My wife and I just returned from a fantastic week at the Crane. Highlights included our room (841A) with its excellent view of the beach and ocean, and soothing soundtrack of the sea. The room was impeccably clean and spacious, with a timeless and authentic traditional island decor. The restaurants on site were very good, with Zen as the standout offering top notch sushi. The resort staff is also incredibly friendly and helpful-- I can honestly say that they accommodated every single one of my requests.

The star of the show however is undoubtedly the beach. It is said that the Crane beach is one of the best in the world and I'd have to agree. With its beautiful powdery sand, gorgeous aqua green/blue water, and just the right amount of surf it is a real paradise. It is true that there are waves and some current, but neither is overwhelming. If you are someone who likes to play in the ocean trust me when I say it is perfect; the water on the Caribbean side is boring by comparison, you might as well swim in a pool.

Issues with the stay were few in number, but worth noting. First of which being the construction- their website and all materials state that the construction will be finished in 2009. Well, we stayed in the first week of November and building is still in full swing, including a new building which is a long way from being finished and a number of renovations to the resort village adjacent to our room. These renovations resulted in a noisy tile saw running for hours on end for a few days, although it did eventually quiet down.

The air conditioning also never seemed to work in our room either. The management very generously offered us a complementary dinner as a make-good which was a nice gesture. Since our room was an ocean view, we never missed it thanks to the large sliding double doors that allowed a nice ocean breeze; we never closed them. I could see the lack of AC as a real issue for a garden facing room which would probably not benefit from as much breeze.

Otherwise it should be noted that the Crane is located rather far from many of the attractions on the West coast of the island, so this can necessitate expensive cab rides, but I'd say the superior beach made this a worthwhile tradeoff. Finally, do note that the Crane is not an all-inclusive resort, so if one goes with that notion the bill can run up very quickly. As long as you are mindful of the tab or can afford a cost-no-object holiday this should not be too big of a concern, just something to keep in mind.

In summary the Crane is a great place to stay with its fantastic beach, great restaurants, exceptional room and attentive staff. No destination can ever be 100% perfect all the time, but our experience at the Crane did not disappoint and we would strongly consider returning the next time we visit the Caribbean.

We (my girlfriend and I) stayed at The Crane for one week in the beginning of November. It is a heart-stoppingly beautiful hotel. The room was phenomenal -- we stayed in a one bedroom ocean-view residence on the fourth floor. It was probably the nicest room I've every stayed in. "Room" isn't even the right word, it is basically an apartment with two large rooms, two bathrooms (including one HUGE bathroom with a fantastic shower and jacuzzi tub) a fantastic kitchen and a lovely porch/balcony overlooking the whole resort and with a spectacular view of the ocean. There is a lovely breeze that blows all the time here which provides wonderful relief from the heat. The upper floors of the residences are probably better in that they provide a great view and the breeze comes right in through the windows all day long. I read many complaints about the air-conditioning on this site, but we didn't turn ours on once. My guess is that staying on an upper floor provides enough ventilation due to the windows and breeze. Anyway our room was simply spectacular. I might miss the room more than anything.

The resort itself is lovely. The pools are very nice, varied, and well-kept. And the Carriage House serves great drinks (get the Crane Cooler) and has nice, relatively cheap, sandwiches and stuff for lunch. Crane beach is also spectacular and a 2 minute walk from the pools. They're in the process of building this whole village of stores and stuff right in the middle which sounded tacky to me, but is actually quite tasteful and will probably be very nice when it's finished. My guess is that the main reason they're building this is because the location of The Crane is actually quite isolated, and without a car you can't really go anywhere else to eat/shop. The construction is ongoing, but completely unobtrusive -- we couldn't hear anything from our room. Anyway, the beach is lovely, although the water is a bit rough. It varied from day-to-day, but there are always pretty considerable waves. The west-coast is where the calmer water is. That is not to detract from this beach. It is stunningly beautiful, the sand is perfect, and the water is warm and clear and it's usually pretty easy to go out past the breaking waves and relax.

Our only real complaint about The Crane is the the restaurants are very expensive (plan on >$100US for dinner + wine for 2 ppl) and there's nowhere else to go. We both enjoyed L'Azure very much (for both lunch and dinner) but it is quite pricey. We went to Zen once for sushi and found it quite mediocre. We live in San Diego and are used to *good* sushi so perhaps we're snobs, but dinner ended up coming to >$160US and the sushi was only OK and they only had one brand of Sake which was not very good, etc etc etc. After 2-3 days, we started buying pasta from the general store and making our own dinners in our room (the kitchen is really phenomenally well-equipped, if you're at all inclined towards cooking it's fantastic). We also bought yogurt and crackers from the store for breakfast most days. Bottom line: L'Azure and the Carriage House were excellent, although L'Azure is quite pricey. We found Zen to be very over-rated.

All in all we found the service to be excellent and the staff friendly. It's a very quiet/relaxing place and it is extremely classy. I was looking to vegetate for a week after finishing grad school so for us it was perfect. Don't go to The Crane expecting nightlife or excitement. But if you're looking for tranquility and beauty it's a very, very nice place.

Oh, also -- this probably goes without saying, but THE SUN IS VERY STRONG!!!! You really need to re-apply strong sun-screen several times a day when you first get there. Don't underestimate how powerful it is here.

I spent a week at the Crane and was thoroughly disappointed. Having stayed here previously 3 years ago I'm afraid the Crane has lost its distinguished ambiance. It is now no more than a normal 4 star hotel with nothing more to offer.

We stayed in a one bedroom residence with a plunge pool. The room itself was spacious with all the facilities that you would need but alas there was no attention to detail. The rooms were not cleaned thoroughly with dust pockets and grit on the marble floor at all times. And the plunge pool was so disgusting with algae that me and my husband never dared venture into it for fear that we would catch something!!!

The food in both restaurants was amazing. However in the L'Azure restaurant the service was ridiculously slow and lack of air conditioning made dining totally uncomfortable. The Zen on the other hand was excellent in both food and service, Outstanding restaurant with staff who cater to your every whim. A definite must even if you are not staying at the Crane,

As this is not one of the cheaper end hotels in Barbados I would expect a different level of service, this was definitely lacking. I have had the pleasure of staying in a lot of hotels in Barbados varying from Turtle Beach Resort right up to Sandy Lane and to be honest I enjoyed Turtle Beach Resort much better. Do not expect 5 star hotel/service, at a push this would be a good 3 star hotel.

There are not enough words to describe just how spectacular The Crane Resort is!
From the moment we arrived to the day we had to leave (sob! sob!) we could not have asked for more. The remarkable staff at every position were totally dedicated to all the services we required. We have been back home for 2 weeks now, and there is not a day that does not go by without us talking about our wonderful experience here.

Visiting Barbados is a dream come true, but experiencing The Crane is another dream come true!!!!