Rockwater Secret Cove Resort (British Columbia, Canada)

Location

The setting for the resort is absolutely beautiful. You feel like you are part of a remote, untouched piece of the world. This remote feeling is genuine, you are far away and the resort is not easy to get to, but once there, you won’t want to leave. Traveling from Vancouver involves at least 2 hours of driving and a 40-minute car ferry. Be sure to budget up to three hours for that 40-minute ride, including waiting, delays, loading and unloading

Once you get to the resort, you may have an up to 10 minute walk along a boardwalk to get to your suite. Be sure to inquire ahead of time if you have mobility issues.

Service

For a resort blessed with an out of this world location and architecturally gorgeous tent suites, the service fell short. Great rooms and awesome views can get you far, but for a truly outstanding experience, the service needs to stack up as well…see more on service issues in the amenities section.

Room

Wow, is all I can say. The Rockwater tent cabins even blew Treebones fancy Big Sur yurts out of the water!

From stunning views, to heated floors, to a full scale jetted Jacuzzi tub and attached bathroom, this is the ultimate “glamping” experience.

Did I mention that you get to fall asleep listening to the ocean waves crash against the coast?

Amenities

The room came with nicely displayed toiletries, green tea bath salts and two bottles of water. On the second day, our water was not refilled. Going to the front desk to get replacement water wouldnt’ have been a big deal, however, our room was a 10 minute walk from the lobby. Another shortfall was the Wifi: although the resort advertises free Wifi, we were never able to successfully connect from our room.

The resort really fell short, however, when it came to the food. We found in general that the sunshine coast is not a culinary destination, and that is fine, but please don’t charge $30 a plate for mediocre food. Our ferry in on Friday was delayed more than an hour, so we arrived at the resort well after eight. As we were checking in I inquired about the possibility of calling in to get food from the restaurant. They said, yes that would be fine.

Once we settled in, around nine, I called the front desk and was informed that because the kitchen was slow, all of the cooking staff had already left. The food & beverage manager got on the phone and offered “to whip us up something”. I like to know what I’m ordering and what the cost is so that concept stressed me out. I referenced a couple of menu items that sounded good and he “whipped” them up for us. Maybe it was just that he isn’t the usual chef, but the food was not good. At the prices we paid it was definitely not worth it. One dish was terribly over salted, the other not seasoned at all. The salad was drenched in dressing.

We stopped at a local grocery store the second night and bought a variety of snacks which we ate on our balcony. Much cheaper and much better experience. Best meal of all? My morning brew on the deck lounge chair.

Another downside to the resort is that sound travels VERY easily between the tents. On Saturday evening I was enjoying the sounds of the ocean, a glass of rose and a novel when all of the sudden I was transported back to freshman year of college; our neighbors started playing Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” from their ipod. Then, almost simultaneously, our neighbors to the other side started listening to the sound track of Greece. I’ll let your imagination take it from there…

Value

The room value seemed appropriate; it was a similar price to Treebones in Big Sur but this room itself was nicer. As I mentioned previously, the value wasn’t quite there in terms of service.

What is YOUR favorite romantic spot for special occasions?

If you are interested in learning more about “Glamping” check out my post on where to rent a yurt in Northern California