The Westin at Turtle Bay is by far one of the most affordable resorts in Mauritius. Yes, it is not as luxurious or secluded as the St. Regis. But you aren’t sacrificing comfort for affordability. It is excellently located, the food is good, and the service was great. If you are trying to get to Mauritius without paying an arm and a leg, the Westin is an excellent resort to choose.
Full disclosure: We did stay on points, but this review is not sponsored or paid.
Different areas of Mauritius are very different – whereas the La Morne area is quiet, secluded, and not particularly “touristy”, the Turtle Bay area is definitely a bit more built-up, and closer to the capital city of Port Louis. The Westin is located about 30-45 minutes from Port Louis, depending on traffic, which can be terrible.
I do have SPG Gold status, and we were provided access to the executive lounge which was so nice! Not only did we get breakfast, there was cold water and beer whenever we wanted as well as afternoon cocktails. It was hugely convenient to quickly stop in the lobby for bottle of water or an afternoon beer; particularly since prices in Mauritius are so high.
The Westin is very family-friendly, but there is a large infinity pool that is adults only + honestly, we never saw any kids before around 11am…I guess they were sleeping in? The main pool was empty when we went for a swim one morning. Bonus, if you want to lap swim, both of the pools are plenty long enough for lengths!
The beach is relatively small, but was uncrowded with plenty of umbrellas and chairs while we were there. In addition, part of the beach is pretty rocky–and I don’t know about you, but I love tidal pools. They are so much fun to explore.
The food wasn’t quite as great as at The St. Regis, but everything was good. DH enjoyed the lobster one night, and it was deconstructed and very tasty! We enjoyed breakfast in the lounge every morning, and headed to the Flying Dodo Brewery for lunch one day. Getting a car/taxi is quick and easy – just ask the front concierge – but we needed to pay in cash instead of charging it to the room, so we were forever running a bit short on money it seemed.
The Westin runs twice daily snorkeling excursions – a quick (10 minute) boat trip takes you out to an area with coral and lots of fish. I think the reef was in better condition near the St. Regis, but there is no doubt that both areas are suffering from bleaching.
In addition to snorkeling, there are also hobie cats, kayaks, and some paddleboards available for use. They also often scuba diving excursions, but those you have to pay for in addition (and neither of us are certified anyhow).
As for my one big complaint, while all of the receptionists and other staff at the Westin were really friendly and welcoming, the snorkeling staff and those doing the water sports were….just not. While waiting for fifteen minutes at the snorkeling window, which was right beside the scuba window, when there was no staff, we asked the scuba guys if they could help us out. They promptly launched into the fact that there was a difference between snorkeling and scuba diving (no sh*t) and gave us an extraordinarily hard time, all to write our names on a piece of paper. It was a bit ridiculous. I’m sure they get a lot of very annoying tourists, but between that and the guide’s total indifference to anyone on the boat while snorkeling, it’d be nice if they hired some people who were ambassadors for how great the island is…not people who are tired of tourists and tired of their job. It was the only bad experience we had at the Westin, though, and we didn’t let it cloud how great the rest of the time was.
DH loved the Westin–probably in large part due to the free beer and food–but we did have a really terrific stay. Our room was large, and we had an enormous balcony too, which overlooked the main pool and the ocean. Nothing was ever crowded, not the restaurants, not the pools, and not the beach, which made me very happy! We would absolutely return to Mauritius, but I think DH and I would probably split our time again at two different places on two different sides of the island.
No more Westins for me after a particularly bad stay at Westin Puerto Vallarta. Executive lounge room that was supposed to include nightly turn down (1 night out of 4…..after complaining), rude staff, poor food, uncomfortable pool lounge chairs, etc, etc, etc
Ugh, I’m sorry to hear you had a bad stay — so frustrating!! Rude staff to me is the most discouraging…I can overlook a lot if the staff goes out of their way to fix an issue to the best of their ability or be accommodating.