We spent a week in Galley Bay in January, we celebrated our Silver Wedding and renewed our wedding Vows. Wow, what a week, the resort was perfect for us. A beautiful beach, excellent food and drink, and staff who were very friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them.
When renewing our wedding vows everyone was so organised, Ernistine who organised the ceremony, Jenny and Mayna who took part and were witnesses and not forgetting Iva who took the service and Joseph who took the wonderful photos.
We would go back tomorrow.

We stayed at Galley Bay from May 27th to 3rd June 2008. Overall we were extremely impressed. We stayed in a fantastic second story suite (number 74). Our balcony overlooked the sea and palm trees. Our bathroom was cavernous and had a his and hers walk in shower, two sinks an enormous raised bath. The bed was enormous and the room air-conditioned very effectively. I’d recommend a second story suite as you get the wonderful vaulted ceiling.

The beach was wonderful and the water warm teeming with life only a metre or so from the shore. There are no Germans running out at 4am to put towels on loungers – primarily because you have pretty much the entire beach to yourself anyway and there are more loungers than guests. The beach is never busy and the whole ambience is very tranquil. You can even see one of Armani’s houses up on the hillside from the beach.

The service was on the whole exemplary although do readjust yourself and try not to be too British. The staff are attentive and helpful although they do things in “Antigua Time”. I witnessed one stroppy English guest giving a lady at the desk a hard time because her Virgin rep hadn’t turned up. She was rude and it wasn’t the resort’s fault. You need to relax and not let things bother you too much.

There are three restaurants to choose from and all are exemplary. Food is very subjective but I’ve been to a lot of nice eateries so I think I’m relatively well placed to comment. If you’ve ever been to a Hotel du Vin – the food is comparable. And that’s every breakfast, lunch and dinner. The fish is wonderful and all local. Mahi Mahi Thai curry is a highlight. The meat is also of very good quality. I had lamb one night which was perfectly pink in the centre and so tender. The steak was also fantastic. I also had a great local goat curry. Seagrape is the large restaurant in the centre. There’s Ismay’s at one end of the beach which is new and named after a long serving employee. It is smaller and looks straight out onto the beach. Then there’s Gauguin where each table is under its own umbrella – very intimate. The food is all of identical quality and service is very quick. The food for us was the highlight of the holiday – always good. Look out for the BBQ on Thursday’s – a lavish spread of cooked to order meat and a suckling pig plus every conceivable salad and side dish.

The one slight downside which we were aware of was how strictly monitored and disciplined the staff were. One lovely waitress we were served by has 4 children – she also holds down a full time job at Galley Bay. Employees are clocked in and out of work and she had been a total of 30 minutes late over the last 4 months and was as a result of that on strict disciplinary. There were other more subtle aspects which we noticed but it’s obvious that all of the waiters and waitresses are extremely disciplined and constantly monitored. They always serve you with a smile but some seem very nervous not to trip up and are a bit too apologetic when they make a minor mistake like spill a drop of water. I’m sure it’s the same in all expensive resorts in the Caribbean but we picked up on it a couple of times and just wished that they could work a bit happier with less of the stress they were obviously put under. Needless to say all the staff seemed like very genuine and welcoming people, just a little stifled by ‘big brother’.

Overall, the holiday was wonderful and we’d almost certainly go back to either there on another of the Elite Island Resorts.

I was not going to write a review but after some of the recent criticism, I felt I owed to Galley Bay and the staff.
My now husband and I celebrated our Honeymoon at Galley Bay from June 7th-June 14th. We had a fantastic time and will look back fondly on this vacation for years to come.

Room:
When we first started planning our trip, we were certain we wanted to stay in a Gaugain Cottage. The privacy and plunge pool were very appealing to us. The one thing I would caution 1st time visitors is that the map on the Galley Bay website is not close to scale at all. It seems that ALL the Gaugain’s would be private, that is not the case. They are actually set up in small clusters of 3-4 units. The only truly private cottage is G4 (we stayed in this room after reading a pervious review). G4 was in the perfect location. Centrally located next to the spa and very close to the pool, bar and sea grape while having total privacy all at the same time. Our whole area was fenced in with a big back yard. Although this cottage has not yet been update with new bedding and such, we preferred it over the clustered cottages.

