Relaxing Resort

The room was great - bit musty at time - the bathroom was tiny. Food was fantastic, staff were great and the weather divine. Walked to the shops on my own when the cruise ships were in - felt completely comfortable. The pool deck tiles were very slippery and saw several people slip. Likewise, going up and down the main staircase in the hotel could also be trickery - saw very few women in high heels. The entertainment was also very good - both during the day and the evenings.

Needs upgrading badly

The location , beach , and overall layout of the hotel are nice but the hotel is showing it age . The air conditioning was not working for the last 4 days of the trip and as of our departure it was still not running. The other major issue that was magnified by the AC issue was the lack of concern by the hotel staff. One employee , Renee in customer service was very nice and helpful. She was the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal staff. Service at the bars was the slowest I have ever seen [... read more] in any resort.

Nice Resort

Hotel was fine, close to town which was really nice. Food needs a lot of improvement. Mostly Fish and some chicken and the same menu most days. A lot of the food was over cooked.The pizza restaurant was excellent and the new sizziling grill was good. Rooms were clean but need some upgrading.

Paradise at Sonesta

Another amazing week at Great Bay Resort in St. Maarten!! Beautiful views, good food selections with a unique Lava Rock cooking experience! Rent a car to see all angles of this incredibly beautiful island!The carefree experience started with Sandy at Trip Central who will be sure to see that your vacation is all that you want!

Great Resort in Saint Martin

We have visited this hotel many times and will return again. The oceanview rooms are worth the price of the upgrade. It is an intimate, friendly hotel. The food is good, service is good and close to all those wonderful jewelry stores in Phillipsburg. The hotel is an easy walk to Phillipsburg and has 3 wonderful pools and a great swim up bar. If you get tired sunning, swimming and shopping then take a high speed boat tour to beautiful Anguilla with Billy Bones Tour. It was an awesome day of sn [... read more]orkeling, swimming and seeing a beautiful location.

Sonesta Great Bay Beach and Casino

The resort was in a great location and most of the staff were very helpful and pleasant.The rooms had a very strong musty smell but somehow you seen to get use to it.We went with a group of 6 and we all seemed to enjoy ourselves after initial shock of room quality.Were disappointed when member of our party had left their money hidden under pile of close and knapsack on the first full day of vacation(landed and went to resort approx. )Next day Oct7 was first full day.Party left room and went sw [... read more]imming from 10am to 4pm.Went back to there room and found close and knapsack moved and also luggage bag was moved. Checked around there room to find 650 dollars us missing.Reported to front desk security came but did nothing but blame party and wouldn't even check who scanned to get in the room and told party to go to local Police department to file a complaint. They went and spent 4 hrs there. nothing happened We had a suspicion of who took the money because the person was friendly and nice toward everyone in party but after incident wouldn't even make eye contact or even look are way.That person tried very hard to ruin our vacation but we wouldn't let them .lWe Feel when you pay that much to stay at an all inclusive resort things left in you room should be safe.P.S (WAS NOT cleaning staff they were all nice and the cleaner on the floor were vacation money was stolen was searched.The Front desk person who also stocks fridges with drinks was not ask if the were in room to stock fridge.They could of just checked key lo.g entry to room.Overall St.Maarten is beautiful and everyone in party would love to go again just not to this resort.

Excellent. Value

Great. Food. Heineken. Good free. Basic. Wifi. Excellent. Coverage Friendly. Staff. Very. Secure. Can. Also. Use. Great. Bay. Resort. Included. With. Package. Anna. Is. the best. Cust. Service. Rep

Great Times In Sonesta Great Bay Beach!

Love this resort, location was great, walking distances to town. The rooms were very clean, we were on the 6th floor, the view from our balcony was breathtaking, worth the upgrade. Pools were very clean and the grounds always being cleaned nightly. The beach was fantastic!!!! lots of chairs, you can see the cruise ships coming into port. The service at the reception desk was great......thank you Debbie for arranging the taxi for our trip to Simpson bay, Very friendly island you fell very safe wa [... read more]king around outside the resort. The food was good, we really enjoyed the BBQ, and the pizza restaurant was great, staff very friendly. Thanks to Kevin at Trip Central for another great vacation.

Great location

Good resort updating currently going on.The Point restaurant was very good.Getting around the island easy and cheap $2 dollar bus ride. Mullet Bay Beach 10 min walk. We did a full day catamaran around the island great day with snorkeling and lunch on the French side.And yes th planes landing and taking off were neat

Dated Old Looking Hotel

Very old looking. It needs a face lift. People should not be put in rooms facing garbage/waste facility outside . No variety of restaurants. Front desk employees displayed poor customer service skills

Really good Resort

The Sonesta Great Bay was all that I had expected and a bit more. We had issues at check in on the Thursday we arrived, we did not get our OceanView rooms that we had paid for, the on-duty manager Shantelle promised us OceanView rooms by Saturday and she came thru with her promise. We had asked to speak to the General Manager, that person never made contact with us, I wanted to express my disappointment and my thanks with the effort that Shantelle put out. Overall, the resort is great, it's sma [... read more]ll enough that you get to know people, make friends - how could you not, the staff were the nicest group of people I've met while vacationing!. I would feel very comfortable going to the Great Bay alone. Some special mentions: Herman, Innocent (the mayor of Great Bay!!), Audrey (Italian restaurant) Carolina (pizza/buffett), Rubi & Brianda (Animation)....... The view is stunning, it's worth paying for the OceanView. Love that you can walk into Phillipsburg, we did 2 tours, one with a driver around the island, and one a power boat/snorkelling with Sea Turtles - both really great. Food at the hotel was really good. We enjoyed all the restaurants. The Animation Team (Rubi/Brianda) were lots of fun, we did water aerobics, pool bingo, had fun. The entertainment was good as well - there was a large group there, I would check with the hotel next time to make sure there is nothing like that again, they did take up a few nights of entertainment space because of special functions for them.... Sunwing flights were great!...... Lastly, special thanks to Lawrence Solomon for being a great travel partner, letting me vent via email regarding the room issue - it's I think my 5th or 6th booking with Lawrence, and won't be my last!!

