Victoria House is an absolutely amazing place! Worth every penny of it's somewhat pricey rates, the staff truly bends over backwards to make everything perfect for their guests. The casitas are slightly rustic but luxurious and meticulously maintained, complete with mini fridge/bar, ac, and a magnificent canopy bed. No Tv, phones, or internet to distract you here! Just island breezes and palms swaying. Food and drinks are out of this world, though the menu is somewhat limited if you're there for more than a week. You can eat in their elegant poolside restaurant, or beachfront bar, or have meals delivered to your own patio. Magnificent private beach and dock that guests can take advantage of 24/7. They will also arrange just about any side trips and/or transportation for you - just stop in the office where there is also a small shop and phones to call internationally. We truly felt like royalty staying at Victoria House, and will return as often as we can! Extremely romantic!

My wife and I just returned from a 9 day stay at Victoria House. It was wonderful. This is not the place to go if you are into partying, night-life, and discos. If you are looking for a quiet, reasonably priced place with a beautiful white sand beach and the wind in the palm trees, then this is Paradise.

We stayed in the "Rainforest Suite" (a.k.a. the Honeymoon Suite), which is a bit pricey but worth it if you plan to use your room a lot. We spent most of our time around the Victoria House property, so having a large comfortable suite was great. The best part was the huge double french doors that opened the whole room onto the deck, with an amazing view of the sand, the palms, and the water.

All-around, we loved the Victoria House. The staff are great - very friendly and helpful. We really felt that they cared about us. We loved chatting and joking with everyone (they have a great sense of humor).

The food at the restaurant was fabulous. We live near San Francisco with some great restaurants around us, and we're not easily impressed. We tried everything on the lunch menu, and almost everything on the dinner menu. We were never disappointed. The Ginger/Lime Snapper was our favorite, but all of the fish dishes were fresh and excellent. The flavors were complex and interesting, and all very different.

Drinks and bar service was good, although I wasn't too impressed with the one Mojito I ordered.

The pool and beach were very nice. The white sand beach is well tended. Beach furniture was a bit sparse (they only have two hammocks, and not that many lounge chairs), but adequate. No problem finding a deck chair at the pool.

There's some construction going on (they tell us it will be finished this summer ('06)). We had a few days with some hammering and sawing, but it wasn't too bad. You may want to check with the hotel before booking if it's a concern.

March is supposed to be the dry season, but we still got a couple of drenching rains at night and a couple of hard showers during the day. There's a constant wind, which can get a bit annoying, but perhaps that's why there seem to be no nasty biting insects!

Victoria House is a couple of miles south of San Pedro. Taxis are US$5 into town and back. Victoria House has bicycles for the use of their guests, and it's a quick ride to town, although the roads tend to be slightly potholed. It's also an easy walk into town along the beach (although we fried in the sun - more sunscreen next time!). We didn't bother renting a golf cart - they are very expensive compared to taking a taxi for $5 or a bike for free.

We brought our own masks and fins, and the dive shop provided us with BCDs and regulators which were in very good condition. We dove on a boat from Ramon's Village. We were happy with the diving, although the purpose of this trip was primarily to relax on a white sand beach, so we weren't looking for the world's best diving destination.

I put on my mask and fins one day and set out from the dock to see what I could see. My wife said "have fun, honey" and re-adjusted her lounge chair. She was the wiser for it. Until you reach the reef-break - which is much too far to swim out to just to go snorkeling - the water is shallow, the bottom is sand and eel-grass, and there's not much to see except a lot of power boats whizzing past.

Some other restaurants:
Rico's: Beach-front at Banyan Bay Hotel. Shrimp Tikin Xic was good, the BBQ shrimp was swimming in bottled BBQ sauce and disappointing.
Blue Mango (owned by Amy Knox - formerly the chef at Victoria House): Hole-in-the-wall with beach-front location in San Pedro. We had some tasty fish dishes.
Blue Water Grill: Nice casual beach-front at the SunBreeze Hotel. Good food with a lot of Japanese influences.

Victoria House is an attractive, peaceful retreat on this southernmost tip of the Yucatan peninsula. It is set in small though lush and well-tended gardens. The surrounding area and San Pedro itself are very cheerful, fun, down-at-heel and almost entirely dedicated to tourism.

Good points about Victoria House:
- All the staff, who work incredibly hard and seem genuinely interested in your comfort and enjoyment.
- The garden and pool (though small) are attractive and pool seating comfortable.
- Food and drink: Breakfast is excellent as are simple dishes for lunch and dinner and bar food.
- The ocean view (unlike many parts of the Caribbean, you won't be disturbed by jetskis, party boats etc
- Cleanliness of accommodation
- Food and drink prices are very reasonable by European/Caribbean standards
- On the whole, we enjoyed it.

Other points to consider:
- You cannot swim from the beach because it is thick with seaweed (probably important for wildlife)
- Casita rooms: the renovated ones are MUCH nicer than the old (larger terrace with hammock, all glass french windows making these small rooms feel more spacious); bear in mind that, with a thatch roof, there is minimal sound insulation (the aircon vents from the kitchen and dining room were beside our casita #1 and roared from 6am to around 11pm, you may also be aware of your neighbours); we asked for a double bed, but bear in mind these are only 5ft in width
- Building work: the hotel is building two two storey villas behind the casitas so you will hear hammering and some drilling during the day while you sit by the pool
- Pool area: probably due to the stiff prevailing wind off the ocean, there are no sun umbrellas over the sunbeds, so shade may occasionally be hard to find (that said, guests are often out during the day on excursions, so the pool area can sometimes be quite quiet)
- Evenings: there is little ambience in the bar (which is nicely located by the beach), even for a quiet drink; the restaurant is quite chill and gloomy - maybe there's been some staff changes in the kitchen, but the more complicated dishes served on the dinner menu were very disappointing and we ate there only once, on our first night.
- Not a criticism, but we experienced this as an entirely American resort (perhaps due to the timing of our visit in the US spring break). Do not expect to meet a mix of other nationalities.

Recommendations:
- Go out in the evenings: taxis are cheap and easy to come by. Cafe Picasso serves simply outstanding food on a tapas-based theme in a slightly quirky, occasionally chaotic setting. The Bluewater Grill: basic food in a simple set-up by the water, but done pretty well.
- Also try the Rojo Lounge for lunch: take a water taxi from San Pedro to the north of the island. Expensive but a lovely setting and very laid back (big red cushioned armchairs and hammocks under awnings on the beach!)
- Take out a golf cart and explore the north of the peninsula. The dust paths are terrible - full of huge holes and craters - but great fun.
- Bone fishing in the mangroves: guides are experts and the mangrove is beautiful

We visited Victoria House for the first 6 days of our honeymoon (we then went to Turtle Inn in Placencia). Although we preferred Placencia, we loved Victoria House and it is undoubtedly the best property in Ambergris Caye. The people were so warm and welcoming and they seemed to be happy constantly. The food was fantastic and the property was beautifully kept. The activity planner was very helpful and we had a fantastic 6 days. We can't wait to visit Belize again.