I stayed in this hotel only one night, but I think I got a good feel for what it is like.

Arrival was very pleasant. We (I went with my wife) were greeted at the entrance by a staff member who took us into the large pavilion style lobby. He brought us a cold towel and a nonalcoholic drink, and asked us to wait while he checked us in. After a brief wait, he walked us to our little suite, describing things as we went. The grounds are quite attractive, with palm trees, and flowering trees and vines everywhere. Our bags were in the room when we arrived.

The suite was a large room, nicely decorated, with a separate shower, toilet, and a large tub. Furnishings were almost too “modern”, and were designed more for show than for use and comfort. For example, the only switches for the bathroom lights are located a bit out of sight on the wall before you reach that area, the pillows are pretty but too wide or too fat to be comfortable for sleeping, and the beautiful tile floor is lethally slick when wet.

I assume that biting insects, such as mosquitoes, are a major problem. They “fog” the area with insecticide at sundown and there is bug repellent in the room (you have to seek it out – it’s on the back of a shelf under the bath area sink).

On the plus side, the air conditioning worked well, and the departure bill that was delivered to our room while we were at dinner indicated that, because that room was not booked for the next night, we could check out as late as we liked – a nice touch.

NOT SO GOOD
There were several “niggles” that have led me to rate the place lower than the appearance alone (really pretty) of the place would suggest. First, there are only two restaurants, and the fancy one, East, serves Japanese-Chinese “Asian fusion” food, with a VERY limited menu and I found the food at my one dinner there merely OK. If you don’t particularly care for Asian cuisine, and I don’t, you have only one other option – Indigo. I only had breakfast there; it was quite good and the open pavilion setting on the beach very pretty. But having to eat at the same restaurant every meal every day would get old very fast. Second, a “service charge” (i.e., tip) of 10% is automatically added to your total bill, a policy that says to me, “no tipping”; but when we asked about the actual tipping policy we were told that it was fine to tip if we “felt” like it. My view is -- either charge me a fee and make it very clear that no more tipping is expected (for example, Curtain Bluff Resort charges a service fee but forbids tipping), or leave the complete tipping decision to me. Third, I’ve mentioned this already, but will repeat. The place is clearly designed for appearance (and it does look good), but some of those esthetic touches mean function and convenience are sacrificed. Finally, although checkout was done by a very friendly staff member, the process took about 15 minutes, even though there were no other guests checking out when we did.

THE BOTTOM LINE
This is a very pretty hotel, the accommodations are nice, but there are enough negatives to make several other alternatives on Antigua (check out Curtain Bluff) better options.

We were expecting a five star hotel and resort and were a little bit disappointed by Carlisle Bay in this respect. Its a nice place, a very nice place infact, but not quite up to the level and standards you expect of a leading hotel.

So we spent our first few days a little underwhelmed and a bit deflated. The hotel management was good and attentive, they could see our disappointment and moved us to another room which improved our experience. Go for a room where you step out directly onto the beach if you can as opposed to a first floor room, its makes the whole Caribbean experience more, err, Caribbean!

But once we'd got into the swing of things and accepted Carlisle Bay as it is, then you appreciate that it is a really nice resort. Food, service, facilities, beach, etc are all great, just not really great!

Another drawback is the hotel is a fair old distance from anywhere. Restaurants are about a half hour (and $70 return in a cab) away and with kids in tow its a pretty boring round-trip just to go out for a pizza to break the monotony of eating in the hotel each night. For that reason, seven days at Carlisle Bay is probably the maximum of time you'd want to spend there.

