The resort is in need of a refurbishment as it is 'tired.' The activities were good and there was plenty to do for families. Pools were great, although one of the pools had a swim-up bar which was closed during an extremely busy time of year. We stayed in a ground floor beachfront room and the location was fantastic, the rooms were nothing special but comfortable enough for the time we spent in there. Dining options were very limited - if you didn't go to the buffet for dinner (which was not ideal for our family with 3 young children), then there was a takeaway and that was it. Some of the staff were rude and clearly didn't want to be there, others we found to be very helpful and friendly. Overall we had a great family holiday but certainly wouldn't rave about the resort.

This place is awful! What a shame to have such a beautiful island spoiled with such a horrible resort. We stayed in a beachfront room. It did have a great view of the beach, but it looked as though it had been decorated as cheaply as possible. Everything was dated, there were mould stains on the bathroom walls, the pillows were lumpy and there was no soundproofing so when our neighbours switched on their TV at 6.30am we were woken up. All the staff were friendly but many seemed to be very new and as a result things were not done efficiently. Housekeeping staff seemed to do very little as the room never appeared to have been cleaned properly. The choice of food was appalling - we ate once at the Reef takeway and we had to actually throw away the food because it was so unappetising. We also tried the International Buffet, which was slightly better but still very mediocre. There were no a la carte options, which was annoying. There are so many other beautiful islands in this part of the world, so go elsewhere!

After a week on Dunk Island at the same time last year, we were looking forward to another relaxing, idyllic Island holiday. We booked a 7 day stay with 2 small children (3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old) at Great Keppel Resort.

The natural resources of Great Keppel Island are beautiful. Great clean beaches for the kids to play. The resort facilities are tired but more family friendly and better management would have made our stay more enjoyable.

The weather was superb, not too hot, and we used the beach every day. The pools are not heated and were very cold. They don't have child proof fences so parents had to keep a vigilante eye on toddlers near pool areas.

From the day we arrived it was clear the management was poor. We had specifically requested a ground floor apartment and were given an upper floor with a balcony that was far from child proof. Despite a lack of people on the island we could not move until the following day. We realised later this was because the cleaning of rooms was so far behind. We moved to a beach front room which was centrally located and great for access to the beach. At this time of year the lack of room air conditioning was not a concern.

If flying, you book your flights to & from the Island with the resort. Our return flight was double booked and with another family who had similarly been double booked on their arrival. To ensure you don't miss connecting flights in Rockhampton you must check your flights ... repeatedly.

The bakery/convenience shop closes at 5pm most days. There are two choices for dinner. The fine dining restaurant opens at 6pm. The reef takeaway was not always open for dinner with no apparent timetable to be able to co-ordinate a variety of dinners between the two. (The island has a privately run pizza restaurant but this was not open during our stay.)

The reef takeaway was open air dining with pub style meals (eg barramundi & chips, steak & chips) and great wood fired pizzas. It was located beside an unlit, unfenced swimming pool. Watching young children was paramount.

The fine dining restaurant had a very limited, unchanging menu with say 6 choices of entree and 6 of main meals. (If you don't eat seafood or are a vegetarian your choices are very limited.) The meals were mainly very nice and very small (nouvelle cuisine) with mains about $35 each. A semi-freddo for dessert was 3 thimbles of ice cream (and $12.50). A request for a well done steak took 45 minutes and had a layer of charcoal. See comments below regarding children's meals. The restaurant was far from full but the food took a long time to arrive which seemed even longer when entertaining kids and trying not to disrupt childless patrons.

This is not a children friendly island.

The kids meals in the fine dining restaurant were spaghetti (so full of garlic and no vegetables in the sauce), chicken nuggets & chips, steak & chips, and fish & chips. So for a 7 day stay there was no variety and not a single vegetable (unless you count the chips). One night we requested, from the adult menu, the vegetable ravioli minus the goats cheese sauce. It took 40 minutes to check if it was possible and cook.

The kids club needed at least 3 registrations a day before it opened. It was a very basic building, nothing in the backyard and was located toward the back of the resort (out of sight out of mind??!?!). The kids playground adjacent was basic, a small slide and structure 20 cm off the ground and our kids lost interest in it very quickly.

The bakery/convenience store has a limited variety of food. It does not sell any fruit or vegetables. There was no where to buy fruit unless you took it from the breakfast buffet or ordered a lunch takeaway backpack.

We 'discovered' lunch takeaway backpacks (through the activities centre). The standard pack was a good size and included 4 chicken sandwiches, fruit, cheese, biscuits, muesli bars and water for about $30 but required 24 hours notice to order ... and I mean 24 hours; 3pm the day before is not sufficient for lunch the following day. Unfortunately, you couldn't plan to take it hiking or to a remote beach because you couldn't collect it until 12 midday. The first day's pack was excellent. A request for a change for the following day (to leave out blue cheese) saw sandwiches filled with chicken fat and other smelly cheeses included (this compared with a brilliant pack the previous day including fairly standard edam & dutch cheeses).

Unfortunately the quiet season meant the (extra cost) short trip cruise to the observatory was only running twice the week we were there. We were fortunate to make it on our last day and it was a great trip.

Staff were friendly, most greeting you when they walked past and interacting with the kids. They repeatedly said that when the Resort renovates it will be better/great. The facilities are tired but better management would have made it a much more enjoyable holiday.

If this is the off season and quiet we hate to think how they would manage in the busy season.

Normally we go overseas for our holidays (have never needed to complain about any of trips have always had a great time & excellent service). Thought we would stay in Aussie this time probably won't again.

We just got back from Great Keppel & I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. We were only there for 1 hour & we already couldn't wait to leave as you wouldn't expect this from a resort.

Service is shocking we arrived off the plane & we were pointed in the direction of reception by the pilot had to drag our bags there. At reception again pointed in direction of our room and told go that way & you will find your room again dragging our bags to the room. About half an hour later they rang our room to see if we wanted our bags (a bit late for that).

Later found out if you came by boat they picked up your bags from the boat & you received a welcome drink & tour of the resort which we did not get. Thought paying for a flight instead of the boat would give you the same level of service.

We chose this destination as it was supposed to have a good kids club.
Kids club was only open once while we were there, advertised open all year round.

Rooms were very basic for the money it cost expected a lot better. Not to mention the springs popping every time you moved in the bed.
We felt like a backpacker hotel would have had a better accommodation & service than we had.

Servicing of the room we had to tell them what to replace as it wasn't done. Had a sign saying to leave dirty towels etc in shower if you wanted clean ones. We would have to tell them that we needed new ones as the dirty towels would still be in the shower after they left.

Each guest was given a token for a pool towel for your stay, but if you needed a clean one you would have to pay $2.

We also went to book a cruise there was only 2 seats left we needed 4, noticed on the screen only 3 people had booked and there was a note stuck on the screen to hold 7 seats, didn't mind about this until we found out later that it was booked out by staff. Thought guests would come first then if there were spare seats left the staff could go as they can go anytime.

Spas had sand in & not cleaned the whole time we were there, the pools didn't seem much better.
The only watersports that were available was the canoes. The catamarans, windsurfing was not seen. Jetskis only out once told the kids they could go on them the next day but they didn't have them out again.
We heard from other guests they had more problems than us and they informed us that there is no point complaining to management as they didn't seem to care.

Definitely would never go back again.