We took two of our young adult kids and their significant others to Grand Bahama Island over New Year's for a week. We took advantage of the new flights on Vision Air (a great experience, by the way) directly from RDU to Freeport. With us footing the bill, we wanted to stay in a cottage or condo on the beach so that we could fix most of our meals at home. About the end of July I started looking and there were not that many cottages/condos available with at least 3 bedrooms and two baths, especially since I decided we should stay within walking distance of at least some of the clubs for the younger members of the family. I believe that I found this condo on the TripAdvisor site, read the reviews, e-mailed back and forth with the owner, and decided this was the best bet for us. So here is the review.
This condo has a funny layout but one of the best and biggest terraces with an ocean view that you will ever find - about 200 degree view with a couple of other building in the way at one side. We spent a lot of time, including midnight on New Year's Eve out on this amazing terrace with a big table, grill and lounge chairs.
The master bedroom was a good size with a reasonably nice bathroom (more on this later) and a bit of a view. It adjoins a tiny room with bunk beds, good for young kids. We used it for our luggage. The other two bedrooms were medium sized and shared a bathroom.
The living room is very big with comfy furniture. The kitchen is pretty nice with the usual rental mix of abused pots and pans. The fridge smelled horribly of fish when we arrived (late) but the condo manager came herself and cleaned it out the next day.
The bathrooms were a bit shabby - one was being redone after some flooding which they apologized about. The master room bathroom is OK, but has a broken sauna through a door off of the bathroom and junk seems to have been just thrown in there. Same with the master bedroom closet.
So, the place is nice, with an amazing view and terrace but the upkeep is uneven.
They had cards, poker chips, games, etc. and several nights we actually had whole family matches.
The Coral Beach "resort" is also a mix: the entrance is rather bare and it looks like there were small shops there at some point in time but now those spaces are just empty.
The pool is pretty and overlooks the beach but it was too cold for all of us. The beach however was beautiful for swimming, walking, and awesome snorkeling just off shore a bit up the beach. The small pool restaurant and bar was lively with pretty good food and an active late night bar scene for the over 40's.
You can also rent the owner's van along with the apartment if you wish. We did and it was very useful but not in good shape and finally died before the end of the week. The owner did refund us part of the money which we appreciated. Next time I would find out what a rental from a car rental company would cost and see which was better. We went kayaking in the national park - great fun, and to a beach on the way to the East End that was almost deserted with a good beach bar and restaurant. Also, we needed the van to buy (very expensive) groceries and to find fresh fish.
Overall, if you are not too picky about having a place in perfect shape, it was a wonderful place for a family or group of friends to stay and we will probably go back. Happy to answer questions.
- Coral Beach Freeport
