Fantastic place to chill out and relax. We stayed in one of the 1st floor premier rooms with a huge bathroom featuring double shower and huge bath(no bubble bath though!). Great pool and beach areas with the bar not far away. Food and wine/cocktails great, although for me white wine would be better if served colder. Champagne of sorts on tap all day. Watersports were well managed with no booking necessary. Some construction work taking place on-site, but don't let this put you off as it's all hand work with no big cranes or noisy pneumatic drills. Taxis v easy and well organised at airport - costs about $20 to resort, taking approx 20 mins. Only real downside was having to leave. Neil, camberley UK

I have just returned from a stay at Galley Bay in a Premium Junior suite and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We were on the upper floor but the 10 second walk down the stairs to the beach was not a problem even on the odd "heavy shower" day. We used both restaurants but in general favoured the Seagrape but the Gaugin was unique - did have problems with insect bites but it is the Caribbean and expected that (it is not the hotels fault!!). I found the restaurant staff attentive without being overbearing and they were really friendly - a smile goes a long way. We had no problems whatsoever with drinks - in fact the staff offered on a regular basis and sometimes looked suprised when you said no. It is wrong of me to single out one person in particular but if you have the pleasure of being served in Seagrape by Mike Matthews you will thoroughly enjoy the experience- he is Antiguan but lived a while in the US - he loves his island and the hotel and makes even ordering a chicken roti at lunch an experience.

If Mark and Steveof Reading read this review, you will know who we are (we tried the helicopter experience together - or should I say tried to - helicopter out of service that day) we eventually made it to Montserrat and it was worth the wait. Despite the helicopter door next to me opening in flight half way between Antigua and Montserrat (I managed to keep it shut as the trip proceeded) the view was absolutely fascinating and as we hovered just on the old airport we secured the door for the return trip. Sounds scary but I can assure you it wasn't and have never felt safer - very professional helicopter crew and one of my fellow visitors was a lifeboatman so complete confidence all around. 5* tour!!!! Recommend to anyone.

I agree in part about the stocked fridge - if your room is at the far end of the beach around 80/84 it is a short stroll to the main bar which is a shame when you have the fridge in the room. We left a few notes asking for more Wadadli but not usually acted upon.

The maid service in the room kept everything very clean and neat - no complaints there. The beach was clean and quiet I did not mind the waves and managed to avoid jellyfish stings and the water was clearer than other beaches in the south of the island.

Would return again.

We picked this placed based on the reviews on this website and as far as the accommodations, staff, and food go we were not disappointed. The resort is set on virtually private beach. We had a premium room requested because of info provided on this site. our room was very big and beautifully appointed. The shower was an open design which being divers was great for rinsing our gear. The diving here is pretty good Caribbean diving although the dive outfit the hotel booked us with was "interesting". The food was great as was the staff. My only complaint is not the hotels fault, but it's a major. It was the weather. It was very windy with rough surf the whole time we were there and because of the rocky bottom off the beach the red flags were out almost all week. We were able to swim in the ocean one day out of the week. The pool area is very nice, but it gets very crowded when nobody can go in the ocean. The rates for this place are reasonable I think, but it's still a lot of money to pay to go and sit by the pool. If it wasn't for my concerns about the surf conditions, I'd go back in a heartbeat.

We have just returned from 10 days at the Galley bay resort. We chose this hotel because of the Tripadvisor reviews and its position as the #1 hotel for Antigua (when we booked). The staff were very efficient and polite from the minute we stepped out of the taxi from the airport till the time we departed. Everyone greeted us no matter what time of day and whatever they were doing from gardeners and maids to restaurant and bar staff. We never witnessed any of the poor service we’ve seen at other Caribbean all-inclusive resorts or the difficulty in getting a second glass of wine as some earlier guests have reported. In fact the reverse is true in our experience, sometimes the staff wouldn’t leave us alone, topping up any half filled glass of wine, water or cup of coffee. Clearly the result of the American management.

The beach and gardens around the resort are generally very well looked after, however it has to be said the lagoon behind the main complex did have a lot of floating green algae around its edges and the un-made up service road with rain filled pot-holes did slightly spoil an otherwise pristine resort.

We stayed in one of the Premium Beachfront Suites, which in hind sight turned out to be a smart move. The Gauguin Cottages and Superior Beachfront Rooms looked fairly small and only had louvered glass windows, which is not a good idea – more about that later.

If you decide to go and your budget can stretch, my top tip would be to stay in either a Deluxe or Premium ground floor room. Then you’ll have direct access from room to patio then straight onto the sand. The beach was very good and never crowded, at times we were the only ones there and I never saw more and about 20 people spread over a half-mile stretch of sand. Equally the pool area was very pleasant and again very quiet. There were never more than 3 or 4 in the pool at any one time and sometimes I was on my own.

Although we did try the Gauguin restaurant, we mostly dined at the Seagrape as it was closer to the evening entertainment. Service at both was extremely good with the Gauguin coming out tops. Birds at the dining table were never a problem at this resort, they exist but not in the predatory way we’ve seen at other places.

The whole resort is very quiet and relaxing and ideal for couples wanting a relaxing holiday. There is no Reggae blaring from speakers in every palm tree and as it’s adults only you didn’t have to suffer the Brit families enjoying themselves in the pool with the proverbial blow-up football. Come on, you know who you are!!

All in all a very good all-inclusive Caribbean resort, which I would have no problem in recommending, however from a totally personal point of view there were a few things I thought took the shine off an otherwise top resort. The sand isn’t white as described and shown in the pictures, it’s your standard yellow and the food had way too much garlic in it for my taste. The premium room’s so called wet-bar was a fridge with a couple of bottles/cans of local beer, soda and water. I was expecting a Sandal’s type concierge room bar with a range of full size bottles of spirits, red and white wine, beer, fruit juices and Champagne and my final observation is that you will get bitten by the bugs. There are everywhere including sand flies on the beach, which even the local vendors where complaining about.