My husband and I traveled to Hayman in late January for our honeymoon and it was, hands down, the best vacation I have ever taken. They thought of everything to make the experience as convenient, flawless, and problem free as possible. We traveled to Hayman from Hamilton Island and from the moment we exited the terminal we knew our experience would be like no other. The Hayman desk is the first one you see as you exit the terminal. There was a wonderful gentleman to greet us, take our bags, and direct us to the boat.

I used the word boat but it is most definitely a luxurious yacht. The yacht was spacious and nicely appointed. Zoe and Laura greeted us as soon as we boarded with a tray loaded with wonderful cocktails. Our glass was never empty the entire way and we were served some tasty snacks. You are given your key once you board so you can go straight to your room and start enjoying your vacation versus waiting in line at the front desk.

Once we arrived on Hayman we were greeted by Christopher Brown, the head butler, who escorted us personally to our rooms. And what a room it was. We stayed in a 1 bedroom suite in the Lagoon Wing that was uber modern and enormous. The floors were a combination of marble and hardwood and the bathroom was out of this world. I'm still trying to get someone to transport it to NYC.

During our stay we dined at the Oriental, La Trattoria, Azure, a beach cabana, and Fontaine. They were each unique and special dining experiences. The Oriental has these cozy platforms where you can have a private dining experience. We absolutely LOVED the duck spring rolls. La Trattoria was excellent as well and my gnocchi was out of this world as was the foccacia. The seafood buffet at Azure...another wonderful treat and it is right on the beach so perfect for a romantic dinner. Azure is also the location of the buffet breakfast that includes champagne and bloody marys. Our final meal was at the Chef's Table at Fontaine. I live in NYC with no shortage of amazing dining experiences and Chef Anthony prepared one of our top 5 meals ever. He is definitely a chef to look out for. I was fascinated by the preparation of the smoke of salmon (absolute must have when you're there) and loved the flavor of the duck. You MUST take advantage of the Chef's Table if it is available during your stay. And I almost forgot the delicious picnic lunches we got for our island excursions.

Now let's talk about the island excursions. If there is one thing you should do when you're on Hayman, it is take the helicopter to Whitehaven Beach. It is absolute paradise and very worthy of being deemed one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The sand is blinding white and so soft. Take your jewelry with you if you want to give it a nice cleaning in the 98% silica sand. Let me not leave out how clean and picture, perfect blue the ocean is. And because it's not easy to get to you practically get the beach to yourself. During our visit the only beach goers were me, my husband, and one other gentleman. To top it off during the helicopter ride you get to see the most magnificent views of the Great Barrier Reef. Definitely, definitely worth the investment. We also went snorkeling on Blue Pearl Bay and it was another great experience. The staff takes care of everything from towels, to chairs, to food, to gear so all you have to do is show up. The main resort pool was enormous (I think I heard 7x Olympic size) and finding chairs at anytime was never a problem.

If it's not obvious we had a trip of a lifetime at Hayman. It was worth every penny. The accommodations were beautiful, the activities were endless, and the cuisine was divine. However what made this trip most special was the kindness and care given to us by the staff. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and stopped at nothing to ensure our every need was anticipated. Similar to our arrival, we received our bill and departure arrangements the last night of our stay, left our luggage in the room, and simply walked out to the transportation that took us back to a different and even more fabulous yacht. We never had to wait in a line to check out. This hotel has figured out all of the pain points around travel and eliminated them and infused the experience with everything possible to make it something we will remember for years and years to come.

We were so sad to leave Hayman but we will return!

