Ta'Shar and her staff are the best. She went way out of her way to help with one of the passengers on my boat who had forgotten their passport. The Marina is deep and secure. Laid back and quite, nice change from Lucaya.

Thanks, Sean

We stayed here for a nice weekend trip in early November, 2011. This is a decent place to stay if you are coming to Freeport but there are a few qualifications. For one, because of its location and lack of restaurant, it is almost essential that you get a car.
This resort is very much off the beaten path in a very quiet secluded neighborhood just a few minutes south of the old International Bazaar and pretty convenient to the airport.
It is misplaced on many maps of the Island. Some older maps may still have this resort listed as the “Running Mon” resort but its name changed about 4 years ago. Many islanders still don’t know its new name. But the location is also wrong on many map programs. It is located just a few blocks east and across the channel from Xanadu Beach, which is located correctly on most maps. It is located just inside the channel next to the Tyne Beach Terrace.
This resort has a lot going for it. It is very clean and nicely maintained. It has an excellent staff. It’s GM was recently named to the Island’s Tourism Board and really cares to make sure visitors have a good time. It has a nice marina for yacht owners and it is very reasonably priced compared to a few other places on the island.
There are two floors to this resort with all doors opening to the outside. The rooms are spacious and very fresh looking. The floors have no carpet so they stay very clean and the rooms smell very fresh. The beds are a bit firm but not horribly so. There are plenty of power outlets and the resort has free WiFi which worked very well. There are very large cabinets just outside the bathroom on which rests a safe and coffeemaker.
The bathroom is large enough for two. The fixtures worked well and the shower water was hot. Our room came with four bottles of lotion but no shampoo or conditioner (probably an oversight).
This resort also has a non adjacent private beach which is easily reachable either by walking or biking (they provide the bikes) or by car.
The resort has restaurant facilities inside but they are not open, so it is really essential that you rent a car in order to get food.
While this resort is a excellent choice for those who want to come to some of the best beaches in the world, there are some very good reasons to wait awhile before coming.
Grand Bahama Island doesn’t seem to have recovered from several damaging hurricanes that have struck over the last ten years or so. There are many resorts (in fact most of the resorts) that are currently not open due to the triple whammy of storm damage that has never been repaired, a bad worldwide economy that dried up the financing to build or rebuild and the lack of tourists because of the poor economy. All over the island, there are many hotels and resorts that are fenced off with a security guard patrol keeping looters out. There are also many buildings that have been partially built or repaired but then just left in ruins. Someday, the economy will recover and tourists will come back. And when they do, this island might come alive again and be worth visiting again. But its been a few years of the downturn and the island shows it.
While cruise ships do stop here and the island seems to come alive during their stopovers, on the off days, there are many places that are virtually abandoned, the International Bazaar being one key example. It is still open but with only a few dozen shops open.
The restaurants suffer from incredibly slow service (a ‘quick’ lunch can easily take 90 minutes or longer) and wait staff that seem disaffected. Of the nine meals we had on the island, only one didn’t seem agonizingly slow. Since the island grows almost none of its food, the imported food is quite costly and restaurant meals are a more expensive than they probably should be.
There is also crime here probably more so in the down economy. Our car was broken into and a handbag stolen when we went to Gold Rock Beach at the Lucayan National Park. It is a beautiful beach, one of the best if not the best I’ve ever been to. But the park is mainly deserted and the parking lot not attended which easily leads to crimes of opportunity.
If you’ve already decided to come to GBI and need a good, low cost place to stay…this is it. If you’ve not yet decided fully you may want to make sure things have picked back up before committing.

My husband and I recently visited The Bahamas for our 2nd wedding anniversary. Prior to our trip, we used TripAdvisor heavily to decide where we'd stay. I'll try and share our experiences with you in categories so it's easy to see what this resort has and doesn't have so you can make your own choice whether it's for you or not.

PRIOR TO GOING
We had read reviews and contacted Ta'Shar the general manager. She was very friendly and helpful and explained us the availability and the rates. She even introduced us to a reliable cab company, Queenie's Cab Service and helped me negotiate cab rates ahead of time so there were no surprises. She let us know there wasn't food on property but shared with us the local area and amenities so we knew what to expect. She also informed us because we'd be checking in late that security would be letting us in, and even gave me her personal cell phone number in case of issues. This was not something I've ever had before so I felt very comfortable.

