#888765 by TimCrawley
23 Nov 2014, 17:32
For those most interested in flight and lounge can I apologise in advance for the length of this report – just that a few people are heading to Grenada in the next months and they asked for some extra Island / Hotel information.

Stayed in the Flamboyant Hotel, located at one end of Grand Anse beach, with an amazing view along the beach, out to sea and across the bay to St Georges. This is the same beach as Coyaba, Blue Horizon, Cinnamon Hill and Spice Island, for example, so a range of reasonable to almost extortionate prices available on the same beach …. And you can still pay to dine in the fanciest ones while staying at the more reasonably priced ones (so a 5 course dinner at Spice Island was around US$75 a head and was totally fantastic food so was really worth it, but Spice Island resort itself is very lovely but usually OTT on the pricing to stay there unless you chance on a promotion, in which case go for it).

Reviews on Tripadvisor abound for Flamboyant but I should say the rooms are good, beds comfortable, the free wifi is good & it works all over the resort and inside rooms. The views from the rooms are simply the most beautiful on the bay, maybe even the whole island … so the number of steps from the rooms to the restaurants, pools and other beachside facilities really was worth it. To be honest I wouldn’t pay for the all-inclusive here on any repeat trip I make (you can upgrade locally from RO to AI for US$95 per day but for a minimum 3 days at a time on that option, other upgrades to B&B or BBEM also available locally). Food is great but not going all-inclusive again is simply because the food / drink is cheap enough in resort anyway (Blackened Chicken with rice EC$44 so just over US$16/£10 and that is two chicken breast fillets you get, a 10” pizza is a similar price, many tasty local dishes & good burgers available too). So, as bottled water NOT included in all-inclusive, and I don’t pour down endless beers & cocktails on holiday the value isn’t really there for me. I took a superior studio which came with a kitchenette as I sometimes like a simple snack instead of a hotel meal, even when all-inclusive – this was fully equipped with full 4 burner gas stove/oven, microwave, kettle, blender, toaster etc and full size fridge freezer but a bit ‘light’ on plates & cutlery so you would have to wash up after every snack/meal. The smoke alarm in my room was very sensitive (even browning, not burning, toast set it off – so had all doors and windows open to cook & it still kept going off frying bacon!).

Like many hotels in Grenada there were UK 3 pin and US 2 pin sockets in the rooms plus dual voltage shaver point in bathroom next to the hair dryer.

Flamboyant is next to Mount Cinnamon Hotel overlooking Grand Anse, a really lovely beach stretching for a couple of miles (comparable in size with, say, Jolly Beach in Antigua or Reduit Beach in St Lucia from what I remember of them), not crowded and plenty of sand for lounging. There is an even more sheltered beach at Marne Rouge Bay just close by.

For the whole island I found no sign of Jellyfish in November, maybe they are all in Montego Bay again waiting for me to show up there? No rocks or anything at beach entry on beaches I visited, all nice sand so no need for sandals just to get into water, but obviously some rocks a good bit further out (plus some concrete pyramids put in by Grenada Dive school on Grand Anse beach!) which attract some nice fish to look at.

Had a ‘dinner out’ Spice Island as mentioned plus at Mt Cinnamon Hotel nearby and this was very nice too, other guests reported same – guests from there also had a stroll down through gardens to the beachfront alongside Flamboyant’s where they too had a beachside bar/café and sun loungers. Fellow travelers who stayed at other hotels in Grand Anse seemed pleased with their hotels (Blue Horizon didn’t seem to offer beach loungers etc even though you could cut through Spice Island, owned by same family, to get to the beach) but those staying at Rex Grenadian closer to the airport (whole resort all-inclusive) said their hotel was very nice but they really didn’t seem to care at the hotel what the guests thought of the food as a bit of ‘we already have your money’ attitude had crept in there on the catering side – hopefully that is not a lasting trend there.

