Daydream Island Resort and Spa Reviews

Everything about the island was great. Only downside was that the bar service was quite slow.

The food is embarassing, they are understaff and because that you don't receive the service that you pay for...

Had a day trip to Day Dream island and it is on our must-stay list.
Great holiday resort island and Lovers Cove is a stunningly unique little beach

I am currently staying here with my 3yr old and wife, it is a great family holiday location, if you look around for deals you can stay here for a great affordable price.

Good day out if looking to relax, south end of island was closed for renovation.

The referb.is great food excellent loved it please go

Nice resort, enjoyed the room, pools and walk across the top of the island. A special treat was the outdoor cinema. There are some great facilities on the island (including free use of kayaks and small sail boats).

I cannot say enough good things about Daydream Island!!!! We had a wonderful time. The staff are amazing!!!! The Living reef is great!! The food and cocktails were beautiful!!! Our room was great, comfy beds. Best sleep I have had in ages. Activities were great, kept us busy. We can't wait to go back!!!!

super nice resort to just relax for a few days! The complex is very well maintained and we had a beautiful, modern room with a great ocean view
The staff are very friendly and always helpful. Great wild life with free-flying parrots flying into the room and trying to steal things :-) Free-roaming kangaroos bobbing through the hotel lobby and a great aquarium with rays and sharks.
we would like to come back anytime !!!

2013, This was an experience to be trapped. Drop in, walk around and get out as fast a possible. This place is in need of major work ( recent cyclone may be the best thing to have happen for the owners, assuming a large insurance policy). We had a stained mattress with springs sticking out, cut me up and we got a sorry do you want a bandaid?, no other rooms available ( barely 50 guests). Restaurants are less than food court quality with microwaved bagged foods. Want a snack, forget it, nothing is open, want a small dinner, forget it $70 per head seafopd buffet. Want a simple breakfast, forget it $35 per head buffet only. Three days of hell. No beach, no staff, cockroaches, dirty, stank of bat poo. Was glad to leave. The good stuff, welcome party and photography offer was actually good, the Forrest walk ok.

What a beautiful place. There is a living reef with coral, fish and stingrays swimming in it.
The island has a very relaxed feel. The main pool has a swim up bar. Water activities include snorkelling, sailing, paddle boarding and a self proppelled guided tour.
The quality of the food in the restaurant is of a high standard, and the Mermaids restaurant has a great ocean view to enjoy while sipping a cocktail.
Family friendly.

the diversity of marine life is fantastic, I would recommend the feeding display, it was a great experience!

We recently visited daydream island for a day trip from Airlie beach and had a fantastic time.
Our Cruise Whitsunday trip included breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was a buffet with lots to choose from, including a huge hot and cold selection. Lunch was a voucher from the bakery which had a great selection of wraps, sandwhichs and other yummy treats.

During the day we wondered around the island, the pools were all well maintained and there were enough that it never felt too crowded.

We tried seabobbing which I can't recommend highly enough. It is expensive but jetting around on the machine is lots of fun. We also took part in a stingray feed which was an incredible experience.

Overall I highly recommend day dream for a day trip or an overnight stay.

Had a great time. Rooms clean and well maintained. Staff are friendly. Plenty of activities to choose from or not. However food and drinks were a little bit pricey.

Overall experience is ok, gardens and pools are very well kept, the lagoon aquarium within the resort is great and you could spend hours just watching the stingrays, sharks & fish.
Resort buildings are starting to show their age and could do with a better maintenance schedule and rooms are basic 3 star, clean & simple, however feel cold with the basic furniture and hard tiled floors throughout.
One tip, make sure you have plenty of room on you credit card, everything is very expensive, a coke can $4.
You need to eat at one of the 5 places on the island for every meal, breakfast was included in room and is a buffet that provides a good selection.
Lunch will depend on what's open, the bakery was the best option but can cost around $14 for a sandwich & drink. Splashes takeaway food was above average fast food $25-30 per meal.
Dinners we found the buffet was good if you could eat $45 worth, the fish bowl tavern was typical pub fair fast service about $35 per meal, good family atmosphere.

