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Pelican Bay at Lucaya: Traveller Reviews

4.0 of 5
Sea Horse Road at Port Lucaya, Freeport, Grand Bahama Island
Hotel amenities
Ranked #2 of 20 hotels in Freeport
4.0 of 5 stars 420 Reviews
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Reviews from our community

What travellers say about this hotel
  • Taino Beach(12)
  • Very friendly(9)
  • Continental breakfast(7)
  • Very nice(6)
  • Business center(6)
  • Sabor Restaurant(5)
  • Beautiful views(4)
  • Fresh fruit(4)
  • Count Basie Square(3)
  • Lounge chair(3)
Traveller rating
    214
    131
    40
    20
    15
Only show reviews for Family (54) | Couples (141) | Business (10)
Date Rating
lpandso
Durham, NC
1 review
“Above and beyond our expectations!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 7 January 2010

We just returned from a honeymoon trip to the Bahamas, where we stayed at Pelican Bay. We could not have been happier! Everything was wonderful: a beautiful room, delicious food, fun activities. And the staff could not have been more amazing! Everyone was so sweet and helpful, especially Karen at the front desk -- our trip would not have been the same without her! We will definitely be returning to the Bahamas and Pelican Bay as soon as possible!

  • Stayed January 2010, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Judy1068
Atlanta, Ga.
Reviewer
3 reviews
7 helpful votes
“This is a three star hotel at best...it is not a luxury hotel.”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 5 January 2010
3
people found this review helpful

I was extremely disappointed with my stay at Pelican Bay. Other reviewers raved about it, but I found the service to be extremely poor. I will start with the positives, however. The suites are very spacious and it is nice to have a living room, balcony and kitchenette as well as the bedroom. The view is beautiful. The pools and hot tub are well maintained.

The chaise lounges are extremely comfortable at one pool, by the restaurant; the other lounges are quite uncomfortable. When we arrived for check in on 12/30/09 at 1pm we were told that check in was at 3pm so we took a walk and got some lunch. When we returned at 3pm the room was still not ready and we were not give a room until 5 pm with no apologies other than "we are very busy". We had requested a king size bed and the bed was extremely high off the ground and not to our liking. We switched the next day to a different room. I accidently left a few personal items in the old room, and when I contacted the front desk about it, they told me that they were "lost". After repeated calls to the front desk and security I was reunited with my items 18 hours after they had been found.(I know this because the bag that they were in was marked with the date and time!) The hotel knew who had been in the room, and where I had been moved to. Why should it take 18 hours to return my belongings?

The room we were given had four missing lightbulbs and two burnt out lightbulbs. The toilet seat is loose and wobbly and the light above the tub is filled with dead insects. I requested a wake-up call one morning when we had arranged for a safari jeep tour. No wake-up call. When I asked the front desk why I was not called, they just shrugged. Again, no apologies. I decided that I needed an alarm clock for future early risings because the one in the room was broken. It took four phone calls to achieve this. At one point they had the nerve to tell me that they had already changed out the clock and argued with me about it! The beds are reasonably comfortable, but the living room sofa and chair are at least 15 years old and sag to the ground. My back hurts after sitting on the furniture after just a short while.

When I inquired about nearby restaurants and asked to see menus, the front desk was able to give me exactly one menu, despite the fact that there are at least 20 restaurants nearby. Why would they not have menus for their guests to look over?

The hotel urges its guests to borrow a DVD player and DVD's. On the last day of our visit the weather was very cold, so I decided to do so. I was told that for 187 rooms, they had 5 DVD players and four of them were broken.

The business center has two computers. The monitor on one of them is so old you can hardly read your email.

It is clear to me that the management of this hotel is extremely poor. So many of my complaints could have been handled if the staff were even slightly proactive and customer friendly.

  • Stayed December 2009, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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StefandJordan
Los Angeles, CA
2 reviews
“The Wedding of The Decade”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 3 January 2010

We had our dream wedding there in May, and our guests are STILL raving about it! The staff was incredible, as was the food, service, and overall environment.
True, the property is not right on the beach, but the beach is a 3 minute walk across the street. No big deal there. Plus, there is a ferry to another beach that Pelican Bay is partnered with. That one has a waterslide, with a bar underneath it! My friends and I had a blast there for two whole days. Who needs a beach!?!?!
Our rehearsal dinner was phenominal. A beach party with bar-b-que, island entertainment, beautiful scenery and again, amazing staff.
Our ceremony and reception just can't be topped. Marva, the wedding coordinator did everything to make each detail special, unique, and spot on to our vision. Everything exceeded our wildest expectations!
Marva, and the rest of the staff at Pelican Bay, we can't thank you enough. We love you, and hope to be back soon!

  • Stayed May 2009, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Lickety
Downtown Chicago
2 reviews
23 helpful votes
“So so. Has potential, but our stay was a bit disappointing.”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 29 December 2009
2
people found this review helpful

This could be a really lovely place. Right now, it isn't quite there. We paid $350 a night -- I am now realizing that we could have and should have done much better. Foolish us. At that price, no, this spot is not worth it.

