Blue Haven Resort – All-Inclusive — Hotel in Providenciales

We are fortunate to have been able to visit the Caribbean regularly since the 1990’s. The Blue Haven Resort is our favorite resort in the Caribbean. They have always met or greatly exceeded our expectations. We like the fact that it is a small resort with only 52 units and when it is full the beach and grounds still feel secluded and private. We also like the fact that it is all - inclusive without everything costing extra. But the one area that we feel sets the Blue Haven apart from other Caribbean resorts is the quality and excellent of the service they provide. From the General Manager Francisco Hodge to our housekeeper Gertrude everyone is professional, helpful and very friendly.

Management and Staff Management and staff are the finest we have encountered anywhere in the Caribbean. We think this is due to the fact they are able to retain a large part of their staff year after year. It is always nice to see Natalie, Marsha, Dio, Garth, Janet and Sly. We also met some new faces in Michael, Brianna, Venessa and Rose. Since the resort is small it is nice to see the same friendly faces day after day. We also met the relatively new head of Water Sports Von Francois. He has a big personality and fits right in at Blue Haven. We took a sunset cruise with Von and Captain Cobra. They were both quite entertaining. We are always impressed with the General Manager Francisco Hodge. He has always treated us very well but one thing we have always noticed is that he treats every person like they are Blue Haven’s most important guest. Francisco is there at every meal making sure everyone is happy. During the day he is at the pool and the beach checking in with each of the guests.

The Resort Since the Resort was originally built to be a timeshare, the one and two bedroom suites are enormous with separate living, dining and kitchen areas (which seems odd for an all – inclusive). The rooms are well appointed and the housekeeping staff does an excellent job. Thank you Gertrude! Our suite had a large balcony facing the ocean with room for 4-6 people. The refrigerator is stocked with cold beverages and is replenished daily. We were very surprised at all of the upgrades and new features the resort has added since last year. Of particular note is the new gym which is easily 3 times the size of old gym. It has all new cardio equipment, machines and weights. They have also added Café Agave which serves healthy alternatives, cappuccinos and smoothies. Attached to Café Agave is a new outdoor deck that is shaded. They added new additional outdoor seating close to the restaurant Salt with all new firepits for the evening. The beach now has beach beds some with canopies. We love the beds because the mattresses are much thicker than those on the lounge chairs. They also have upgraded almost all of the furniture and fixtures in the common area inside and out.

The Food This is also a major upgrade from last year. We used to say the food was “generally good” or usual resort fare but we found the new menus to be quite good. They eliminated almost all of the breakfast buffet except for fruit offerings and the omelet bar. Breakfast is now À la carte with some healthier options. Lunch is available at the Seaside Pool Bar and Grill (say hello to Natalie and Marsha), Salt (excellent Pizza) and the new Café Agave. Fire and Ice is the main restaurant for dinner and the menu is completely changed. We found the fish offerings to be excellent as was the lamb. A very nice feature is that you can take the free shuttle to Blue Haven’s sister restaurant Alexandra. The Alexandra has 7- 8 restaurants but we have only dined at Black Rock Grill (steaks) and Dragon Orchid (sushi). Black Rock was very good and Dragon Orchid was excellent.

Cost While staying at the Blue Haven isn’t inexpensive, if you include 3 meals a day, all drinks with the option to dine at the Alexandra, it is less expensive than many of the alternatives. We feel the overall experience justifies...

We are writing to request a partial refund for our recent stay at the Blue Haven resort. While we are understanding of the impact that COVID 19 has had on the hospitality industry and aware that there are additional difficulties in getting staffing and supplies to an island, we paid 5 star prices and did not receive a 5 star stay. The staff was clearly undertrained and either unwilling or unable to help in every request.

Starting prior to arrival: • We called 4 weeks in advance to request a room with a balcony (fully willing to pay the additional cost of the room). We were told that we had a balcony room reserved and there was no need to upgrade. This was incorrect. When we arrived to our studio (without a balcony) we asked to be added to a list of some sort to get any open 1 bedroom suites. We never heard anything back. • We also attempted to call the spa multiple times before arrival to secure a massage reservation. None of our calls were successful.

