We (a family of four) have just returned from two weeks at Carlisle bay staying in a beachfront suite and have to say we thought the whole experience wonderful.

Having read previous negative reviews it is fair to say we wondered if it had been money well spent. Well it most definately WAS.

Upon arrival and departure we were greeted by the general manager and never felt that he shyed away from us, far from it he was happy to take on board our comments.

The suite itself was large and comfortable although I do agree with Gordon Stiring that the beds tended to wander on their wheels, also the ward robe space was too small.

The restaurants were great offering a good variety with a daily specials meal. We found the staff to be corteous friendly, kind, and enthusiastic infact in the whole stay we probably 'interacted' with 200 peaople and can only remember 2 occasions when they were a little grumpy!

Having read previous reviews i wonder what peoples expectation levels are, yes things are not always sorted in 10 minutes but that is part of the beauty of the caribbean!.

Breakfast was great and I cannot understand how the eggs could have been cooked any better (gordon stirling) also we were offered an excellent towel service and fresh fruit twice daily.

Our room was serviced twice daily and the afternoon teas were great although the cakes were a little minimalist!. on the fourth day we forgot to order afternoon tea and was contacted by the relevant department to see if we wanted our 'usual'!

A previous reviewer had pictures of empty bottles in the garden, I can only assume they were 'planted,' as we only ever saw perfectly manicured shrubs and gardens

Looking at previous reviews we can only think that these guests stayed elsewhere as they bear no resemblence to the excellent stay we had.

My wife enjoyed excellent yoga/pilates sessions and the tennis facilities were great.

In summary an excellent hotel with a great team our only recommendations would be

1/ more wardrobe space with static beds

2/ more evening entertainment perhaps more local dishes

3/ better quality wooden sunbeds with showers on the beach

As regards the negative reviewers I would be very interested to know of the hotels that they have stayed that far exceed the Carlisle bay so that we may compare!

just returned from our third trip to carlisle bay. We still really like it! the location is just fantastic and despite the little flaws of which there are a few - we still really love it there. The staff are great - so friendly.
we stayed on one of the half board packages in a beach suite which was great as there are no restrictions as to where you can eat or to the menu's and the breakfast are fab - Definitley recommend taking a package as otherwise it is quite expensive. There is a really good supermarket in jolly harbour which is handy for stocking up for the kids. Our kids had plenty to amuse themselves with the free watersports and tennis free rackets and ball machine) etc.
we hired the really nice hotel boat for reef fishing for half a day with bait, tackle and drinks supplied together with a crew of two - thats was brilliant.
things sometime take a little longer than they should and sometime arent exactly what you ordered but it is the carribean after all.
a big plus also is that the hotel is great about allowing late check out - we were on the 1900hrs ba flight to gatwick and didnt have to leave our room till 5pm.

Just returned from a week in CB which was so good I wrote an email to the hotel! A long time since have been moved to do that!
Admittedly we were a couple without our children and so therefore weren't too troublesome to the staff,but what staff!
We found them to be so courteous and smiley on all occasions.
The food was of an excellent standard throughout the entire week and the setting just stunning...
The only downside was the the fringes of a hurricane which meant for very early morning showers 3 mornings and one whole day of rain (the day we checked out) but that I believe is beyond the hotels' control?!
Have and would recommend to anyone,thought the staff were a credit to the hospitality industry and their island.

We certainly recognise the experience described by EsmeBrighton. We spent a week at Carlisle Bay with our two children, aged 13 and 9. The Kids' Club was a major attraction for us in booking our stay. However, the reality was a serious disappointment. The Kids' Club activity sheet sounded enticing, however staff seemed to be determined to cancel any activity that required work on their part, and calls to book these activities would be rebuffed with the statement that there were no other children signed up. There was, however, no attempt to take names for provisional bookings, so how would they ever sign any kids up?

First impressions were excellent, and we were met on arrival by the General Manager. The rooms have a nice calm miniimalist feel to them, although the kids said that their beds, which were on wheels on a tiled floor, kept moving in the night. Cupboard space in the suites is extremely limited, however. The minimalist look is therefore somewhat spoilt by clothes lying around with nowhere to put them! Lighting is also not great, particularly in the second bedroom.

Generally housekeeping standards were good, but the bathrooms had a very unpleasant small. Also, our suite was always serviced mid-afternoon, when we wanted to be inside during the heat of the day.

With only two restaurants, we felt that the menus, which changed very little, became tedious and repetitive by the end of the week. We would have found this intolerable if we had been staying for two weeks. There was very little attempt to change the menu, or to liven it up with specials. again, our first impression on our night of arrival, when they had an excellent "beach barbecue" buffet, was followed by disappointment for the rest of our stay.

Breakfast was particularly disappointing. As stated in other reviews, at this price level we do not expect to see cartons of Tropicana juice being carried through the restaurant. The pastries were very good and clearly made on site, but we were given a very small selection each day for a table of four. The a la catre menu soon became tiresome and predictable, and the quality of cooking of eggs in particular was poor.

But the food itself is not the biggest problem. Where is the food and beverage management in this resort? The two restaurant mangers we encountered had absolutely no idea how to manage their staff in order to provide even an adequate service. Some individual staff , particularly Kenny in Indigo, showed flair, but the overall impression is of untrained staff who don't know what they should be doing. Goodness knows what was going on in the kitchens. They must have been understaffed, because they were simply unable to get the food out at any kind of acceptable speed. And this was when the hotel was only half full. This is also when retaurant managers should take responsibility for getting the food out, but all they could do was apologise for the slow service.

On the positive side, the beach is beautiful, with a calm protected bay, very safe fo kids because the sand slopes very gradually under the water. Beach service was good if you arrived in the morning, with a special mention for Bessie. However, if you went down in the afternoon, you had to scavenge fo towels. The much vaunted fresh fruit was seldom to be seen - maybe once a day. Water was provided in small plastic bottles, and rapidly became warm - it would have been better if they provided chilled water in glasses.

The pilates teacher was very good, and the classes take place in a small open air studio. The tennis courts were excellent, and free, with rackets available to be borrowed if required. The tennis coach, Ken, is excellent - a really nice guy and very good at giving you instruction geared for your level.

The library is also a nice touch, with permanent internet access. Daily newspapers are also provided, printed locally on the day.

Overall, then, this is a beautiful facility, with extremely poor operational management. You can see what they are trying to achieve, but they are miles away from reaching the standard they are aiming for. This is not a five star resort at the moment, but it could be. It was also notable that the general manager, whilst happy to chat to you about the resort upon arrival, was conspicuous by his absence upon departure. We also encountered him on two occasions towards the end of our stay, and he was clearly avoiding asking about our stay - the obvious topic of conversation, you would think. I guess the management at the hotel must know that things are not right, but they don't know how to fix it.