Outdoor movie was really good, although really loud the setting of the area and outdoors was worth it.

Overall it's good but not great.
Great pools & ok rooms.
Family friendly if your kids are over 4.

Great place if you like being one of many. I was just a day tripper but wouldn't go back. Prefer a smaller more intimate resort for adults. This is meant for families, and was quite crowded at New Year. Excellent fireworks on New year's Eve. We were moored offshore

Great Island to visit. Lover's Cove was a lovely little bay to snorkel in.

Nice relaxing island resort. The rooms are excellent - just renovated and fresh but extremely overpriced for what is on offer. Our pool view room wasn t worth the price paid. We couldn t leave our balcony doors open because the cockatoos would come in and raid our mini bar. The restaurants are good. Inkstone and Infinity are the pick of the places available here. Graze is overpriced for a standard all you can eat buffet and the burger bar is not worth $20 for a burger you can cook at home. Despite the pictures on the website, there are no places to snorkel here as the reefs were destroyed by a cyclone a couple of years ago. All the beaches are covered in sharp coral fragments and not sand which is disappointing. At the time of writing this review only half the island is operable. The other side is not accessible. Otherwise the pool is fantastic, the living reef is amazing and the service is 5 star.

Absolutely beautiful island everything is amazing from rooms to activities. Only bad thing is only one restaurant open on the island at this time, with not many options.

Still a building site. No accommodation yet. Just a very quick visit to check building works after Cyclone Debbie.

Outdated and overpriced. Like stepping back into the 1990's resort needs revamp quick

Has been reopen for a short while,if you want quiet thats the place to go.

Resort is really outdated needs a make over soon. Island activities are limited and jetski route is very small. But outside activities are great but you certainly pay for it. Overall an ok place to stay if you want a short getaway and cant afford Hamilton Island.

We were not allowed on the island to assess whether we wanted to book in. We were told to visit their website in a very stoney tone of voice.

Great staff, doing a fine job despite opening issues. Amelia from Living Reef was great on our tour. Would love to see it once they finish all the bug fixes.

This was the final destination of my Australia trip so that we could relax, we stayed 3 nights.

It really is a great place to relax, there are 3 pools and 1 of them has a pool bar. The island itself is also beautiful, especially with the kangaroos living there. Unfortunately it was jellyfish season, so we couldn't really swim in the sea.

Food is also good, you can choose between 2 restaurants, although it can become a bit expensive (min. 20 dollars for main dish).

Overall, I can recommend this hotel for anyone that want to relax a couple of days.

Fish feeding is great. The facilities need to have a fair bit of upkeep. I twisted my ankle on one of the decks because they are poorly maintained. If you are there for a daytrip they only take cash at the cafe and for the fish food.

Got a good deal to stay at Daydream Island. We bought groceries at Hamilton Island while waiting for ferry as several guests tip us that foods are not available except in restaurants. It is beautiful and slightly warm in Nov as well as less crowded. Many kangaroos are sighted around island. There is a herd of several living under the far end of an empty building. Lots of dead corals ashore. The lover cove is a perfect place to watch sunset disappear under the sea. Its quietness is appreciated by lovers. Hotel guests can borrow full-length neck-to-toe swimsuit to snorkel over nearby water. The suits are to protect swimmers from jellyfish. There is an aquarium on the premise, and a seawater pool for swimmers to swim with fishes, stingrays, small sharks - there is a fee for swimming in the pool.

Resort overall is nice , beautiful nature views and has several good activities.

the rooms are a little out dated but not to bad

But the food is absolutely HORRIBLE and you have no options. 1 restaurant is open a night and some nights you have a take out option that is just as bad and over priced.

Very nice island, very friendly staff. Plenty of activities to indulge in and the food is great. Large pool makes for heaps of fun.

Plenty of assistance, lots of opportunity to explore or simply kick back and take it all in. Toilet in the aquarium viewing is a must...

