 and 8) spent a wonderful 2 weeks at Almond Beach Resort in 2 Garden Rooms. We occupied the Mango room (featured on the wesbite), which is actually two rooms in one so worked brilliantly for the children (and could be used as a family room on its own if your kids don't mind sharing) and Sandia (a generous sized room with walk in shower and huge bath). The rooms were excellent - clean, all amenities - TV, coffee, hot and cold water cooler, hair dryer and shower accessories, air conditioning and fans - we couldn't have asked for more. Brenda, our housekeeper over the two weeks was excellent, coming every day and doing several loads of laundry for us (brought back the same day).|The resort is mainly American and very transient, we appeared to be the exception staying for 2 weeks. However, this meant that we often had the whole pool area to ourselves, which was a great luxury. There are 2 pools but we stayed at the pool with the swim up bar as it was close to our rooms. It is a great pool, lovely temperature to cool off in and large enough to swim or play games. There is also a hot tub to the side, which was good to lounge in whilst sipping cocktails from the bar (made by the great barman, who was always happy to make suggestions depending on your mood).|The Big Dock bar was also a lovely place to have an evening drink (happy hour 4-6pm). The kids loved hanging out on the bar swings or on the netting over the water. The water was quite murky during our stay but was beginning to clear at the end so that you could see fish under the bar - we also spotted a manatee, a sting ray and jellyfish.|We booked 3 tours through the hotel - Xunantunich Mayan ruin and inland blue hole, Monkey River and a half day snorkelling on the barrier reef. I would recommend all of these tours. They seemed pricey, but having looked at other places the hotel didn't seem to be any more than other tour operators in Hopkins and Greg in the office was always so helpful when we wanted information or changed our minds. Simi, our minibus driver for the tours was also great, giving us information, fruit and cookies on our journeys.|You can't visit Almond Beach resort without mentioning Captain Larry - I had read reviews which talked about him before we left and he lived up to his reputation! He is a wealth of information and always willing to stop and have a chat and make sure everything is okay. He gave my daughter and I flowers every day and got coconuts down from the palm trees for the children to try. |We had pizza at the hotel several times, which was really good. We didn't try the main restaurant but headed into Hopkins where we had some great food and cocktails at Ella's Cool Spot, Driftwood and JJs and the best ice cream at Nice Cream. The hotel has bikes that guests can take out and we used these most days to go in and out of Hopkins. We also used the golf carts, but these are a little pricey. The hotel also has kayaks and paddle boards that can be taken off the beach, which we did a couple of times (early in the morning before it got too hot). In the evenings a fire pit is lit on the beach and marshmallows left for toasting - this was a major hit with the kids and such a nice touch.|Overall we couldn't fault Almond Beach resort - it is a tropical paradise with wonderful, friendly staff who made is feel so welcome. I would definitely recommend...

Unfortunately I was not impressed I would not write up a review but the little things kept adding up, this being the 2nd place in Belize I was not impressed. Upon check in we were told park our rental down by the sign X he would be waiting for us. We had to turn around a few times trying to find the 3 car not marked parking area. We were brought to our room but he forgot the keys, so he ran through the orientation in 30 seconds and told us he would send someone to get our luggage and be right back to the provide keys. We waited and waited and waited but no keys or help bringing in luggage. We had to lock the room or bring the belongings we already had with us back over to the desk which is located at Jaguar property. We couldn’t leave the room unlocked as we had belongings we brought in with us. Arrived at the desk to find the young man sitting there, he stated of sorry I guess he forgot. I reminded him we still needed help bringing our luggage at this time it had stopped raining. Again we were told he would call someone. We went back to out beach front cottage but hour later no one came, we ended up bringing our own luggage to the room. The safe didn’t work so another trip back up to the desk so we pull lock up expensive items. The back door entrance to the cottage does not lock door was half ajar on its hinges, for privacy with taking a shower either outside shower or inside the door has to be locked or anyone can open it seeing you named. Another trip back up front. A few days into our stay ants were swarming the wall, I thought no big deal it happens we let the desk know, which they stayed would send someone to spray. After inspection of the outside a huge ants nest housed on the ledge at the corner of the cottage, which should be caught with regular maintenance. I found the staff not welcoming and not customer service friendly this was a disappointment after coming from sleeping giant a sister property where service friendliness were top notch. The beach is not cleaned it is full of seaweed trash local kids wandering up on our porches scoping out peoples belongings. At sleeping giant we were told housekeeping was not daily but let them know if anything was needed. Here no housekeeping no statement upon arrival if anything was needed, or even where to get beach towels. The biggest statement we heard was kept telling us where to get our welcome drink which was repeated over and over. Mind you I’m traveling with a minor so welcome drink and going to the bar is not a top priority. Again we had another issue with the safe had to notify them again so we could get back into it to leave for dinner. I was told they would speak to the general manager but yet to hear any feedback. Our porch light does not...