We booked a weeks stay at the Halcyon Cove as a last minute break through Virgin. Due to it being a last minute booking the Halcyon was the only hotel that we could get in to. After reading the reviews posted here prior to arriving at the Halcyon, we had a fair idea of why and what to expect!..

The Hotel - Needs a complete overhaul - it was a cross beween 1970's Butlins and the hotel in 'The Shining'! The management seem to be trying to keep up to speed with general maintenance issues - such as repairing the paths and painting the stones in the gardens, however, to really get to the route of the problem this place needs to be gutted and completly modernised. We had a poolside room which was basic, fairly clean (if you didn't look too close) with a working fridge, TV and Aircon. The Bathroom was pretty yuck, however we always had hot water - no probs there.

Generally if it wasn't for the fantastic location (the amazing white sandy beach and crystal clear seas) this place really would be the pitts.

The Food - We were on the All Inclusive plan (we had never done all in before). The Pier is lovely at breakfast, such a lovely place to start your day and with a nice selection of fruit, cakes and cereals - it was hard to go wrong - although we were always the only people taking advantage of this at breakfast as most people seemed to go to the Arawak. Afternoon tea on the Pier was stunning too.

The bar area at the beach was pretty dire, it stunk of left over booze due to the fact that empty bottles were just left behind the bar. One day we saw some vodka being de-canted in what looked like an old bleach bottle into a glass vodka bottle. The beach bar has zilch atmosphere and trying to actually get someone to serve you here is pretty much impossible - but I will come onto the staff shortly.

The Arawak Restaurant - we ate here twice in the evening. Again no atmosphere whatsoever. All it would take would be a paintjob a freshen up and some candles and light music. We nicknamed it 'The Canteen' as thats what it felt like. The food was fine, quite a selection although I am sure it would be much better if they cooked local cusine and dishes. Not sure why men are asked not to wear shorts here as it really is just a glorified food hall.

We had a dire eveing meal on the Pier - so frustrating when you are sitting on the sea and they have Turkey on the menu! We opted for the Tuna (they never had the lobster that they advertised on the menu) and it was straight from the freezer- such a shame as they have so much opportunity to really make this into a lively and enjoyable place to eat. We discovered Coconut Grove further down the beach which really was gorgeous - there is nothing stopping the Wari Pier giving Coconut Grove a run for its money - if they got their act in gear.

The Staff - what can I say? The most unhelpful, rude and arrogant people we have ever had the misfortune to come across (with the exception of a couple). The manager of the Beach Bar does not deserve to work at all. She was so rude and refused to serve us at 10.25am because the bar didn't open until 10.30am - however promptly served some of her friends. She sits on the chair at the side of the bar so slumped over you think she has passed out - and really can not be bothered to serve anyone. Generally we found this of most of the staff - everything was far too much like hard work - it was so obvious that they really couldnt care less. Unfortunately this problem does not seem to occur solely at the Halcyon. Sadly Antiguans have a serious attitude problem which results in this very sad behaviour.

The Lady at the Car Hire Company on site at the Halycon was the rudest we encountered - she wouldn't speak to us when we wanted to hire a car and insited in asking her colleague (who was in the same room as us) what type of car we wanted! She then threw our car hire documents at us. She was so unbelivably rude that we actually found it quite amusing!

Overall, if you get a good deal to come here and have a cheap week or two in the sun, I would recommend it as its a lovely island with stunning scenery. Dickenson Bay is lovely too. However, if this is your main holiday, wedding, honeymoon, special occasion or holiday of a lifetime - I suggest you book elsewhere as this place has serious issues.

I have read all of the reviews listed for this resort. It is not that bad. You can find negative in everything if you try hard enough-not saying that is what everyone did. I just came back yesterday, and was there for a week. It is an absolutely beauitful beach! Further down, the other resorts beaches don't even come close. The smell of all the flowers were amazing! We did go All-Inclusive, and I highly recommend doing so. Several other people had and were very happy as well. The food at Arawak Terrace was really good, and we looked forward to seeing what they had every day. Breakfasts usually weren't anything to brag about though. We didn't go to Warri Pier to eat. Several other couples at the resort advised us not too. We went zip lining at the Rainforest canopy Tour-A MUST DO!!! I had so much fun. We also we snorkling with Larry-he is down at the end of the beach. Zip lining was $85 each, and snorkling was 2 hrs for $30 each, but everything else on the island was very expensive to do. My room was cleaned every day, and clean sheets on the bed. The room was dated, but you don't go to the Carribean to stay in your hotel room anyway. The entertainment was alright. Fenton really tried his best. And I also need to mention that Jacqualine at Arawak was very nice as well. We never had a problem with housekeeping, the reception desk wasn't very helpful though. People do bother on you the beach selling things. All of the beaches are open to the public, so this wasn't an isolated problem. If I do go back to Antigua, I would definitley stay there again.

