The Crane Resort

This is a tough review to write, because the property itself is so lovely, and the resort COULD BE a five star resort. For this to happen, the management needs to make some serious adjustments across many departments. THE GOOD. This resort is so pretty: parts are classic (think "Pirates of the Caribbean") and other parts are newer (contemporary). There is a good flow throughout the property, the landscaping is well done, and it truly has great bones. The rooms are nicely appointed and roomy, and would be easy to keep clean. There is a "village" with a cafe/ice cream shoppe, a commissary/store, and areas to sit, gather and relax. The nightly music in the village is fun and enjoyable: steel drums one night, a fiddler, and a singer on other nights. The beach is good if you like big waves. The beach staff does a nice job setting up chairs and umbrellas against a fierce wind. While we were there seaweed was an larger issue than usual, but the resort will offer you a shuttle to another beach if it bothers you (it didn't really bother us). Two of the restaurants are can't miss (Poesia and Zen); the second is Zagat rated and deservedly so. THE BAD. Almost everything needs to be better managed. The staff in general is aloof or annoyed rather than friendly. At one point, the one worker at the general store was ignoring the line and baking cookies for a long time, it did feel deliberate and guests were exchanging glances. Finally, a guest said very nicely, 'excuse me, there is a long line' and the worker started bickering and fighting with him in front of a lot of other guests. It was really uncomfortable. HOUSEKEEPING: When we arrived, our room was not clean (see photos). I spoke with housekeeping, and asked for daily cleaning before 2pm. They came the next day at 4pm as we were resting and showering and I reminded them I had asked for cleanings before 2pm. The next day, they came at 4:30 and said there is no record of my two previous requests for earlier cleaning. I gave up and we would just sit in one room while they cleaned for the rest of the stay. RESTAURANTS/EATERIES: Two restaurants are amazing (see above). The other two restaurants take much too long to fulfill orders (Azure and Carriage House), and the staff is not friendly. Room service takes a really REALLY long time; add an hour to the time you are told. The cafe has a lovely looking menu, but everything we asked for they said 'no. we don't have that today' for the entire week. The general store offers basic food, snacks, and drinks. It would be a good resource but has one employee who was surly and rude and I never went back after the argument she had with a guest. GYM: The gym does not have enough cardio machines for a resort of this size and there is always a wait for equipment at all times of the day. No wipes (Eww), instead one spray bottle and paper sheets, but most people don't use it (eww again). TRANSPORTATION/LOGISTICS: Due to seaweed, a shuttle to another beach was offered. 50 people signed up so two buses were needed.... which they did not arrange, despite having the list! A group of 25 waited for a second bus for over half an hour. On the way back, the return bus left without a bunch of guests and had to turn back to pick them up making the whole return trip almost two hours. STAFF: The staff has not been trained to be friendly or accommodating, so they are not. There are a few exceptions, some lovely people, but the vast majority of the staff comes off as annoyed or overwhelmed, and are unhelpful and unable to handle issues effectively. VALUE: Given the number of issues here, the price is not justifiable. I'm always honest in my reviews, and I've never been so sad to write one. This property is so great and I would love to say that, period. Issues arise almost anywhere you go; the mark of a well run property is how, when, and by whom those issues are addressed. The resort had many chances to make things better, and missed every time. If we had received an apology and a smile with one or two of the issues we encountered, I would be writing a different review. I do hope there is a major change by management because in the right hands, this place could be wonderful. I truly wish this resort the best of luck and hope to return under better management and staffing.

Sonia and I have visited for a week and our experience has been outstanding. The room is beautiful, the beach, lovely, the food at the various restaurants excellent and the service superb. Every single member of staff has been genuine, friendly, helpful and positive. A special mention to the amazing Charisse who was in charge of our room. Sonia has mobility issues, and every person went out of their way to make sure that she never missed out on an activity or experience. Nothing was too much trouble. We are both really grateful.

My husband and I went to the Crane Resort on March 14th, just to experience it and see if it would be a good future destination for us. It is lovely, no doubt. Se we went to the Carriage House for lunch and that’s when the enchantment dissolved. We ordered two salads and waited 45 minutes. I had finished my salad by the time my glass of wine was served. By the way, we were not the only diners waiting as we were. When it came time to settle the check, we waited so long that we finally went to the hostess’ desk and waited for a server to bring the credit card device. No apologies for the delay, nothing! So we will not be choosing the Crane Resort for our next trip.

We stayed at the crane resort for 1 week. The pros outweighed the cons in our opinion. Please do not think this is a 5 star resort because it really isn’t, it’s a 4 star resort that’ll serve it’s purpose. Starting off with the reception area on arrival……. There was no air con and looks dated. Service was ok but not great. The bar area is again dated and feel like they should spend a bit if money to brighten it up and also improve on the service quality. The price of food isn’t cheap considering it’s not the best. The food is ok. The shop on the resort is ridiculously expensive and to be honest feels like you get totally ripped off. This should be looked into by management because sort the pricing out and overall you’ll make more money due to it being more affordable. Breakfast was worth it with great selection of many different options such as Cereal, Fresh Fruit, Omelettes or cooked breakfast. The breakfast area over looks the beach which the location is a great view. Moving onto the Cafe, I must say this was great and offered great iced coffees, Smoothies, Ice Cream, cakes alongside bagels and sandwiches. Very impressed with the cafe couldn’t complain. Service was superb and would highly recommend visiting there for breakfast or lunch! Food at the restaurants is ok but not great I would highly recommend going off resort to experience better quality. Pools are very nice and we managed to get sun beds every day which was great. Service around the pool was good taking orders throughout the day constantly. Beach unfortunately was impacted by seaweed so was unusable to use all week but I must give credit to the staff for putting a shuttle service on 2 times within 1 week we were there to have the opportunity to go to other beaches for free due to this matter. Moving onto the rooms….. we had one of the new suites and can honestly say it was impressive and worth the money. The standard rooms look dated so I wouldn’t personally recommend those rooms but understand cost plays a part. We hired a car which in our opinion is a must for the location of the resort. The front desk sorted the car rental out and was delivered within 24hrs so service for this was great. Overall we had a good stay. This isn’t a negative review on the resort this is a good honest review. We’ve travelled around the world to manage different places and feel it’s important to give an honest opinion. We would recommend this resort but as I say don’t expect 5 star because it really isn’t. Ignore the really poor reviews because o can assure you it’s not a poor resort it just needs a bit of money spent on it which they are currently doing. Please do not hesitate to book the crane you’ll have a good time overall.

Must stay at the crane was very good excellent service, excellent food and a beautiful view of the ocean my check-in host was Rryana was great