prior to visiting CocoBay I read every review I could find and was very concerned by some of what I read. Now, having experienced CocoBay first hand I would like to add my two-penneth worth... My fiancee and I spent 2 weeks at CocoBay during which we got married. CocoBay is a small, quiet, picturesque resort in an idyllic location. When we arrived we were handed a glass of killer strong Rum Punch (very nice) and were straight away shown to our cabin. The cabins (exactly as they appear on the web site) and public areas are clean and well kept and the gardens are beautiful, the resort has a simple, open air style which makes the most of the fantastic views out across the bay of turquoise water and white sand. Access to the beach (which is lovely) is a short walk down from the front of the Hotel where there are plenty of sunbeds and thatched umbrellas, we did get hassled a bit (every day) whilst there especially by some guy trying to sell Aloe Vera. The pool area has a fantastic view out to sea and is stylish and comfortable (and closer to the bar) if a little on the small side. The staff in general are very friendly and helpful, although if you have a problem don't expect all of them to jump. We were a bit dissapointed with the all inclusive package, it is very limiting and you are restricted to one restaurant and certain times for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, with NO snacks in between. You can only get drinks from the one bar and it doesn't open until 10am so you can't get any food or coffee until 7.30am at the earliest when breakfast starts. The choice of drinks is very good (big cocktail menu) but they come in small glasses (lots of trips to the bar) the red and white wine available in the package is disgusting and all the decent stuff costs more!! If you are on the beach and fancy a drink it is quite a trek back to the bar to get one!!
This package is more like Full Board with free drink. We could not however fault the quality of the food or the restaurant, it's excellent. Breakfast is buffet style, a good selection with bacon and sausages, sometimes beans, a choice of bread products ie: muffins, bagels, croisants, sweet pastries, ommlettes and eggs cooked to order, fruit salad, cheese and ham. Lunch is similar with the menu changing every day, it usually included some sort of meat, pasta, salad and potatoes. Evening meals are always special, wonderfully presented and tasty and the buffet nights (Fri and Sun) made a nice change to the usual. The advertised watersports are available but there is little supervision and no lifeguard. The Wellness hut is exactly that, a hut, just one and very small. The gym is 4 pieces of equipment and they didn't work. We didn't think the lack of air con would be a problem but it was sooooooo humid we struggled to aclimatise (less humid in high season, Dec to April) the rooms were very open to the elements (louvred windows) and you really needed to sleep under the mossie net and even then we got bitten (one guest had 51 bites on one arm) they did supply these repellant coils though which you burnt like a joss stick and they were very helpful. The temperature and humidity NEVER dropped (even after sunset) and every day we prayed for wind. All in all we enjoyed our stay at CocoBay, we got married in the first week which was fantastic (the pics are great) and had a lovely 10 days just eating, drinking and laying on the beach, BUT and this is a big one, 10 days was long enough, if you don't like doing nothing (and I mean nothing) and you are not bothered about the lack of choices ie: only one restaurant and nowhere to eat outside the hotel as it is in the middle of knowhere, then this is the place for you but if, like us, you do at least like to be able to explore without feeling like you are being watched and being fleeced (everything is very expensive due to high taxes) then this is not the place for you. Rather than fly home early (like another couple on honeymoon did) we jumped on a flight to New York and had a great 4 days (in total contrast to the first 10) to finish off our honeymoon. We chose CocoBay because we wanted somewhere quiet to get married (and for this it was absolutely perfect) but in hindsight it wasn't ideal for a 2 week holiday and we probably should have moved to a bigger resort for the second week. We likely wouldn't return to CocoBay and if we did return to Antigua (also doubtful) we would go to one of the bigger resorts, with more choice and plenty to do.