Hawksbill Resort Antigua: Nice resort if you love beaches! Makes up for a lot of flaws but would have to say the resort is not for everybody.
We knew going down it was a 3 star resort that had amazing beaches but also had flaws. We weren't too surprised when we saw for ourselves what everyone in the reviews were talking about. Would I recommend this resort to a friend? Some friends yes and some no. Here is our perspective.
What we liked........
The beaches and water were amazing
Never had an issue getting a lounger
Friendly staff
A/C in the room was thankfully good
Hanging out on our beachfront porch was amazing
What we[... read more] were able to live with.......
The food was more miss than hit
Same with the evening entertainment
The grounds are tired and many things are in need of repair. Frankly, some things that would be an easy & cheap fix were ugly.
Beach towels were often never available and we were only allowed 2 with an exchange.
Bottom shelf liquor.
The elevation changes between the rooms to the main dining room was a bit more challenging than we thought going down. We were fine but holy cow, we worked up a good sweat going for dinner! Many older folks and those with bad joints did struggle.
What we didn't like & a bit worse than we envisioned........
Room was in desperate need of a reno. No storage space.
Counter in the bathroom was way too small. Chipped tiles in the bathroom and especially the shower were ugly.
The birds and ducks in the restaurants were very unsanitary and gross. Cute at first but they are intrusive and we saw poop everywhere. The ducks even hang out in the infinity pool and around the deck trying to get into your drink.
Loads of flies in the restaurants - also gross.
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Pineapple Beach Club: Loved it!
This resort is the perfect place to relax and enjoy with amazingly kind and fun people working there. Shout out to Tricia! It is not the right place for seekers of 5-star luxury and the standards that come with that. Our room's air conditioner broke briefly an was repaired within an hour and a half. We met great people from Hamilton, Stoney Creek, Florida, Pennsylvania, and England. Food is excellent. There may be 1 item out of 100 at the Topaz Buffet (with its awesome beachside location) that i[... read more]s not perfectly cooked, but the breaksfast omelettes are every time. Antigua's independence day inspired the resort to create a festive street party with amazing seafood and various curries. Everyone loves the beach. Good snorkelling, and Hobie Cat sailing with a reliable eastern Atlantic breeze.
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Cocobay Resort: Not worth the money
Overpriced! Beautiful location, beach so so , staff fantastic. Cottages need work, transport from airport bad slow useless don’t use Nexus . Don’t check a bag you’ll wait an hour for luggage .airport runs very slow
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Holly -
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Royalton Antigua Resort and Spa: Awesome resort
This resort has a very friendly atmosphere. Its very clean, lush landscapes. Rooms are very clean, staff is super friendly. Special mention to our butler Earl who goes above and beyond to help you.
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NzaP -
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Royalton CHIC Antigua: Good but not great
Positives - Close to airport. Nice hotel/grounds well kept. Modern clean rooms/amazing cold AC/convenient room key bracelet. No towel shortages. Awesome cafe for coffees and snacks. Great entertainment daily. No sargassum/beautiful beach.
Negatives - Moldy smell in room/no exhaust fan in bathroom/app for restaurant reservations didn't work/wasn't resolved (we managed to book some). Bottled water restocking issues. Some food/drink shortages. Pool water too warm. Not enough beach chairs/umbrella[... read more]s. Smell of sewage on beach. Public toilets broken daily. Guests leaving food unattended attracting lots of birds.
Overall, good experience but not worth the price we paid. Hotel could be great with better all around management addressing key issues.
The Royalton Chic was a nice fairly small resort. Easy to navigate around. Loved that it was a quick ride from the airport. We stayed in standard room, was small but clean. Housekeeping was great. Food was good but buffet was always the same. They did run out of some food and drinks at times especially at the food truck and pool and beach bar. But always something else you could get. Loved the coffee shop. Roomservice took forever if you got the food at all so maybe avoid that. Beach was[... read more] beautiful one the nicest ive ever been to. The people are so nice and friendly and you feel very safe. The place isnt perfect maybe not a top notch 5star but loved our time there and made the best of it!
