Great Stay!

This hotel is awesome! Happy and helpful staff! Food was great and beach is beautiful! One week was not enough. The bed and pillows are so comfortable. Make sure you reserve an ocean front view on the higher floors, you won't regret the extra money!

Wonderful Resort

Classic Resort although upgrades have been made such as infinity pool. Food at buffet was very good... better than in their restaurants. Beach was excellent..very clean. Little bit of a dip going into water but not a big deal. Fantastic view in the bay! Very scenic! Staff was wonderful. Only down side was that we are and drank too much as it is an all inclusive and food and drinks were very good!

Awesome

We really enjoyed the Resort it was well kept for its age and buffet and both restaraunts were outstanding..really loved the lava rock dinner.Your wait staff were very friendly and tentative to our needs.Rafini,Johnathan,Marie,Delores and all your Beach waiters especially Nicole took care of our every need while tanning and swimming or just relaxing. Thanks so much as we celebrated two birthdays on our vacation it was wonderful.

Wonderful Resort

Just spent a week at the Sonesta Great Bay. Had a fantastic time. While the rooms are older & can use updating the staff make up for it. Nicole, the beach hostess is a warm loving lady, always smiling & taking with the guests. Just loved her. Johnathan in the restraunt was a charming young man, always smiling. Looking forward to a return vacation.

Great Bay - Sint Maarten

Room decor and furnishings were a bit dated but all very functional. Everything else was absolutely amazing! The servers were attentive and the food was great with just the right amount of variety and change.

Worth your money

At Sonesta Great Bay May 7- May 14. The obvious - its an older building without the fancy decor. Staff are great - friendly and helpful. Food was good, buffet is smaller than expected, however, food was freshly prepared. Spa experience was excellent. Spa staff were professional, well prepared and on time. Location is best part - nice beach but deeper waters. Great if you love waves and to swim. Easy walking distance to Front Street and the shopping/restaurants. Evenings are beautiful and [... lire plus] all restaurants are beach side.

Great Resort

The food was excellent, we did have some trouble making reservations for the restaurants as neither of us had cell phones with us and this was where the confirmation was sent. Enjoyed the beach and the pools. Grounds were kept very clean and tidy. Staff excellent.

A Little Gem on a Beautiful Island

Our 11 day vacation at Sonesta Great Bay was pure enjoyment from the moment of arrival. We were upgraded from oceanview to a beautiful one bedroom suite overlooking the Bay where we enjoyed our morning coffees on our terrace sometimes with cruise ships in the port. The hotel is a short 5 minute walk along the beach to Phillipsburg with its high end shops, markets, beachside bars and restaurants. The food was excellent with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and delicious seafood. Staff are very [... lire plus] accommodating. Grounds and rooms are very clean with plenty of fresh towels and fridge stocked every day. No matter where you were on the resort the view of the beach and turqoise waters and the bay was ever present. The resort is quaint, not anything like the huge resorts in Mexico or Dominican but it has a true island charm with friendly people and is extremely safe. The only complaint would be that the lobby and beach washooms need to be totally renovated as are small, dark and smelly. Also there are not enough loungers around the pools. People get up before 7 am to reserve chairs. The towel game is never fun.

Beautiful Island

I think overall the Island was beautiful, as for the resort I find the website to be misleading. The hotel is partially renovated, in which we had a non renovated room partial Ocean View with machines running in back all day and night. We were unable to sit out on our balcony because of the noise. The beds were actually very comfy, so I was happy, the bathrooms on the other hand were awful. Dirty stained bathtubs and toilets that barely flushed. The pool was small and there was no entertai [... lire plus]nment at all!! The service was slack, rude staff that ignored you when asking questions or cranky and standoffish.. The food was cold most of the time, but wasn't bad. The pizza and the Chinese restaurant were by far the best!! Our rooms were not ready at check-in time, so we're had to wait as well.