Free session to understand what sealife lives in the area

Absolutely amazing place couldn't recommend it more will definitely be back if you are after a great bartender talk to Doug full of energy and always up for a chat will definitely be back again

The service is rather poor. Rooms weren't ready. Activities are only available at specific times of the day and are not available if there are any winds. Not really worth visiting, especially not to stay over. The snorkeling was pretty good though.

The island is very picturesque and the activities were varied and fun. The accommodation itself is starting to look a bit dated but is functional. All the staff are very friendly and helpful. There could definitely be some improvements made to the food quality and variety. The restaurants are on rotation so you only have two options each night. The free buffet breakfast had quite a selection but was of fairly low quality and the hot food was often cold. For us, staying four nights was long enough to do all the activities on the island, and overall we really enjoyed our stay here.

This place has it all.. if you are looking for chilled beach holiday then this is your place.
The restaurants have vegan and gluten free options which is great for people who has food preferences.. amazing staff making your stay memorable.. no matter where you walk or sun bath.. the ocean is right there .. the observatory is magical and there is water sports options for you if you are into adventures.. definitely recommend for a relaxing holiday

Great escape for the family. Friendly service and we have enjoyed our stay immensely!!

Clean facilities but extremely overpriced. Food only available from hotel facilities and options are basic and incredibly expensive. A couple of staff were good however the majority lacked care for guests or service. Two beaches and a pool. The pool would be good for children. An incredibly disappointing stay at this resort. Would not recommend for anyone except families. Be prepared to overpay for your every meal.

We had my sisters wedding here and they have been incredible! Very hospitable, beautiful atmosphere, gorgeous scenery. Would definitely recommend to anyone thinking about having a family holiday or wedding!

Excellent resort with top notch facilities and rooms. Lovely staff always willing to help. Endless options for activities to do or just relax by the amazing pool in the glorious Whitsundays. Will be back again!

Ive come here with my family, its my parents 25yr anniversary and we thought this would be an amazing trip. The staff at the restaurants and other activities have been lovely and really welcoming to us. However we have had some issues, being a teenager along with my brother we have a room with no air conditioning or tv. The air conditioning we were told either stays on our whole stay or turns off for our whole stay. Not being able to switch it on or off. The tv was then not connected to any channels. The technician came in and turned it off at the powerpoint and said he would get someone to look at it. He never came back, nor did anyone else and he took our remote too. This was only on day 1 which was an inconvenience. We were hoping to wake up the next day to have our problems fixed and sorted. Instead they told us they would fix the problems by noon and if not relocate us. Past noon and we haven t heard a thing. The phones in the room had no labels as to how to call reception. So my poor mother has to keep walking back and forth to get something done. Its just inconsiderate of the management to not think about the persons needs and to accommodate them when an issue arises. We are then told by late afternoon we will finally be relocated in the next hour. We pack all our things ready to go. Three hours later we are sitting at dinner and the room they are wanting to move us to is not ready. We are still stuck in that room. Im really disappointed in the management and being a young 18yr old on holiday with my family this isnt what we want to be worried about. As i mentioned its my parents 25yr anniversary and this really shouldnt be something they have to be worried about on this time away. Again i thank all the staff who have been so lovely to us and tried to make this experience as positive as they can. I hope these issues are resolved as i wouldnt want to have a bad memory of the resort. Thanks.

Daydream Island still getting on their feet but so far its pretty good as a local paying half price. Rooms are lovely and beds really comfortable. Friendly staff on arrival and our room ready early, such a nice surprise. The Reef is awesome and our room overlooking the Reef Pool was great. Great little poolside bar and the chairs by the water are fantastic. A bit more attention to the cleaning in the room as the floors were really dusty and messy. Love the live music in the Atrium.

