Blue Haven Resort

Great time with Yessica, at the bar, creating cocktails for the family and accepting a challenge to make one not on the menu or thought of.

I want to be fair with this review, and I hope it helps others! We stayed at Blue Haven Resort and overall preferred it to Alexandria, which had more of a younger/bro-oriented and family-forward vibe and felt busier, louder, less clean, and less private. Blue Haven offered a calm and relaxing atmosphere, though at a cost of close to $2,000 a day, several operational issues make this feel like a 3–4 star experience rather than a full 5-star resort. Highlights • Salt restaurant was the standout meal of our stay. Our server, Jen, and the chef went out of their way to create a special vegan curry stir-fry with vegetables and edamame. Service was attentive, accommodating, and friendly. We do wish this restaurant had been open for more of our stay; due to renovations, we only had one opportunity to dine there. • Thoughtful touches, such as oat milk being delivered to our room upon request to accompany our morning coffee, were appreciated. • Overall, staff were generally friendlier and more professional than at Alexandria. • The resort offered a calm, private, and relaxing atmosphere, ideal for unwinding. • We paid more for an oceanfront room and were glad we did. Coffee on the balcony at sunrise and drinks at sunset added meaningfully to the relaxing feel of the stay. Challenges / Areas for Improvement • While ordering à la carte is supposed to be an option, buffets felt overly emphasized by staff. When we ordered à la carte, some staff seemed less enthusiastic or even slightly irritated. Buffets do not feel aligned with a 5-star service experience, and having to repeatedly advocate to order off the menu was stressful. • Staff communication was inconsistent. At the smoothie stand, one attendant informed us that coffee and smoothies were not included in the all-inclusive plan, while another said they were. Front desk and other staff sometimes lacked clear knowledge of restaurant hours or whether dining was buffet or à la carte. • Not all staff interactions were as friendly as they could have been. While Blue Haven was still much better than Alexandria—where attendants were often downright rude, with the exception of the excellent staff at Black Rock Restaurant—there were noticeable lapses. For example, at Blue Haven’s seaside café (connected to the pool bar), we were standing and unsure where to go for lunch service when one poolside bar server turned her back to avoid communication. Even if service was not yet ready or staff were busy, a brief acknowledgment such as “we’ll be right with you” would have made a meaningful difference. A staff member eventually came to seat us, but the interaction felt awkward. • Limited explanation was offered for unavailable menu items. For example, when I requested a frozen mojito at the pool bar, I was simply told it was unavailable without any context or alternative suggestion. • The pool temperature was colder than the ocean—which itself was cool in December—making lounging in the water or enjoying the swim-up bar less appealing. • Shower hot water appeared to run on a short timer. The hot water would consistently cut off and turn cold after approximately 4–5 minutes. After a cold ocean swim or dip in the chilly pool, standing under a freezing-cold shower was unpleasant. • Construction noise was significant and disturbing and required multiple phone calls to the front desk in an attempt to resolve the issue. While staff responded, the disruption persisted for a long time. • The TV-advertised SMS staff-messaging system did not work as described, although the chat function did. • We also relied on the resort to arrange transportation on one occasion, and the hotel-booked cab arrived late, adding unnecessary stress. Comparison to Alexandria / Grace Bay We only visited Alexandria to avoid the Fire & Ice and other evening buffets and to see Grace Bay. While Grace Bay is pretty by Caribbean standards, it is not Hawaii-level in terms of water clarity, warmth, or overall beauty. Our experience may have been affected by the Alexandria beach area feeling chaotic: crowded chairs, constant foot traffic, and vendors repeatedly waking you or approaching closely to sell photos and water sports. Missing the shuttle back to Blue Haven meant spending more time in that hectic environment. Bottom Line Blue Haven offered a calmer, more private, and higher-quality experience than Alexandria. Service highlights—especially at Salt—were notable, but operational issues such as the cold pool and shower, construction noise, inconsistent communication, and occasional unpleasant staff interactions brought the overall experience down. Considering the price, this stay objectively falls in the 3.5–4 star range.

We were very pleased with our 7-day stay at the Blue Haven resort. The resort was immaculate, accommodations were large and included a full kitchen, a beautiful balcony overlooking the water as well as a washer and dryer. There were two restaurants and a seaside grill with sit-down lunch options. The food was very good and we never had any problems getting seated. The Fire and Ice restaurant was our favorite although we also had two very good dinners at Salt. The beach was small but perfect for swimming. Grace Bay beach at the sister property was very nice but we actually preferred Blue Haven as it was more laid back and easier to get in and out of the water. We never had a problem getting beach chairs with umbrellas. The shuttle between resorts made it easy to get to both and we enjoyed a great dinner at the Black Rock restaurant at Alexandra. One of the highlights was the beach party night with entertainment, a wide range of Caribbean foods and a grill. The most amazing part was actually the Blue Haven staff. Everyone from check-in through our departure was friendly, attentive and really went out of their way for us. It was a very relaxing stress-free vacation in a beautiful location. Exceptional staff included the manager Shaneka who made the black rock reservations for us; Gillian who made the world's best mojitos; Tange who helped us with excursions; Rice at the beach water sports; and waiters Jackson and Cairt. Its hard not to name everyone as they truly all went above and beyond, from bringing us drinks on the beach to simply asking how things were going and looking for ways to make our vacation even better. We enjoyed the snorkeling excursion with Caicos Dreams and really enjoyed iguana island. The clear kayak trip to the mangroves was a lot of fun, we must have seen 50 turtles. The Turks Tours trolley trip gave us a feel for the island. Mostly, we sat under an umbrella on the beach, read and swam! It was a very relaxing, stress-free and enjoyable vacation.

There were 18 of us ranging in age from 9 months to 69, for a family trip. Blue Haven was WONDERFUL from welcoming drinks and an easy check in from Tange to getting extra port a cribs for the toddlers! It's a small resort so it was easy to keep an eye on the 5 older children (11, 9, 9, 7, and 6), we could sit under umbrellas at the beach with the toddlers and baby while the big kids ran between the beach and the pool. The beach was beautiful. The kids had fun on the water trampoline and the pods. They even took out a paddle board. Some of the grownups booked a clear bottom kayak trip from our beach to the mangroves. A shout out goes to Rice(I hope I have her name right) as our guide. Some of our more experienced Kayakers took out resort Kayaks and paddled over to the mangroves for a shorter trip. The food was fantastic as were the drinks. A shout out to Nathalee and the rest of the crew at the swim up bar. We finally had to cut off our big kids from the virgin mudslides and pina coladas.! We booked two babysitters for a grownup night out and Tweetie and Ayaisha showed up with art projects for the kids to do and even got the toddlers to sleep! The accommodations were wonderful and clean. We had one problem with a toilet and it was fixed immediately. I would like to say a thankyou to some of the other staff -Shaneke, Delcardo, Rodney and some of the others that I might have missed. Thank you all for making such a memorable vacation

The resort was beautiful. But what made it the best was the staff. Coco, smiley, and tweety, went above and beyond. They truly made our time there memorable.