Awesome resort

We had a great experience at this place and recommend it to anyone. Very clean and the food was excellent .Also the service was very good the employees there were always pleasant and happy.the beach was very clean and the ocean view was superb .

Beautiful Island, Resort is dated

The resort needs a facelift, the food was amazing and the staff are top notch. Kevin the bartender went out of his way to serve us. Melissa seating us every morning for breakfast was always cheerful. Beach not that great, better beaches around the island.

Wonderful Resort (4 out of 5 stars)

This is an all adult resort, which is what we were looking for, instead of the newer Sonesta Maho Resort, which attracts the younger crowd with children. We had an oceanview room with a small balcony, that overlooked the small pool and deck. There were 3 umbrella and chaises setups that we used a few times, but we preferred the main patio setup with the larger pools, by the buffet restaurants and the bars. Our recently renovated large room was lovely and comfortable except for the mattress w [... lire plus]hich we found very hard. The bathroom was well appointed with modern fixtures, and had a roomy all glass shower. All the hotel staff is very friendly and welcoming. Whenever a staff member walked by, we were always asked if everything was OK, what we were doing today, and if we were having fun. We had no complaints with the buffet food. There was a large variety of dishes to please everyone, even though it became a bit repetitive after 2 weeks, but we weren't looking for gourmet breakfasts and lunches. We enjoyed the fresh fruit and the local fish. Every time we walked in for breakfast, lunch and the few dinners, we were welcomed with smiles and hugs. However, our favorite restaurant was Pescatore, on the reception floor. We thoroughly enjoyed every dinner we had there. It's a gourmands delight! Compliments to the chef and servers. ONE WORD OF CAUTION !! There are "funny" little steps all over the place, and the tiled floors can become slippery. My wife fell 3 times within 2 days, and another guest slipped and broke her wrist. On our third day we learned to keep our eyes on our feet.

The Perfect Holiday

My Husband and I just returned From Sonesta Great Bay and we had a fantastic time! Our room was located on the 7th floor Oceanfront. It was very clean and very nice. We cannot think of anything negative about staying here. The service is top notch. All the Staff at this resort right from the front desk to the bartenders, housekeepers and even the groundskeepers are all so friendly and always have a smile. The food is very very good. We did not have one meal that we were disappointed. The bar ser [... lire plus]vice offered at both the beach and the pool was excellent. There was always a server asking if we would like another drink and we did not have to wait long for them to bring them to us. I must mention that this is not a "party" resort. they offer entertainment in the evenings but most people head to their rooms by 11pm. Bar is still open so that didn't mean we had to call it a night! We made great friends there and enjoyed a few fun nights together! It is a very relaxing atmosphere with daytime entertainment as well if you are interested in joining in on the fun. The Hotel is an older resort. We read reviews of it being very run down. Yes it is older, but very clean and comfortable. The location is perfect. We could walk 10 minutes down the beach to Philipsburg. A great place to have a few drinks at some bars..grab a lunch, or shop till you drop. Make sure you also get to the other side of the courthouse where the market is. The friendly locals are there to sell you all their goodies. Bartering is accepted. A $20 cab ride takes you to the Maho area that is full of fun places to have a drink, great restaurants and more shopping. We were not disappointed at all with this trip. It was all so wonderful, worth the money, and we are going back again for sure!

Great resort

The staff was very friendly and we had excellent service. We enjoyed the live music that we had most nights. We even had bar service on the beach. We had a good selection of food and it was not only well presented but it was also very good.

Lovely Island, nice resort but could be better

The resort is nice but could be so much better. Small things were lacking but the rooms were clean and sufficient sized. The one major disappointment was the food; salads in particular. We have travelled a lot and have always found a wide range of salads available at both the buffet and a la cart restaurants. Here the salad was plain iceberg lettuce with only cucumber slices and tomato wedges for adding. There were no additional salads offered. Food in general was hit and miss in all the restaur [... lire plus]ants.

