We just returned from a week at Carlisle Bay, Antigua. The staff was amazing - true service w/ a smile and no tips expected.

The food was very good - there is something for everyone on the menus. My husband had a wonderful beef dish at East. We have never found good beef in the Caribbean, so it was a real treat. The eggs benedict in the morning was outstanding along w/ the fresh made pastry and mango jam -yum.

The rooms were just ok - kind of tired. The grey color scheme was a bit boring and drab and the TV was an old small one - no flat screens here which at over 1K a night , I would expect better. We had some problems with the in room coffee machine and they immediately replaced it with a smile. THe shower pressure is terrible but they have a nice tub.

Our biggest complaint was the amount of small children swarming about the resort. You cant use the pool because there is always a new Mom trying to teach her child to swim and spash - nice! and in the late afternoon they all come out to swim so forget a relaxing lap in the pool. The children in the restaurant - another issue - The resort has no enforced restricitons on children in the restaurants, in the evening , it was a real challenge to have a relaxing romantic dinner w/ kids clanking their silverware and fine crystal glasses - quite annoying. The staff is too nice to request the Parents mind their manners.

Overall, it was a wonderful location w/ a lot of visitors from Europe - not so many americans. We felt the cost was way too high for the offering. $500 a night would be worth it. As expected in the islands the food was very expensive as were all beverages. They offer a dinner plan for $70/pp I would recommend it.


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My wife and I plus our two year old twins had a wonderful stay in Carlisle Bay in Nov, 2007. The Carlisle Bay isn't cheap but it was a special occasion and we splashed out. I travel a lot with work and am used to a high level and standard of service and also not having to pay for it! Therefore having to fork out my own hard-earned cash on something as ephemeral as a hotel stay isn't easy for me. I was also anxious that I'd be disappointed after spending all of that money

That said, I'd easily spend it again and I can honestly say it's probably the best holiday I've ever had.

On arrival we were greeted by the staff and management and aperitifs. Lovely touch. We were escorted to our beach front room. The staff were friendly and not overbearing. Already we knew we would enjoy our stay.

The hotel catered wonderfully for children, especially young ones, with a great kids club. Overall, the staff were really friendly, right down from the management to the guy that sweeped the beach every morning: all engaged wonderfully with us and were really friendly. I honestly couldn't have expected a better level of service and attention to detail.

If you're travelling with young children, touch base with the hotel beforehand to arrange for babysiters in advance (typically hotel staff). But they'll do their best to help you out if you leave it until you arrive there. (The Kids Club manager visited us minutes after we arrived in our suite.)

If you don't have kids, don't panic. The hotel has families with young kids at one end and couples at the other. And kids aren't to be in the restaurants after 7.00pm. (There's a great dedicated kids' buffet at 5.00pm every evening.) I was amazed at how seamlessly the two categories of guests coexisted.

I'd also recommend taking the half board option. It works out very economical compared to just B&B since the menus and food are not cheap. And you can chop and change you main meal from lunch to dinner as you wish, although we found the wonderful breakfasts adjacent to the beach were enough to see us through lunch with just a little a fruit unitl afternoon tea (complimentary) was served after 3.00pm. The dinner restaurants were excellent: East was the best of the two, although both were excellent and offered good choice. Anything longer than a week though and the choice could get problematic.

Note that Carlisle Bay hotel is quite isolated. There's really no town or village worth talking about that you could walk to, so you're pretty much stuck on-property--not that that's a a bad thing.

There's a little 'shop'/roadside stall that we walked to from time to time to buy some fruit and beer and soft drinks. The prices worked out about 25% of what the hotel would charge for a beer, for example, but our main motiviation for doing so was to put some money into the locals' hands. (We were probably charged 2 to 4 times what locals were charged, but it was still much cheaper than the hotel prices and to be honest I think the locals really appreciated people making the effort.)

I thoroughly recommend the place. We'll definitely be back in 2008.

We had a very restful 10 day break at CB. Our upper floor Ocean Suite was spacious and comfortable and well tended to. Nice bath tub but shower is feeble. The beachside restaurant was very good for breakfast and dinner but the eastern restaurant had a strange atmosphere and local staff didn't seem to know anything about the food there. The Jetty dinner might seem corny but it was done brilliantly and is highly recommended. The only negative was the sheer number of small children even though it was not half-term time. We did not feel able to use the pool on a single day as it it seemed to be permanently colonised by mums and nannies with small children who were, unsurprisingly, very noisy. This was an issue with several adult couples we spoke to and the hotel needs to give this some thought. Spa was very good with excellent therapists but a very small locker room.

I really enjoyed the understated casual elegance of this hotel. The hotel is well laid out and our needs were well catered for. The location is beautiful and the beach perfect- I can't comment on the pool (although it looked nice) as I didn't visit during the day! My trip was relaxing and the staff helpfull and happy- we had an EXCELLENT Taxi Driver - BENJIE who offers both executive and regular taxi services. I would recommend him to take you EVERYWHERE! He is on cell# [-] or ask for him directly at the hotel.

The food was superb and didn't let us down once. I really recomend this hotel if you are looking to relax- on your own or with the family. I will be going back.