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Chris -
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Royalton CHIC Antigua: Horrendous management
Did our group of 8 have fun? Yes. Did we encounter some BS... yes. The staff is great. Under staffed though... so they run out of drinks at the pool bar all the time, and cant get drinks you wanted. Made reservations for dinner, then get told they have no food other than fish. Were we able to eat yes...eat what we want? No. Room serviced called 3x... how many times did they show up? 0. Had to call and yell and scream. Did i get it? Yes... 3 hours late... cleaning staff is the best part of this p[... read more]lace, and as i said staff in general is great, its terribly managed and owners clearly trying to save a buck. Warning to owner. These bad reviews WILL sink your business eventually. Endless potential there. Wake up.
The Pineapple Beach Resort is a beautiful smaller property with a gorgeous setting directly on the beach. The grounds are well kept. The rooms are modern and comfortable. The beach is very nice and well maintained. Plenty of beach loungers. Three pools are clean as well. Fresh beach towels offered every day. The à la cart restaurants were good. The buffet offerings were plentiful and the food was good. The staff were mostly friendly and helpful. However, we did encounter a few who seeme[... read more]d “ bothered” when we asked for a drink and some are just downright rude and never smile. Overall I would recommend this resort. We did have a great time!
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Shireen -
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Pineapple Beach Club: Amazing and relaxing resort!
What a wonderful place to spend a relaxing week. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and only wished we had booked a few more days.
The resort is beautiful, charming, and well maintained. We chose a waterfront-view room, and it was absolutely worth it. Each morning, we enjoyed watching the sunrise with a coffee on the balcony while listening to the soothing sound of the waves along the beach.
The food was consistently excellent, with a great variety of options and quality throughout our stay. W[... read more]hat truly made the experience memorable, however, was the staff. Everyone was warm, welcoming, and attentive, always going out of their way to ensure guests felt comfortable and well cared for.
We would not hesitate to return and highly recommend this resort to anyone looking for a peaceful and rejuvenating getaway.
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Royalton Antigua Resort and Spa: Disappointing Experience – Beautiful Beach, Terrible Service
The only positives about this resort were the beach and the cleanliness. The beach was beautiful, clean, and well maintained, and while the rooms were on the smaller side, they were clean and comfortable.
Unfortunately, everything else was a major disappointment.
The service was by far the worst part of our stay. While there were a handful of friendly and helpful staff members, the majority were extremely rude, unhelpful, and seemed uninterested in providing good customer service.
The r[... read more]eservation system for the à la carte restaurants was an absolute disaster. The app only allows reservations for two people. If you're traveling with a larger group, you're forced to line up every day at 10:00 a.m. to book with a representative. People start lining up as early as 9:30 a.m., meaning you're wasting a significant portion of your vacation just waiting in line. To make matters worse, the representative often arrived late, reservations could only be made two days in advance, and even when we were first in line, many of the desirable dining times were somehow already unavailable. We were repeatedly forced into late dinner reservations.
The buffet food was very underwhelming, with limited variety and mediocre quality. Service there was equally frustrating, as servers frequently ignored requests or took an unreasonable amount of time to respond.
The food truck was another terrible experience. Although it officially opened at noon, they rarely had food ready, resulting in yet another long lineup. The staff were disorganized and incredibly rude. When I asked to speak with a manager about the situation, I discovered that the manager was just as rude and dismissive as the employees.
It also seemed obvious that management was completely unprepared for the number of guests staying at the resort. Restaurants constantly ran out of menu items, sometimes very early in service, and the ice cream shop regularly ran out of ice cream well before the day was over. Running out of basic food items at an all-inclusive resort should not be a regular occurrence.
Overall, this resort has a beautiful beach and clean rooms, but that's where the positives end. The poor service, frustrating reservation process, disorganized operations, and consistently disappointing dining experience made this one of the least enjoyable resort vacations we've had. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend staying here.