There is a shopping centre (Spiceland Mall) in Grand Anse (close to Coyaba / Spice Island so about 10 minute walk from Flamboyant) with large supermarket that is open 7 days a week (Mon-Thu 8-21, Fri-Sat 8-22 & Sun 9-19) – in case you run out of bug spray, spam, Tesco cream crackers (yes, they sell some Tesco own brand stuff in there) or whatever. You are going to pay 2 to 3 times the UK price for most groceries so no harm in packing some extra dry or tinned goods if you have space in your luggage. Also in this mall were several Souvenir shops, small food court (and a KFC on the car park) and a bank in there too (banks only open Mon-Fri, close at 2pm except 4pm Fridays). Like many other carib islands you can buy duty free at some shops in the spiceland mall & elsewhere if you have your passport & eticket with you.

I was with VH so had a local rep (Diedy) who was very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. VH book local tours mainly with Sunsation (grenadasunsation.com if you want to see some of the typical tours available), prices same with VH as directly booked but I daresay so you can negotiate a few $ cheaper if booking multiple tours for multiple people direct as they have no sales commission to pay.

VH rep organized a day trip to Carriacou. Carriacou trip can be done ferry both ways but recommended is fly out (9am flight best, takes around 25 minutes) and take ferry back (leaves around 3:30pm and takes 2 to 2.5 hours depending on which boat they are using that day). Reason for not taking boat both ways is just that currents are usually a bit unfavourable for ferry ride out there. Plane is a 6-8 seater so best to consider booking in advance if you want to be sure of that option during your stay.. 9am flight, 25 m. Our flight did a stop/go at Union Island to drop 1 passenger off. Allison from http://www.isleofreefstours.com/ collected us at the Carriacou airport and took us on an informative & enjoyable Island tour then a short boat ride out to Sandy Island for snorkeling, swimming and a lovely home-cooked lunch. Then boat ride back and the drive back down to the ferry. Note that Allison can organize pretty much anything you want (she used to work in the Carriacou tourist office so knows just about all there is to know about the island) so if you decide Carriacou is worth an overnight stop (I think it is) then she could tailor your visit accordingly. For day trip I did the total cost of hotel pickup/dropoff, flight, ferry and all island tour with Allison’s team around US$260. For background the Ferry service is Osprey Lines – crossings around EC$80 single. There are ferries to Petite Martinique too but I didn’t get across there myself.

Another tour Diedy booked for me was the Tutti Frutti island tour for US$90 : Good blog post on this tour at http://sailornot.blogspot.ca/2014/01/th ... enada.html so I won’t elaborate too much – but it’s a long 8 hours tour. Includes a great 3 course lunch at Belmont Estate (plenty of other things to see there & some shops so worth a visit if you’re driving the Island independently). The nutmeg ‘factory’ and rum ‘factory’ tours were the same ones visited on the old Gary Rhodes series on carib food from a few years back – very enjoyable guides. If you fancy a dip in the waterfall there are some rudimentary changing rooms but remember to bring your own towel.

After Tutti Frutti decided not to hire a car- usually do in Carib but just decided I was going to stay fairly local this trip after such a long tour. Next time I probably would take a car even if only for a few days / part of the trip.
Rainforest areas in Grenada seem to have much more variety of plants, trees and shrubs than other Carib islands I’ve visited and the scenery is quite rugged and spectacular for a relatively small island.

I also took a daytime boat trip described as a Lobster & Champagne cruise for US$135 (Prawns offered out of lobster season plus they offer vegetarian and chicken alternatives all year round … someone on our tour had the chicken on skewers and said it was really good). This lasts about 6.5 hours with beach pickup in front of Coyaba hotel. Nice cruise up to the marine park near Dragon Bay then back down the west of the island – lunch on a secluded beach on Hog Island at the souther end of Grenada before a part sail & part powered return up the same west coast. I saw, or rather heard, a Champagne Sunset cruise pass on board the catamaran the Rhum Runner II – this is about an hour long cruise out of St George & slowly round the bay while seriously thumping loud music is played …. Which is fine if that’s what you want but it is NOT a relaxed scenic viewing of the bay plus sunset while sipping champagne (so if that’s what you want make sure you ask before booking to not be on Rhum Runner!).