I bought a two week stay at this hotel for my husbands 40th birthday. I saved for 2 years and realise I totally wasted my time, money and excitement.
On arrival all looked well, but a 45 minute wait to be taken to our room soured things. Our room was tatty, some temporary repairs had been made put poorly executed. A new basin and shower had been added, but only the tiles around the shower head had been replaced. The rest were old and chipped and the bath so warn it had holes in it. There was no hot water and the toilet didn't flush.
Our rep said the next day to 'get used to it - there had been no hot water for 4 weeks' (Thanks first choice!). Many complaints later and we had running hot water after 2 days but in the shower only - never for the basin. My handy hubby finally fixed the toilet!
Within two days my husband caught a bug so severe he was in bed for 2 days, which I then promptly caught and was in bed for 4 days. On discussion with other guests it seemed like 60% of guests had been or were ill.
Entertainment is laughable. A daily board goes out with a list of events, ranging from kayak, nature walks, quiz games, rounders, etc. However, all of these didn't materialise as the entertainments manager was cricket mad and played cricket all day every day. Fine if that's your thing but not if you can't stand cricket and got fed up with trying to be cadjolled into playing. My husband pretended he was asleep to avoid being dragged into it!!
Service at the resort was generally good, the staff are lovely and always happy and cheerful. Others have complained about service but we honestly had no problem.
The food was ok, nothing special, but plenty of it.
The food by the Carib bar at the beach is dire. Really awful burgers or hot dogs and chips. No frills and poor quality. If you're on the beach, make the effort and go to the restaurant for lunch, it's worth the walk.
We were all inclusive but ate out on several occassions. WE CAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND 'THE BEACH' restaurant just down the beach. At busy times you may need to book, just ring reception and ask them to book for you. Now this is how a restaurant should be run! Food FAB, plenty of it and service very good. It's a shame it's not the sort of service we received at the Halcyon!
We tried to go sailing on a couple of occasions, initially to be told we were too late as they closed in an hour (we only wanted to go out for half an hour or so!) another time no-one was available at the hut despite waiting for an hour and the last time we were told that although sailing was free for all inclusive, you have to pay for a training course! No-one told us about that!
A WORD OF WARNING!!! Going out of the hotel and turn left, there is a restaurant here called PARI. DO NOT GO THERE! We waited over 1 hour for our starter, I went to get our drinks from the bar fed up with waiting, 75% of the menu was not available, the meal turned up with frozen veg and frozen crinkle cut chips (something you would expect from Iceland's and not an expensive restaurant). We then waited a further hour for our meal and half an hour for our bill. We walked out in the end and asked the lady at reception for the bill. On receipt we refused to pay the service charge due to it being SO poor. She called the manager, we asked for the service charge to be removed - she just said 'NO' and walked away. We then had no choice to pay and presented our credit cards. The credit card machine was not working. We scrapped together some cash with our friends to pay the bill (not having come out with any expecting to pay by card), they only had east carribean dollars for the change. When asked that despite having a full restaurant why they had no change in us dollars - we received a shrug. This place is awful and a rip off-don't waste your time. Staff are rude and don't care!

The hotel in general was a severe disappointment. Antigua too was a disappointment, lots of abandoned cars, rubbish lying around and shanty towns littered over the island. The hotel was just simply shabby, tatty and dirty. A cabinet outside the restaurant had filthy dirty mark all over it - obviously never cleaned. The toilets smelt of damp and someone had just painted over the scored in graffitti in the toilet doors. These are just a few examples. The whole place just felt like it was held together with a few nails and tissue paper. Our room had a balcony which was small and to think I paid extra for a garden view-well I shouldn't have bothered. We didn't get our tea/coffee refreshed every day and had to take it from the restaurant each evening to ensure we had what we needed in the morning. DO NOT buy water from the bar - you will be charged $10. Go to the shop if you can where it is a few dollars, then keep the container and get it filled with water at the bar and put in the fridge over night. keep your empty containers out of site if you want to keep them to refill otherwise the cleaners take them as they get money for the empty bottles.

I thought this was going to be a dream for my husbands birthday and I have never felt so let down by a hotel, management and travel agent. On booking with first choice it was 4 star. By the time we went out it had been downgraded to a three star. Quite honestly this hotel was no better than a two star. Don't waste your money. If you are honeymooning or going there for a special occassion then I seriously suggest you take the hit, lose the deposit and go somewhere else. I wrote to the management and to the owners of Rex results for a response to my complaints and two months later no-one has got back to me.
I also found out that at least 3 other couples had paid over £800 less than me as when I booked it it was classified as 4 star, but received no refund from First Choice when it was down graded.

Go to Greece - you'll have a better time!

we stayed here on our honeymoon and really wish we hadnt. the room was dirty with peeling wall paper, no hot water and the dirtiest bed i have ever slept in. the hotel staff were very rude, they didnt seem to care at all. we had one meal here and it was disgusting, thank god we didnt go all inclusive. the beach on dickenson bay is ok but i have seen a lot better. the only saving grace was that we hired a car so could see the rest of the island and sample the local restaurants (all very high quality but expensive). antigua is ok but nowhere near as nice as i expected, thailand, pacific islands and maldives are all in a different league. we stayed in pure luxury at kuramathi in maldives for same price. my advice, do not stay here and believe these reviews. you can really get better elsewhere.