On arrival: • There was a wasp nest on the ceiling in the stairway between the 3rd and 4th floor. We promptly reported it. We reported it for 4 days to multiple employees. It was not removed until day 4. • On our second day there was a significant amount of rain. While I understand you can’t control mother nature, there was no planning for alternative activities. Every guest sat under the awning with nothing to do. While it was disappointing that there was no alternative entertainment available (we were told on the phone prior to arrival that there was often live bands at this location), the bigger issue was the lack of towels. Not only that day, when the rain resolved, but through all of the next day. We were told that the towels were a “send out” and someone forget to send them. When we requested bath towels as an alternative, we were told the house keepers were too busy to bring any. I ended up asking an employee at the kayak rental area. He initially refused but then went to a “storage room” and found towels for our whole party. The fact that there were towels but no staff was willing to get them without prolonged arguing is ridiculous. • While at that same rental place we were told that all but one of the stand up paddle boards were broken (the one that worked was currently in use). • Website states: room service not included in “all inclusive.” o I have never heard of an all inclusive without room service o Saying that it isn’t “included” implies that you have it but we pay extra. This is absolutely misleading o On our first day we requested coffee to the room. They brought packets for the coffee machine and told us room service didn’t start until 0900. Upon further investigation, we found that there is no room service at all. Again, staff completely unaware of amenities. • Requested light beer and water only in the mini fridge. We continually were given diet coke. On multiple occasions we called down for towels, beer, or water. We were consistently told that they would come but no one came or they brought the wrong item. • Restaurants: o 1-2 hour waits for food o Often in the morning the tables were not clean. One morning we came upon a nest of recently hatched baby spiders crawling all over. o We were told there was no bottled water left. Ended up getting our own water from the front desk. o On Thursday, the pizza restaurant ran out of mozzarella (a pizza restaurant without mozzarella is not a pizza restaurant!). And no other restaurant was open o The night of the “beach party” we were told that there was a 1-2 hour wait but that they were closing at 9 pm that night. No other restaurants were open. • Bar: o We were told on multiple occasions that the bar was “out” of top shelf liquor or light beer. Even when the on-site liquor market (owned by the resort) had the exact liquor available o There was often only one bartender for the whole capacity serving evening drinkers and the restaurant, creating significant delays o There is 2 more...

Beautiful scenery and excellent facilities marred by inconsistent staff and food service.

We stayed here the week after New Year, so perhaps the staff were just tired of the hectic holiday season. Whatever the reason, we constantly felt as though we were imposing on restaurant and front-desk staff instead of being treated like guests. For example, we would be ignored for long stretches of time while sitting at a table next to the pool bar. Finally, one of our group would wave down a server and ask politely to put in an order. The server's response would be a surly reply such as "I'll get to you as soon as I can" or "Just wait a minute". No apologies for the long wait or gratitude for our patience. Just a brush-off. One of our 8-member group complained to management, after which she was treated like royalty while the rest of were second-class citizens. We would all be sitting on the beach with beverages and a server would come over with a fresh glass of ice for her, and ask if she needed a towel or anything, while completely ignoring the rest of us. The bartenders treated us similarly, ignoring us for long stretches of time and then appearing put out when we requested a beverage. I booked a taxi through the front desk to take us off-resort for dinner one night and the front desk completely forgot. We ended up being late for dinner and received no apologies or attempts to rectify the error.

Housekeeping and entertainment staff, on the other hand, were wonderful. They put on an engaging and hilarious show for families at the beach party night, provided impeccable room cleaning and amenities, and always had a smile and a "hello" for us.

The resort is very small and, as such, cannot be expected to provide the varied menus of large resorts. However, the relatively limited menus should have resulted in consistent quality. Unfortunately, food was sometimes excellent and sometimes terrible. The beach party night featured grilled lobster and meats, but the lobster was mushy and mealy. Our group of eight tried six lobster tails and five of them were inedible. The morning sausages were greasy and bland. Sometimes the morning fruit would be off. Once we requested a goat cheese pizza at Salt and the goat cheese was spoiled. We told the restaurant manager about it and got an impatient brush-off.

As several other reviewers commented, it would have been really nice to have some breakfast variety and all-day options other than bags of chips. We went to the grocery store and bought snacks because the resort didn't have any options. There was no room service, which is a huge problem for families at an all-inclusive, because sometimes you just don't want to make kids get dressed and go to a restaurant for food. An sometimes you just want a cocktail in your room without running down to the bar. Well, you'll go wanting at Blue Haven.

On the more positive side, the facilities were five-star. The beach had pristine, soft sand and comfortable loungers. The rooms were wonderful, fresh and modern with great a/c, hot water and quality furniture. The common areas were clean, breezy and spacious. The water sports hut had snorkel gear, kayaks and SUPs, with plenty of kids' sizes available. The front desk had beach cruiser bicycles to borrow for near-resort exploring. I rode one about 4 miles (6.5 km) through town to the sister resort, where I was able to leave it and take the shuttle back. The seat needed some tightening but that was easily accomplished with a few tools. The resort has a great view of the megayachts in the marina, and it's easy to kayak across the channel and into the interior of Mangrove Cay, which has lots of turtles and some baby nurse sharks.

It's a great place for a secluded, quiet vacation, but not for world-class...