Sugar Cane Club (Barbados)

The Sugar Cane Club (SCC) is a small, secluded resort in the parish of St Peter, Barbados. 5 minutes drive from Speightstown (the second biggest town on the island), it is the northernmost hotel in Barbados and sits high on the north-west coast. It is classed as a medium hotel by Kuoni and rates in most of the travel guides at around 3 stars.

LOCATION:

It's ideal for those seeking a peaceful holiday. The resort sits ...
...the English winter sets in…

The Sugar Cane Club
Maynards
St Peter
Barbados, West Indies
Tel: (246) 422 5026
Fax: (246) 422 0522

http://www.kuoni.co.uk/countryinfo/htlinf/htlC21.html

http://www.barbadosguide.com/sugarcaneclub.htm

http://www.thefirstresort.com/destinationguides/accommodationinfo.asp?location_code=3049&accom_unit_code=SA_03_13_05&tour_operator_code=UJ&brochure_code=UJ20
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The Sugar Cane Club (SCC) is a small, secluded resort in the parish of St Peter, Barbados. 5 minutes drive from Speightstown (the second biggest town on the island), it is the northernmost hotel in Barbados and sits high on the north-west coast. It is classed as a medium hotel by Kuoni and rates in most of the travel guides at around 3 stars.

LOCATION:

It's ideal for those seeking a peaceful holiday. The resort sits on a hill which slopes all the way down to the Caribbean Sea 3/4's of a mile away, giving you some magnificent views, especially at sunset. This, coupled with the fact that the hotel is boundaried on three sides by a rainforest-like gully, gives a purely tropical and secluded feel for those staying at the SCC. If you are lucky, you can look past the palm trees that dot the grounds and spot the Barbados Green Monkeys that swing and leap through the trees that pack the gully. Occasionally a mongoose might emerge from the greenery, or a hummingbird might flitter around the hibiscus bushes by your villa.

The hotel is NOT BEACHFRONT, nor is it within easy walking distance of shops, restaurants, bar and sea, but there’s a free shuttle service available (see TRANSPORT). The drive from the Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown (only airport on the island) to the SCC takes about 45 minutes - 1 hour depending on traffic and pick-ups/drop-offs at other hotels.

ROOMS:

There are approximately 20 units at the SCC. They cater from 1-2 to 4-5 people in apartments at the main house, or along the hotel grounds in whitewash terracotta bungalow villas. We stayed in a 2 person villa. We had a small brick patio with a clothes rack and table and chairs which our front door opened onto. Our view was of the hotel grounds and one side of the gully. The front door opened into a small sitting area with sofa, coffee table, desk and chair, shelves and TV (with 4 channels – CNN News, Discovery Channel, ESPN Sports and TNT which plays dramas like NYPD Blue, Law and Order, ER etc). Behind the sitting area were 2 single beds, with a bedside unit and a dresser. Above was a ceiling fan, and an air conditioning unit was also fixed on to the wall here. A doorway next to the dresser led through to the kitchenette, which included a gas hob and oven, fridge freezer, shelves, cupboards and full self-catering crockery and cutlery facilities. Next to the kitchen area was the bathroom - toilet, shower/bath and a sink in a worktop which extended all the way along one wall.

It is by no means a first class hotel. When we first entered our villa, I must admit to wrinkling my nose in distaste. The furnishing was very simple and seemed to be a little worse for wear. There was no room for food preparation in the kitchenette unless we collapsed the hob cover. Tiles in the bathroom were chipped, the bottom of the door was slightly warped and the shower looked like it had seen better days back in the 1970’s. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. While all this was true, our villa was perfect for our needs. We didn’t prepare meals very often – just sandwiches which you only need a plate for, or pasta which goes straight into the saucepan. The shower was actually one of the best showers I have ever used! It was a power shower which had about 4 alternative streams and it was fantastic.

FACILITIES:

There is a swimming pool and children’s pool (both linked by a small waterfall) at the SCC. Neither are heated but let’s be honest – when the pool is cold it’s a welcome relief from the hot weather, and in the evening when the temperature has dropped, the pool is lovely and warm from a day in the sun’s rays! Shower and toilet facilities for both sexes are available by the pool, tbut they are'nt great. I used the toilet a couple of times but didn’t use the shower and didn’t see anyone else using it either.

There’s a small games area next to the pool in an alcove, next to the showers. These consist of a pool table, dartboard and ping pong table. They were only used by the kids when we were there and all necessary equipment can be obtained from the hotel bar.

Fax and email facilities are available from Reception, as are safety deposit boxes which you can access yourself at any time. These cost BDS $15 (Barbados dollars, it's roughly BDS $3 to GBP £1) plus VAT for your entire stay, so around BDS $17.95. Telephone calls can be made from your room, all you need to do is dial 9 for an outside line. However, calls are fairly expensive – we made a 10 minute call to the UK and it cost approximately BDS $40. There is no charge for local calls which is good if you need to book a taxi or something.

Tokens have to be bought for your air conditioning, these cost around BDS $25 – $30 and each token lasts 10 hours. We found our ceiling fan to be more than adequate and just had that on all day and all night. We only turned on our air conditioning a couple of times during our stay when it was particularly humid.