Good and Bad

The staff at this resort are exceptional. With few exceptions the staff were highly competent, friendly and helpful. The exception being the guy providing drink service at the beach. The food was the best I've had at an all inclusive. The hot stone cooking, the wood fired pizza oven and the buffet were all wonderful. The hotel room was lacking in quality with issues such as a bathroom floor drain that smelled, a bathtub setup that was dangerous ( big step down) and pipes that leaked throu [... lire plus]gh the ceiling from above.

Could be better for the price we paid.

Rooms - overall clean and linen/towels very clean. Room Beds - Not good. We first had a room on the hill side which we changed after two days due to roosters. No big deal, we upgraded to a beach view room on the other side of the hotel which was quiet but the beds’ mattresses were old and sunken in, an impediment to get a good sleep. Room Washroom - There was a rusted metal bar on the ceiling on top of the bath tub and the ceiling was damaged by water leak, not very reassuring, we wee worr [... lire plus]y that the entire ceiling may collapse while we are taking a shower. Room Service - Very good. Restaurants: Lobby Restaurant - Very good. BBQ and Buffet Restaurants – breakfast, deserts and the chicken good but other food not so good. - More food variety would be appreciated. - Fish soup missing, we went outside the hotel and we had good fish soups - Fruits and Vegetables not mature enough, no taste at all. Resort: - The bathrooms on the beach, and in the lower level of the lobby were smelly, not enough air exchange probably, the only choices we had was to use the washroom in the lobby or go back to our room. - There was something wrong with the stairs down from the lobby, not sure what, either the height or the width were not to standards. Few time my husband and I almost fail down. - The hotel VIP services were not clear to other guests. The front row beach chairs were all the time taken and there was no label on the umbrellas or on the chairs to let other guest know that the chairs are reserved. Every day someone was kicked out and moved to another umbrella on the back rows. People were not happy about this, they were talking among themselves. - The showers on the beach and on the pool area were not efficient, not enough water pressure and they had no spouts for the feet area. We were trying not to get the sand from the beach into the pool area but we could not wash our feet very well. - We went to a fishing trip through the guest services that was very unpleasant. The weather was not too good and I think the trip should be cancelled or postponed when the weather is not appropriate. Too much wind to be safe. We have been in many of these fishing trips in other islands such as Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and others but we never had such a scary experience. I know it is a lot of money for the owners of the boats but the hotel somehow should control their decisions to go out when it is dangerous. For the first time in 40 years of vacationing and fishing in the sea we got sick and came back with lots of bruises from being on the boat. Very bad experience, we were lucky a misfortune did not happen. Most of the people working there were nice to us. Regards.

Nice Resort

Hotel is a bit dated but kept clean ... beach and pool area very welcoming... Restaurants limited on site .. restaurant on lobby level was very nice ..restrictions for outdoor bed usage ridiculous considering no elite were using them ....need music played around the pool areas not just the swim up bar...nite time entertainment almost non-existent....thank god for the casino ! Overall rating out if ten ... 6

Outstanding!

I have vacationed at this hotel for the last 10 years and I think that says it all. While it isn't the most modern of hotels, it has the most accommodating, professional and friendliest staff of anywhere in Sint Maarten. The rooms are maintained to impeccable standards of cleanliness, the food is quite palatable and every service is delivered with a smile. Centrally located with a five minute walk to the shopping capital of Philipsburg, this hotel provides entertainment value in spade [... lire plus]s: whether shopping or beachfront is your pleasure, Sonesta Great Bay resort has it all. Thank you Helen for booking me on the holiday of my dreams.

Great resort

The resort was fabulous the pools were emaculate. The food was fresh and well prepared , The room was not new but well kept. Hotel reservations desk helped us to see the island a heads up to Rene thanks girl. The nightly entertainment kept us dancing,5 out of seven nights. It is well worth your while to book ocean view very less noisy and great view. Staff was super friendly noticed they assisted elderly guests to enjoy there stay I used to read reviews and question there authentisity but mine a [... lire plus]re authentic thanks natalie Ps stay away from the flyer we used Sunwing very very bad.