Fabulous vacation

The resirt was excellent. The good was great, entertainment group fabulous. The people so friendly, nothing too much trouble. I would recommend this resort to anyone. Very safe area, loved it, would return

Very freindly and heilpfull

just loved everything about it .will go back,service excellent.people freindly. management always present and smiling and always hello or just stop to talk.p00ls very very clean .always great choice of food and atmosphere fantasic by water every morning. views the best ever

Great place to spend a week off

Ever since the renovation a couple of years back the hotel has increased it's "desire to return" value considerably for us. The adults only feature is exactly what we were looking for as well. We will return to this hotel for sure.

Relaxing resort

Loved being able to walk into phillipsburg every day and watching the ships come in the morning and leave at night. Quite a sight. Definitely worth the upgrade to an ocean view room. Very safe city, took bus everywhere. As for the resort, the food could use a little variety especially at the waterside restaurant. More staff needed at the pool bar as well. Great vacation though

Somewhat Disappointed

This was our first trip to St. Maarten and if we had not rented a car, it would have been our last trip. Getting to the hotel is nice and quick. Here's a quick update which we hope you find useful. The Beach: We're all about the beach. On Day 1, the beach seemed fine. On Day 2, we were asked to stay out of the water due to a health advisory. Apparently, the water basin that's located right beside the resort overflowed into the water due to rain. Not sure what the function was for this water bas [... read more]in, but it smelled like a sewer...at best. On the night before coming back home, we were surprised to see that they opened up the water basin right into the ocean! It would have helped if Management explained what had happened on Day 2 but there were no announcements and no proper explanations when we asked. Guests were able to swim on Days 3-7. The water was somewhat murky, with quite a bit of seaweed. On a positive note, there were plenty of chairs, umbrellas and tables. Rooms: We were first placed in a room on the lower level, facing a broken door (albeit ocean iew). We were supposed to have a King bed since my husband is tall, but were given 2 double beds. We were moved into another room late the next day. That room was lovely -- top floor, with balcony -- great view. Restaurants: There are 3 restaurants -- the grill by the ocean. The main woman who serves the guests is very pleasant. They serve pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, etc. The food is good. The buffet is also very nice, with some great seafood. Of the staff that work there, the young woman (can't recall her name) always greets you with a fabulous smile and brings you to the table of your choice. Jonathan treats you fabulously. The 3rd restaurant switches from Italian to Seafood, depending on the night. Surprisingly, the seafood was mediocre. Management: Management are not very engaged with their guests. We don't watch TV when we're on holidays and apparently there was news about a blockade on the French side a day before it occurred. Guests at the sister hotel were well informed, but we were not. We did go to the French side on this particular day, but when we were returning to our hotel, all roads from the French side were blocked. We had to abandon our rental car and walk through the blockade in order to grab a cab. If anything, the taxi services were great. Since they all knew about the blockade, there were ample taxis to bring tourists back to their hotels. The rental agency was able to retrieve the car at 11 pm when they remove the blockade. Sonesta Maho (sister hotel): This is a really nice hotel with a great beach. If there had been a shuttle service to this hotel, our hotel would have been empty. Staff at the Maho are super friendly, the food and beach are great. This hotel is located near the airport so you could experience having a plane fly right above your head. Island: There are several nice beaches around the island. All of them are very clean and clear. Chairs & umbrella rentals can cost $15-$20/day. It takes about 2 hours to drive around the island, depending on traffic. Shopping: If you are into jewelry, this is the place to be. There are 100s of jewelry shops. Clothing shops are just OK...very expensive...for items you could get at home much cheaper.

Beautiful location, great Staff!

I traveled with my Mom and two sisters...this resort is staffed with warm, friendly people, like Alexander who greeted us every day and was always asking what he could do to help. The buffet restaurant was open for all meals, and the quality and variety of the food was great. The staff were always accommodating (special shout-out to Janean and Kadisha-thanks!). Our on-site Sunwing rep helped with a snorkeling excursion which I would highly recommend (we went to Creole Rock, Tintamarre Island and [... read more] Mayo Verde to snorkel, and then back to Pinelle Island to relax. (Tour by Coconut Reef, great, professional staff, fed us lunch and snacks, and refreshments, all included!) We also took a history tour of the island which covered both the Dutch and French sides and was informative and enjoyable. Since it was just the four of my family, we were able to customize it a bit to our needs and our mothers' limited mobility issues. Thank you David for all your help!

Great resort !!!!

Love it because it is a smaller resort, fabulous views of Great Bay, all adult, staff were amazing and very helpful. Great location to Philipsburg you can walk there in under 10 minutes.Would definitely stay there again.

Sonesta great bay

nice hotel--fantastic views. Above average food. Only downside was the constant sea weed at the sea shore ; which was never removed. Thus it stopped alot of people from entering the water. BUT this was my ONLY issue ----so a wonderful time was had !!

Amazing service

the resort offered excellent food, service, entertainment, and the beach was amazing. I met many guests whom have gone back to that resort for 12 times due to the above experience. It was our anniversary and made our milestone a memorable one. I would go back again the Great Bay Sonesta Sint Maartan