Secret Bay

I'm writing this review five months after our visit so may forget some details, but this was an absolutely memorable stay and I'd highly recommend you go to Secret Bay!! The service is incredibly friendly and helpful. Top notch and on par with any of the great hotels and well-known brands that are known for a high service standard. Our villa was beautiful, comfortable and well-appointed. Plunge pool, screened in patio, grill, really good kitchen, 2 bathrooms. The food was fantastic. Was a tad slow at times but no big deal. We did the bonfire beach dinner one night and that was magic. The island of Dominica is beautiful. We did a couple of excursions off-site, including the birding with Dr. Birdy which was great, and the chocolate factory tour along with a visit to Batibou Beach, which was incredibly gorgeous. Secret Bay please don't ever change! You have something truly special.

Given the ratings/reviews & my experience with similar caliber properties around the world, I was disappointed in certain things. The security guard at the front gate of the property was extremely rude. Didn't welcome us but asked what we were doing there. Our driver was very taken back by his behavior & said he's never seen anyone so rude at this establishment. Two days prior to arrival, I was sent an email form w/ one of the questions asking when we'd be arriving. I selected the noon-2pm option & we arrived at 12:30pm. We were told that we were going to have to wait until 3pm to be taken to our villa. Check in had been advertised as 3pm, so I'm not exactly sure why they even provided a noon-2pm option on the form - it was misleading & set wrong expectations. They took our luggage to the villa & told us we could utilize the pool or beach while we waited. Well, our bathing suits were in our luggage so they had to fetch our luggage so we could change into our bathing suits. 3pm rolls around and no word. We ask at the pool bar & someone comes to us at 3:15pm to let us know we would be picked up in about 15min. Having to wait until AFTER the advertised check in time when we had been waiting 3hrs was extremely irritating. Another disappointment was the lack of bathroom toiletries that would be default at other places of this cost. Blackout blinds on 3 walls of windows but not the 4th in the bedroom. The view, privacy, activities, & hostess were great.