If anything, our second visit to Daydream Island Resort and Spa was probably better than our first, as we knew our way around and, importantly, we had brought two friends with us to share the pleasure of the Island. As on our first visit, we were on a Luxury Escapes six-day, five night package which included lots of interesting extras like the Stingray Splash Experience which put us into a lagoon under the supervision of a marine biologist from Scotland for a variety of activities, e.g. to feed a variety of sting-rays; to race star-fish; to feel sea cucumbers and so on. The 19-hole putting course was great fun and we had a 2 for 1 voucher for the course which kept the prices down. A highlight of our visit was to watch the sunset at Lover's Cover as we enjoyed a bottle of sparkling wine and nibbles courtesy of Daydream Island. We were not alone in watching the sunset as several young - and very tame - rock wallabies joined us in the hope of scrounging some of our nibbles. They were happy to be patted and stroked as we fed them a variety of food, including grapes and Pringles!. The buffet breakfast at he Waterfall Restaurant was excellent, especially as they had a small, adults-only dining room where we could enjoy breakfast while watching the water cascade down the waterfall.The food at the Mermaid Restaurant was excellent but expensive as they had a captive market - the only alternative was a take-away pizza. However, we received a $100 voucher from Daydream after our first visit which could be used for meals. We were disappointed that the Waterfall Restaurant was not open at all for dinner during our visit, as we had hoped to enjoy their International menu. There is an excellent open-air cinema but the only film shown during our visit was terrible and many in the audience walked out. There is a nice Bakehouse about ten minutes walk from Reception if you want sandwiches or pies for lunch - and Daydream runs a shuttle service in electric buggies if you don't want to walk. The shuttle service also runs in the evening if you want to go to the cinema or use the Fishbowl Restaurant.

Run down disgusting meals will never return to stay

Place is run down and cruises that allow too much time. More time should be allocated to Whitehaven Beach.

Looks nice, but I reckon you'd get bored after a while.

This place has not lived up to its expectations!! It is a 2 star resort, no where near 4-5 star. The place has no culture, vision or sense of welcoming. Waited 1 hour for a piece of bread...sounds petty but for a place that is demanding top dollar more should be expected...sorry guys, not happy and for that I would advise people to only visit Hamilton Island instead, and only....this place is amazing!!! Sorry....

Very dated and not that much to do. Because youre on the one island, youre very captive and so there are credit card fees and other annoying things. We were there for a daytrip and wouldnt recommend it, may be better if youre staying.

Arriving an hour and a half after check in time, only one room was ready. On entry looked like the linen had been changed from previous guests and that was about it. Every piece of glassware/crockery, mirrors and glass was dirty. Floor was not even vacuumed let alone mopped. In today's day this is just unacceptable. Went for the round island walk, rumbah was filthy and the area smelt like an open sewer. Could not even see the bottom of the rubbish filled pool. The rainforest walk was nice enough even though their irrigation system was split, spewing recycled water out near the top.
Sunset at lovers point was pleasant with live music.
When booking a restaurant for the night the only availability was for the buffet style venue. After waiting nearly 15 minutes past our booked time to be sat, only parts of the buffet were attended by staff allowing open access to the remainder. Not very covid safe or actually even legal. The food was lack luster and cold. Zero service for drinks even after asking staff several times. Ended up walking to the nearby bar for water.
$45 was terrible value for money, mentioned the issues with the host who was generally disinterested and even forgot how many of us had yet to pay, so asked us.
Basic hospitality training needs to be given to majority of the staff they do have and the managers seen around could be more supportive.
Daydream has such potential but falls so far short of the mark.
Overall a very poor experience, will not return or recommend anyone go or stay here.

Resort is clean and nice but far behind. It's all very old. Island is nice but not enough activities are provided.

Nice resort, beautiful open spaces. Not much to do around. A little Bush walk and a small private beach. Absolutely stunning bathroom at the aquarium.

Went for a stop over as part of the cruise Whitsundays day trip which included lunch at the restaurant with the price, and also a stop over at Whitehaven beach.

