We had a wonderful stay at Mermaid Apartments at the end of 2015. The apartment was spacious and had everything we needed for our week long stay including a laundry machine, all kitchen appliances (dishwasher, stove, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, fridge with ice maker), satellite TV with plenty of channels, wifi internet, phone service, two floor fans, etc. The phone service (see tips below) and internet was reliable and fast enough for normal activity. The location is a two minute drive from Crane Beach, which was our favorite beach on the island. Also, Ginger bay was just a short walk away and was almost always secluded, though we did not venture far into the water there due to the currents. A car is definitely needed in order to explore the island. Bridgetown and Holetown on the West end of the island are about 30-35 minutes away by car and St Lawrence Gap was about 20-25 minutes away.
Maggie, the owner, was very helpful and answered all of our questions promptly and in detail. Shelley the housekeeper, was at the apartment when we arrived and showed us around. Lynn, the apartment manager, stopped by to check up on us and gave us many tips on places to visit and eat. She was extremely friendly and helpful and delight to speak with.
The only issue we had was the bedrooms got quite hot at night when the windows were down, which we had to do for three nights due to intermittent heavy rains. The winds would make the rain blow into the apartment if the east side windows are kept open.
A few tips:
- When making local calls on the house phone, be sure not to enter the 246 area code. If you do include this area code, or an international area code, the phone service will disconnect for a few minutes. Also, it seems the internet connection cuts out for a brief moment when phone calls are made.
- The apartment has a cooler that can be used. It does not have portable beach chairs/umbrella (these can be rented at the more popular beaches for 15-20 USD per pair)
- Make reservations at restaurants ahead of time (especially on weekends and holidays) - Many restaurants had very long (60-90 min) wait times for walk-ins, despite having many tables open (they may have fixed seating times).
- If renting a car, rent a gps or bring one and load BajanNav maps onto it. This made driving and navigation significantly easier.
Overall, we had an excellent stay at Mermaid apartments and would highly recommend it.