Have just returned from Hawksbill after a two week stay. I chose the resort mainly from the reviews I read here which I found to be pretty accurate. It was a special trip as it was a belated honeymoon and also my husbands 50th birthday present as he lived there as a child for two years and had always wanted to return there.
It started badly with a 9 hour delay at Gatwick which we were not informed about despite having booked in at the twilight check in the night previously and given Virgin desk our mobile number in case of any problems. We duly got up early booked out of the hotel and proceeded to security where we were tuned away due to the delay. NOT impressed Virgin.... very bad customer service!
Having arrived at Hawksbill we were greeted with some plated food thet they had prepared for us as they knew of the delay and made us feel welome immediately. We had a superior seafront bungalow on the Royal Palm beach. Very comfortable clean and in a superb location just steps away from the crystal blue sea with lts of fish to swim with. A lovely sunset view too. I would reccomend these rooms even though more expensive it was nice to feel more secluded with your own little bit of beach and a bit more privacy, they also have air con.
Unfortunately we only had the first couple of days where we had sun after that the weather went downhill....BADLY! we managed a trip on the cat and circumnavigated the island which was well worth it despite it raining! We were very happy with our choice having picked up all the way round at other resorts Sandals looked just hideous in our view a big orange overcrowded resort. But I guess it suits a lot of people we were looking for a chilled out more personal place and we definately got that at Hawksbill.
The staff were always cheerful friendly and helpful I cannot speak highly enough of them. The room was kept clean and the housekeeping ladies were wonderful. The food was varied always fresh and plenty of it! A hard thing to achieve in an all nclusive.
There are four beaches and we found as it was a quiet time very few others on hem at any time, especially Eden beach.....the 'clothes optional' beach well worth a visit as it is wilder and a big beach. Look out for Oliver ....he's quite a character...an independant agent....he enjoys jogging on that particular beach!!
Back to the weather.....it had been soooooooooo dissapointing as we were in a rare tropical depression which meant cloud and rain every day although it remained warm. This just got worse until last Wednesday afternoon the 15th when notices went up and a hurricaine evacuation procedure was put into place which meant we had to be moved to a higher room where everyone could be in one block for safety. Hurricaine Omar a grade 3 hurricaine was on its way and was expected to hit. Preparations had been underway for a couple of days laying down extra pipes due to the already heavy rainfall and also trees were cut back. It was pretty scary but the staff were magnificent, very calm and efficient and kept everyone informed individually. Quite a few of them stayed in the resort overnight to be on hand.
The storm struck and was thankfully downgraded from a hurricaine hit to a very bad tropical storm the worst in fact since 1997 we were told. I have never seen so much lightening it really was quite spectacular in a very scary way! It continued for around 24 hours with winds of around 70mph an the rainfall was HUGE! Once again I cannot praise the staff enough. It was all hands on deck and it was very clear that the comfort of their guests was paramount. Chef Brian was fantastic not only managing to keep everyone fed with no power for 24hrs as the whole island shut down its power, but he was out there clearing the decks sorting out the pool that had to be emptied as it was so muddy just generaly working so hard as were all the staff and was there till the early hours each morning.
Having spoken to the manager this was NOT something they were used to dealing with it is a rare occurance so dont be put off!
The point of this review is that when something like that occurs you certainly get to know how good a place is in terms of customer care. Sure there will be people that will moan as there was some inconvenience in being moved and the power and water were off for a while but in my opinion not waranted as our safety was paramount to them. Not only that but they continued to be cheerful and entertaining and did not let it get in the way of customer care.
They still have a lot of clearing up to do sadly a lot of trees down and a lot of Palm bach has been washed away so will take time to recover. This was continuing as we left Saturday morning and a wedding was underway .....they had managed to deal with that as well!
So if you want to go to somewhere unpretentious with an old fashoned charm that's friendly and comfortable for some peacefull chill out time then this is DEFINATELY the place to go as you will be very well looked after!

Elaine from West Sussex

Let me start of with the positive. Hawksbill is located on an incredible piece of real estate with fantastic beaches. The staff in charge of the beach activities were wonderful. The resort serves good ice cream. That is it for the positive comments.

A large group of friends and family stayed at the resort during the first week of October for a wedding. If it was not for the fact that we committed to stay as group, I and a small contingency were planning an escape. In fact, one couple did actually leave under the cover of night to switch to a better resort.

Hawksbill was swarming with flies.
Honestly, the first three days we stayed there you could not use a knife while eating your meals - you constantly had to have one hand free to wave away flies from your food. We took turns protecting each others food while people went to get drinks. Even then you could not be vigilant enough, so we had to use extra plates to cover the food. I only wish I was exaggerating. The most amazing part about this was that the staff acted as if they did not see the flies. Not one apology. I now regret not taking pictures of the swarm so that I could post here. During one lunch, a friend actually ate his meal standing in sea so that he could eat in peace.

