Good and bad...We celebrated our ten year anniversary with a week-long trip and were very happy we booked a room in the new Meditteranean Village--the other side of the resort seemed much older and in need of refurbishing. Our room was gorgeous--better than i had expected, and I'm pretty picky with hotel rooms. The bed was great, as were the stocked bar and bathroom. Our ocean view was wonderful, and the beach was beautiful. The large resort pool was very nice, as were the deck chairs and the day we spent in a cabana--but beware, if you reserve a cabana, you will not be told you have been charged $100 until checkout after they've charged your card--or at least we weren't.

However, our day in the cabana was the ONLY time throughout the week we received any decent customer service. That would be our biggest gripe about this resort--the service was truly bad. Good luck getting a server to not act like you're annoying them when you ask for a drink, a napkin, or a fork. Several times we had to get up and pour our own water, or hunt down a bread basket. It was so odd, because at every restaurant (besides Kimono's and OK Corral-our two favorites), all of the wait staff were way more concerned with setting up tables for the next day/meal than with serving the present customers. Maybe that's how it is at all-inclusives where the servers don't have the incentives of a tip?? But it was pretty bad. We paid for concierge service, but likewise the concierge seemed rather annoyed at our requests for reservations, etc.

The food was okay, comparable to your average cruise. We didn't care for the food at Eleanor's or Cricketeer's, but as mentioned above, liked Kimono's, OK Corral, and Mario's was pretty good. The clientele at the resort where we mostly lounged (by the pool) had the feel of "spring breakin' honeymooners". We don't drink alcohol, so I did not feel the resort was a good deal for us, as I feel a large amount of the price you pay is for the free-flowing booze, of which we did not partake. So in the future, I would not return, though the resort had some good features.

Friends of ours were getting married at the resort on August 13th and my husband and I were invited as I was the maid of honor. Antigua is a beautiful island and the pictures you see on the website are exactly as the resort is. However, once inside the resort, things are not what they seem.

Upon on arrival, we were greeted with a hostess that was very pleasant and tried to keep us entertained since our rooms were not ready. However the hostess failed to mention anything about the need to make reservations for our dinners. By the time we were aware of this, we were not able to obtain any reservations until the groom had to complain to management on the Monday. We eventually were able to obtain reservations on the last 2 days of our trip. The restaurants are a far cry from 5 star "gourmet" dinning. My husband and I look forward to eating fine dinning and certainly island type dishes and instead where fed your run of the mill pub type foods with not much imagination. Their famous chocolat buffet had a total of 4 types of dessert which included the non flowing chocolat fountain and 3 cake/brownie type desserts. Not what I would consider a "chocolat buffet".

The service also is very hit and miss. On the day of our friends wedding, certainly the staff were very attentive and created a beautiful and memorable day. The other days prior and after, we really had to fend for ourselves to even get a glass of water.

Our room was located on the Carribean side which was very rundown. Our bathroom fixtures were falling around us including a shower light which hung with all it's wires above our heads while we showered. These issues were reported to the staff but nothing was ever done about.

We definitley would never return to this resort and soured on any other all inclusive resorts. For far less money we could have done a cruise with far better food and 5 star service.

Upon arriving at the hotel, my wife and I discovered that our shower did not work in our room. If you tried to take a warm shower, the water would swing from hot to cold and never stayed a constant temperature. After reporting this to the front desk, they did nothing about it. The next day we reported it again and they said that maintenance had a part on order and that it would be fixed in the next day or two. This would mean we had to take cold showers for 4 days straight. We finally complained enough the third day that we were moved rooms. The new room was falling apart as well (one post on the bed was broke and the sliding glass door to the beach didn't open). Also, we went to the pool and as we were getting in, there was so much grease built up on the side of the pool we slipped and fell. The front desk manager didn't care too much about that either. Our next problem is the beach water activities. The resort has over 20 water trikes that are all BROKE. They also have 3 paddle boats and all of them are broken. They have 15 kayaks but only 6 paddles so only 3 kayaks can be out at one time. And they have 3 hobbie cats and one of those broke while we were on it. Finally I want to comment about the tour desk. We booked two tours through them and found out that they put a 25% fee on anything you book through them. We did the Adventure Antigua Extreme Circumnav (AWESOME TOUR...HIGHLY SUGGEST THIS) but we found out that they hiked up the price for us and we could have booked through the company directly for $80 less. Definately not worth the $708 a night we paid for a junk resort with almost everything broken.

My husband and I stayed here August 4-10 for our honeymoon. We were initially very disappointed--we started out on the Caribbean side in a room that probably hasn't been renovated ever (think Hotel 6). We had plumbing issues, you couldn't take a bath without the shower head spurting out hot water, and a towel rack kept collapsing. After speaking with a number of other honeymooning couples who received upgrades (we were not upgraded at all, despite going through the hoops with sending our wedding invite), we became more upset with the condition of our room. Finally, after a bad snorkeling experience (showing up early for lessons and never receiving them, not being told it was the height of jellyfish season) and a bad service experience (food/waitress was awful at Barefoot on the Sea), we found a manager and were upgraded to the Mediterranean side. The room on the second floor was a 1000% nicer, comfortable, and we received the honeymoon amenities like breakfast-in-bed, champagne, and turndown service as we were promised.

Food was average. Husband liked Mario's and I preferred Kimono's. The reservation system prevented us from getting to eat at OK Corral; the hotel should be more accommodating in helping folks get reservations at the restaurants. Buffets were OK. Beach was fantastic, though it was impossible to get an umbrella seat unless you were up quite early. Pools and bars were top-notch and we received our best service there.

This is not the most social of resorts...if you're looking for more interaction with other guests, this place is not ideal. A couple of planned activities fell through, too, like beach soccer (a guest took the ball, and so the promised game was cancelled). They did get us to the airport ridiculously early as others have mentioned. I'm not sure if we'd return, but it's a beautiful location and incredibly romantic. I'd definitely urge you to book rooms on the Mediterranean side.