My husband, myself and our two children stayed at the Rex Blue Heron for 3 weeks in Feb. We had been there before and we love it. We had a fantastic time. The staff were all lovely and wer so kind to our children. One of the receptionists even bought our daughter a doll. We found nothing was too much trouble for any of them. The staff in the restaurant, are perhaps sometimes a bit sullen looking (as a few other reviews have menitoned), however we found if you spoke to them instead of just moaning at them, they were all very nice indeed. We found the food lovely, infact we just could not eat any more and had trouble squeezing our clothes back on when we got home. Our children had a lovely time. Having a beach front room, enabled us to sit on the beach whilst the children either came on the beach with us, or they could stay and play on the patio or in the room if they fancied staying out if the heat for a while. The only down sides we felt we had, were that there is no childrens menu and also the evening entertainment has gone down hill or disappeared to when we stayed there 5 years ago. It would be nice to have some music to dance to in the evenings. We simply can not understand some of the reviews put on here and are amazed at some of the comments as we did not find this hotel to be like some people have put. We love it there. It is worth remembering that this hotel is in the Caribbean and there is a relaced way of life there....isnt that why we all want to go there? To escape the fast pace we have at home?
We loved it and will definately go back there.

The Hotel Room Basic, limited satellite T.V channels, ceiling fans and a rather old and noisy ceiling fan, no fridge, beds not great, but is clean, if you want luxury this is NOT the place, but it is more than adequate.The Hotel Food Breakfast was repetitive but adequate; lunch and dinner sounds yucky, my advice is not to get all-inclusive (unless you don't want to leave the limited facilities and entertainment of the hotel!) otherwise hire a car and eat out, obviously its going to cost you more!The Hotel Facilities The pool small (full stop), a very small shop, and that pretty much it. There's a convenience store 7 minutes walk away turn right from the hotel up the hill.The Beach Located on probably the finest beach on the Island. If you want a busy beach where you can snorkel nearby, jets skis etc I suggest you DON'T stay here, its not that type of beach. If you want to relax in the sun, read a book or play scrabble or beach volleyball (around 5pm ish) its ideal. Oh and don't be afraid of the odd stray cow!. The hawkers who work here are a friendly bunch, if you're not interested then a thank you – but no thanks will be adequate.Recommendations…….Don't forget your driving licence, get the phone book and call Avis, Hertz etc 45 USD a day plus 10USD collision waiver, even though you have to pay the first 1,000USD, the roads are hazardous in terms of pot holes, especially the scenic drive of Fig Tree Drive, no drink drive laws but little road markings, pavements etc, so don't D&D.You got to eat out…… Near RBH, Reckon Oj's is a little overrated, 3 Martinis is more local (even though its owned by an American), Turners is not worth the money.Heading out of RBH Jolly Harbour avoid this tourist trap, unless you've travelled all that way for burger and chips and it will cost you much more then back home.Next Village after Jolly Harbour is Dennis, it's a local place that serves local food. Don't ask for the menu as he only cooks 1 thing a day, we had salt fish, plantain, sweet potato you wont get these back at the hotel.Roadside Cafes On the way to St Johns just after a cricket ground look out the Chinese Restaurant, well it's a little wooden hut but the foods good.A little further on from here stop off at International something best food on the island served up by out Texas Haitian, best food on the island, if you don't mind eating on the side of the road outside a caravan.St Johns Forget the tourist joints, go to Roti King in New Street sells the finest Roti outside Guyana, check out the lady killer behind the counter ……lolDickensons Bay-Quite a trek but close to the nicer sister to RBH Rather pricey but Coconut grove is a romantic setting for that one off holiday meal I recommend the lobsterEntertainment In terms of nightlife Antigua is quiet, it has 1 nightclub, a few casinos and not much else except sun, sand and relaxation. Enjoy.

After booking the hotel on Orbitz, I was kind of worried by all the reviews I had read on this website before my boyfriend and I got there from the 13th til the 21st of March. Eventhough the first contact with the hotel by email when I had tried to get some information alerted me since it sounded harsh and a bit impolite to me, I must say I had worried for nothing since we had an excellent time there. The beach is of course beautifull and since we were not in an All Inclusive formula, we did not try the food overthere. But I could see it and it looked and smelt great, people were really kind and welcoming to us; we even got upgraded from a standard to a superior when we arrived without asking.
The room faced the swimming pool, no issues with air cooler and the fact hot water was sometimes limited never lasted long and was mre related to a generator transition when power got down (the hotel is not responsible for this). As for location, it is a bit far from everything but a bus (the 22) will pick you up from 6am to 7pm to drive you to St John where main bus stations are located. Even on Sunday if you might be lucky and look for one in the morning : some pass in front of the hotel until 7.30 am when none was meant to come over. Otherwise, hitch hiking might also be a good solution which worked out perfectly for us all week long to go anywhere ! As for surroundings, a little superette is located in Johnson Point 5 minutes walking from the hotel and you might definitely stop by the Blue Hawai pub to taste the local beer, play pool and enjoy a cheap still good meal since OJ's and 3 Martini's located on the other side of the Hotel are good but quite expensive and lack of local experience. That is my final point, if you feel like laying on the beach all week long and live in the hotel you might get bored but the hotel is not responsible for this; if you feel like discovering Antigua, its nice people, beaches, etc...this is the perfect place to take a rest when you are back from a long day spent in the island. I want to thank the hotel staff (Josephine), the security guard for her kindness ........and recommend at last Carlo's Antigua Scuba Dive center located in English Harbour, a great guy and beautiful corals on the south east coast where the visibility might be better than in Cade's reef.

Where to start on our stay at the Rex Blue Heron...? Let's begin on the few positives. The location is absolutely fantastic. If you are looking for a complete getaway from your daily stress this is the place. The RBH is located on a fabulous, long sandy beach with aqua-marine water perfect for swimming. There are four beach bars (I shall come onto these later) dotted at various points along the beach which are genuinely local offering great food. Regarding the rooms in the hotel, they are clean and adequate, if a little small. I would recommend that you go for a superior room at least, as these have air conditioning.Right then, the positives are over I'm sorry to say. Let's begin with the food and drink. My advice is do not, under any circumstances, go all-inclusive. The food is best described in two words - school dinners. It is atrocious. