our guide to baha mar
welcome to baha mar
We went to Baha Mar on a quick three night trip to the Bahamas in early December 2018. You can read the full account of our trip here.
The Bahamas weather in the winter can be unpredictable. Over the three days we were there we had one beautifully sunny day, one pretty nice day, and one cloudy day, all though all three days were warm enough to lay out and swim.
how we got there
We flew JetBlue direct from JFK to Nassau. Given how short our trip was, we were hoping to take an early morning flight that would give us a full first day in the Bahamas, but there are only one or two direct flights from JFK to NAS, so the earliest we were able to arrive was 2:00 pm. We booked our flights using TrueBlue points, and upgraded to Even More Space seats using airline credits from our American Express Hilton Honors Aspire card.
where we stayed
We stayed at the Rosewood at Baha Mar. Baha Mar is made up of three separate hotels – a Grand Hyatt, an SLS and a Rosewood. After years and years of delays, the Grand Hyatt and SLS at Baha Mar finally opened in 2017; the Rosewood followed in summer 2018, less than six months before our visit. Of the three hotels, the Rosewood is the nicest and priciest.
hotel is beuaitufl. eveyrhting is brand new, chic, well designed. the grounds are beautiful.
Before traveling we read a lot of poor reviews online from guests who complained that the hotel didn’t live up to the Rosewood name. We haven’t stayed at other Rosewood hotels, but we thought this stay was pretty great. This was generally on par with some of the other five star resorts we’ve stayed at around the world. That being said, it seems that people often find Rosewood service to be ‘five star plus,’ in which case I can understand where this hotel may fall short. As noted, the property is beautiful and service is great, but there wasn’t anything exceptional about the stay.
One complaint we saw before traveling was that people found their butler would introduce themselves and then never be heard from again. We too were led to our room on the first day by our butlers, who we never saw again. This didn’t really bother us as we didn’t need anything from him during our stay, but it seems that at other Rosewood properties the butler often makes himself much more visible.
great pool. quiet. beds are free. didnt know that.
pool service good, but had to wait a long time for the charger.
One thing to note is that Baha Mar has check-in desk at the airport (Hyatt and SLS share a desk, while Rosewood has its own). You technically check-in for your stay at the airport, but it’s a little odd because once you get to the hotel you still need to wait on line to get your room key. We didn’t pre-arrange our transportation through Rosewood as we knew they charged $70 for the 12 minute drive. At the airport they asked if we had booked a car and when we said that no, we would just take a taxi, they said they would get us to a taxi. We were then led to a nice Mercedes that turned out to be a Rosewood vehicle, and were then charged $70 for the trip. Prior to check-out I complained about the mix-up and they took the charge off my bill without even having to ask. Returning to the airport we took a taxi, which was about $30 with tip.
We briefly explored the other two hotels, but without staying there we can’t give a true review. What I will say is that the Grand Hyatt appears to be a much more family friendly hotel. The pools were bigger, full of kids, and certainly less serene. The hotel has two towers and is much larger than the SLS and Rosewood. Of the SLS, all I really can say is that it’s loud. There was ridiculously loud music blasting at the pools and ridiculously loud music blasting at the lobby bar. If you’re looking to party, try the SLS; if you’re looking to relax and have a peaceful time, steer clear.
this place was built to rival atlantis. hear they’re building a waterpark. its nice. atlantis is getting old. a lot of unused space. at atlantis, eveyr inch of the place is used - restaurants, shops, bars, etc. theres a lot fo space here where you say they coudlve put somehting here, and its weird that they didnt. curious to see if they develop more of it.
where we ate
Commonwealth - The main Rosewood restaurant, we had multiple breakfasts and one dinner here. The restaurant itself is large and airy and beautifully designed in a traditional British colonial style. Even the restrooms at this restaurant were gorgeous.
Breakfast: Commonwealth serves a solid breakfast buffet, with one large flub - pancake syrup. While the buffet offered american style pancakes, they were accompanied at the buffet table by a plastic bottle of generic pancake syrup. This was way below what you would expect from a hotel of this caliber, and in my opinion, if this is the best you have to offer, you shouldn’t be offering it at all. The service at Commonwealth during breakfast was fine but at times a little slow. Coffee cups are very small and it often was hard to find someone to refill. One nice touch to mention was the avocado toast bar - a dedicated chef preparing plates of avocado toast with poached eggs and fresh vegetable toppings.
Dinner: We sat down to dinner around 8:30 and the restaurant was less than half full; by the time we finished at 10:30 we were the second to last table left. However the menu is eclectic, the food delicious and service was quick and attentive. When we asked about allergies the executive chef for Rosewood (Chef Sid) came to speak with us. He was incredibly nice and inspired us to try some Indian dishes, which were very good. Also, the chocolate cake dessert, which the say is inspired by the restaurant’s ceiling, was excellent.
Costa - The other Rosewood restaurant, Costa is located next to the pool with lots of outdoor seating that’s set over a massive koi pond. The restaurant serves solid Mexican food and good margaritas. They also make the food that is served pool side, which was always pretty good, and probably above average for poolside food.
Katsuya - Technically part of the SLS, and like many other restaurants here located inside the casino. We sat outside and watched as every twenty minutes the fountain lit on fire and went up in big flames. It was cool, but had more of a vacation-vibe to it, and less of the chic trendy vibe they were offering inside. Service was attentive and food was delicious.
Fi’lia - Also an SLS restaurant and located inside the casino. The most crowded restaurant we visited on the trip, Fi’lia served delicious Italian food with great service. They also served massive portions (one of the largest plates of spaghetti we’ve ever had). There were also some nice touches here, like starting the meal by cutting fresh oregano off a plant in a flower pot into a dish of olive oil, or tableside caesar salad (though it was a bit odd that the server couldn’t get the salad trolley near our table, so we had to get up to watch him make our salad.
The Library - The lobby lounge at the Rosewood, this large room is what I want my living room to look like. There was a fireplace, an eclectic but comfortable collection of sofas and oversized chairs, and bookshelves that you were encouraged to read from. The Library serves coffee, drinks, light snacks, pastries, etc. We came here a few times for coffee, tea, and scones. We weren’t impressed with the scones (a bit hard), but there is a large table at the front of the room with cookies and meringues that are complimentary (though they didn’t tell us that - we had to ask about it).
Manor Bar - Located directly across from the Library, the Rosewood’s lobby bar is the complete oppose of the Library. While the Library is bright and white, the Manor Bar is dark and all brown wood. It made for a great late night ambiance. Drinks were good.
The Manor Bar
The Library
what we did
In a word, we did nothing. We spent most of our time at Baha Mar sitting by the pool, swimming, sleeping and reading.
We did visit the Sense Spa for a 90 minute massage and body scrub. It was a nice experience - the massage suite was nice and the treatment started off by taking us to an outdoor patio for a “foot ritual.” Disappointingly the Rosewood spa doesn’t have any facilities, such as a sauna or steam room, so we checked out the Espa, which serves the Hyatt and SLS. The Espa is fairly difficult to get to (it’s on the roof of the Hyatt and a long walk from the Rosewood). Facilities were nice enough and there are both separate mens and womens and mixed saunas and steam rooms.
At night we walked through the casino and played a few slot machines and the roulette table. As with other places, the casino was never too crowded. We also checked out Bond, the Baha Mar nightclub, by which I mean we walked in and walked out. The club opens Thursday - Saturday at 11pm, which was just too late for us. It was also ridiculously loud, and all tables require you pay for bottle service, so if you’re not doing that your only option is to stand in the small space near the bar. There are also bars at the Hyatt, including one with live music that didn’t really interest us, and a lobby bar at the SLS, which was cool and had pool tables, but was just (like everything else at the SLS) too loud.
We did use the gym a couple of times. For such a nice place it was actually a pretty poor gym. It was small-ish and there were no weights under 10 pounds.
final thoughts and what we didn’t do
There are things to do in Nassau (we considered visiting a nearby chocolate factory) but we just didn’t want to leave the resort given how little time we had there. All-in-all we enjoyed our time at Baha Mar and would go back. It’ll be interesting to see how the resort grows and develops over time.