My wife and I chose the Carlisle Bay for our Honeymoon having been to the Caribbean many times before (Barbados, St Lucia, and Jamaica). We came without the kids as this was a very special occasion for us.

1/. The General Manager and his staff are helpful and very polite and the service is great, but understand this is Antigua not London or New York, so chill out have a glass of champagne and be patient. Most guests are Brits, probably due to the link with One Aldwych.
2/. The suites are fantastic. We stayed in an ocean suite, which was big. It had his and hers wardrobes and lots of storage. Ours was No. 317 it has the best sunrise and sunset you could imagine. Bathrooms are fantastic and the Gaggia coffee machine is home from home. Take your own CDs to play on the player in your room as the library is limited.
3/. The island is interesting and much less developed and tropical than say Barbados, so hire a 4 x 4 for a couple of days. It will give you a chance to get out. You do need a 4 x 4 as the roads are really hit and miss. Go to Nelsons Dockyard and St Johns, try OJ’s for lunch or Catherine’s Cafe and eat at Sheer at the Coco bay for a different cliff top dining experience.
4/. The library and free 24hr internet access are a good facility
5/. Spa is good but fairly expensive for the type of treatments offered. Also, not quite Sandy Lane, treatment rooms lacked ambience but the therapists were good.
6/. Loads of tennis courts, little publicised but if you like tennis then great.
7/. The food in East restaurant is good but the room has absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever. Enough said.
8/. Indigo is great. The food is excellent with a great choice and has a specials menu that changes daily. If you are there with no kids then eat breakfast earlier or in your suite and have lunch and dinner later and you will be fine.
9/. You should know that there is only one pool, which is nice but could be dominated with families with kids if you go in school holidays. Therefore, if you are a couple with no kids you will spend your time on the beach, which is fantastic with great service, free iced water and is only about ten or so paces from your suite.
10/. The hotel was full while we were there (Dec 8- 15), but did not feel like that at all. It is a place where you can completely chill. Guests keep themselves to themselves, which suited my wife and I. There is no wild nightlife and most guests are in the privacy of their suite with a bottle of champagne by 10pm watching the stars from the double bed on their balcony. If that is your forte then the Carlisle Bay is for you.
11/. I like the fact that there was no “motorised” water sports, so no annoying jet skis. Also all staff transport is by electric golf cart so room service is quiet and efficient.
12/. Very Important - expect to queue at the airport on arrival. The airport is VERY basic. We were only about 20th in the queue and it took us 50 minutes to get through immigration. We arrived on a Friday at peak time on a BA flight at the same time as the Virgin and BMI flights. There is no benefit to being in club or first class on arrival. I would estimate if you were at the back of the queue, it would take 1- 2 hours to get through. On departure, there is a lounge of sorts for club and first class, which is an experience to say the least. Use the hotel’s fax check-in. It works and saves time.

Overall, we had a fantastic time because the Carlisle Bay was everything we expected and needed. Great service and food, excellent rooms, quiet and secluded.

Good things about this hotel are the beach suites. We have a toddler and they are very spacious and right on the sand, a few metres from the tranquil carlisle bay water. Beach is lovely. Raked, sandy with attendants bringing fruit and bottled water throughout the day. The setting is superb. Kids club is okay and the movie theatre for kids is a godsend after many hours of outdoor play. Water sports are pretty good. Pool is fine, perhaps not that clean.

Problems are first and foremost the service. The main Indigo restaurant is a comedy, everyday without fail there was an issue. Sometimes just a forgotten order, sometimes just takes forever. Staff are hit and miss. Generally polite but some are incompetent as are the strange systems they use to pass orders between each other. Food is ok, a little too complicated and overdone. Choice is not great. Sadly my wife go a bug from the food for 3 days of the trip. I was served raw food towards the end and returned home with a similar bug so that was a serious shame. Service in another places also a bit shambolic, from reception through to the other restaurant and room service. Suites are great but shower well below a super class hotel.

We managed to have a great time and you can see this hotel aspires but if you are used to the serious top hotels then be warned. It was our 1st trip to the Caribbean so it may be something to do with that. Most of the clientele were 30-40 something parents with kids. If you're older and a couple avoid busy periods as I just dont think the service can cope.

One of the reasons we had a great time still was because our toddler loved it. The hotel serves free dinner for kids in the early evening and quite a nice play atmosphere transpires. There is a general nice ambience which suits kids. Sadly most of the kids seemed to arrive with hacking coughs which ours duely received after inevitable contact.

So overall a mixed bag. A great holiday still but this is hotel is not up there. They may fix it but few who had our experience would return when there are so many alternatives at luxury prices

We had a really great time here. We are Americans with two kids ages 6 and 7. The clientele was mainly British.

Our unit walked out right to the beach

The service was much better and faster than elsewhere in the Carribean.

We spent time sailing on their complimentary Hobie cats and hung out on the beach. They have complimentary umbrellas and the staff will get you drinks and serve you food.

Both breakfast and high tea are included.

My wife and I had the most chilled 10 nights at this wonderful hotel in August and I feel I have to post having read some of the stuff on here.

With regards to comparisons to other hotels in the area, we have also stayed at Cobblers Cove, Eastwinds, Malliouhana and La Sammana and would have no desire to return to any of them.

We have returned to Sandy Lane, Cap Juluca and Carlisle Bay and will continue to do so.

Who are we? We are in our late thirties, both have demanding international jobs and travel all the time. So what are we looking for? Quality time in a comfortable, relaxing place with good food and wine and untroubled by other people.

When we arrived home we discussed that you could write 2 reports on this hotel, you could be negative and complain about the fact the shower is very average, the service somewhat slow, the food perhaps not quite as good as it had been previously, the hotel cars that collect you from the airport a bit dodgy, the aircon in the gym not always on, the lack of lights when walking from the suites to the restaurants not ideal.

Or you could be positive and write about how you felt at the end of the holiday which was refreshed, relaxed and happy because in my view that is the point of Carlisle Bay.

Our days started with some exercise, a trip to the gym, a game of tennis or some yoga so we could at least return home within a stone of our departing weight. Followed at 10.15 to 10.30 with some breakfast at Indigo. No buffet scrum, a proper menu with numerous choices and friendly staff who knew our names within a day, ok the service was a little slow but we were hardly in a rush.

Retire to the spotless beach for a couple of hours with a book - towels etc provided as are cold bottles of water and other treats, cold fresh fruit, sorbets etc. Suddenly it is one o clock, time for a beer and we haven’t even moved, after a day the beach boy worked out we would order a beer at one, so he would check and then deliver.

Into Indigo for lunch, burger, pasta, salad, whatever we heard plenty of people asking for food not on the menu, a bottle of very nice rose friendly service and back to the beach to read the book, - one day, much to our horro, another couple sat within 10 yards of us on the beach which really annoyed us!

Beautifully made Martinis in the bar at about 8.30 followed by dinner at either East, where they do Asian food or Indigo where they offer more relaxed dining. Last time we went we preferred East, this time Indigo, don’t know why just the mood we were in. Oh and this is a place for linens not diamonds so keep chilling, as my wife said, you don’t feel like you are on display as you do in other hotels.

We have to return, on the last day we realised we still hadn’t been to the beach the other side of Indigo! There had been no time to visit it, we were far too busy doing nothing.