I am very dubious about some of the recent positive reviews posted about Carlisle Bay as I can't see how things have gone down hill so fast!

I am writing feedback from four families that we met that stayed in June / July this year. We were all very surprised when we asked for feedback forms at the end of our stays and were told by various staff that we don't do them! We have all stayed at top notch luxury resorts and all viewed this as our worst experience.

Overall we all found the resort to be very over rated. Over priced, average food and generally bad service.

Our main concerns were:

The reason many of us chose Carlisle Bay is for the childrens Club, we were all thoroughly disappointed by the lethargic attitude of the childcare workers. There is a luring typed programme handed out weekly, but nothing seemed to happen for the two weeks we were there. The children had maybe 20 minutes of an art activity a day and very little beyond that went on, so much so very few of us sent our children there in the end as it was so unstimulating and the caregivers were not very warm which concerned some of us with younger children. They need someone vibrant and motivated to take over the running of the wonderful purpose built facility and handpick some more suitable staff, perhaps Kenny and Lian from Indigo who were absolutely lovely to all our children. There is no doubt that the childrens club has potential to be wonderful.

We all found the food to be very hit and miss - pretty good for burgers, chips, steaks etc, but anything more exciting seemed to be a disaster. There are only two restaurants with only one operating at lunch with a very limited menu. We were all craving some nice light salads. We also had to wait 45 minutes for our food at lunch, when there were only a few tables occupied. At breakfast there was a smoothie of the day, but very limited fresh juice. Paying those prices I was pretty horrified to be drinking oj from a carton! We all agreed, we thought it much easier to have a buffet breakfast option with so many children. There were a couple of very sweet waitresses including Kenny and Lian but overall we found the staff in Indigo had a very bad attitude and all of us had at least one very bad experience with a male waiter at Indigo who was particularly rude. Again someone needs to take control for the service in the restaurants and the slack service on the beach. We had to search someone out everyday on the beach for towels and drinks, let alone the fresh fruit that is meant to be handed out - we saw it once. We saw so much fresh fruit on the island we think that more platters of fresh fruit available would have been wonderful, I would have gladly had a fresh fruit platter in exchange for our daily very average afternoon teas.

The childrens tea was fine if all your children eat is food like sausages and chips. While we appreciate what a lot of young children are like, at least one slightly more exciting dish would have been appreciated. I feel very little thought had been put into the childrens menu.

The bathroom stank, the bedrooms adequate, they were meant to be serviced twice a day, this was very hit and miss, to ensure your room was serviced you had to ring and nag daily.

Good things about Carlisle Bay.

Although not the most stunning beach, it was very safe for the children.

Great ground floor family suites opening out onto the beach.

Great weather.

The Pilates teacher was meant to be great and the tennis pro was well recommended by other guests.

I would hate anyone else to have such a disappointing experience.

We stayed at Carlise Bay last December and having travelled all over the world to benchmark what we found, had a very disappointing stay - poor value for money experience.

A number of guests we met at the Hotel had problems and complained to the manager at the Hotel - being in the Industry I chose to write to the Owner of the Hotel and never received a response.

We would not go back and would not recommend Carlisle Bay to anyone who enjoys a luxury holiday experience.

I've posted a copy of my letter below - with just one or two details blacked out/ammended


Gordon Campbell-Gray
c/o One Aldwych
1 Aldwych
London
WC2B 4RH

25 January 2008

Carlisle Bay, 16 December – 28th December 2007
Not a complaint, but hopefully some constructive comments – we shan’t be recommending it or going back though.

My wife, Lorraine, our 5 year old daughter Trinity and I stayed at Carlisle Bay as noted above. To contextualise my comments, our recent Christmas and New Year holidays have included Beau Rivage, Mauritius (twice), Dinarobin, Mauritius, Plantation, St Lucia as well as trips to Tobago (twice), the Seychelles and Maldives.

Whilst quite pleasant in many ways, I don’t think Carlisle Bay offers a value for money experience for what was a £25K holiday. It most certainly did not, in any way, meet our expectations. Rather than list a whole catalogue of points, some of which individually might be considered insignificant, I offer my thoughts under three headings proposed as requiring change:

1 – Leadership by example
We stayed for 12 nights. The senior management team are not evident through the Hotel. Yes certainly the General Manager was at the Christmas Tree Lighting event combined with his management drinks party – but we did not meet any of the management team. Occasionally someone I deduced was a member of the management team would come into the restaurant of an evening and stand by the host desk. They would not approach tables, did not get involved in service and I never saw anyone senior dealing with the service or food quality issues in the restaurant that were repeatedly evident.

I once saw the General Manager on the Beach, but no-one else.

If the staff do not see the management team leading by example, knowing their guests names, asking about the holiday, enquiring if all is well, dealing with minor issues before they become major ones then they will not learn to do so themselves. I think it is a missed opportunity which sets a tone in the Hotel.

