My two children aged 12 & 15 and myself have just returned from a fantastic 4 nights staying in the Whitsunday apartments. We chose to stay there instead of the reef view hotel for the extra room and it was good having a lounge and kitchen area. The balcony was huge and I would never get tired of that view! Just beautiful on the 5th floor.
On Hamilton you can do as much or as little as you like and the kids enjoyed the go-karts, tubing and para sailing. The prices were what you would expect to pay on an island. The kayaks were free and we were lucky to see a big turtle one day just off shore. We hired a buggy one day but the free shuttle buses were great to get to the marina side of the island where most of the shops are.
We went on the half day trip to Whitehaven beach which was just beautiful.
We ate at Sails restaurant and the Steakhouse, both delicious and our breakfast was included every day at at the reef view hotel or koala gallery. Huge and yummy!
I would definately recommend Hamilton Island for families as there is so much to do or just laze by the many pools. We had perfect weather in September.

August 24th 2009

My husband and I chose to stay at the Apartments as opposed to a hotel just to give us a bit more room and the choice of dining 'in' if we wished. We did some research prior to booking and discovered that some of the rooms had recently been renovated. Of course it's all personal taste and whether you're bothered or not but we thought if we can secure one it would be so much nicer.

I found their direct phone line on their web page and spoke directly to their reception. We of course were not sure whether we would be lucky but our room was on the top floor and had been updated. It made a tremendous difference to us as we were aware that the apartments were graded as 3 1/2 stars and we liked 4 star upward - who wouldn't? We did have a peek in one of the rooms on a lower floor and believe me they were very old fashioned.

All the apartments have the same design and layout but having a renovated one meant that all furnishings and fittings were modern. The lounge/dining area was very roomy and led out to the balcony. Our modular sofa was extremely comfy as was the armchair and footstool. A great place to lounge and watch a DVD on the walled plasma TV. They had a channel devoted totally to the island explaining about all the activities, shops, restaurants etc. that went on around the Island.
The kitchen was at the other end and was compact but had everything you needed. We cooked two meals during our stay and felt a bit guilty when we left the dishes in the sink and found they had been washed, dried and put away by room service the next day.

The bedroom was off the lounge and had a king bed, wardrobe and a kind of day bed. This had drawers underneath that were deep and roomy to put folded clothes in. Opposite the bed was an alcove with a basin and shelves and also the hair dryer.
We also had a smaller plasma TV and DVD player that came in handy when we decided to watch a movie late one night.
The en-suite was off the bedroom and again very functional ,clean and fresh.

The balcony was were we spent most of our time when in the apartment. It was quite big having a table and four comfy chairs and two loungers. Being on the top floor the view was magnificent. It was panoramic and simply breathtaking. We overlooked Catseye Beach that went on forever to the Whitsunday Island in the distance.
We enjoyed a few glasses of wine out there. One thing you are warned about is the birds that land on the railings looking for food. They were beautiful rainbow lorrikeets and crested cockatoos. Very friendly and fantastic to watch as they swooped in front of you. We made only one mistake, once. We forgot to close the sliding door when we left one morning. When we got back later the room was full of birds enjoying a feast on bread, crisps and anything else they could find. They did leave a mess but it was quite funny really just watching them. Never made that mistake again!

There was a laundry on three of the floors. Although I don't like to think about washing when I'm on holiday it did come in useful a couple of times. We put a wash on on the way to breakfast and picked it up on the way back. You could use the drier if you wanted but we chose to hang everything on a clothes drier on the balcony, dried before the end of the day. And the iron and ironing board came in handy.

We had breakfast included in our package and this was a short stroll to the Reef Hotel next door. It was a full on buffet and you could just keep eating and eating!

There was a lovely tropical swimming pool just outside, amongst the gardens. But you could also use the Reef's pool if you wanted. There was also a pool close to the beach. But wherever you wanted to go the Apartments were in easy reach to everything.

We would certainly go back and definiately recommend it as a place to stay if you wanted more than a hotel room but with hotel facilities.

We have just returned from 7 nights on Hamilton Island.
We stayed in an Apartment with Hamilton Island Holiday Homes which was fantastic, it was well set up, great kitchen, laundry, bath and shower. Everything we needed with our four children aged 2,4,7 and 9.
We had the use of a golf buggy for our entire stay which was a great way to get around the island.
Disappointed that the weather was rainy and windy and 19 degrees when we arrived. This passed after a couple of days however. The water was cold, we needed wetsuits for snorkelling.
We went on a trip to Chalkies Beach and Whitehaven, called the Two in One with Watersports. Whitehaven Beach is a must see, absolutely stunning. Chalkies was disappointing, the coral was not very impressive, poor visiblity and not many fish.
A better trip was with H2O out to the Coral Gardens, fantastic.
The Kids Club - The Clownfish Club was well set up with great staff but very expensive - Aus$52 for our 2 year old to go for half a day (NZ$66).
Sails Restaurant was great, we ate there for lunch and 2 dinners, Kids Eat Free was a bonus. Also the Manta Ray Cafe for fantastic pizza.
Take lots of money because things are expensive, it was great being able to do our own cooking and the General Store was quite well stocked.
The Koala Gallery was a good place for the kids to visit, pay once and they can keep going back for free and they get to pat the koalas. Optional Photos for Aus$18.50 with koala or snake.
We went over to Shute Harbour, Airlie Beach on the Fantasea Boat so we could go on the Crocodile Safari it was great but expensive. It is a half hour boat trip and they charge Aus$86 per adult and $43 per child return! Seeing the crocs in their natural habitat was great though.

We had 4 nights on Hamilton Island at the Whitsunday Apartments (me, my husband and our 2 children - ages 12 and 9).

Hamilton Island is a beautiful place with plenty to do and beautifully landscaped gardens. The main pool is pretty incredible and staff were pleasant and helpful. There was a program of activities such as beading, soccer, face painting, exercise classes, art classes, etc - as well as watersports and day trips off the island. The free shuttle buses are efficient and an easy was to get around. We did rent a golf buggy one day and that was a fun novelty.

We felt that most things on Hamilton Island were quite overpriced (the hotels, restaurants, drinks, souveneirs, etc). While we realize it is a tropical island, and did not expect to find bargains, we noted that pricing was significantly more expensive than Daydream Island (which we did in the same trip and preferred over Hamilton).

While Hamilton Island was worth seeing, I would not recommend the Whitsunday Holiday Apartments. They were very dated and, while clean, quite dingy and shabby. They seemed to have no sound proofing and we could clearly hear people walking above us, talking and sliding their closet doors. Even worse, the plumbing sounds from other rooms were very, very loud and we would wake up several times a night from the noise. The pool for this hotel looked run-down, but not a huge deal as we just used the main pool instead. On the plus side, they were roomy and centrally located.

I'm not a tough reviewer, I think this is the first unfavourable trip advisor review I have posted. The island itself is great - it is just the Whitsunday Apartments and the overly high prices (ie not good value) that we didn't like.