It was meant to be the dream resort. Unfortunately it's nothing like that.
First of all I would like to start with the positives:
- The site is absolutely fantastic. Beautiful views, great beaches around the area and also nice vegetation in the resort. Hat off to the landscaper!
- One of the restaurants "Fontaine" is outstanding (we went there twice). Great food and wine lists (although the latter is a bit pricey). We didn't have the chance to try the Chef's table as it wasn't available during our stay. The seafood at the Beach Pavillion was excellent. Oriental was disappointing though.
- Diving is excellent: organization, diving sites, the staff is professional and very nice
- Same for the Helicopter Tour. Clearly the highlight of our trip. If you come here, don't miss it
- In general the staff is very welcoming and very nice

All this is great if it wasn't spoiled by the many negatives to come:
- The Hotel: it's very tired. I am sure it was great in the 60s but we are in 2012. The style is dated, the furniture in the rooms is of average quality and there is no harmony whatsoever across the resort. Oh BTW, the shutters in our room were broken. We asked for them to be fixed but it didn't happen. We even asked for sleeping masks but the hotel didn't have any. We ended up waking up every day at 6AM!
- Price: AUD$ 850 a night + 10% government tax. That's more than the Amanpuri in Phuket or the Reethi Raa in the Maldives. Whilst the sites are equally stunning, the service and the quality of accommodation is so superior.
- The Gym: it's outdoor. Though to train when the temperature is 30 C+. The equipment is very old and dirty. The staff is very nice though
- The Beach Bar: Fantastic site with great views on the sea. How on earth is it closing at 7PM?? This would have been the perfect spot for after dinner drinks. BTW there is no bar open after 10PM.
- They use the restaurant overlooking the sea only for breakfast. I find it hard to understand why the opportunity of having a nice romantic dinner by the sea is wasted!!
- Then add the extras. The transfer from the hotel to the Island by boat is AUD $290 per person. That's by far the most expensive boat ride I've ever had. In all resorts in this range of price I have been (such as Aman, Four seasons or Six Senses...), the transfer is included in the price of the room rather than been sneaked in.
Overall, I would say Hamilton Islands is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Though Hayman is not living up to its expectations. It's a shame because the potential is HUGE. It just needs to be better managed by people with experience in other great resorts (preferably in Asia). Leading Hotels of the World should go there again and review their judgment.

We just returned from a 6 night stay, and given some of the negativity in the earlier reviews, I thought I’d share our experiences of the island.

The Staff:
The staff are really top notch. You see staff members everywhere you turn! Each one has a smile on their faces and wishes you a good day each time you see them. The restaurant staff were attentive to your needs, eager to explain the menu intricacies and yet not obtrusive to the dining experience. Each time we turned up at the pool, we were immediately greeted with water jugs and a menu, and the pool bar staff were more than happy to assist my partner with his non-alcoholic drinks of choice.

The Resort:
The pictures don’t lie – Hayman is stunning. We stayed on the 3rd floor of the pool wing – while we were initially disappointed to not be able to have a pool-access room, this turned out to be a better result. These rooms have stunning views out towards the Coral Sea, and we felt that the pool-access rooms compromised privacy in favour of this small luxury.
The grounds were clean, well presented and consistently attended to by the landscape staff. We took the walk around the island and this was a fantastic experience – on a day with close to 90% humidity, it was a sweaty affair, but the views were worth it! Close to 6 hours it took us, but that allowed us to visit all the signposted lookout points and we got some amazing photos. The track was a little degraded (owing to Cyclone Yasi last year) but all in all it was a relatively easy walk.
Only two minor gripes – Firstly: the pool. The pool was rather warm, however this cooled as the rains fell more consistently over the week we were there. Considering the tropical location, this is really only a minor point to us. Secondly: the marble. The time we were on the island was extremely humid and rained quite a bit. We found ourselves skidding on the marble highlights on occasion, however, this was something we could easily avoid and learnt from during our stay.

