My husband and I have just returned from a fantastic 1-week relaxing break at the Hawksbill resort. We are a couple in our early 30s and had a truly wonderful time, I found the resort lovely and my husband and I would happily return again and again.

I read many of the comments posted about this hotel before we went and to be honest I was concerned about some of the things said.

Here is my opinion

1. Accommodation

We stayed in a garden room, [which many do not seem to like].
The room was clean and tidy and petals had been sprinkled over our king-size bed, which I thought was lovely.
Yes, you could say it could do with a coat of paint, but I was not there for a luxury room and found it to be perfect for us.

2. Noises

Yes, there is a farm and you do hear noises a lot of the time, but my husband and I had no problems with it and you soon get used to it.
I found the odd goat and the piglets quite entertaining following each other around the gardens, but I only saw this twice.

3. Staff

The night we arrived a lovely receptionist, who welcomed us to the hotel and offered us a free glass of champagne, buzz fizz or juice, greeted us.
Most of the staff, throughout are stay were very friendly, but the odd one or two could have done with a smile on their faces.

4. Food

We did prefer the buffet nights as it gave more choice and you could have it at your own pace.
I have a nut allergy so I had to ask many times if there were any nuts in some of the foods. The staffs were always happy to find out and I never felt it a problem to ask.
The food was good and I enjoyed it but do not expect it to be out of this world.

5. Beach

WOW, the beaches are stunning, clean and tidy, the best I have ever seen.

Having read ALL the other reviews since booking our holiday I have to wonder if we stayed at the same place!!!!
The staff are some of the lovliest, friendly, helpfull people I have ever met. Nothing was too much trouble for any of them. The general manager should be really proud of them all. Also having read the reviews its funny how all the bad ones are by one nationality and I have to say the way they spoke to some of the staff I understand why they got an abrupt reply!!!! I saw one person banging his watch face at one waitress really rudely but at no time did the 4 in our party encounter anything but lovely smiling faces.

We had a sea front room which was perfectly adequate. It had a huge bed, ex large nicely tiled shower room and nice comfy chairs inside and a patio with table and chairs.The hot water did go off a few times but this was only a trip and as soon as we reported it it was no longer that 10-l5 mins before someone came to re-set it.

The food was a really good standard with loads of choice especially the fish that was caught fresh everyday. Breakfast was very varied with lots of things cooked to order.

Silvias garden tour is amazing, I don't know how she remembers all the things!! Myron in water sports has the patience of a saint!
David, Alex, William, Millie, Natasha and all the others I am sorry that I can't remember the names a big THANKS to each and everyone of you. To Grescilda this is from Hansom, the ugly one and 2 lovely ladies!!!!

We hired Rickys taxi to go round the island and a few other trips and he waited for us at different places for as long as we wanted.

The animals around the place were nice to see and not a problem. They did not wonder in for long. At no time did I ever see a cat anywhere near the tables!! We did see a mongoose a few times, which was nice.

We had a lovely, relaxing holiday and would gladly go back.

Overall a great value. Main attraction is the location. This is a great place if you want to have absolute quite vacation with minimum frills.

The key in really enjoying this place is in choosing the right room. We went with the garden view room and let me tell you it is worth crying over. We did not stay there more than 4 hours before changing. It faces the resort "garden" and its as basic as basic can get. The room ended before you entered it. It was a closet turned room.

Once we changed to the ocean view rooms it was a much better experience. We were few steps from the both restaurants. Though we only went to the one up the stairs for dinner. The staff service is spotty. Don't expect anyone to come to the beach to take yoru drink orders etc. If you ordered anything a-la-carte expect to wait a while.

We never had to look far for beach chairs. We travelled with a 8 month baby and left our stroller all over the resort as we frolicked about and everyone kept an eye on it. We strolled from one beach to the next to keep ourselves entertained.

Another cool treat at this resort is the snorkeling. Since with a baby we couldn't do any activities we usually do in the caribbean like snorkeling, kayaking etc. It was a great treat to put on our snorkels and find group of colorful fish just swimming not more than few yards off the shore.

There is also the Eden Beach-Nude beach at the other extreme end. I think that's where most of the guests congregate because we saw a lot more guests at dinner and lunch then at the beach.

Overall a fun location. We will come again but next time booking teh right room. Stay far far away from the garden rooms.

Let me start off by saying my wife and I have traveled extensively throughout the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, South America...and this was the first time we've eagerly anticipated the end of our vacation. We generally don't like to complain, but wished to make the most out of our holiday especially since we were celebrating our first wedding anniversary. We read all the positive reviews here, and this made us decide to give the Hawksbill a try. After experiencing it personally, I wonder if there are more that one Hawksbill by Rex resorts in Antigua, and if so, we obviously stayed at the wrong one, ha, ha, ha.

The following are reasons why we will not go back to the Hawksbill.