Maid service was included in our package, as with most other people staying there. The maids came every morning any time between 9 and 12 and would change our towels every other day and our bed linen twice a week. They even did our washing up when we had forgotten to do it, even though we were self catering! There is no launderette or dry cleaning service at the hotel but both of these are available in Speightstown.

There’s a little hotel library from which you can borrow books (mostly old ones people have left behind). You're supposed to pay BDS $1.50 for each book borrowed, but people were taking books from there and nobody seemed to pay. The same with matches – the bar sell them at BDS $0.50 for your gas hob but every time we went to get them they told us not to bother paying.

Reception sell postcards at BDS $0.80 each - typical beach scenes, attractive people wearing thongs (yawn), pictures of the hotel and of landmarks. They also sell stamps (BDS $0.70 to the UK at time of writing) and you can leave your stamped postcards in the mailbox at Reception for collection.

Babysitters are available at around BDS $12 – 15 per hour and must be arranged with Reception a day in advance.

FOOD AND DRINK:

The hotel has a restaurant and bar. The restaurant hours are 7.30am – 11am for breakfast, 11am – 3pm for lunch and 7pm – 10pm for dinner. Bar hours are 10am – 10pm. Early, but you will be surprised how you get confused with the time in Barbados, 10pm seems like about 1am! Besides, even after the bar is closed, you are welcome to stay with your own bottle of rum and litre of coke to make your own drinks! Room service is available at BDS $3.00 per tray (usually one is enough for two people).

The menu includes both local and international cuisine. Breakfast was included in our package and consisted of toast, tea or coffee and juice. Otherwise, this meal costs BDS $10. Extra options include cereals, eggs, sausages, baked beans, omelettes, pancakes etc.

The lunch menu consists of the usual fare. Sandwiches cost from BDS $5 to $8. Cheeseburgers are BDS $9, hot dogs BDS $6, ice cream or apple pie BDS $5. 'Meals in Baskets’ (chicken, local fish, hamburger or hot dog) in a basket with a bun and salad or fries cost from BDS $8 to $18.

The dinner menu has many choices at all prices. Starters include stuffed potato canoes (yummy!) for BDS $6, mixed salad for BDS $6 and olive and tomato crostini for BDS $5. Main courses include lasagna for BDS $20, macaroni cheese pie (a local speciality) for BDS $15, King Fish Antilles-style for BDS $30, Bajan Steamed Fish for BDS $35 and Steak Diane for BDS $40. There are plenty of choices for vegetarians too.

Puddings include traditional Coconut Cream Pie (absolutely orgasmic but not great for the digestive system if ya know what I mean…), ice creams, chocolate mousse and apple pie. Prices from BDS $5 to $8.

The hotel do not pre-prepare any of the meals, they are all cooked fresh from scratch the moment you order. This does mean that you can end up waiting a long time for your food but I didn’t mind this because it meant you weren’t having something shoved in a microwave and draped with wilted lettuce. The hotel encourage people who are intending to eat in the restaurant to pre-order their food at 4 or 5pm so it will be ready when they arrive and they often phone round all the rooms in the afternoon to ask.

TRANSPORT:

The free shuttle service is a small mini-van that seats 5 people plus driver (hotel staff) and leaves on the hour between 9am and 4pm to take people to the beach and Speightstown. If you want to go further afield, taxis can be ordered from the hotel or the shuttle service can drop you at the bus stop in Speightstown. Once you are ready to go back, you just call the hotel, tell them where you are and they come and collect you.

MY THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed my stay at the SCC. As I mentioned previously, it's definitely not a first class hotel and I’m sure some people wouldn’t like it at all, but I did! The staff were all lovely and the manager, Delia, was often around and helping out. There was one time we had called from the supermarket in Speightstown to be collected and after ten minutes the shuttle hadn’t arrived. Suddenly a little red jeep pulled up in front of us and it was Delia in her own car, saying we had waited too long so she had come to collect us herself!

The hotel has a lot of cats who wander around the hotel grounds. They were quite often on our patio and some of the cheekier ones would try and sneak in. They also sometimes appeared in the bar and occasionally in the restaurant, which isn’t as shocking as it might sound because the restaurant is open air on many sides. We didn’t mind the cats being around but I’m sure some people wouldn't like it, so there’s a warning.

I’m sorry I can’t give any details on pricing as our holiday was a last minute package deal and therefore would probably not reflect the usual cost. However, I have left the SCC contact details below along with a few websites about the hotel (there is no official one) if anybody is interested.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the SCC. It was secluded but near to amenities, had basic but satisfactory accommodation, lovely grounds and buildings, kind and friendly staff and amazing views and pure Caribbean surroundings. Sitting back on a sun lounger, facing the Caribbean Sea as the sun sets through the palm trees is something I will often be picturing in my head as the English winter sets in…

The Sugar Cane Club
Maynards
St Peter
Barbados, West Indies
Tel: (246) 422 5026
Fax: (246) 422 0522

http://www.kuoni.co.uk/countryinfo/htlinf/htlC21.html

http://www.barbadosguide.com/sugarcaneclub.htm

http://www.thefirstresort.com/destinationguides/accommodationinfo.asp?location_code=3049&accom_unit_code=SA_03_13_05&tour_operator_code=UJ&brochure_code=UJ20

 

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