Taino Beach, Freeport

My lower reviews indicate our thoughts on the Ocean/Coral rooms. Would give higher reviews for the Marlin had we stayed in those rooms. The weather in December is questionable. It was very chilly with some days lows in 30's. The high temp was 72 and that was only one day. December is lobster season so you could purchase fresh lobster for $7-10 and boil up in room. Excellent treat. If we go again we would NOT stay in the Ocean Bldg. Very dated, not very clean and most have major issues. Our first room had standing water, 2nd room was terribly musty smelling and had mold spots on the floors and walls. Our 3rd room was adequate but had two days where maintenance was on our deck scraping/painting. Getting issues resolved required you to physcially go down to the desk and wait until resolution. We visited guests in the Marlin building and those were very nice units. We would only stay in that building in the future. Towel exchange is a joke. They never had any clean towels to exchange. Always told try back later. All guests were complaining about this. The grounds were very nice. While it was too chilly for us to use the pool it was very nice. The hot tub was great. The restaraunt was excellent! Very good food. The beach was clean and beautiful. The grocery run was not much. It was a convenience store that had limited items. All very expensive. Bring some of your own necessities. Also, the grocery run isn't complimentary. There is a cost of $3 each time. You can get most items in Port Lucaya if you don't mind carrying them back on the ferry. If you like seafood you will love Freeport! Billy Joe's conch shack located by the Radisson is awesome!. If you walk east down the beach from Taino for about a mile (wear shoes) you will get to Junkanoo. They have great conch burgers and you can use the kayaks and paddle boats for free! ($20/hour at Taino Beach). The BBQ beach bon fire is okay. Not worth the money. Food was ok and drinks were watered down if they had any alcohol in them. The Wed. night fish fry was awesome. The Tarpon was excellent. The conch stand in Port Lucaya by the tour huts has excellent conch salad. (like ceviche) Very reasonable. Pieces restaraunt has awesome seafood pizza. The neptune has shrimp, lobster, crab. Reasonable. Nothing is cheap in Freeport. Bring lots of money. Cash is better because most places tell you the credit card machine is broken. "sorry mon". The jet ski tour is worth the money. Takes you past famous homes, Peterson Cay National park, beautiful waters. Book tours early in your stay as they fill up. While we had issues to deal with it was still a fun trip. The food was the best part!

The Grand Bahama Island is huge with far fewer people then Paradise Island and Atlantis. Those islands have tons of people and its more like a city. Be prepared for the blast of humidity when they open the plane door. Its changed a lot since the last hurricane. The Princess Casino was blown away and never recovered. Only one casino The Lacayan and thats down town Freeport. We rented a car for the week $400. and probably paid for it by eating at McD's a few times. Lunch anywhere is tough to find under $50. Every place always puts 15% gratuity on the bill. Its your call for an additional tip since the house keeps half. With a car were able to find the fish market and ate lobster 3 nights. $19. lb. The one supermarket close by is filthy. Eggs kept in a broken cooler we ignored. A small can of peanut butter was $5.75 and a standard roasted peanuts jar was $13. Pack your own coffee and cremora etc. Take onion,garlic,salt & pepper if your going to cook in the time share. The meat at that super market I wouldn't touch. The only other market is downtown Freeport. Its like a Sams Club, big quantities. If you do the lobster thing just cook it in margarine after seasoning it. Its great! Fast food places have typical prices like here in the states. The condo has pots,pans,silverware. The pool is huge. Probably take you 20 minutes just to walk around. Grotto bar, water slide. The pristine white beaches are 3 minutes away with lots of eye candy. Luckily my great wife pointed them out! Sunscreen is a must or you will fry!! You can rent scooters, jetskis, parasail (2people at a time) bring money! The international bazarre was also blown away and never recovered but new places opened at the marina next to the big Casino. Lots of shops, t shirts will shrink down to the size of my dog. Dont bother. Plan your trip so you are there at least one weekend night. There is a huge show on weekend nights. A Band, singers, fire eater, an incredible guy who does Limbo. They have a big pavillion or you can sit at one of the many bars surrounding the place and eat and drink and watch the show. There will be lots of people there including the folks off the cruise ships. The Flamingo Hotel next door says in its advertising that its next to the theme park, there is no theme park! If you rent a car don't forget they drive on the left! It tough to get used to but they do have a huge sign on the window that says "Stay to the left!" If you are a smoker here is a great tip when your leaving. Get your luggage through and go through to the waiting area. There is a bar you can hang out in and its got a separate section for smoking. You can drink, grab a sandwich next door and surf or read your email. Take your laptop, theres wireless every where! One more thing. Cash is at equal value to US. But get rid of it before you go. Have fun and don't do anything stupid!

I love the pool and the ocean. Accomadations good but not the housekeeping fee. I get confused on the weeks and with the change understanding the unit. I wish they would do a reminder of the weeks and dates we chose. And there is no way to rent or sell the units, too much property avaiable. We lost money trying to rent. We were talked into too many units; there is no way we can use three weeks. Pat

If anyone is thinking about buying a timeshare from these people , you may want to think twice and run the other way as fast as you can.