I was so disappointed with this hotel. The reception staff (excepting one - Stepan) were dismissive and grumpy which didn't give a great feel to the first few minutes at the hotel. Our registration into the hotel was too long and laborious, and they got our personal details wrong, even over charging us for our rooms. Our room was not ready for a considerable amount of time.
The hotel grounds were impressive, although seemed a bit false and out of place. The gardens were well kept. The rooms were dirty (floors never seemed to be clean), lacked love and attention, and the decor and furniture were extremely tired.
The buffet dinners were cold, and were not very varied in their offerings. Dinner was pretty much outside in their open aired area - and during August the evenings are cold.
Restaurant staff (main restaurant) were grumpy, were too quick to clear away plates - but completely useless when needed (to ask for drinks or assistance).
The ala carte restaurant food was much better but FAR TOO PRICEY for what they served, and dinners were mainly too rich.
The hotel itself treats its guests like open and deep wallets. Charging for even the simplest of pleasures - I was so shocked to have to pay to have coffee using the kettle in the room. There were no freebies, no sweeteners, no pleasantries and as a result I felt ignored, ripped off and a total inconveniece to them.
A little light was Rhonia one of the cleaners who helped us put on our saris - she was delightful. One out of so many who could have made a difference.

The good news is the the weather was excellent during the day.

This hotel could be an excellent place to stay - but it just isn't!

Stayed at Sugar Beach in April this year with my husband and 7 year old daughter, what can I say other than we had the most wonderful holiday cannot fault anything at all in connection to the staff/hotel/facilities, they only let down was the rudeness of other guests.
There are a lot of hawkers on the beach but a courtious "no thank you" and they would leave you alone. Room was very clean, food was buffet style every night but of a very high quality, my husband and myself are very picky so believe me when I say we had no complaints. Beach is very clean, water shallow but not an issue also not may fish to look at when snorkeling however this was not the reason we picked this holiday so we were not dissapointed. We went "All Inclusive" and it was definately worth the exta cost, it was great to have no unexpected bill at the end of the holiday.
As for the Kids Club......It is by far the best I have ever come accross, opens at 9am righ through to 5pm (children can stay for lunch). It then closes for 1 hour and re-opens at 6pm when the children can go back for dinner and evening entertainment. The staff to child ratio is great, a wide variety of entertainment provided during during the day. We stayed over Easter and the hotel and staff arranged a fantastic easter egg hunt and party. The kids Club staff are ever present in the hotel from first thing in the morning when they will explaint to the children what activities are going on that day. In the evening they wander through the dinning areas and if they spot any restless children, will offer to entertain them whilst you finish your meal.
On our very last day our daughter bumped her head whilst playing in the pool, the staff were fantastic, we were taken to the hotel nurse who had to call out the duty doctor as our daughter needed stitches, these were done at the hotel very professionaly and at very little cost!!! It could have been a very stressfull experience for us all, but for the helpfullness and professionalisim of all staff and the duty doctor.
I can very highly reccommend a holiday at Sugar Beach.......We are all looking forward to the next time we vist, which we most certainally will in the future.

We stayed at the Sugar Beach in July, after receiving a letter from Virgin at our hotel in Cape Town advising us that we had been moved from originally booked La Pirogue!

Well to start with we were a bit concerned as we didn't know anything about Sugar Beach apart from the fact it was next to La Pirogue.

We needn't have worried as when we arrived, we were greeted by a personal check in procedure, drink, cold towel. We were taken to our room by golf buggy, and provided with a meal in our room (as we arrived after 10pm). This went down very well as we were a bit peckish.

Our room was v big, massive bed, nice balcony in colonial style buildings overlooking putting green and sea.

If you can do go All Inclusive as its very expensive, especially drinks, this means you can pick anything you want off any menu with a green asterisk by it, virtually everything other than expensive items like champagne, imported spirits etc. You can even have a bottle of house wine with your evening meal on AI. Recommend the rose which went down very nicely.

Breakfast was served in the same area as dinner, amazing choice of items on buffet, recommend the pancakes! Lunch we had most days either on the beach (a golf buggy drives along the beach front taking your orders - meaning you don't even have to get off your sunbed). Sometimes we went to the Plantation bar in the middle of the big swimming pool, lovely pizzas, toasted sandwiches etc.

The grounds were well kept, lawns immaculate, palm trees everywhere, the beach was very quiet, crystal clear waters, very shallow and safe for children. Definitely recommend rubber shoes (Crocs or similar) for wearing in water as some sharp coral and sea urchins. One one occasion we saw a lion/scorpion fish so be aware. Snorkelling is great from the beach, however if you want to go out deeper get the free snorkelling trip from the watersports area that goes everyday, along with glass bottom boat and canoes, sailing, windsurfing etc - all free and well run with lots of staff. Felt very safe.

The beach was lovely and no crowds in site, so nice to relax with a book and chill out in total peace and quiet. The only interruption you will encounter are the sellers, however if you just shake your head and say no thanks they will leave you alone.
(If what they are selling is what you're after though there are some bargains to be had!)

Having previously thought we were going to La Pirogue next door we took a walk through the grounds to investigate, the pool is better than Sugar Beach, and you can still use it as with the rest of the facilities as they are sister hotels. However, it is on a bigger scale than Sugar Beach and less personal and seems less exclusive. Yet everywhere you look in UK brochures it is more expensive!

The only reason we went to La Pirogue was sometimes in the evening after dinner to watch the show they had on there.

We never got out of the resort to see Mauritius, as we only had 5 days there, and were tired out from Kruger and Cape Town, so I can't comment on the whole island - however from what we saw the attractions and tours were similar to any caribbean island (particularly St Lucia).

One not so good thing about Mauritius though is Air Mauritius - for such a luxury island, you'd expect their airline to match it, but we didn't think much of it - bad legroom, bad food, okay entertainment, if the airline was better then it would make for a more pleasant 12 hour flight home!

Sugar Beach Resort is the ideal destination for a complete relax. From the time we arrived there we were greeted by a lady named Priya who seemed to know everything about our arrival, what villa we were staying in and about the special nights that had been prebooked.
The rooms were OK but are in need of an upgrade but really quite acceptable for the price
Breakfast - Anything you could imagine and great quality
Dinner - Themed evenings every night. The seafood evening was really good with Marlin, Snapper, Dorado and even Tiger Prawns on the menu
The pool area and water sports areas were great with much to offer.
Land sports -they have almost everything
Beauty Centre - Pricey but good
The diving centre and their equipment is certainly 5 star. The dive sites are good but a visit to the Cathedral was something to remember. If you're over 50 years old best to have a pre-medical certificate available otherwise they will not let you dive.
The staff treated us like royalty always enquiring if there was anything else they could do for us especially a lady called Christine in the dining area
We prebooked a special evening where they setup table and chairs on the beach at night as well as a fire and served us our dinner which was outstanding.See photos
Drinks and Lunch are expensive so beware maybe its best to book a fully inclusive package.