My girlfriend and I went to JBR at the start of Feb. and really enjoyed ourselves. After reading alot of the reviews I am a little surprised and wonder if the negative people were at the same resort, or if they just like to complain.

Rooms- small and dated. Bathroom was little more then a tolite and standup shower. The a/c worked fine and you really are only in the room to sleep, so who cares about the size and the fact that all the furmiture is made of concrete.

Food- I thought the buffett was great. There are alot of birds in the morning and lunch. If you eat inside though you really don't get bothered by them. If you eat outside it is just like eating at the beach or zoo in Toronto and the sea gulls we get here. All in all not a real bother. Lydia's is fantastic and I recommend the Sunday brunch. The Italian place was o.k. Yes they have a dress code, but they tell you when making reservations and it is on the website. So if you get turned away, it is your own fault and you should not be whining about it. Didn't try the Indian place as I am not a big fan.

Beach- it is a PUBLIC beach not private as some people seem to think. The vendors go away after a polite no and for the most part are very friendly and knowledgable about the island if you have any questions. The waves are fairly small and snorkling sucks. But for the most part again I liked it.

Bars- they were always friendly and pretty quick with the drinks. I was not a fan of the local beer, but the mixed drinks were fine. They go a little heavy on the booze part, but you are on vacation so that is o.k. with me.

Went on 2 excursions. Diving with INDIGO dive. I really recommend them Very friendly and Canadian!!! Had a great time diving. Other one was with Antigua Paddles. They take you kyaking, hinking and snorkling. Was alot of fun wth them too.

All in all we really enjoyed the stay. Vacations are what you make of it. Relax and have fun. Everything is slower there and it is a 3 star place not a 5. If you get upset over all the little things, insted of taking them in stride you are going to have a crappy time and complain, when most times it is your own fault.

Having been fortunate enough to visit many different holiday resorts this was undoubtedly the worst that we have ever been to.

Rooms – The rooms are extremely basic. They are not very private, especially the toilets, where the window consists of a hole in the wall covered by mesh. It was very unpleasant to walk past other rooms and hear other people using the toilet. The rooms were also constantly damp from the air conditioning system which was archaic and dripped water.

Staff- They were very unfriendly and unapproachable. The holiday was an all-inclusive deal but we were made to feel uncomfortable for asking to be served basic drinks or meals.

Food- The buffet restaurant was dirty and uncomfortable. There was no variety to choose from and what there was, was only just edible. The restaurants were a farce due to the unpredictable and complicated booking system.

Beach- This is fine if you only want to sunbathe. However, swimming was unpleasant and snorkeling impossible due to the very murky waters. Although the beach is private we were constantly harassed by local beach sellers, some of whom were aggressive and intimidating.

Pools- In need of repair and a good clean!

Car hire- It proved difficult to hire a car and therefore escape the JBR.

Booked a week at the Jolly Beach - Feb 2nd to 9th - as a belated Honeymoon.
Having read the reviews from this website after we had booked, we were left with the feeling ' What have we done!'
However we were pleasantly surprised with what we found. I wouldn't say this is the best place we have stayed at but all in all we had a great week
The room was pretty basic but the view from the balcony was to die for. We requested a high floor (got top floor - 4th) and this helped to make the holiday - sunsets were spectacular as the room faced west. Be aware that there are no lifts and it's quite a few steps to the top floor.
Room was clean, shower not great but served its purpose. Air conditoning worked well.
We ate most nights at the Hemisphere buffet restaurant and once each at Lydias (seafood), Utsav(Indian) and Bocciolos(Italian). The food was pretty good in the buffet if a little repetative. Could see how people who are a little picky with their food may struggle.
Utsav was excellent and quite spicy which we like. Bocciolos was good but had a dissapointing meal at Lydias. Think this was an exception as other people we spoke to said they really enjoyed it and the location on the beach is superb.
Most of the staff were pretty friendly and helpful although there did seem to be a shortage of happy pills with some of them. Again as with many other places we have visited we found making an effort to get to know them helped a lot.
The beach was great but you have to be up early to guarantee a spot with shade as the number of places are limited and are soon reserved with the obligatory towels. Hate to admit we adopted an attitude of 'If you can't beat them...'
The local traders were no problem, a quick 'No Thankyou' sent them on their way. Sand flies were a bit of a problem and the normal spray I use did not stop me getting bitten - wife got away with just a single bite. Both were clear of mossie bites.
Only did one trip which was the Virgin Ahoy boat trip that I would highly recommend.
Overall the place can be described as a bit 'tired' but we found it a great place to spend a week relaxing, eating and drinking.
Would definitely go back to Antigua but will probably check out some other resorts first.