If you go shopping in St Georges – very steep hills so get dropped at top and picked up at bottom!!! Cruise ship days you’ll get less hassle as they have plenty of customers to ‘pick’ on but also tend to ask higher prices before you start haggling as they assume you’re from the ship and a bit wealthy and only around for the day (so make clear, in a friendly way, that you are around for a week or two and so you’ll look elsewhere if you don’t like the price). There is a regular market tour on Saturdays with hotel pickup for US$12.
As with most islands the tours and roads are super crowded compared to ‘normal’ when a cruise ship or two is in port – so check schedules in advance for cruise ships into St Georges if you want less crowd / traffic.

My scanner is broken, otherwise I would have included a copy of the VH tour prices but some selected tour prices for those not already quoted (all priced in US$, most described on http://www.grenadasunsation.com ) are Bargain Grenada 60, Don’t Go Bananas 60, Southern Flavours 60, Grenadines of St Vincent by schooner 345, Full day sail & snorkel 89, Sunset Champagne cruise 45, Adventure jeep tour and tubing 95, Kayak tours 701-115, Deep sea fishing from 100 and Whale/Dolphin watch 80.

Pity the Check-In & Chill-out has been cancelled on VH as I used to like getting rid of all but hand luggage in the morning at the hotel and just relaxing on the beach until just before the airport pickup late afternoon … I know it was VH passengers only, initially, but they did start to roll it out (at an add-on fee) to anyone at the relevant hotels who wanted to do it on the VA flight (which made airport checkin for those who hadn’t done it run smoother too as less people to do airport checkin). Oh well, have to grovel for a late checkout or hope for left luggage room instead, I suppose!

The checkin at the airport went pretty smoothly as they had 3 and sometimes 4 agents working (bear in mind that they only have to check in 35-50% of the planeload as rest are joining at St Lucia). If you do go through to the regular departures then you’ll find a couple of small cafés and about 10 shops – so not massive but fine for 40-50 minutes before the flight. There are no shops at all in the lounge, described below.

If you are flying Upper Class (or entitled to VS Flying Club lounge access) then you do have lounge access at the airport BUT this not via Departures. The lounge is part of the IAM Jet Centre which consists of several small lounges for private jets (seating 6-12 people) and a larger lounge, “St Georges Suite”, for larger aircraft. After the check in process as you pass the information desk (i.e. before you get to the Departures security checkpoint) you will see a free-standing sign for “St Georges Suite” where you wait for the greeter wearing a light green shirt / holding a clipboard or the golf cart driver to take you around the side of the main terminal and through the freight entrance to a private security checkpoint (so no queues). The greeter has a list of Upper Class passengers (and normally VS Flying Club members who are eligible for the lounge). The lounge is comfortable, TV sets, free wif-fi with Matt Lucas inspired password, obviously no smoking but they will escort you back outside if you’re desperate. No soup or sandwiches or hot snacks but a simple self service tea/coffee machine with a good range of cold soft drinks & pre-flight booze plus several types of crisps, nuts & other snacks in packets. Nice facilities there to have a shower if you came straight from the beach to the airport. There are no shopping facilities of any kind but they will get you duty free items to order and bring them to you – just ask for what you want on the day. When the flight is boarding they guide you out to the aircraft ahead of other passengers (plus usually a much shorter walk than from the terminal, handy if it’s raining). While I wouldn’t choose to pay US$20-30 to use the lounge it was a nice bonus if included in your package with a very friendly team looking after you there. Be aware, however, that children under 12 are NOT allowed in according to their promo material.

As per advice on V-Flyer I stuck to the window seat for return (6K) to avoid the shorter centre UC seats, having taken 5A on the way out to get best views of island on arrival – found it just as cramped as outward leg (and my book fell into seat pocket so I needed a very helpful member of the flight crew with smaller hands than my shovels to retrieve it as the plastic tag for pulling out the liner was long gone).

