After reading many reviews & staying in all inclusive resorts in other places we had a fairly good idea what we were getting.

So we were pleased with what we saw upon arrival, which was clean pleasant surroundings of the reception, & not too long a wait to check in.

We did upgrade to a superior room upon arrival with two queen beds coffee making stuff fridge etc - which was about $45 per day.
The room was pretty good - not fabulous...the bathroom was slightly scruffy around the bath but ok, we didn't actually see the standard rooms but could imagine they weren't 'all that' .

Lovely view out onto lawns with palm trees & the beach under the tree line.

The beach itself was fab..lovely colour turquiose water & white sand, the water is not crystal clear due to the fine sand, (so no good for snorkelling), - but just lovely.

The pool was slightly tired looking in places, with gaps around the edges that could do with some repointing work, but thats only a minor point, overall a lovely pool, - one of the best i've seen really.

Food - overall superb, - the main restrauant Hemispheres catered a bit for the masses but all of it was good - breakfast was easily the best meal in here.
Pool food bar - Cococnut bar served nice stuff all fresh cooked great burgers & chicken.

The outer restrauants Lydias Bocciollos & Utsav were hugely better.
Lydias on the beach - just a heavenly location Lobster superb & worth the extra cost ($25)
Utsav is pretty good (Indian) - lovely surroundings by the reception & courtyard - food is not particularly spicy hot, - the Vindaloo is about a Rogan Josh standard
Bocciolos is the best - you need to dress up to go in, & that makes it really, the menu is filled with fabulous lovelies -just superb

Loved the garden surroundings all well kept & great colours

Lots of activities each day, - Volleyball football etc - which I loved
other stuff going on which you can take or leave

Had a go on jetski on beach ($40) good value for 30mins & tried the hobie cats (all inclusive) good fun too

Trips & local
Bus ride into St Johns is about $3 - worth a look but not exactly Oxford St
Circum-navigational trip round the island on the Excellence (Virgin) was fab
Nightout at Shirley Heights also excellent - great reggae band - but we had to leave too early on the organised trip.

One of the big plusses of our time here was that the resort was at most 25-30% full to about 50% full on the last two days...no queues no rush for spaces to sit - loved that..unsure if we would like it full..

Overall hugely enjoyed our ten days...unsure any more was required really 14 days would hve been too much.

48 of us flew out for our daughters wedding April 19th and what a wedding and Holiday it was.We had stayed at Jolly Beach last feb and had a great holiday our 5th visit to the Island , having stayed at other locations on the island. we chose JB for the wedding and we were so glad we did. we were worried by the reviews that were being written not for ourselves because we had stayed there but for the wedding pary reading the bad ones all i can say to anyone booking there fantastic our daughter partner and friends and family had the best holiday ever.We can not thank Beverley the wedding coordinater enough she excided all expectations and more .we had a choir steel band and private reception on the beach it was more than perfect.The rest of the hoilday was fantastic,the beach is one of the best on the island and we have seen a few there,the accommadation was great remember it is 3 star and it is the carribean.the staff look after your every need treat them how you would like to be treated yourselves and you can't go wrong go and enjoy it was fantastic.

Meant to post this review when I came back from holiday last year but forgot! Anyway still thought it worth sharing my experiences of the Jolly Beach with you…….

Based on some older reviews of the Jolly Beach I was a bit nervous as to what to expect, but fortunately I wasn't disappointed.........

After a fairly short journey from the airport, we were greeted in the Hotel lobby with a glass of fruit punch, which was a nice start.

We had booked standard rooms & found them to be spacious enough. Our bed was massive, but there was still room to move around the room. Our girls (13 & 15) had a separate room & they had twin beds in their one which was perfect. The wardrobe had 12 hangers in it & there were 3 available shelves in the wardrobe also, plus plenty floor space as well as a few surfaces/other spaces to dot things around the room. There is room to store the suitcases above the wardrobe.

The rooms were basic, but clean. I didn't much like the 'grill' window in the shower room/toilet, but you just accept it after a while. The shower pressure was not great & at times not particularly warm. We had a flooding problem with the shower in our first room & once reported maintenance were round within 10 mins. After 15 mins of working on the problem a decision was made to move us. Although it was a bit of a pain re-packing, we were given 3rd floor rooms in a much more central location and were quite delighted with the move.