LOCATION
The location of the property is about 10-15 minutes from the airport and costs about $20 for 2 people to ride to from the airport. This property offers (2) free limited shuttles, one in the morning to the International Bazaar at 8:30am and the other to Port Lucaya at 7:20pm. The return trip from the port to the hotel is about $15-20. I've heard the cost back from the international bazaar was around $15-20 as well. This property offers free bikes, they aren't brand new but are in good condition. We were able to ride the bikes to both the Cup Board Cafe as well as The Emerald Cafe. There was also a convenience store and a grocery store in these two plazas. We walked to dinner one night as the bikes are locked up by 6pm and the walk was VERY reasonable. This property is waterfront on the canal, as it's a marina. THIS IS NOT A BEACH FRONT RESORT. However, the beach was an easy walk or bike ride from the property that was 7-10 minutes. Then, it was a small 5 minute walk through a wooded pathway to the beach. It wasn't super easy to get to, like most resorts, but the beach was very private and secluded and was very much worth the walk. There were no crowds! This location offers you a chance to experience the culture, local food, local shops, etc. This is not a super loud area, not full of parties, and not near many tourist activities.

ARRIVAL
We arrived around 10:30pm in the evening and were greeted by security and lead to our room without any issues. Ta'Shar even called our room to check in on us and our safe arrival. They also upgraded us to the suite on property!!! It was amazing.

ROOM
Our suite was amazing! It featured a full living room, partial kitchen with microwave and mini fridge as well as coffee maker. We had a 1/2 bathroom in the hallway and a full bathroom and walk in closet (complete with fuzzy, awesome robes) in the master suite. THE ROOM HAD 6 WINDOWS! It was bright and very airy and got a ton of light and sunshine. All the rooms in the place face the marina, but this room overlooked the entire property. It was really one of the nicer rooms we've stayed in, especially with the windows and robes. The bathroom also featured a jacuzzi tub!

PROPERTY
The property is clean and freshly painted. It's not brand new but it's well kept. It features around 30 rooms, all facing the water and 1 suite. The restaurant are bar are both CLOSED. This means, aside from the beverage vending machine, there is no food on site at this property. The property did offer free bikes! They have changed their offerings and no longer include free water shuttles to the beach. They also don't offer return trips but do offer 2 shuttles - 1 in the morning to the International Bazaar and 1 in the evening to the port. We noticed in the bike shed there was a kayak and a paddle boat, but neither were used during our stay. They also don't offer jet ski rentals, but at one time did. The property did have a pool, no hot tub, but it was too cold to use and only got limited sunlight. The views of the waterway were very nice though! There were only 7-10 people staying there at the same time we stayed, so the resort felt very private - almost like our own place. It was very quiet!

STAFF & SERVICE
The staff was wonderful! Ta'Shar and her team were always looking to help. Louis and the guys always helped us get or fix our bikes and were always friendly and waving. The culture is a very friendly one, but this staff took the time to speak with you and genuinely seemed to want to make our stay wonderful. We had no issues with the staff, they were never rude or anything like that. We felt like we made a wonderful friendship with the team.

VALUE
Compared to other hotels and resorts, the value here was tremendous. The cost was reasonable and the amenities for the cost seemed reasonable. It was water front and the rooms were very clean. They had TV's, phones, and all major kitchen appliances that all worked just fine. If you want a hotel that's brand new, you'll pay for it. If you want beach front, you'll pay for it. If you want restaurants and bars on-site, that will cost you also. This resort is basic but it's clean, smells nice, and looks like it has some character.

I hope this has helped you! We enjoyed our stay and are already planning a return trip back. The Stop-n-Go grocery store had reasonable prices and the cafes in walking distance were very reasonabley priced. We felt like we met more locals and experienced more culture this way. Although we love having a tourist experience, for a quiet anniversary, this was perfect!

Thanks, Ta'Shar!!!!

Ta'Shar and the staff were great. We went in early Sept. to avoid an overload of tourists and to find a condo on beautiful Grand Bahama. We originally were staying at another resort but the bed was terrible and we weren't getting any sleep. Then we came to Sunrise resort and had the best sleep( even better than our bed at home). I think we were the only people staying there , it was great. We found our condo but will send our guest overflow to Sunrise Resort. It is just around the corner from our condo in King's Bay. The building is older but clean. I would like to have had a microwave in our room. I had to run to the kitchen room in my nightgown a couple of times.

Cathy from Canada