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Royalton Antigua Resort and Spa: Poor Service
The scenery at the resort was beautiful and the bar, cafe service and entertainment were excellent. The performers did a fantastic job and made our stay enjoyable.
Unfortunately, our overall experience was affected by several service issues. At the gourmet buffet, some of the waitstaff were not very friendly or accommodating. For example, when I asked a waitress for an espresso, I was told I had to go to the café to get one instead of being assisted.
The reception area could also do a better [... read more]job of creating a welcoming first impression. When we arrived, we weren't greeted or welcomed and throughout our stay it was difficult to get assistance with maintenance. We reported a leaking shower that needed additional caulking three separate times, but the issue was never resolved. On one occasion, a maintenance staff member even rolled his eyes when we mentioned the problem, which was disappointing.
Housekeeping was also inconsistent. Our room was often not restocked with enough towels and the drinks in our minibar were not replenished regularly.
While the resort has a stunning location and excellent entertainment, the customer service and attention to guest requests need significant improvement to match the quality of the property.
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Royalton Antigua Resort and Spa: Disappointing
The resort itself esthetically is beautifully layed out with plenty of trees, flowers and bushes overlooking ocean. However the receptionists were not very welcoming. We had issues with our shower and after many times of having to tell them they just dismissed our concerns. They kept forgetting to replenish our fridge and l had to keep calling for towels. The beach and pool very nice, including bartenders and loved their entertainment and water aerobics. The waitresses in the buffet "marche" ne[... read more]ed a lesson on etiquette. Overall my family and l were disappointed and won't be returning.
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Royalton CHIC Antigua: amazing resort and experience
royalton chic antigua was a beautiful resort with all amenities available. food was wonderful and staff were friendly and helpful. everything on the hotel grounds were clean, maintained. hotel staff checked in with us throughout the trip, we always felt safe and welcome.
We were there for two weeks in early April. Absolutely a beautiful resort!! It's a smaller resort (128 rooms) with the traditional wooden buildings in lovely pastel colours. We chose the "waterfront" room (2nd floor) and it was worth the extra money. We were maybe 30 feet from the ocean and slept every night with the AC off, patio door open and listening to the waves. We saw very few bugs and no mosquitos. We could have kept the screen door open!! The temps were low 80's every day and low 70's[... read more] at night. Always a nice breeze blowing. A couple of short rain showers but nothing to ruin your day. The food was the big surprise. It was very good whether you ate at the buffet, a la carte restaurants, snack bar grill or up on the hill top BBQ location. We had no stomach issues at all during the 2 weeks we were there. The drinks are delicious and bartenders are talented. The drinks are strong and they do not skimp with the alcohol!! They serve locally made beer at the resort (Long Island Brewery) and I was worried because we are true Canadian beer lovers. It was not bad and somewhat similar to a Canadian lager. My husband drank it but I decided since we were "all inclusive" to drink the fancy drinks that we could not afford back home. The service was always good and the people of Antigua are very friendly and hard workers. There was always something going on at the resort (day and evening) that you could participate in or not, or just watch the fun. The evening entertainment was usually pretty good with some nights being better than others. The clientele was mostly Canadian, UK or American and I would say age 45 and up with most being in their 60's. By 11:00pm, most were heading off to bed. There is no one of the beach bothering you to buy something from them and the other half of the beach is "public". We walked down to the end of the public beach every day and always felt safe. (The cruise ships brings people to this public beach to spend the afternoon.) Lots of people snorkel at this end of the beach as there is a reef out front. We would wade out at the very end near the rocks and see LOTS of tropical fish!! (We brought some tropical floating fish food that I got at Wal-Mart.) There are a few "resort cats" at the resort (taken care of by the resort coffee shop ladies) and we enjoyed interacting with them and we are "dog people" lol. We actually brought some cat treats to feed them as recommended by earlier reviews. The cats do not bother with people unless you invite them to. The resort water is excellent to drink. You must bring your own refillable bottle and there are water filling stations in several locations. All in all, our vacation at this resort was amazing and we will definitely return. NOTE: Be prepared to pay a daily $24 resort fee and a daily $10 tourism fee when you check out. This daily $34 fee is in US dollars and must be paid and is NOT included as part of your vacation booking price. It adds alot to your vacation cost, particularly if you are Canadian. We were aware of it before hand and factored it in to our vacation budget. Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm at many resorts and hotels in Canada and the US. ANOTHER NOTE: Because the resort in on the eastern side of the island, it is vulnerable to sargrassum seaweed. They would clean up the beach every morning and some days there was none and other days there was some. You can not control "Mother Nature" and when we were there it was not bad at all.
