Grand Lucayan Reef Village, Freeport City

Our family travelled on the Discovery Cruise Line’s “Cruise and Stay” all-inclusive vacation and stayed at the Our Lucaya Reef Village Resort in July 2010. As far as the cruise portion of the trip, I recommend the ship’s cheap “VIP” package which gets you a Discovery representative who puts you in the front of the line at Customs and guides you through the messy customs process and to your hotel connection. The cruise was fun, on mostly calm ocean waters, but the music on the top deck was not always to my liking. As far as the hotel, the Our Lucaya Reef Village is a marvelous facility. It is the least expensive of the Our Lucaya Resort complex, but Discovery’s all-inclusive package allows you to use the pools and facilities at the other hotels in that complex. The numerous pools are amazing and rank a 10 on a scale of 10. Each one has an interesting creative design. It’s an adventure to swim in all of them. Many have shaded areas to protect you from the full sun. One has bar stools inside the pool. Meanwhile, the beach is a marvelous 8 on a scale of 10. (A “10” is reserved for the crystal clear beaches in the distant island of Eluethera). Each hotel at the complex has a different beach feature. One beach resembles a cove. It’s an adventure to swim at the beaches throughout the complex, but the Village beach is very good. When the beach waves are too plentiful to allow for snorkeling, you can take a 25 minute shuttle ride to the very calm waters of “Paradise Cove” and snorkel there without the need for a boat on beautiful Deadman’s Reef. At Our Lucaya Reef Village there are no umbrellas on the beach to protect you from the full sun, but you can get shade by stationing you chaise lounge under the palm trees or sea grape trees. The all inclusive package also gives you unlimited and varied drinks, with only a few drinks not covered. You can drink frozen Pina Coladas, Bahamas Mammas, Yellowbirds, and numerous other drinks on plan. The all-inclusive drink feature ranks a 9 on a scale of 10. The food on the all inclusive plan is quite good but limited. You can only eat “all inclusive” at designated restaurants, and you have all-inclusive access to some of the most upscale restaurants only once every three days or so of your stay. We managed to stay within the all inclusive plan without deviating and we saved a bundle. The all inclusive meals rank about a 7 on a scale of 10 and are a must. It a matter of preparing your family in advance on how to deal with an all-inclusive menu, and how to plan strategically and creatively for variety. We learned how to mix and match. It’s workable, and we had great variety and gained a few pounds. Because the Village is part of an upscale complex, the strolls are wonderful, and at night, the walks are romantic, with beautiful lighting along the curved walkways, while the pools are lit up. Before extending our stay from 3 to 5 nights, I took a 20-minute taxi ride to visit the “all inclusive” competitor resort Viva Wyndham (also provided through Discovery cruise lines), but in my opinion there is no comparison whatsoever: Lucayo Village resort is much more elegant, more updated, and well worth the very few extra dollars it takes to stay at Lucayo Village through Discovery Cruise lines. The only flaw at Lucaya is the absence of a credible nighttime activity. There is a Casino, and one of the restaurants does convert into a dance bar, but there are not a lot of shows, no movie rooms, and aside from the great singers at the nearby Marketplace across the street on weekend nights (none on weeknights) nighttime seems geared toward relaxation. Of course, there is certainly nothing wrong with relaxation.

I wish someone would have told us that the resorts are deserted there now for some reason. Do not buy "All Inclusive Package" the restaurants are closed and they will send you all over town to eat. Instead eat accross the street at Zorba's, great food and the best prices. Avoid "After Deck". Giovanni's is good and so is Le Med (even tough it's a little pricey). There is Subway, Domino's Pizza and other inexpensive options. The resort is very stingy with their supplies and don't expect luxury. I can't complain too much because we got a great deal but other than that I would not go back. Do not book a suttle for $80, the cab to the hotel for 2 adults and a child was only $23.

The staff are extremely nice & a very safe place. But the hotel co. tries to nickel & dime you. We bought the all inclusive was supposed get access to all 12 restaurants and bars on-site. They only allowed us access to 1 sports bar and then 1 night at the other.