If the Jolly Beach was a council estate in South London it would have been demolished years ago. This hotel is way past it's sell by date reminiscent of 1 star properties in Benidorm.

I know many readers of these reviews, like me prior to our trip, will have booked and then started to read the reviews. You will no doubt be dismayed by the large number of reviews rating this resort poorly. Every now and again a good review appears and you feel better. If you are in this camp you are heading for a big disappointment. I found most of the critical reviews accurate and the good ones hopelessly optimistic. My review relates to a one week stay between 9th and 16th February 2007.

If you are travelling from the UK you will have endured a 9 hour flight and then up to a 2 hour free for all in what substitutes for Immigration in Antigua. A short 30 minute taxi ride (US$8 per person) delivers you to Jolly Beach reception. You will have read about being welcomed with Rum Punch and perhaps you imagine a friendly cocktail waiter mixing your drink on arrival? The reality is you a served punch drawn from a cooler in a plastic cup. Later during my stay I saw a bird hanging on the side of the cooler drinking drips from the pourer, My guess is that that the punch is designed to get you through the stress of the next half hour - being taken to your room.

ROOM
We stayed in a Standard Triple Room in the St Lucia block. I understand that standard rooms are the most prevelent at Jolly Beach. Reviews based on superior rooms are not realy representitive unless of course you are staying in one. You are taken to your room by porters. The door looks like a door to a bin cupboard. Once inside the true horror begins to sink in. Your room is like a cave constructed out of roughly textured concrete. There is no furniture as such save a bed. The dresser, bedside tables and wardrobe are made of concrete. The walls were a dirty white, the wardrobe doors were wooden louvered doors with layers and layers of yellowing gloss paint slapped on them. The curtains were a drab mid brown colour. The flooring is industrial looking mid brown tiles.

The bathroom at least shows that fittings manufatured in the 1970s had some longevity built into them. Your sink is likely to be minus a plug. If you have a shower (apparently some rooms have a bath instead of a shower) it has a plain white curtain drawn by the maid to hide the mildew and mould beyond.

In short the rooms are disgusting. The rose coloured glasses brigade will say that you don't holiday in your room - it's only a place to lay your head - and so on. It took my wife three days to overcome the overwhelming disappointment of the room.

Once you have been intoduced to your room the race is on to complain about it at reception. The queues you saw at check in have been replaced by queues of people complaining about the rooms. We tried to pay for an upgrade to a superior room without sucess as none were available. Ultimately we were condemed to stay in our original room for the week. During the week we heard anecdotally from a couple of New Yorkers that if you were prepared to raise merry hell persistantly at reception you may get an improved room. It seems that rooms at the northern side of the hotel are more likely to have been refurbished.

FOOD
Breakfast is served at Hemispheres. This is the main buffet restaurant and is constructed in the same style as your room. As a result many people eat in area outside of the restaurant. Inside or out you will be plagued with birds. You will notice that all the outside furniture is stained with bird droppings. The birds will attempt to steal food from your plate whilst you are eating. Attempts have been made to keep the birds out of the inside part but they have found a way in and it has become an aviary. Food hygine and wild birds do not go hand in hand. I had serious concerns about eating here.

Lunch could be had in the aviary or at the Coconut Grill by the beach and main pool. The food was deep fried chicken, burgers or similar. If you ordered more than one item (i.e. you ordered food for all your family at one time) the staff often got confused and prepared some items way ahead of the others. These items would then be left standing. During this time flies alighted on the food. No attempt was made by the staff to prevent this or even waft the flies away.

Dinner was to be found in the main buffet, the indian, Italian or seafood restaurants. We visited the main buffet once. Tasteless luke warm food was on offer- eat as much as you like! We found the best to be Lydias the seafood restaurant. The italian had a ridiculous dress code that required a matre-de to look you up and down in sneering fashion prior to you being seated. The menu was too ambitious for the chefs, most of the food being very overcooked.

Stranglely out of eleven main courses at the Italian five were seafood. Only one dish included pasta. At the seafood restaurant two dishes were served with pasta although one of them was chicken curry served on a bed of spaghetti. This leads nicely to the Indian however no pizza to be be found! Seriously I am not a lover of Indian food but I would say the best cooked food was here if you liked it hotly spiced.

DRINK
Local watered down beer or cocktails were the order of the day. You could buy premium brand drinks if you wished.

BEACH
The Jolly Beach's saving grace. The beach is fantastic and is no doubt one of Antigua's better beaches. However all beaches in Antigua are public beaches and there are 365 of them.