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Jolly Beach Antigua: Jolly Beach Resort
Beautiful beach! Beautiful pools and kept very clean. Grounds beautiful and manicured. Bar staff exceptional and so talented at making such great cocktails especially at the Pool Bar. Food very good, sometimes not a lot of choices. Main meat cut at carving station very good! Hotel very run down and not well maintained. No housekeeping provided and hard to get fresh towels even after asking front desk several times. Easy to get pool and beach towels which was nice. Very dark on pathways at night [... read more]time since light bulbs not replaced on pathways.
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Jolly Beach Antigua: Beautiful resort, beach was spectacular
Room a bit dated but otherwise clean, and comfortable, was in 3352, the walkway needed a bit more lighting, food quite good, beach so beautiful and clean, the staff very friendly had an amazing time I would definitely return
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Jolly Beach Antigua: A great place to relax and unwind
The highlights:
A world-class, nearly mile-long beach with plenty of lounge chairs, solid umbrella stations, and stunning ocean and mountain views. The sand is clean and perfect for long walks, and the amazing turquoise water is ideal for swimming. The weather is warm and sunny almost all the time, with a wonderful cooling breeze in the evenings.
Unlimited drinks are available in endless variety, served by fantastic staff at the Coconut Grill Bar and The Palms Bar. Special shoutout to Neil f[... read more]or his excellent service and cheerful, entertaining attitude. The nightly entertainment at The Palms Bar is also enjoyable.
The buffet offers good daily variety and is generally satisfying, with highlights such as tasty soups, BBQ ribs, roast pork, and an impressive selection of excellent desserts.
The less impressive aspects:
You need to line up very early to reserve a spot at the à la carte restaurant, which is only available every second day (and closed Sundays). If you get a later seating, some menu items may no longer be available.
The rooms and buildings are more in the 3-star range, with some visible signs of aging, though the beds are comfortable.
Overall:
Definitely recommended for a fun, relaxing all-inclusive vacation.
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Camila -
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Ocean Point Resort and Spa: Exceeded expectations!
Amazing resort for a quiet romantic vacation. My husband and I visited for our anniversary and it was the perfect place for us, relaxing and quiet place, stunning views and beautiful beaches. The highlight was the people working there, happy, respectful and friendly. The food was delicious and the room service was excellent, SO clean. We will definitely be back.
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Darlene -
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Pineapple Beach Club: Wonderful experience
The staff, hotel, food are are excellent. This is our 2nd year at this resort and it never disappoints. The daytime games are fun and inviting along with the nighttime entertainment. We will be back again.
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Jolly Beach Antigua: Great value
The grounds,beach and pools were all great. The food at the resort was excellent. We are fairly picky and the selection and quality was quite good. We didn't get sick from either the water or the food which is always a bonus. The staff were not on the friendly side but management staff were exceptional. My friend ended up sick with pneumonia while there and had to be in the hospital for two days. The management were amazing helping us to navigate this. One of the managers even visited her [... read more]in hospital. If you ever have to go to the hospital while on holiday I highly recommend asking what you need to bring with you. The hospital conditions were appalling. So, definitely ask what to expect. We would go back to this resort. It is a 3 star. Definitely don't expect more. Also, the resort has 4 floors and no elevator. If you have any mobility issues make sure you let them know when booking.