We didn't have any problems with the staff. Some were friendlier than others, but we never found any of them to be rude. The entertainment staff; Terry, Theo, Ann-Marie, Sandy-Ann et al were great. They were great fun & such nice people too.

The Restaurants were fine. The service in the Italian was terrific and it was pretty good in Lydia's & the Indian too. There is enough choice on the menus if you are there for a week, however after a couple of weeks you may tire of the choices. The quality & presentation of the food was just fine. The Sunday lunch buffet in Lydia’s is well worth reserving for. The evening entertainment was OK, some nights better than others, but overall enjoyable.

The pools were clean & it was easy to find an available sun lounger. If you don’t like the noise from the music or entertainments team at the main pool, there is another quieter one just round the corner. The beach was beautiful & the vendors didn’t pose a real problem. Watersports available were OK, thoroughly enjoyed the hobby cats. Also found the ski-jets to be of decent value.

If you fancy exploring the island hire a 4x4 and visit all the main attractions, towns & other beaches in the one day. The roads aren’t great, but a convertible jeep is perfect & really good fun too.

The only things on holiday that we didn’t like were the mozis & sand flies, the latter were actually the worst and the bites itched terribly. However, if you avoid the beach after 4.00pm you should be OK. We chose to play beach volleyball every night & as such had to take our chances!

We had a brilliant time & would recommend Antigua & the Jolly Beach to anyone.

First of all..DONT listen to all the bad reviews on here..i think these people went to another planet as my partner and i LOVED everything about jolly beach!
Let me start with the staff at jolly beach..amazing people..friendly, always helpful, great entertainment on the evenings..ann marie is reallly good!!
Beverly..a true gem! she helped my partner organize a romantic setting for me on the beach where he proposed..she went out of her way and truly is an amazing person. if you are thinking of getting married at jolly beach..DO IT! she will make ure day one to remember!! she really is an amazing wedding coordinator!!
Everytime we went to any of the restaurants the staff were always exceeding our expectations..so poilte, friendly and good humoured!!
The jolly beach has three speciality restaurants, Utsavs - indian, Lydias - seafood, and Bocciolos- italian. I had the pleasure of having bocciolos as my private meal on the beach and i have to say that is the nicest italian i have had.,.and the dessert..out of this world!!
Lydias was good too..definitely book the sunday brunch at lydias the atmosphere is lovely and the steel band is just spectacular!!
Utsavs is really good and has some excellent dishes and again the dessert is worth having too.
Hemispheres which is the buffet restaurant is also good. The caribbean night is good and it always has a good spread of different dishes.
There is a grill by the main pool and the burgers and jerk chicken are addictive!!
Hotel bars are also fab! really good cocktails and there are slushie machines by each bar which is really refreshing!!
The pools are fantastic and the man that sits by the pool most days does some amazing paintings woth getting one!
The beach..what can i say..jolly beach has an amazing stretch of white soft powdery sand and is possibly the nicest on the whole island. Dickenson bay where sandals is located is not that impressiveand is crowded with several hotels sharing it.
Jolly beach on the other hand is the only hotel based on the beach and we found we had privacy most days.
The vendors are harmless and leave you alone if you say a poilte thank you. Worth going on the jet skis!
Jolly beach also hires out kayaks, peddle boats and floaties free of charge. These are fun in the sea!!
We stayed in the junior suite which was really good..always clean and comfortable. We had two balconies, a living room area and the shower was really good. Had views of the sea from our balconies and watching the sunset while we got ready was always a nice touch!!
In terms of excursions i highly recommend going on the excellence cataraman to barbuda and also going around antigua on the same cataraman. The sunset cruise is also fun.The crew on both tiami and the excellence are extremely fun and i would definitely definitely say go to barbuda with them!
Barbuda is just paradise. The sand is pink and the sea is aqua blue and so clear! we loved it. We didnt go to the frigate bird sanctuary. This is optional. We chose to swim in the sea and was great fun! we also went to green island which is also nice. On the around antigua sailing trip we saw many lovely sights including the pillars of hercules which is breathtaking, nelsons dockyard, shirley heights, and eric claptons humble abode!!
Iwould say to anyone who is worried about the bad reviews on here IGNORE them..you will have a fantastic time!!
Final word of advice..antiguan rum punch is deadly but realllly goooood!! bring some home with u!!