Dirty floors, wimpy shower, no towels. It became a joke amongst our group when for four straight days, we were told the pool towels would be ready in "20 minutes." We'd come back and be told "20 minutes" again, or "use your room towels." The trouble with doing that was it wasn't any easier to get room towels. And how about a bath mat, or a washcloth??? We only saw those one day, despite our requests. Service is mixed bag -- some lovely folks work there, some huffy brusque types as well. Most are friendly, just not super efficient.

We didn't get the room type requested. The sheets for our pull-out had stains, one of which looked like blood. These sorts of things might be excusable if the staff were more efficient about handling them.

The breakfast was fine. But I can only give it that, fine. Ran out of food at times, staff slow to restock. Our group was having to pop up continually to see, was the coffee now brewed, did more milk get put out, had they restocked the yogurt. Not conducive to a relaxed morning meal.

Thursday was advertised as ladies night, so we thought we'd stop by the bar and take advantage. We did and were told that no, since it was a holiday, it wasn't ladies night. Uh, then why the flier in the lobby advertising it?

Quick note about the business center -- it has two pcs, one of which has the oldest, and worst quality monitor I've seen in a long time, maybe ever. I want to ship this place an old monitor from my office as a gift just because that one is so bad.

It does feel like a construction zone. Crossing the parking lot and walking past a crane and what (during our stay at least) seemed to be an abandoned job site made the vibe odd. Are they going to finish those new buildings? A sign in the elevator said it would be done late 2009. In five days? No possible way.

I kept wanting to like this place. It's got the rough makings of a delightful hotel and experience, it just misses the mark. What was positive includes the location. Water on three sides and a beach nearby. The food was excellent. Every meal was tasty, every beverage well prepared. We took advantage of the offerings at Unexso (dive shop and excursions) which is super conveniently located next to the hotel.

This is a spot I'll keep an eye on. I can't say I'd recommend it to a friend. If in the future I see an increase in positive reviews about it and if I were able to pay less than I did this trip, I might consider giving it another try.

  • Stayed December 2009, travelled with family
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 3 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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OhioRon
Bowling Green, Ohio
Top Contributor
55 reviews
187 helpful votes
“Very relaxing, very convenient”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 28 December 2009
1
person found this review helpful

I'm very happy that my family chose Pelican Bay at Lucana for our trip to Grand Bahamas. The hotel is very attractive. The lobby is in a one-story building embedded inside the complex and provides free local telephone service. The complex consists of many attractive 3-4 story building arranged with beautiful landscaping. In walking around the complex, we found three nice but relatively small swimming pools and one hot tub. Upon check-in, each guest receives a coupon good for a welcome drink at the bar.

The rooms are incredibly spacious. Ours was on the second floor and had a balcony overlooking one of the swimming pools with a view of a canal in the background. It was a very pleasing view. The room was spotlessly clean, the beds were comfortable, and the towels were fluffy and large. The Cable TV had nearly 50 channels, although we only used it to get the weather. If there is any complaint about the room, it is that the water pressure in the shower is much less than I am used to, but it wasn't really a problem for us. Also, the room safe wasn't functional. (My group used three rooms, and the safe didn't work in any of them.)

The room key gives you access to the "business center" which is basically just a room with two aged computer systems in it, and a printer. One of the computers had a bad resolution but was fast, and the other had great resolution but was slow. You can use these computers as much as you like and there is no charge. Someone told me that the printer didn't work, but I didn't try to use it. We were told by the front desk that wireless in the rooms was available for a flat weekly charge, but we found that we didn't need it.

The Fax edition of the New York Times was delivered daily to the room. On Christmas Day, they brought a nice souvenir gift to each room. Nice touch!

The location of the hotel is perfect. It is directly adjacent to the Lucana shopping area, the major shopping area in Freeport. There's lot of shopping there as well as surprisingly good restaurants. The best, in our view, is one called Le Med with a full menu featuring seafood. While we were there they had an early bird special each day from 4:30-6:00. During that time, you could choose from about 15 meals for a flat rate of $12.95, including wine or soft drink, a Greek salad, and bread with hummous. We ate there twice during our stay. We also enjoyed the Greek restaurant called Zorba. There are THREE ice cream shops in this area, but one has much better selection than the other two. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of that place, but it's right next door to Subway.

In addition to the amenities around the hotel and the shopping area, there is a Radisson hotel directly across the street, and we are welcome to use their white sand beach (but not their pools, deck chairs, or other facilities). Even better, we have free access to a ferry to Taino Beach, and there we can use all the facilities. In addition to a beautiful beach (with deck chairs we can use), they have a hot tub and a huge, winding pool that contains a fun water slide. We spent a lot of time here and really enjoyed it. As with Pelican Bay, Taino Beach is beautifully landscape.

In short, Pelican Bay was a great destination for us, and gave us a fun, relaxing vacation in a comfortable and attractive environment. We're quite pleased.

  • Stayed December 2009, travelled with friends
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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Pelican Bay at Lucaya Also Known As

  • Pelican Bay At Lucaya Freeport
  • Pelican Bay Lucaya
  • Pelican Bay At Lucaya Hotel
Address: Sea Horse Road at Port Lucaya, Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

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