Blackbirds ruled the dining areas.
The birds would come into the dining rooms, sit on the back of the chairs, and defecated on the backs of the chairs. Also, they would literary steel the food from right under your nose. Again, the staff did nothing. Clarification, I did notice that they placed a plate of bread on the outside of the dining rooms in an attempt to keep the birds fed. Unfortunately, the birds only wanted what was on the plate of the guests.

Vicious mosquitoes
The rooms had screens on the windows. However, the screens are very old, installed poorly, and contain holes. A funny(?) story. One night, the resort sprayed for mosquitoes. Through some chain of events in Mother Nature, when we returned to our room, our bathroom had been overtaken by small flies (bigger than gnats, but smaller than house flies). We called the front desk for assistance, and their instructions for us was to turn out the lights because the flies were attracted by the light in the bathroom. Problem - it is pretty difficult to shower and get ready in the dark. Also, they were now being attracted to the lights in the bedroom. So for about thirty minutes, my wife and I sat in the dark on the bed waiting for the flies to leaves. Didn’t work. We called again. This time security arrived with a can of insecticide. So now we (not security or staff), had to spray the bathroom. Oh, the showering part … we gathered our stuff and went to a relatives room on the other side of the resort for that. Also, later that night, guess who was in the bathroom cleaning up hundreds of flies. You guessed it, me.

Food
Be prepared to eat bacon and eggs, the occasional greasy fish cakes, and precooked barbecue chicken EVERYDAY. By far the worst selection and worst food I have had at any resort. Also, be prepared to be scolded like a child on your food selection. A friend was told by her waiter that she would not bring her what she ordered because she “could not eat all that food.” Positive - they had good ice cream.

Ah the Staff ...
I have never seen a set of more morose, irritable, and generally unpleasant set of people in my life. They must not realize that they are working in the service industry and tourism is the number one industry in Antigua. The simplest of request was treated with scorn. They argued among themselves about the supervisors openly in front of the guests. They did not clean the rooms everyday.

I could go on with this review, but I am bringing myself down reliving this experience. If you are planning on visiting, do yourself a favor - do not do it. If you do, at least make sure you get some rum and raisin or pistachio ice cream.

We had the most wonderful time at Hawksbill.
On arrival we were very pleased as i had read through all the reviews and had been doubtful, however people just winge about daft things so my husband and i were pleasently surprised. The staff are fantastic, so friendly and helpful The grounds are lovely and the rooms are fine. we were originally in a seafront room with no aircon which was fine at first just needed a lick of paint thats all but by second week we decided to upgrade ourselves to honeymoon cove with air con. we had great views in both rooms. i just loved waking up and seeing the sea through the slatted windows.
The food was brilliant, always plenty to enjoy and nice and hot and i must say neither of us had an upset tummy all 2 weeks there! which is a first actually.
The entertainment lacked slightly, the evenings did seem a little too quiet. But then again, we would enjoy earlier nights than usual and waking up early was nice too plus we had a little coffee machine in room so we would sit out first thing and watch the sun come up.
The beaches were great, sea grapes beach is where we spent our days, nearest the bar for banana coladas which one review on here recommended.
Weatherwise, we had a few showers, tail end of a hurricane that we slept through, but the sun was shining every day and the weather was warm so those showers were refreshing.
The staff all need a mention but there are too many! The staff are very relaxed and would do anything for you like i mentioned, always saying hello and smiling and appreciate a smile back too. It makes a big difference to them when they feel appreciated.
Ornella, beautiful she is, at front desk is lovely, she sorted out our room change and was always very helpful. The bar staff, David christobelle, milly, seiko and adrian all so friendly. The waitresses all lovely again. and they never forgot our names too which we've never felt before which made this place special.
We would definately be going back, in fact i'm already looking, and if you fancy a real feel for antigua then stay here because i've found that the big 5 star hotels dont have the same feel to them as Hawksbill does. Great holiday!

We arrived in Antigua on a hot sunny day and were taken to the hotel in a mini bus. On arrival the reception area from the outside didn`t look particularly impressive. We had a warm welcome and after dealing with the administration you always get on arrival somewhere, we were taken to our beach front bungalows. They are not very modern but they are large and very clean which is what you would hope for. The shower was also of a good size and did it`s job very well. Clean towels every day and rooms cleaned daily. All the rooms had a ceiling fan and air con which worked well and our experience for the week was no bugs, lizards etc. Whilst we were there I didn`t see one tarantula spider

The location of the rooms and the outlook was fantastic. Excellent view from your seating area out to a wonderful warm blue sea. Without being fancy the rooms were fine. The food was perfectly acceptable as was the local beer served at the bars. The staff were very helpful, warm and friendly, no complaints at all.

We have always tended to travel east for our holidays, this was our first visit to the Caribbean, it was a fantastic holiday and I would go again without hesitation. I have to say however I would have reservations if I wasn`t staying in one of the beach front bungalows, the other rooms didn`t look very good, they did appear very much in need of work doing on them to bring them up to an acceptable standard.

There are also a number of honeymoon bungalows, they did look fine but can`t say how they were on the inside that said I never heard any complaints from any of the couples staying in them.