The Food:
Azure for breakfast, and Fontaine and Oriental for dinner were simply amazing. I couldn’t get enough of the freshly baked Hayman pastries at breakfast, not to mention the complimentary Bloody Mary bar (a most amazing holiday indulgence!). My partner was also quite impressed with the pastries, and the chef’s willingness to provide some extra-crispy bacon really impressed him. One of our favourite food experiences was the Cabana – unfortunately due to the windy evening we had to schedule this in our room, but this made no difference to us. The food was exquisite. The chefs on the island achieved the best “medium” cooked steak I have ever had the pleasure of eating, and I feel they deserve a special commendation for this. We’d also like to give a special mention to Oriental – the duck spring rolls were delicious, and the kingfish and Szechuan chicken mains were remarkable. The desserts are beautifully presented and tasted amazing – I can personally recommend the Coconut gelee with Pineapple sorbet – yum!
Our one dining disappointment was La Trattoria – the antipasti bar was average, with my partner disappointed with the prawns available here (I’m not a prawn eater myself). The pizzas were not the best I have experienced – I have a favourite woodfired pizza restaurant at home that does a better job than here. I was quite shocked to see a food bill that exceeded $150 for 2 people dining, with only one glass of wine – I expected high prices, but this was probably the only evening that we felt we did not get our money’s worth. We also noted an absence of pasta from the menu – while this is a pizzeria, it would’ve been nice to have a pasta option available. We did feel that perhaps one more restaurant was needed, however the lack of this did not significantly impact on our stay.


The Prices:
Much is said of the cost of Hayman in earlier reviews, and aside from La Trattoria, we felt the prices were very reflective of the type of food you would expect at 5-star resort. We are more than happy paying larger dinner bills knowing that the food is of the standard offered by Oriental and Fontaine. Drink prices seemed fairly reasonable as far as cocktails and beers go, but we found most of the wine out of our financial reach.

The Activities:
Hayman offers a number of amazing experiences, including snorkeling drop-offs at Langford (look out for the turtles!) and Blue Pearl Bay 2 (amazing for fish and coral)… Both are very worthwhile experiences and highly recommended! We also took the “Seaflight” trip out to Knuckle Reef Lagoon – Hayman guests are treated like royalty and this was also an amazing experience. Unfortunately we missed out on a seaplane trip to Whitehaven due to winds, but this will give us something to do next time we visit! The low tide sandflats walk was also an unexpected pleasure – we did this on a day where other activities had been cancelled and we managed to see turtles, sting rays, sea cucumbers and the like. Our guide Jeremy demonstrated a wide knowledge of the sea-life and made this tour very enjoyable.

All in all, we had an amazing time on Hayman, got some great photos and managed to achieve both a relaxing and activity-filled holiday. We will most definitely be coming back!

My husband and i travelled in February 2011 on our honeymoon. Transfers and checkin were without event and we were in our room and relaxed in a matter of minutes. We stayed in a Retreat Room (as unfortunantly the beach villas were a little out of our price range) but were very happy with the rooms. Yes in previous reviews there are those who complain about ants but there tiny little black ones who come in under the outdoor shower door which cant be stopped and i never spotted them any further into the room than the bathroom.

The outdoor shower is beautiful. We used this mostly as we had perfect weather, and really felt this was very romantic. Turn down was done every night and we loved the little chocolates and water left for us every night with the printout of all events, activities and restaurants open for the next day.

We found the grounds to be in good condition (even after the cyclone) and enjoyed just wandering around on occasion to view the scenery. The main pool was excellent. Always plenty of towels and chairs available and the staff were always on hand quickly to offer you complimentary water and or food and drinks. Hint.. watch the cockatoos (they will go for anything including the water in the bottom of the jug!!)

FOOD .. was of a very high standard. There was only 2 restaurants open of a night so limited choice if you thought they were all an option but this was due to closure of 2 areas due the cyclone damage. We dined at Trattoria, Oriental and the pool bar (which is very relaxed) and enjoyed all. The oriental staff were very knowledgable and made the dining experience wonderful. The only let down to this was we were unable to dine in the garden area as the outdoor areas were damaged from the cyclone.

The rooms were comfortable and clean and if we were still around when the cleaning service turned up we just went for a walk to the pool and back and they were gone by then.

We are returning to Hayman Island for our 1 yr anniversary in 3 weeks time and are hoping our experience is just as good as last year. This time however we will be checking the 'do not disturb' light is working outside from the switch inside as we had a rather embarrasing moment with a member of staff through a comedy of errors with the light bulb not work un awares to both of us.