The Cloister at Sea Island

Sea Island has tons of activities to keep the kids entertained. The beach is long and great for running. The ocean is pretty exposed so a bit rough for young children to play in. Fishing trip is great as is the Turtle exploration walk where we got to see hatchlings make their way to the sea. The property is grand and spread out but the pool can get crowded leaving you waiting for a pool chair - not something you would expect from such a resort. They have plenty of shops and dining options.

Made a reservation one year ago (# 391307) The hotel had to cancel (done via email) 4 days before our week stay due to Hurricane Irma. This I totally understand. When Rebecca from the hotel called me 2 days later to confirm I knew our stay was cancelled, I asked to reschedule while I had her on the phone. The same room was now $150 more a night! I asked if I could be given the same rate and she said that she would have to speak to her manager. I asked when when I could expect a return call & she said today...never happened! You would have thought that they would not have to get manager approval to give the same rate...plus....you would think that they might offer a nice "perk" to their guests who have been inconvenienced by mother nature. Oh, by the way, I'm still waiting for my $1,100+ deposit that Sea Island kept for a year to be refunded also.

First, the property is very pretty, elegant furnishings. A very expansive place with multiple buildings. Received nice greeting from valet and reception, but the experience went down hill from there unfortunately. A series of poor customer service events ensued from check in, including: telling us the room was ready then giving it away to another customer right in front of us, making us wait for almost 2 hours for a room that did not meet our requests(with non-working refrigerator as well) and the attitude of expecting us to accept this as good service. They tried to move us to a room that also did not meet our requests and really by then it was almost comical if we weren't so travel weary. They tried to throw in resort credit to appease us, but in the end we stayed one night only and got out as soon as possible the next morning. To their credit they did not hold us accountable for the remainder of our original expected stay. Tim with bell services really was the only one concerned about the experience and did his best to be our advocate. On leaving the property, we also found an erroneous bar bill of over $100 charged to our account which we had to also call and complain about because it wasn't ours and they did reverse it, but seriously! Having stayed at the Broadmoor several times with exemplary experiences, we expected better from a sister property.

so the resort is beautiful.. been to many resorts on both coasts and the service was "blah". The manager did call to apologies afterwards, but too many 'issues' came up during our stay... (1) coffee maker in room not only had left over grinds in it, but there was significant mold (so... MANY days old) (2) ordered b/fast room service, half the items were missing so i called them back. They brought them pronto but tried to get me to sign for a new bill for the second batch. (like i'm going to lie and cheat them out of a bowl of fruit loops??) (3) Had dinner in their fine dining.. went to bathroom and upon exiting, an employee walks in while chatting on HER cell phone (I was in men's room). I mentioned that others were in restroom so she kept talking and moved next door to women's room. Really? (4) reservation was booked with "upgrade upon availability". Got in late and was told nothing available. When we got unpacked, i checked online and find out that there was plenty available Checked next morning, same thing. Went to front desk and was again told "nothing available". When i showed her their availability on my cell phone, she was then able to honor our reservation. (amazing how the upgrades miraculously appeared) (5) BTW, the first room had stuff in fridge left over from previous guests. (gross) Door peeps, pool peeps, beach peeps, etc were all spectacular. Too many issues with everything else will keep us from coming back.

We had an absolutely fantastic experience at The Cloisters, July 2017. Our River View Room was gorgeous with a veranda on the River where we enjoyed coffee in the morning and champagne in the evening, the bathroom was huge and the shower head delightful. The service was spectacular. At 6am we picked up biscuits and delicious coffee in the lounge area and walked the beach for a few miles before a fantastic breakfast (choice ala carte or buffet --- we chose the buffet). The restaurants were wonderful, we loved the Risotto at the Tavola, and dinner at The Georgian was as good as it gets (the Raclette was was superb and served by the Chef himself, the lamb delicious an souffle perfect). The pools are wonderful, the beach and service spectacular. The staff was amazing. Maryssa booked our dinner at the Georgian and assured we were superbly taken care of. It could not have been a more wonderful experience.