The Carlisle Bay Resort is one of the most beautiful and chic retreats in Antigua. Its grounds are just enjoyable – the emerald jungle, bright tropical flowers, shining white sand on the beach and warm azure sea. In comparison to Galley Bay Resort, it looks “aristocratically civilized” rather than simply and conveniently adopted to the natural environment, but un-snobbish and sincere warmth of the staff makes everyone’s stay extremely accommodating.
I arrived shortly after 1.00 PM and was met in reception area by the managers from the hotel’s guest relations. Shake hands, smiles, wet towel, and welcome cocktail, apologizes about room had not been ready, offer to rest for a while on a soft comfy coach in a wonderful lobby with a myriad of exotic flowers in glass vases. The beginning was rather promotable and promised great holidays at Carlisle Bay.
After one and a half hour book reading in the lobby, I was invited to my room, previously being thanked for patience. En route, a young lady introduced to me the resort in general and wished a nice time when we reached my ocean suite.
The resort’s cottages are built in two rows along the beach - the first line stands on sand and another one – a few yards behind the beach in the tropical garden. The cottages nicely hugged by pink garlands of flourish bougainvilleas, and all the rooms got front sea views - the latter’s the main Carlisle Bay’s “piece of cake”.
The second thing that terrifically impressed me was the suites’ design or rather the contrast between top notched European design of the premises and their wild tropic natural environment. Fantastic! I won’t describe in detail the beauties of the bedroom with a spacious lower-level living area leading to a huge terrace with curtained sofa overlooking the sea; or a large techno-styled bath area with a deep tub standing by window opening a nice view of nearby densely vegetated creek and hills. Nice color sequence, roomy artifacts, hi-end techniques including plasma TV flat screen and DVD+CD player, rich furniture, lovely decorative elements such as exotic vases, orchids, and many more. Just imagine yourselves being in London’s Mayfair high-ranked apartment surrounded by Caribbean flora! - No question about what you pay for.
The third moment that knocked me to the ground was unbelievable fact that every morning in my mailbox (attached next my room’s door) I could find out reprinted Russian newspapers issued in Moscow on the same day! (Thanks to time differential). That started like a fun, you know – at check-in, I was asked to fill a guest form, and to question - which newspaper you wanna get daily - I replied in autopilot “Kommersant” (The Commerce Dealer). And I got it!!! So every morning enjoying my coffee at breakfast I was hungrily reading the newspaper printed with exotic Cyrillic letters and feeling home far away from home.
Breakfast as well as afternoon tea served at main beachfront restaurant with terrific sea view. For dinner, I usually chose nice Thai restaurant “East” that presents oriental cuisine and located in the lobby near the bar. Generally, the food at both restaurants is very good.
The beach at Carlisle Bay is not too long but wide and spacious enough for everyone came. The lounges are evenly spread near the water edge and among palm trees growing on sand closer to cottages, so visiting the beach I always chose natural palm trees shade where usually escaped direct sun rays. On the beach, attendants provide customers with towels and mineral water. The pool is regular and doesn’t touch imagination at all - nothing special.
The large fully air-conditioned resort’s library is very impressive: nice books’ presentation on the shelves, soft coaches and armchairs for comfy reading, journal-tables, and internet terminals. The books in the library are multi-lingual– the guests from many countries usually leave their books there, and I noticed some left by my fellow citizens too, so I left mine also. Behind the library and gift shop, there’re Blue Spa and tennis courts. The Spa’s premises are very nice – I got some body massages as well as facials and can recommend its services without hesitation.
Moreover, I truly suggest anyone to quit boring daily reality, get some days-off and rush to Carlisle Bay just for a few days to enjoy its unique pleasure and ambiance. I swear - you won’t regret (though who knows...I"ve read some reviews wondering how many Carlisle Bays in Antigua are, cause surely I've been to another one...).

My wife and I spend long weekend (5 days) at Carlisle Bay. This is a nice Resort with the same quality as Little Dix Bay and Jumby Bay. Ocean suite rooms are large with a nice bathroom area. The resort was at 50% capacity this week, so no crowds on the beach. We were on a ground floor room which was great. I am not sure I would like the third floor rooms. They must have a great view, but continuously up and down the stairs would get tiresome.
Food at the East restaurant is very good. The food at Indigo was OK. We did not leave the resort, so I not info on off-site eating. Breakfast selection was limited, but good.
We enjoy the day in the sun just reading and relaxing. We had early cocktail hour at 6, dinner at 7 and bed by 10PM. We are not looking for night life. Some kids around, but mostly pre-school age.
I did 3 days of scuba diving with Indigo Divers. They pick you up at the dock around 9AM and we returned between 12 and 1PM. I had a 3 mm full wetsuit, but some people had 5 mm. Diving is similar to other islands in the eastern Caribbean. This is not diving in Turks and Cacios, but reefs just off the resort are in good shape and I had nice dives. Max depth was 60 feet.
I would recommend this resort to friends, but may try Curtain Bay next trip for comparison.