Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort

“A Luxury Stay!”

We stayed in a Lagoon suite with a swim out to the amazing pool that flowed throughout the resort. This is a true luxury resort with several dining options and a golf course. Check in was quick and easy; luggage was delivered to the room during check in. Staff member, Bennett (?) escorted us to our… more

We stayed in a Lagoon suite with a swim out to the amazing pool that flowed throughout the resort. This is a true luxury resort with several dining options and a golf course. Check in was quick and easy; luggage was delivered to the room during check in. Staff member, Bennett (?) escorted us to our room and explained the pathways, restaurants and amenities and gave history and information of the resort and the area. A very warm welcome. A treat and champaign were gifted in the room as a platinum welcome. Our room was spacious and clean with numerous bathroom amenities including robes and slippers and an in room coffee machine. The breakfast buffet was wonderful-custom eggs and omelettes plus abundant other breakfast choices (including Asian and European). I really enjoyed the variety of fruits from the area such as kiwi and dragonfruit. Unfortunately there was almost non-stop rain during our stay so we did not enjoy outside as we might have. We ate at the Lagoon restaurant which was lovely even with the rain. The service was great and food very good! All in all , we had a lovely visit and if we were to stay in the area again , we would return and hope for better weather.

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“Amazing pools!”

Overall the resort was great. Part of our stay was over school holiday period so we knew it would be busy. However there are so many pools you can find a spot somewhere to soak up the vitamin D. We stayed in a villa and found this great value for us. The facilities in the villa were great - spa… more

Overall the resort was great. Part of our stay was over school holiday period so we knew it would be busy. However there are so many pools you can find a spot somewhere to soak up the vitamin D. We stayed in a villa and found this great value for us. The facilities in the villa were great - spacious, clean, kitchen with all we needed, TV in every room, Foxtel etc. We ate at the Lagoon House restaurant and had a brilliant meal - macadamia mash was delicious! We did not eat in the other restaurants as there were private functions on and with options in town (5 minute drive) or self cater in our villa. Our villa was the furthest away from the main pool/restaurant area, so we had to be prepared if we wanted to stay for some time as 'ducking back to get something' was not a fast trip. We hired some e-scooters from a place in town and used which made the trip to and from the pool fun, cooling and faster! Husband liked the golf course and other the other course in Port Douglas. Our one negative, which did spoilt the start of our stay was check in. Most hotels we have stayed at are paid for in full at the end of your stay (with security given at check in). However for us, we had to pay for the full amount (a week in a villa $$) upfront. This was never communicated to us in pre check in emails from Sheraton. We suspect the reason for this was because we were in a villa, somewhat detached from the main building. This was not clarified by the check in staff who did not have the best language skills. If this had been communicated to us earlier, we would have been more prepared with our funds and payment options (and avoided some bank fees). Also at check in, aforementioned check in staff, led us to believe we could have driven from reception to our villa without leaving the resort grounds. Again, this may have been due to poor language, as once outside of reception, a concierge who had better language skills directed us clearly to our villa (which to drive to in a car, you did need to exit the resort and enter via another entrance). However, we will return. We fell in love with Port Douglas overall and are still dreaming of the pools and ease of the whole town.

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“Faulty Towers: Paradise Edition”

This is a hard review to write as there are some things to really love about this resort. Starting with the positives, the grounds are truly breathtaking and are meticulously maintained. The lagoons are gorgeous and were a lovely warm temperature in October. But that’s where the positives end. To… more

This is a hard review to write as there are some things to really love about this resort. Starting with the positives, the grounds are truly breathtaking and are meticulously maintained. The lagoons are gorgeous and were a lovely warm temperature in October. But that’s where the positives end. To put it bluntly the service is just non -existent. Our room wasn’t cleaned for two days. You have to wait in line to get your room number ticked off at the buffet even when the area is not remotely busy. We ordered coffees that didn’t arrive in time before we had to leave for day trips, despite the buffet being empty. The food options (while they are fantastic) are overpriced. We communicated to staff on three seperate occasions about life threatening allergies and received three meals with the allergens present. Another disappointment - the pools and restaurants can be closed to guests without any notice (during our stay several areas were out of action due to private functions). The main pool was being drained for maintenance (again, we were not advised at any stage this was happening until the “keep out” signs were put up). Our lovely room view, which we had enjoyed for just two days, was impacted by the ugly signage. Some of the above would be forgivable if they weren’t charging 5 star prices to stay. We stayed in a small lagoon swim up room, and while this was perfect for our little tot, it’s too shallow for adults to truly swim in, so would have been disappointed if we were travelling just as adults. This resort suffers from a chronic lack of staff and yet they manage to have someone walk around trying to convince guests to book into the day spa or buy from the mini bar. We joked to they could clean our room instead! At every opportunity this hotel is trying to make more cash out of guests (you have to pay to rent a spot in the shade by the pool - a minimum of $175!; you have to pay attend the “Sunday Sessions” etc. Our final bill far exceeded what we were expecting meaning the trip ended on a sour note despite some positives.

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