1. Room: we had booked a superior seaview room. The accommodations were rather modest, completely outdated, and in need of a major overhaul or bulldozing and rebuilding. Hard and uncomfortable old mattresses (2 double beds despite requesting a king-size). No glass on the windows, only old loose screens and louvres; no privacy when someone would walk by, and definitely not soundproof, everyone can hear everything. On our first day, we noticed that the new mini fridge was unplugged: perhaps because it had a 3-prong cord and there were only 2-prong outlets in the room. We mentioned this to reception, and the lady became very flustered and said she would look into this, but never did. We also noticed the door to the patio was in need of repairs. We advised the staff, and it took 4 days to finally come to do a 10 minute job. The mosquitoes found their way through the many large gaps in the old useless screens, and we were practically eaten alive (see #6 below regarding this); there was a horrible ant problem in the bathroom also. On top of all that, we would wake up in the middle of the night, every night, to the smell of something burning (we were told afterwards that this had to do with the combusting garbage compactors nearby). It is no wonder we felt so nauseous in the mornings.

2. Grounds: The beaches are beautiful, and despite the grounds being picture-postcard worthy, the farm next door ruined it for us due to roosters that would crow any time of day or night. Small goats and pigs would often escape through holes in the fence and while they were cute to look at, it was a whole other thing to see the animals eat out of the garbage or being fed by the staff, in plain view of guests. The resident cats would make meals for themselves by jumping on the tables and eating leftovers right out of patrons' plates not cleared off quickly enough. Numerous birds would also visit during mealtimes, stealing scraps of food and then leaving their droppings on the backs of the chairs and on the tables.

3. Staff and Service: there were some staff members who were exceptional, i.e. some wait staff and housekeeping, but the rest were truly in need of an attitude adjustment and further training. Mostly we were either ignored or treated quite poorly. It was almost an imposition to some of the wait staff to order a second drink at dinner, or even get a coffee at breakfast. In the end I resorted to "self-service" for almost everything. One evening in particular my wife and I were treated quite rudely by a woman who was supposedly the dining room manager. Not only did she treat us as if we were a personal inconvenience to her, but she was very rude and callous to us for no apparent reason (despite observing her practically bending over backwards for some of the other guests). Might I just add that by nature, my wife and I try to be pleasant and exchange friendly niceties with the staff....a "hello" and "how are you" often goes a long way in warming people up. We also understand that during vacation everyone is on "island time", but an hour's wait for a tuna salad at lunchtime when it's not even that busy is truly unacceptable. We enjoy tipping for good service, we just didn't understand why it seemed as if other guests would receive preferential treatment while we were treated like second-class citizens.

4. Food: buffet nights were not too shabby, but other set menu nights were not so good if one has certain dietary requirements (i.e. food allergies or picky eater). We had politely asked the dining room manager (the same woman mentioned above) if it were possible for the chef to make something simpler that might not necessarily be on the menu, and we were abruptly told no, that if we wanted something else we could go to the a-la-carte restaurant downstairs and "pay extra for it". Then we were promptly berated for not ordering off the menu fast enough and my wife was ignored for a request of a glass of wine while the other guests around us were being served with a cheerful hello and a smile and getting their glasses topped up repeatedly. A couple seated next to us noticed the wine incident and remarked to us that perhaps one needed to be a return guest in order to receive prompt service and attention while the rest of us have to serve ourselves!

5. Water: we were advised not to drink the tap water and that bottled water is available on the resort. Each 1.5 Litre bottle cost $3 US, even though this is an all-inclusive resort - WHAT, you say??? We were also told they could be refilled at the purified water coolers on the grounds. We'd check daily on the water coolers and often found them empty until I actually caught a maintenance worker refilling one of the cooler bottles in an unobvious location, with water from the garden hose! LOL, so much for purified water! I asked the man about this, and he said "No man, the water's good". We're already paying good money to stay here, and the idea of not only having to pay extra for bottled water but also being led to believe that the coolers contain purified water when it isn't the case is very upsetting! Nice scam they have going if you ask me....

6. Health Concern: I have had constant and worsening fever, chills, and many other symptoms since the day we left Hawksbill, April 28, and I just had my wife type this review after spending a day in the hospital emergency department due to acquiring a viral infection during my stay at Hawksbill. The doctors were concerned because of the multitude of mosquito bites I received, and I'm awaiting results for malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever.....BEWARE THE MOSQUITOES AT THIS RESORT.....go at your own risk. See the link attached for news on malaria-infected mosquito found in Antigua in December 2007, which could attribute to why this resort does fogging 3 days per week, which is not enough: [--]

The other good stuff: The beaches & snorkelling was great (although the coral is all dead). There is a lot of space between the 4 beaches, so you don't have to be crowding others or having them crowd you, and you can have relative privacy especially of Eden beach.