We stayed at the Carlisle Bay in August 07, arriving a few days after the hurricane had passed through. Antigua escaped with little damage compared to other islands in the area and we only noticed a little floating seaweed in an otherwise tranquil, blue bay. The staff carefully raked the sand each morning and the beach was in pristine condition.
The hotel is alone in a stunning bay and so, residents benefit from a distinct lack of the usual crowds, banana boats and jet-ski's found in similar hotels in the area. Watersports are limited to hobi-cat sailing boats, snorkelling and windsurfing and diving, hence ONLY the sound of lapping waves, a big plus in our opinion. The Carlisle is also not the kind of hotel for guests who enjoy clubbing (no thumping disco music here) and for those guests to whom this kind of holiday appeals..go elsewhere.
Rooms are gorgeous, chic but not stuffy. The food perfect, lots of fresh fish, dangerous desserts and beautifully presented dishes. We are totally confused at earlier references to slow service. Staff were efficient, professional and disarmingly friendly. The restaurants are stunning and beach barbeque unequalled.

Overall, great hotel, gorgeous setting, food to die for and friendly, helpful staff. And no, it's not over-run by children! Go!!!

My fiancé and I stayed at Carlisle Bay in Aug this year. We had great expectations, but unfortunately, they were not met at Carlisle Bay.

On a positive note, the hotel has a good beach, the rooms are lovely (if you wish to feel like you are in Europe), the spa is very good (although expensive), and the gym is one of the best I have seen on my travels.

However, there were too many faults with this hotel. Firstly, the food was very average, even poor on occasion, for example, my eggs for breakfast arrived cold on two occasions, and our steak order one night was enough to feed a child, not a man. The restaurants were dull, there was absolutely no atmosphere in the evenings (although they did try with some music early evening), we were the only people at the bar in the later part of the evenings, so if you want a good atmosphere, then Carlisle is not for you. Fortunately, we has signed up for a room rate only, so for the few nights we were there, after 2 dinners, we ate elsewhere (highly recommend the Cove restaurant, although a long drive from Carlisle, it was absolutely worth it!).

Unfortunately for us, and the hotel, the hurricane passed nearby on the 2nd day we were at Carlisle, and damaged the beach. Because of this, we were unable to use the beach for the following 4 days. We were forced to make use of the swimming pool area, with hundreds of children, anything but relaxing. After 4 days of bull dosing the beach, it was still not useable. There was also a terrible sewage smell floating past the pool area!! We decided to pack our bags and move onward to another hotel. We explained to the desk what the problems were, and they agreed to let us go without any early cancellation fee, but no apologies. We were told a manager would come to see us to apologize, but he never materialised, even when we were paying our bill.

My advice, if you are a younger couple without kids, looking for a fantastic holiday, there are two amazing luxury hotels on this island: Jumby Bay and Hermitage Bay. I would defintly stay there instead.

We arrive, we had to wait for 30 mins. While our manic CB meet & greet inexplicably freaked out, kept passing us off to others, & then finally unloaded us on a taxi. We arrive, beautiful, the room is huge, we’re on the ground floor, however we have a sliver of a view which annoyed us. Wasn’t what we were expecting for an “Ocean View Room” & for the price. The next morning we’re getting ready to go to the beach & 2 extremely large roaches are under our shoes. We call concierge & housekeeping & ask if this is something we should get used to. They tell us no, it’s a "1st". However, I notice tons of Bug killer cans under the bathroom sink, which makes me think otherwise. We ask that they come to spray, they say they will get right on it & someone will call us. They never do. Not only that, but when my husband went back to the room, housekeeping told us she cleared up the roaches b’c maintenance never came & that we should just spray the room ourselves. I was livid. We called concierge again & said they were sending someone, They never did.

