We were concerned with this trip because of the reviews, so we contacted Mr Burrows at the resort and upgraded to beachfront in the Bimini building. It was excellent. The food is buffet style, not perfect, but it more than fills you up. The specialty restaurants were very good. The dive shop is great. The staff is friendly, gracious and will go out of their way to help you. The beach is great with a very nice reef out front. There have been some reports of building going on. And, yes, there is remodeling going on but you have to search it out because they don't want to disrupt the resort. We only had one problem and it was out of the resort's control. This was with the tour operator and an excursion. So go to this resort, get ocean front and your room will be good. We did alot of homework in regards to this trip and it paid off. We are very glad we went and will for sure return

This was my first visit to the Islands and I took along my best friend as we were in desperate need of some overdue down time. The check in process was easy and we were greeted warmly and there were no issues. We ended up in the C building which is quite the walk from the front desk. The room was not bad, a bit out dated, but I hear they are renovating soon.

We got bored there after our first day, but the constant flow of drinks certainly helped. We were not impressed with the food in the main dinning hall and I am not a picky eater - it was challenging at best. We ate alot of salad and if you dont arrive early you will find the selection is not ample. We did eat at the Italian restaurant once and it was fine. Never made it to the Asian place, but I hear it was good.

We did enjoy the staff, they were all warm and friendly - I suggest making friends with your bar tender!!! There were alot of families and it was noisy at times around the pool and not alot of shade. The beach was nice and there are alot of lounge chairs provided, get one early if you plan on hanging out at the beach all day.

We spent our evenings in Port Lucaya which was alot of fun. Alot of activity and people mulling around. Ample shopping and several bars to chose from. Rum Runners is the best price wise and we had the most fun there. Bahama Mammas is fun too for after hours as they stay open very late!

Overall we had a blast! We met some great local people and I would consider staying at this resort again. If you want rest and relaxation, you dont need to leave the place... if you want to party - get out and head to town as that is a great adventure.

I ask you to read this review carefully because I need to make a few things clear. The main point that I want to get across is that I AM NOT one of those people who complain a lot and are never satisfied! I don't make a lot of money, I'm not in the habit of staying at "top of the line" places, and I'm one of those people who can normally find fun in an empty box. So this review is not coming from someone who is hard to please or whose expectations are normally high - I promise you that.

I really have to say to anyone considering this place to PLEASE please reconsider - it was truly the worst place I had EVER stayed in. I went with 4 other people that I absolutely adore, and as a result of that my vacation was salvaged. But I have to honestly say that not only is the Viva Wyndham an old, outdated and poorly functioning resort, but the staff there (for the most part - there are always exceptions) are completely disinterested in assisting you with any of your needs or concerns. They were rude, sneaky and unresponsive, and I hate to say that it was exclusively the female staff (again, with some exceptions). I won't go into painstaking details, but these were some of the issues:
* They gave away our original room after we checked in, but before we were able to pick up our keys (which we couldn't do until after 3pm). Even though I signed a form saying that I had 2 rooms (for my party of 5) in the C building, they tried to pass it off as a "front desk error" and changed the location of one of the rooms to the A building (which I've read is horrible). When I pointed this out the women at the front desk - who were snickering amongst each other - they were basically like, "tough - this is your new room." Only when I wouldn't take no for an answer did they then bump somebody ELSE out of their appointed room to put us in it; I'm sure they will tell those people that it was a "front desk error" as well.
* Our room's shower barely worked (only a light trickle came out), we had no soap (had to call twice for it), and we never got enough towels or a bath mat. Our second room (for 3 guests) had only 2 beds, and we had to call to have a decrepit cot brought in. All the bathroom fixtures are old and rusted, and there is a constant supply of tiny ants roaming by the sinks.
* There are only 2 bars - one in the "lounge" (which looks like a college lounge, complete with dirty futon-like couches), and one on the beach. All of the liquor is bottom shelf, and they didn't even offer the island's own rum. This is also big - THEY DO NOT OFFER BOTTLED WATER! They filter their water, which still tastes terrible.
* The reportedly "beautiful" beach is dirty with cups and garbage, and the resort doesn't think enough of its guests to even clear it away at the end of the day. The water is not clear blue Caribbean water ... it has lots of seaweed and coral, and you absolutely have to have water shoes to even go in it.
* The pool is small, but pretty nice. The music they play by the pool is often stopped in the middle of songs, and the CD's get stuck often. They were also building some kind of hut by the pool during the day - so the mangled music was mixed in with the sound of hammers and band saws.
* The 2 reservation restaurants are really lovely, the staff in them are nice, and the food is good. However, these restaurants are only open on certain (alternating) days, so you really won't get to patronize them more than once in a week's time. But the main dining hall where you don't need reservations (and where you have no choice but to eat breakfast and lunch there) is pretty gross. The food is bad and barely warm to the touch. It's an open air restaurant, so there are flies landing in the salads and birds flying around and landing on the tables. The food is buffet style, so when a tray is empty it will stay empty for a very long time; they barely refill empty food trays, and they never replenish the fresh fruit - ever.
* The woman who handles the booking of excursions is completely rude, cold and unfriendly. She wouldn't make eye contact with us (we were at her desk in the morning before she arrived); she refused to acknowledge us until she took out her laptop, booted it up, and made a phone call; and she was completely resistant to describing any of the excursions. It was like pulling teeth with 100 questions just to get any information - and we'd get one word answers. We are not rude people - I don't understand what elicited this type of behavior from her. In the end, we didn't book a single excursion.

You know, there's so much more to say but I'm going to leave it at this. Again, I went with some wonderful people and we made our own fun; I've also been to other resorts where the reviews were terrible, only to arrive and be like, "what were they talking about??" So I'm not hard to please - really; but I just feel the need to let other travelers know that this is NOT the place to stay. Don't waste your money (it wasn't that cheap), and don't ruin your time off - save yourself the aggravation and go somewhere else.

We booked a package deal though gobahama.com. I would recommend this booking agency to everyone. The cruise, hotel, food, drinks,tips were all inclusive. The hotel was very nice and pretty. Great beach!! The food was average. The activities and the entertainment were well planned. Taxis on the island expensive. Better to rent a car. Will go again when I can!!