Out of everywhere we have been around the world, this is the worst place we ve stayed at. Absolute Zero value for money.
From when u step onto the island, you don t feel welcomed at all, there was literally just some dude who just pointed us to the check in desk, actually looked like he worked for the ferry not the resort and just saw that we looked lost. No one helped us with our luggage, and yep it gets worse, even AFTER checking in, the dude at the desk gave us the keys and gave us DIRECTIONS!!! To our room like really?, he even told us to take the stairs and later on realised there was an elevator. You ll basically just get a map that they quickly run through with u at the desk, from then on it s up to you to ask around and figure where everything is, oh and that s if you can find the staff btw.
Room was dusty including the bed covers, they didn t even tidy up for arriving guests, this was evident as it was sparkling clean the day after upon completion of housekeeping.
Restaurants only serve food And open at certain times. My partner lost it when she realised there was no room service, after a day spent back on Hamilton Island (Because they don t have much to do on Daydream), we were tired and wanted to just eat in our room and guess what?? NO ROOM SERVICE!!, if there was a zero rating I d give this Island, who doesn t have room service? So she walks down to go get TAKEAWAY (not even joking), this is at 8:30pm and she gets told they ve closed the kitchen????!!!!!! anywho they ended up making her a pizza which tasted like Sh*t but u get the point.
Some of the staff where nice though especially Peta at the tour desk she was amazing and I guess that s who this star is for. The tourism department should really do something about this appalling place, it s a let down to Australian tourism, which already is lacking compared to the rest of the world. Disappointing really considering how naturally beautiful the Whitsunday Islands are.

Room was not ready when we checked in at 4.30 had to wait 2 hrs , Then I didn t get the room I asked for with a balcony, talked to the manager, told he would fix the problem for Me then the next day waiting for my new room to be ready was not ready until about 630 that night by this time I had a headache and waiting for food never happened because the restaurants were fully booked and the takeaway food was overpriced and couldn t go for walk along the beach because it was just a coral in or just save your money and don t bother going to daydream Island at all

Beautiful island but you can do the whole tour around it in 2 hours, not much to do after that.

Awesome place for a relaxing holiday. Housekeeping needs more attention.

Anchored of it on a mooring. Liked the clean beaches.

Do Not waste your money at infinity restaurant! What a shame of Asian fusion , such a great opportunity to do something good and it all becomes a night mare , ridiculous overpriced for a moment where one struggle to swallow some of the dishes
So easy to describe amazing food in a menu BUT you got to be a true chef to execute those accordingly . Trust me, save your money at infinity restaurant !

Day trip from Hamilton Island. Great way to spend a day.

Understandably it isn't peak season, however, the island seemed very empty and quiet run down. It also seemed very unorganized.

There to fix the living reef pumps but still loved it.

The resort is good as a whole but could do with more places to drink and eat, but don't let this put you of if you are going as a family it's perfect.

Fantastic location, a ctivities,services,staff and food. Lots to do and great place to relax.

Love this place! Staff are super friendly and very helpful. Just simiply a very beautiful island holiday

I could see this was a great place for families and couples. This is also for those who want to do it alone...to feel at peace with yourself and to drink in the beautiful creation. To read a book, sunbake and swim and even learn to snorkel like I did! loved it

It is familiar and quiet. Vacation to relax. Starting point to visit the Great Barrier Reef.

Great place for some R&R. Clean rooms, friendly staff, food and drinks were good and reasonably priced considering being an island resort. Ideal for families.

Security guards tried to stop private boaties from enjoying the waters edge and snorkling below the high water mark. Tried a bluff on the markings of reaf protection and alleged the markers indicated no tenders allowed. I thought the resort would have appreciated any and all dollars boaties were prepared to spend on the island. Very select and unusual attitude in these times I found.

What a great spa resort for families! Highly recommended! Will recommend and stay again! Thanks for the awesome time!!

Plenty of fish, rays and more! They have done an amazing job and you can even snorkel in there.

Service is great, food isn't overly expensive as others might have stated (about the same price as Sydney city). Come during the off-season as there will be less screaming children and more chance for activities.

I enjoyed my time on the island. Downside is eating is expensive.

Great place, don't know why people complain, all renovated after it was destroyed

Lost it in the little things, like floors not swept, leaves and rubbish in stair wells, outside walls have mirror falling off, bushwalk tracks not maintained, and to top it all off,this Australian icon is owned by the Chinese

Omg this is an amazing island love it here just wished I could have stayed longer to enjoy the serenity

I dont know what happened here, gone down hill from my stay in 2015. I actually struggled to see a smile on anyone's face over the 4 days stay.