Left on time for the short 35 minute hop to St Lucia, just under an hour on the ground and we were off again for the 8 hour flight on to LGW. Flight crew really good, as with outward leg they were attentive & helpful but not OTT or in your face.

Starters were Herb & Tomato soup, Antipasto vegetable salad ort the Snow crab meat salad that I had (which was dry & nasty, didn’t like it at all). Mains were Garlic marinated Mahi Mahi (which I avoided as that was the catch of the day almost every day in Grenada so although nice I’d just eaten enough of it), Beetroot & goat’s cheese salad, Mushroom ravioli or the Three pepper tenderloin steak that I had with mash, asparagus & butternut squash (pretty nice, quite pleased with it). Afters was a choice of Passion fruit cheesecake or the Croissant bread & butter pudding with cinnamon custard & chocolate sauce that I chose (very tasty custard indeed). Saved just a tiny amount of space for cheese (Camembert, Cheddar and Blue Stilton) & biscuits to finish but couldn’t find room for any port!

Only a couple of bouts of minor turbulence so managed a decent 2.5 hours sleep with my inflatable cushion stuffed under the issued pillow for extra comfort – still felt cramped in this A330 UC setup compared to 747 UC but you already knew that anyway from my outward trip remarks.

Nice bowl or cereal for breakfast followed by a bacon roll (very dry, unfortunately, so multiple mugs of tea required). The orange juice was from Tropicana but not the regular it seemed to be some slightly fancier variety that I found tasted absolutely disgusting – left it after a couple of sips & drank more tea instead. A pity the breakfast was average to poor – bit like when you stay in a hotel it is the ‘final’ impression so warrants a bit of extra effort.

Small delays at LGW due to rain so we did a 20 minute loop around Brighton & Hove area before landing – but we were still landing to schedule anyway due to faster flying time up until then. Walk to Passport control was a bit longer than usual but no queues there so quickly through and had bags within 10 minutes. Had an emergency Costa coffee & couple of Marlboro (other brands are available) before carrying on to the valet pickup (smooth & trouble free pickup, as usual) & the short drive home.

Overall smooth flights and a very good trip to Grenada – I would certainly visit Grenada again (and do at least an overnight stop in Carriacou while there) but I will not be super keen at all to travel on A330 Upper Class again (back to the VS 747’s for Vegas trips early next year so not the end of VS UC for me by any means!).
#888767 by TimCrawley
23 Nov 2014, 17:42
Probably a few more typos but hopefully you can all follow most of my meanderings .... except "Kayak tours 701-115," should have been "Kayak tours 70-115," !
#888780 by whiterose
23 Nov 2014, 20:33
Brilliant TR Tim thanks. We went to Tobago some years ago, flight stopped in Grenada both ways and I was so struck by the very strong scent of spices. Presumably you get used to that?
#888805 by TimCrawley
24 Nov 2014, 12:23
Hi Whiterose, was a noticeable aroma around the island but I never found it oppressive (even in the nutmeg 'factory' itself) & enjoyed the plethora of cinnamon, nutmeg and other local spices in the food as it was a pleasant change to my usual (not much of a) diet.... not sure if cinnamon ice cream would be on weightwatchers approved list :-)

I notice from Sealink's posting earlier this month that Tobago is back on the VS routes again from March next year(this time via St Lucia) so will add that back onto list of places to investigate .... would be very interested to know what you think of Tobago from your trip there, would you recommend a visit?
#888818 by Daffodil
24 Nov 2014, 13:50
Thank you for the very detailed TR. Lots of very good and useful information. Nice to hear you enjoyed the holiday if not the UCS. We visited Grenada quite a few years ago staying at La Source ( Now Sandals ) and found it a charming Island.
#889144 by mrsw
27 Nov 2014, 19:41
Thank you very much for the informative and detailed TR. We're off to Grenada at the end of Jan so this post has been really helpful.

Sounds like you had a lovely time -- shame about the breakfast and orange juice though, and of course the UCDS.
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