During my seven day cruise honeymoon on of our stops was Antigua. Had never been there before and my husband had read a story about the Pinneaple Beach resort and this wonderful woman named "Momma" who had this jerk chicken shack in the hills of the property.

So 2 days after we were married (on the Beach in Barbados) the ship pulls into Antigua on the Thursday Sept 7th. I had made arrangements on line for a day pass and expected to get the the bare basic service. Boy was I in for a pleasant suprise.

Picked up a cab driver named Barry, who gave us a historical and topical history of the island, including the name of the national heros. The island was warm, and friendly and we saw the new "footballl/soccer" stadium going up lots of livestock & chickens as we rode along for about 25 minutes (from the port to Long Bay).

We arrived at about 9:45 and pulled up to the entrance of the hotel. I was already pretty happy, because we could see the beach and the grounds seemed so tropical and well cared for. At the check in desk I immediately ask for the manager I had been corresponding with: Sanjay, and as someone went to get her we just sat back and took in the peaceful tropical scene.

Sanjay appeared with a big smile and tapping her watch, proclaiming "It's almost ten, I didn't think you guys were going to show". She took my credit card info and pointed us down towards the breakfast buffet and told us to enjoy while she checks us in. I expected for $55.00 US per person that we would just get use of the beach, spa, loungers and buffet, but she did us one better. As we were eating breakfast and taking in the beautiful beach & surrounding hills, a worker appeared with green wrist bands and a key to a room!

Breakfast buffet was okay, but the freshly made juice to my order was even better, and the waiters, and gals who worked the room were so very nice. After eating we went to our room which was a ground floor setup, right off the beach, near the volleyball in the "V" section. Sure, the room was older, smelled very beachy, but was clean, and we asked the attendant for towels and soap.

We swam, used the non motorized water sports equipment, used the spa, loungers, open bar and had a delicious lunch buffet. By the time it was over, we had consumed so many rum punches & Vivian Richards (the national hero drink :-) that we were sad to go and wished we could have stayed a couple more days. The only dissapointment was that "Momma" had just left the island on vacation, so we left a message & promised to be back for in March for the World Cup of Cricket, when we know for sure, she'll be there!

I'd go back just for the service and the atmosphere, even though it wasn't the luxury of say a "Ritz". Nice people, rooms need a little upgrading, but overall a wonderful day experience & the highlight of our honeymoon.

We stayed four nights at the Grand Pineapple after reading many reviews about the place, so we had an idea of what to expect. We arrived to a well needed rum punch, but just as many people stated, we were not given the room we had reserved. We asked for a specific ocean front room and were “upgraded” to the beach front room.

Grounds:
The grounds are gorgeous and well maintained. There are two pools, one larger and more exotic, and one smaller for adults only.

Beach:
The beach was small but gorgeous. There were always plenty of seats and shade from palms and from tables with umbrellas. I would suspect when the place is more full it might be more challenging to get your shady spot, though. Because of open bar, there was A LOT of trash on the beach and under water. They removed the trash from the beach each day, though. Snorkeling was reportedly great on this beach, but we though it wholly uninteresting. We are divers and there just wasn’t much to see. The water was nicely warm and ranged from completely calm to a bit choppy when the wind picked up. There were sport things to do like kayaking and hobie cats, but we didn’t use any of it.

Rooms:
Ah, the rooms…Our rooms (I think it was number 240) was indeed right on the beach, which was nice. However, the upstairs had a shared balcony and walkway, so we could never really have our shades open as everyone who walked to get to their room could look into ours. And, children were often playing on it. The room is decent, but nothing fancy at all. The bathroom was rather small and motel-like. The blower fan in the bathroom was always on with the light, so if you turned on the light, it was REALLY loud. I was usually awakened by the one downstairs coming on in the morning. When we arrived at the room, the smoke alarm was beeping. The remote for the TV didn’t work either. The blanket on the bed looked to be many decades old (I am picky, but even my husband thought it was nasty). However, they were really nice about it and brought me a newer cotton one.

The newer rooms (blocks 700-900) are really quite nice. However, they are quite a walk to get to everything. The third and fourth floors have views of the sea, but I don’t think the other floors did.

Food:
The food was extraordinarily plentiful and mostly good. We don’t eat meat or chicken (only fish) so we felt that we were mostly paying for food we were not interested in eating. While it’s not five star eating, it is quite good.

Service:
We thought all the service was both polite and good. The reception desk, housekeeping, wait staff, cooks – all VERY nice.

Evening Music:
The quality of the evening entertainment ranged from really good quality musicianship to fair. We enjoyed sitting in the bar having a cocktail and listing to the music.

We paid about $430/night for two, all inclusive. Since we just don’t eat that much and the rooms were not that great, we really felt that it was wasn’t the greatest value for us.

We have just returned from a week at the grand Pineapple and had a fantastic time. We did however book when Virgin had some very good deals on which made it even better!!

Arrival
check in was efficient but the room was not available until 3pm so we went to the beach for 1 hour.

Room
we had an oceanview room which was large and clean and had a nice balcony and view. the tv was not great but we did not go to watch tv!! If you want a fridge in your room it needs to be requested but it is nothing special when it arrives.

Food
The food was good and plenty of it. all meals had a good selection and food was fresh and restaurants were clean. the pineapple grill was closed and we were not told about this -we assume because the hotel was quiet. We did not have any problems with the service. Staff were polite and helpful but could have interacted more at times. We went to Mary's outhouse which was very laid back and a great place to get away from the rest of the hotel. The birds were a problem at breakfast but we soon got used to covering all food/ cups/ glasses when we left the table!!

Beach
We did not use the pools as the beach was so lovely. there were plenty of sunloungers and lots of shade on the beach. We saw lots of maintenance of the garden and beach area. also, lots of security staff around all the time who were friendly. You can snorkle from the beach around the rocks to the right and is good enough for a beginner like me or you can go further out if you are braver.

Entertainment
We did not participate in the entertainment as we were too busy reading and relaxing but the staff seemed friendly and enthusiatic and made a real effort to entertain on the day it was overcast.


Overall we had a great time. If you are wanting somewhere plush this is probably not the place for you.

My husband and I visited the Pineapple Beach Hotel during the first week of August 2006 with our two sons ages 19 and 15 along with their eighteen year male friend . As some other travelers have stated we too were some what apprehensive about staying at the hotel after reading some of the negative reviews. We found most of the negative reviews to be unfounded. With the exception of the Mexican night, the food was quite good. We ate three meals a day and enjoyed each meal. The drinks were excellent and when I requested an extra shot, there was no problem.. I must agree that the hotel MUST improve on the towel situation. On several occasions, we did have to request that they replenish the towels and they were somewhat slow in honoring the request. The beach is absolutely clean and beautiful . Yes there are birds at breakfast but they never bothered us. I would rate the hotel 3 stars due to the quality of the furnishings in the room and the towel situation. We are from the US and our kids absolutely loved making friends with the kids from the UK. They had a ball each night and at the beach during the day. All in all a great time was had by all and we would definitely return to this resort. Signed B from New Jersey