Booked a stay at the Half Moon Blue through ratestogo.com as I had to leave the self-catering apartment I was renting in Crown Point, as they had been sold out for months.
I have been holidaying in Tobago for a number of years now and I was actually looking forward to sampling something different.
I was travelling with my wife, my 4 year old son and 7 month old baby daughter.
When booking on ratestogo.com, the drop-down menu system does allow you to declare a child and a baby in the same reservation. I was a bit apprehencious before checking in as they were expecting a couple with a child, not a couple with a child AND a baby.
I had booked a junior suite though, as I knew that there would be extra room.
On top of it all, we arrived a bit early as we had to check-out of the other place by 11.00am on a busy week-end.
The smiling girl at the reception desk did not seem to be put off at the sight of the unexpected baby but told us to sit down while she was mixing a couple of welcome cocktails for us.
When she came back with the delicious fruit punches, she told us in an apologetic tone of voice that there were no baby cots available... but that they were upgrading us to the senior penthouse instead. That was a great surprise.
This may influence the rest of this review since what I had booked was a junior penthouse which is about half the size.
The place was great. Spacious is not the word, it was massive. With lovely cool dark wood varnished floors. There is a huge balcony area where we ended up spending most of our time, as the view over the bay is well worth it.
The Half Moon Blue is a lovely small (as far as the number of rooms is concerned) boutique hotel, and it would be my first port of call for a romantic getaway.
The infinity pool is small but very well designed and we ended up spending a lot of time in it since it was extremely convenient for the kids.
The staff were all very pleasant and helpful without being overwhelming, they've definitely got the right mix between customer service and easy going laid-back attitude.
The only thing that did not rock my boat was the one evening dinner that we had there. The starter was ready-made stuff heated up in the microwave and the mains were below average (both the tuna and the chicken were very tough, as if they had been reheated for far too long) and they both came with the exact same "creole" sauce, which had also been reheated.
Bacolet beach is a mere 5 minutes walk from the hotel and is a nice quiet and fairly private little cove with black volcanic sand and good waves at times.
The other people that we met while staying at the Half Moon Blue (there were not that many as it was a rather quiet time of the year) seemed all pretty please with their rooms and the level of service.
Bacolet is a very tranquil and pleasant neighbourhood north of Scarborough. There is not much to do apart from relax, and that is exactly what we had been coming for: relax and take it easy.
I would definitely recommend this place for people looking for a quiet relaxing time in a small boutique hotel. It is not 5 star luxury in the conventional sense but one can tell that a lot of thought has been put into the decor and the staff were all very friendly and easy-going (yet very professional) and naturally child friendly.
The view from the balconies of all the rooms are stunning (well, for someone who lives in Dublin the rest of the year they are!) and the sound of the frogs at night a nice lullaby. You can also enjoy watching the fireflies at night while sipping a chilled beer in your comfy chair.

A honeymoon - well, you want everything to be perfect. And most of the time it really was, but not thanks to this hotel's staff. They seemed like they were stranded here, and that people (guests) were just something they had to put up with. The food at the restaurant was not very impressing, the bed was too hard and every morning you would get the same boring breakfast (a toast and some fruit, not ok for ten days). We actually ended up eating at the hotell on the other side of the road. Since my husband isn't a big complainer, and since we were more interested in each other, we let thing pass. I guess they must have picked up on the bad vibes from us, because when we left they gave us a nice discount. The again, there are other really lovely places to hang out on Tobago, and people we met whilst exploring the island were really, really nice.
This hotel should get their act together!

The pool and surroundings was very much untidy. The manager was not friendly and warm . We actually stayed for two hours and found another hotel which was really fit for honeymoon.

We booked for a week in January originally for a standard room but these were on the ground floor with no opening windows but 2 glass walls with only net curtains. Difficult to sleep as security lights stay on all night. Upgraded to the penthouse which was very nice with huge deck and louvred walls which could be altered to get more of a breeze. Mosquitoes are a problem but beds do have nets. Do not recommend restaurant which is run on a very amauteur basis by staff seeming to take turns in cooking and food is expensive and not good. Breakfast is OK but same every day. Location good with Bacolet Bay over the road for swimming down a long set of steps. Hotel is currently building some more accomodation across the road which will be very nice when finished but is currently rather spoiling the view and there is a lot of building noise. Other problem is the dogs around the property who bark from about 4.30 am. Birds around are lovely and it is about a 20min work into Scarborough. Manager Asha rather formidable and becomes aggressive if guests not happy. Swimming pool very small . Generally interesting place and very Caribbean in feel and attitude. Need to hire a car which hotel has or get a driver. Beardy especially recommended. Only decent restaurant on island we found was Stonehaven Bay.