We had a party of 19 family members and we all thought that the front desk personnel were extremely rude and un-friendly! They should re-train their front desk attendants! The maids were better trained! The hotel is a rip-off in terms of room service. $12.00 for a PB&J???? Absolutely absurd! One of our rooms was smelly and when asked to be changed the front desk clerk just looked at me as if I had sprouted horns! We did get it changed but the whole check-in process left a sour taste in my mouth. As for the check out??? How convenient that the printer just so happened to malfunction as I asked for a receipt for all of our rooms! Should I venture back to Freeport I will not stay at this hotel nor will we ever recommend it to others. However, the beach was perfect!! And so was Mchael the attendant that helped us book our snorkeling/para-sailing excursions!

We just returned from our trip July 16 and are going back in 1 month!! This resort has it all- An absolutely beautiful beach and pool, great food and a great location, and most of all, an incredibly friendly staff. I will admit that the rooms could probably use a brighter color paint, but other then that, they were very clean and comfortable. Not the Ritz Carlton, but you do not pay Ritz prices either. Boating is available right at your resort for very reasonable prices, especially compared to Nassau or other Carribean islands. The casino is small, however we encountered the friendliest dealers and pit bosses of any Carribean casino we have been to (which is several). And...the shopping at Port Lucaya Marketplace is awesome :) I definately reccomend atleast taking a look at the Straw Market, and remember to bargain!! We got a handmade wooden box for $12 when the women originally was asking $25. This hotel is EXTREMELY HIGHLY RECCOMENDED from my family to yours!! Enjoy your time!!

The hotel was not maintained at all. The rooms smelled terrible, and the service was non existant. The staff were not at all friendly and acted put off if you asked for assistance. The pools and the beach were everything you would expect in a tropical paradise, but dont expect to be treated like they want your business. I would not go back to this resort.

I am getting married there in June. Quite frankly I can't wait to get it over with. I have NEVER been treated so badly and rude by any resort before and I'm a travel agent!!!! The nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING. Of course there is a resort minimum but what they don't tell you is the things you would THINK went toward it do not. We are even being charged $250.00 for a "power box" basically a circuit breaker for the DJ. You pay $150.00 for a cash register if you have a cash bar in additon to the $150 for the bartender. The pictures of the place are beautiful ..BUT..after all I have been put thorugh by them (this isn't even half!) The only reason I'm still having my wedding there is because by the time it all started to go wrong many /most of my guests had already made reservations. I'll check in AFTER the cerermony. Maybe their up front customer service is better. I sincerely hope so. Currently I cannot recommend for a destination....signed..stressed bride

We were part of a golf tournament group that checked in for a 4 night stay. The staff were very nice and accommodating, property is very nice also. Rooms were very clean but need to lighten up on the fragrance of their cleaning products as we had to air the room out when we returned each day. Our last day 800 college spring breakers checked in and made our last night a total sleepless one !!!! Between the yelling, repeated fire alarm pulling and high noise level the hotel security people had more than they could handle! Restaurant inside hotel was not open at all but others were available near by. We wished we had been next door at the Westin .....very quiet there. Our group should have been isolated from the kids but were not!!! Zorba's across the street was great for all meals! Also China Beach, a rest. on hotel property was definitely worth eating at.

This was a great getaway for my husband, and 2 kids. We had a great time. Front desk took a little over 1 hour to give us our room, but then made up by giving us an extension to check out at 12 noon, and they even stored our luggage until 2:30 pm. Food right across the street, a little expensive, but good. Overall this was a great hotel, my family and I are most likely to return!! I really recomend this hotel, my cousin stayed at the Falmingo, and she said it was nothing compared to sheraton. Come to Sheraton!!

Absolutely beautiful and amazing, I wouldn't change a thing. The pools are beautiful, the beach is beautiful, the staff is very friendly, and the town is right across the street. A grocery store is about a mile away, but food is expensive