My only issue, and it is kind of a biggie for me, was that we did encounter some Cockroaches in our room that were loud enough to wake us up in the middle of the night. I guess this is probably normal given the surrounding but it’s very unpleasant. I think the issue is that the cleaning staff leaves the bedroom and bathroom doors open when they clean the rooms during the day, allowing bugs and creatures into your room. They should be told to keep the doors closed at all times.

Staff:
For me, and I think my husband would agree, the staff was really the highlight of the trip. I will be the first to admit that I am quick to judge people. After visiting a few other British Islands where I found the people to be ruder than what I encounter in NY (where I grew up) or in Boston (where I live now), I was very nervous that I the people of Antigua and Galley Bay would be less than nice. I had nothing to worry about. I can honestly say, everyone we encountered from cab drivers to tour guides and everyone at the hotel were the nicest people I have EVER met. The staff is incredibly friendly and accommodating. Management is also very involved which I thought I was a very nice touch.

Food:
We were never hungry that’s for sure. The food was very good and the restaurants had a great atmosphere. While we were there, The Sea Grape was open every lunch/dinner and the Gaugain and Ismay’s switched off. We ate at all three and enjoyed them all. The Gaugain and Ismay’s menus never changed (although they do have a daily fish special) while the Sea Grape changes daily.

Beach/Pool:
Both were beautiful. We enjoyed walking on the beach and lounging at the pool. While we were there, the resort was at 50% capacity which was the perfect amount of people. If the resort were full, I think the beach and especially the pool would be a bit crowded. Although we never had an issue getting chairs at the pool, they always seemed to be full.

Excursions:
For anyone interested in doing any activities off the resort, I thought I would add some quick feeback on the 2 excursions we did.

Zip-Lining-We went first thing in the morning and were back to the resort for lunch. The ride was about 35-40 min from the hotel. The course has about 9 lines varying from short to a long “screamer”. The staff was great and ensured everyone had a good time. I would suggest doing the ropes course along with the zip lines as this is the only portion where you are on your own which we enjoyed.

Wadadli Cats Circum Nav-Again the staff was tons of fun and we had a great time. We left the resort at at 9:00am and started to make our way around the island, stopping at other resorts to pick up some more people. Once everyone was on board, we headed into the Atlantic Rollercoaster, a 20 min journey on the open Atlantic to get to Green Island that is very choppy (be prepared to get soaking wet). Once at Green Island, we went snorkeling where we saw a stingray, schools of fish and some squid and had a nice lunch. After green Island, we sailed for a while completing our circum nav trip. We were returned to the hotel around 4:00pm.

Overall, everything was very enjoyable and I hope to return one day in the future.

We stayed at Galley Bay for 2 weeks in June. The location is good on a natural beach.

We had read the reviews and felt that previous criticisms were perhaps not justified - we didn't think the mini bar would be an issue but it turned out it was-it was awkward to have to go to the bar for plastic cups of drink when we wanted to have a drink in our room in the evenings/ the staff attitude was not good on all occasions.

We stayed in a refurbished deluxe room - no up grade as previous reviews have stated - we were not celebrating anything, - Room was good-upstairs as requested with nice balcony and views. Not very quiet as some work was going on during the day.

Staff attitude was inconsistant - those that shone out were Mike, Stuart and Vaughn. Some members of staff did not have a good demeanour. An example being at the beach bar when requesting a smoothie was advised 'I am not blending' - no explanation given-had to come back later - not sure if staff are motivated by a genuine wish to help.

We have stayed on smaller Caribbean islands and found the service much more genuine e.g .Nisbet Plantation/Nevis - and did not cost as much.

Despite brochures/literature stating dress code for evening meals-surprised to see people still turning up in shorts and flip flops.

Maid service was also inconsistant- some days room cleaned at 11am others at 3pm - somedays beach towels were left -others not.

Unfortunately we could only rate this hotel as a 4 star - we have stayed in better hotels with happier staff and a better standard of service. Can only agree with previous review regards staff treating repeat customers better - we did not spend all our time at the bars and found when we did, we did not receive the service we were expecting.

We spoke to Ian/Manager a couple of times for a short period however other than that we did not meet any other management despite being there for 2 weeks.

As a positive - a selection of restaurants/ food was generally good especially sea food. House wines perfectly acceptable/Rooms nicely refurbished. Gym - typically small but adequate.

All in all -a nice resort however still has a way to go to attain 4.5 or 5 star standard. In conversation with other guests we agreed that there was no wow factor which we were expecting.