The next morning, we killed another large roach by by our closets. We called concierge, the said they were sending someone right away...1/2 hr. later we decided to go to the concierge, we happened to bump into the manager who made a sly comment about “getting used to the natives who live on the island rightfully so” & then told us they would move us seamlessly, don’t pack.....they’ll take care of everything. I decided to pack the stuff in the dresser b’c it rained but left the hanging stuff & toiletries once it cleared up & we left. By 3pm, no one had come to get us to tell us where we were. My husband went to our room, housekeeping was there & told us our new room (2nd floor, 1 bldg. over). We went an hour later & none of our stuff was there. We went back to our old room & housekeeping told us that we forgot to pack & to move our luggage oursleves. We corrected them politely b’c clearly there’s a communication problem....right?? We get our stuff, I unpack (which we weren’t supposed to do) & my brand new bottle of conditioner is not there. Basically it was either taken or thrown out.....how that could be, I have no idea. Now after all this...you would think management would have stepped up but no...we had to practically check out (going to Jumby Bay) in order to get an “I’m sorry”. After telling them we were checking out, We got a bottle of champagne & some fruit. Management should have stepped up waaaay more for a so called 5’Star hotel. They should have comped our ridiculously overpriced Sunset cruise (the snacks...?? The 4 Seasons Nevis laid out a gorgeous spread....we had chips & a finger sandwhich in plastic containers like a cafeteria) or comped our beach bag which cost a whopping $300!!

The worst part about that one, when I asked the sales clerk if she had any tote bags I could borrow or was there anywhere close I can get a cheap one, she said no. NO ONE told us about the little hut @ the end of the beach by the snack stand, which sold them for $25-$40!! The other thing that really bothered us was the dingy, murky brown water. It's like that every day too. Antigua is known for it’s crystal clear waters & this was anything but. Plus, we never had a nice clear view. Whomever planned that landscaping should be fired. The trees are in the way!! We met a few other couples who had the same complaint. Room service forgot something every single freakin’ day. Whether it was milk, silverware or an actual ingredient. By the end it became a betting game for us. Listen..it’s hot, they don’t have a great set up for their employees, but they need to get their stuff together. Management needs to put a central snack/drinks bar were guests can go & staff can go & cool off & sit, instead of making them stand all day under palm trees waiting to get called on. That’s just stupid.

Lots of kids too, didn’t even go near that pool. Things that were good; the size of the rooms, the food (Kobe beef burger was amazing), Massage, Gym, Library, Tennis. However, as you can probably tell, we don’t recommend it for the discerning traveler. We just felt ripped off & not valued. Oh...& unless you like to fight for space w/drunken tourists or wanna score some drugs (saw a drug deal go down in front of me) Shirley Heights is not worth it. That’s a lot of money to spend to be killing roaches everyday. And yes...they were in our new room too.

I have been to this hotel last year and my visit this time definitely did not disappoint.

I received the same very personal welcome-the staff all acknowledged me as a repeat guest and check in was as comfortable and quick as I remembered it.

Travelling by myself,I might have been a little wary of drinking and eating by myself -but from the start of the day to the end,I could not have been made to feel more welcome.Benn on the beach always had a friendly word for me,and we had a chat on more than one occasion.Juney in the Pavilion bar is one of the biggest assets Carlisle Bay has-he has every skill that a bartender working in a 5 star hotel should have-he was courteous,quick,made the most fabulous cocktails-and never seemed rushed or too busy to have a chat with me.Every time I encountered any of the staff I was greeted so pleasantly and asked if I was having a nice time-particularly Leni took the time to see how I was getting on.The general manager is the absolute consummate professional-and very obviously cares about all of his guests and is certainly leading from the front-he has got a true 5 star hotel here and he should be very proud both of himself and all of his staff.

I had an ocean suite this time and it was huge! View amazing,amenities great,room service always prompt.A lovely touch to have a bottle of champagne to welcome me back.

I ate in both Indigo which has a great range on its menu and offered a great barbecue on Friday night-East which does Vietnamese/Japanese/Oriental food and was out of this world-and also took advantage of room service-eating supper while watching the waves-what can I say!

I will definitely be back.Carlisle Bay has everything I would want to find on my holiday-excellence in standards and amenities,a truly breathtaking location and true hospitality.True hospitality being service which is there when you want it but discreet when not required.I love Carlisle Bay for itself and while I would be wary of it ever becoming part of a "chain",I can see that any hotels which models itself on this hotel cannot go wrong!