2 – Attention to detail
There are many items needing attention, from maintenance such as the cracked glass in the sunbed tables on the beach (ours remained with us for the whole holiday despite me putting it to one side on more than one occasion), the loose arms and missing feet sliders on dining room chairs, the broken pane of glass in the gymnasium window, the gym TV remote held together with black insulating tape through the fact that currents wash the beach with broken glass all day long and it is left to guests to pick it up to the linen par stocks needing attention as the towels in the room on arrival were approaching threadbare and these improved through the holiday as more stock was introduced to cope with occupancy I imagine – but the old ones were still in circulation. The mattress was most uncomfortable and I suspect is approaching the end of its useful life. There are insufficient umbrellas on the beach and when the couple next to us had the one they had damaged in the wind they were told they could not have another as there were no more bases. They had to not only ask repeatedly, then insist, but show the beach attendant how to remove the damaged end from the base and replace the umbrella themselves.

I used the Gym on 10 out of 12 days. It was attended just twice within that period.

The Christmas gift of a digital picture frame was well received, but why an unknown Chinese brand with a USA transformer and plug attached that you can’t use in the UK.

The day of check out when we were initially told we would have to vacate our room by noon although not leaving the Hotel until 7.00pm but could have a shower in the Spa simply lacks thought, attention and preparation for the needs of the guest. Eventually, after having to make ourselves difficult, we were allocated Room 16. A very poor state of repair, a rather unsavoury odour and no hot water had us heading for the Spa showers anyway. We shouldn’t have to make ourselves difficult to get what we want though; it should be thought through and dealt with in advance.

3 – Exceeding expectations – providing a wow factor
We’ve been to some wonderful places for Christmas and New Year and so we know what exceeding expectations looks like. For Food and Beverage, I’d suggest that you might look at the Christmas Day or New Years Eve buffet at the Dinarobin Hotel in Mauritius which rates as one of the best Food and Beverage experiences we’ve ever had. Instead, the roulade of Goats Cheese and roulade of Turkey was honestly, and after some reflection, simply the worst Christmas Day meal I can actually recall ever eating and I understand some people actually walked out. 12 nights eating in Indigo cause menu fatigue of the biggest order and the abundance of fresh fish, simply grilled, that was promised in the marketing material failed to materialise. Repeatedly sending Tuna back to be cooked as ordered becomes tedious.

My wife had an aromatherapy massage in the Spa, as a direct result of that treatment did not sleep for three days and when we insisted that the Hotel do something about it, and an arrangement was made for an osteopath to visit, the Hotel attempted to add a 50% service charge addition to the specialist’s bill.

Two Christmas Trees don’t constitute Christmas Decorations to us, I’d suggest looking at a Mauritian Hotel will demonstrate the way that “low key” as Andrew calls it Christmas can be done in a local and stylish fashion.

Children’s tea, especially with the number of children in house, provides the opportunity to be so creative and wow the family, but so often the food approached being inedible and the loose organisation of a few chairs and tables scattered around an area of the bar lacked the vision and imagination to set it aside that we’ve seen in many other locations.

Gordon, this letter is not a complaint, it is simply fact that we were very much looking forward to our annual Christmas vacation and it cost such a lot of money that we are so disappointed that the Hotel failed to live up to reputation, expectation and our interpretation of what value for money looks like.

On reading Trip Advisor.com upon return I see reviews of Christmas and New Year for Carlisle Bay are 50/50 mixed. Hopefully my comments may be able to help your team change that ratio.

If you would like to meet up and discuss any element of my feedback in more detail, or perhaps expand on our experiences as I have chosen not to include every occurrence or observation, then my offices are in London and I’m sure we would be able to find a mutually convenient time.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Metcalfe
cc Peter Williams, Chairman, Seasons in Style

We have just returned from a fantastic week-long holiday in Antigua where we stayed at the Carlisle Bay. I loved the minimalistic-chic atmosphere! The resort blends in beautifully with the surrounding gardens/palms/rainforest. I found the service to be top and nothing was too much hassle for anyone. Having seen some of the photos on tripadvisor giving the hotel a bad image, I have to admit that while there, I did not see a single thing like that. The grounds are kept in top condition. We had a slight problem with the safe in the room which was fixed immediately. I found the staff to be professional and if you can spare a moment to chat to them they are always friendly. Everywhere you walk, you will be greeted warmly. The beach area is stunning and I would highly recommend the jetty dinner. The only down side in my opinion is that there was not a traditional Caribbean restaurant on site or at least a dedicated Caribbean section in the menu. Other than that, the food was always cooked and presented to perfection. Top marks!

We spent 2 amazing weeks at CB and couldn't have asked for a more relaxing holiday. The bay is wonderfully peaceful and the beach immaculate. Although the pool was enticing, the beach won everytime!

The restaurants and food were top quality, with the Barbecue and Steel Band on Friday night being very informal and great fun. All the staff were very friendly and seemed determined we would enjoy our stay. Our Ocean Suite was first class and serviced twice daily at our convenience.

From being met at the Airport on arrival to our romantic jetty dinner for two on our last night, we can honestly say our stay at Carlisle Bay was very special and look forward to returning in the not too distant future.

Disappointments? The mosquitos seemed to enjoy Mrs but not Mr ...there's no justice!