Hideaways Exuma

“Most beautiful water I’ve ever seen”

Great location to get the lay of the land but there are many rental options

“Great staff at resort - the restaurant - not so much.”

The staff at the resort were very accommodating and friendly. The resort is a bit long in the tooth. Meaning outdated and worn. The cottage was clean, but showed a lot of wear (rust on the fixtures and around the shower enclosure). The grounds were very well maintained and the beach and pool w… more

The staff at the resort were very accommodating and friendly. The resort is a bit long in the tooth. Meaning outdated and worn. The cottage was clean, but showed a lot of wear (rust on the fixtures and around the shower enclosure). The grounds were very well maintained and the beach and pool were quite nice. However, the onsite restaurant, while a cool atmosphere, suffered from indifferent and at times outright rude staff and seriously bad food. Bartender was wicked drunk. Fortunately, right next door there are a couple of good places to eat and drink. We also found some good food and friendly service in Georgetown and also further north. All in all, we enjoyed our stay and the price was a fair value. Just too bad the restaurant was so poorly managed. For that reason, we will not return to the Hideaways.

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“Great Place to stay”

We had a great time staying at the Hideaway. The room was lovely and so was the receptionist. She was very helpful with helping us organise transfers and shuttles and make the most out short time here before we had to leave the island. I called the number where I had spoke to who I think the name w… more

We had a great time staying at the Hideaway. The room was lovely and so was the receptionist. She was very helpful with helping us organise transfers and shuttles and make the most out short time here before we had to leave the island. I called the number where I had spoke to who I think the name was Cindy, I had called to let them know we were running late for our shuttle to were she proceeded to laugh at me for asking to rebook/change the time to get back to the hotel and said to just get a taxi. I felt it was quite dismissive especially after the great level of service we had received prior to this. We are both 20 years old from the UK and have no idea how to get a contact a taxi as we were in the middle of no where. We have had to ask a local bar in hopes they would be able to help us . The part is we only went on this day out because we had booked/arranged a transfer. This then obviously took much longer and are now off track for getting to our flight. Honestly so so disappointed with how our trip ended and was so long and confused.

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“Disappointed”

Exuma is absolutely BUT staying at Hideaways Resort at Palm Bay had some disappointments for us. We will never return. First, I will mention the positives. The water is stunning and the weather was perfect at 26C each of the 7 days that we were there. Hideaways is on the windward side of the island… more

Exuma is absolutely BUT staying at Hideaways Resort at Palm Bay had some disappointments for us. We will never return. First, I will mention the positives. The water is stunning and the weather was perfect at 26C each of the 7 days that we were there. Hideaways is on the windward side of the island, so there was always a warm breeze that kept you cool. The water at the beach in front of the resort is very shallow and not good for swimming. Even when you walk way out in the water, most adults are only up to their thighs. The resort staff only groomed a small portion of beach directly across from the restaurant. High tide brought garbage onto the beach everyday that included a lot of plastic materials presumably from boaters. It was very unpleasant walking through this if you like to walk the beach length, as we do. If you walk beachfront about 10 minutes past Hideaways, you eventually arrive at Jolly Hall Beach which is heaven on earth. It is less windy, has powdery sand and is sparsely populated. The water is deep, and you can have a great ocean swim here. We visited this beach everyday. The pool at Hideaways is clean & warm but it’s very small . However, there was never any competition for loungers at the pool or on the beach. Our ‘hillside studio’ accommodation booked through Air Canada vacations was a big misrepresentation of the ad and pictures online. Our room was in a triplex, 300 meters off the main resort property. We had to cross the Queens Hwy, walk through the resort parking lot and walk up a hilly slope to get to our room. The road was full of potholes and the walking surface was uneven. It was poorly lit at night and created risk for falling. There was construction of more duplexes going on across the street from our place with a large gravel pit behind them. None of this detail was mentioned on the website or brought to our attention at the time of booking. We asked to change rooms and pay for an upgrade but the resort was fully booked. We later discovered that Hideaways only owns a few of the cottages you see online. The rest are privately owned, and many are for rent on AirBNB. So… if you want to stay at Hideaways, make sure you book an Oceanside cottage. Our room was remote from the resort and we had no room phone to communicate with registration. The front registration closes at 9:00. All lights are turned off and the door is locked. Daily housekeeping was part of our package, but when it was not performed, we were told you had to arrange for housekeeping with 24 hours notice. There is only one restaurant on the resort called Splash. The food is good and portions are generous. Dinner service was pleasant and timely but the breakfast service ( included with our package) was sad. On our first day, the restaurant was closed without prior notice to guests. We were told by the server, that they were performing a kitchen clean for an upcoming inspection. The breakfast servers were generally unfriendly and kitchen seemed slow to produce the meal. It was however, always hot and plentiful with lots of menu options. Fortunately, a few steps from Hideaways is Augusta Bay Resort. We ate dinner there a few nights and it was awesome. They have a lovely dining room with attentive servers and big picture windows facing the ocean. Try their grilled Grouper… yum! They also have a beach pier bar & grill called Frankie Bananas. We enjoyed a yummy burger & BBQ chicken there. In our opinion don’t waste your time or $ going to Shirley’s at the fish fry. It was expensive and not as good as locals claim it is. Also, be prepared for the high cost of food, both in restaurants and at the grocery store. Often, restaurants would run out of things on the menu as supplies don’t always arrive when expected. The front desk team and complimentary shuttle team are gracious, lovely and eager to please. Kudos to them! Fortunately, we met some other fun loving Canucks at Hideaways and we enjoyed some great adventures with them. Take the water taxi to Coconut Palm beach club on Stocking Island. It’s fun for all ages. We tried the stop at Chat & Chill too, but it was too chill for us. Be prepared … the Bahamas is expensive! We travel to a sunny location every winter and feel there is better value and enjoyment elsewhere.

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