Overall this place is beautiful. Villas are spacious with upgraded amenities--travertine floors, luxury tiled baths, great beds, granite and subzero appliances, etc. etc. We found the service to be fine--had a question about how to work the TV and they sent someone right over to show us. One thing they did not advertise was the fact that they give you a free continental breakfast every day poolside. I remembered seeing that when we booked our room but they did not tell us about it until I specifically asked. It's not the best of spreads but it comes in handy at a place where lunch can set you back $40 per person.

Our major beef with the place is the beach. It is a beautiful stretch of white sand on the other end from the Four Seasons Resort. It should be a perfect place to park yourself and enjoy the turquoise waters. But we were appalled when we actually walked on the beach the first day and discovered that there were hundreds of pieces of garbage mixed in with the sea grass that had washed up on the beach--all sorts of plastic containers, tons of plastic bags, motor oil containers, etc. It was worse than any site I have seen in the States--at least in the past 30 years. Kind of took the fun out of going in the water knowing that all this stuff was floating around in it. It certainly wasn't what we expected being in the remote "Out Islands". By our third day there it was better so they must have cleaned it up a little. Still, it was a little disappointing given the fact we paid around $1300 a night for our villa. The beach on the Four Seasons end was spotless, by the way, so they must pay better attention to cleaning it regularly than Grand Isle Resort does.

We decided to stay at Grand Isle because the reviews on the Four Seasons (right down the beach) were mediocre. The rooms at Grand Isle are beautiful. The furnishings, bedding, appliances, etc. were all top notch (Bosch washer & drier, Sub-Zero refigerator, Kohler fixtures, granite countertops and stone flooring). The first floor of our unit consisted of the master bedroom and bath. Upstairs was the kitchen, living area, dining area and a powder room. Because the units are individually owned, the interior design is slightly different in every one, but the two we saw were both gorgeous and appeared to be brand new. Our unit had two upstairs decks overlooking a beautiful crescent of beach. If you need a safe in your room, be sure to request a room that has one. Ours did not even though I had emailed the resort in September when I made the reservation and was told that the rooms had safes. After unpacking, we realized we did not have one and the front desk confirmed that most rooms have them, but ours did not.

The general maintenance of the facility is excellent. The pool area is also beautiful. We were generally the only ones at the pool during our visit.

Don't expect service like you would normally receive at a Four Seasons or other high end resort (i.e nightly turn down, bottled water in room and at pool, etc.). It is the one area that prevented me from giving the resort an "Excellent" review. Although the staff was all pleasant, no one went "above and beyond" like you would normally expect from a 5 star facility.

Alex at the pool/restaurant area was an asset to the resort. He understood the hospitality business and was always available to improve the guest experience!

Continental breakfast is included in the room charge, but we preferred to take the golf cart provided with the room to go to the Four Seasons for breakfast. We had one very good dinner at Grand Isle and one very bad experience. Our friend spoke with the restaurant manager the next day and described our experience and he voluntarily took the dinner charge off of our bill.
The best dinner we had was our last night when we ate at Il Cielo at the Four Seasons. We would have eaten there every night if we had known how good the food and service was.

Overall, Grand Isle could have the potential to be a 5 star resort if they take care of some small service issues.

We just returned from a five night/six day stay over Thanksgiving at the Grand Isle Villas on Great Exuma Island in the Bahamas. From start to finish, the experience was one of the very best we have had. The villas are incredibly spacious with high-end furnishings (flat screen tv in every room, etc.) and spectacular views of Emerald Bay. Our three bedroom villa had a huge kitchen (one night, the staff arranged for an-villa meal prepared by a local chef - fabulous!), living area, wrap-around balcony and lots of storage space - perfect for a couple of families with kids. The large pool is adjacent to the Palappas bar/restaurant which serves a killer (in the good sense!) drink, the Vanilla Sky. The staff is wonderfully courteous and helpful, and each villa has its own golf cart in which to tour the adjacent area. The property has its own beach, which immediately abuts the Great Exuma Four Seasons property; the Four Seasons has several restaurants and a casino. Beyond the Grand Isle Villas and the Four Seasons, the main attraction of the island is a series of gorgeous beaches where you can find sand dollars, starfish and the like. We will definitely be back!

Absolutely loved this property! Traveled with a family of four (two teenage boys) and was pleasantly surprised to see the villa was just as pictured on the web site. Beautifully decorated two bedroom villas with all upscale appliances and spacious. Clean, comfortable, and worth every cent. Very secluded property, seldom even ran into any other beachcombers. The beach had wonderful fine sand (not the crushed shell type) and the water is an unbelievable blue and clear. Have visited many Carribean Islands and this one was probably the most "natural" of any we have visited. No stop lights, straight shot to town, and very laid back. You must have a car however, we always explore the islands we visit so this is a must! Being that it was August several beaches and restaurants were closed and ours was rennovating the poolside bar (minor inconvience) Definitely keep this in mind when booking this time of year. One draw back is there are very few restaurants on the island. And only one for "fine dining" and that would be next door at the Four Seasons.It was excellent both in sevice and food. Presentation was beautiful. At the Grand Isle you have a kitchen probably nicer than yours at home and you could always prepare your own meals. It's difficult to find good food at the market across the street and the one in town isn't a whole lot better in their product offerings. But hey, you are on an island and they rely on everything being brought in. The kids enjoyed pizza one night from the pizzeria acorss the street. Took a wonderful half day snorkeling trip on a speedboat Xzooma (bright yellow) and the captain and his son grew up in Exuma so they showed us some unusual secluded cays, a secluded beach, where Pirates of the Carribean was filmed, and then took us to a fabulous reef for snorkeling. Great excursion with personal attention and first hand knowledge of Exuma. Highly recommend it. He also offers parasailing however, on the day we went it started out as cloudy and a bit rainy at first. These tend to blow over quickly.
We also visited Stocking Island and thoroughly enjoyed a few hours at Chat N Chill. Great hamburgers and bar with all your favorite beers. Reasonable prices and a great place to just hang out. This place was Exuma's version of Grand Cayman's Rum Point -both great places to relax and think about all the people who are having to work that day while you are enjoying, a cold drink and laying in the warm sun enjoying all that the beach life has to offer. I would definitely recommend this island and resort and hopefully will return someday. Simply too many islands to see and not enough time!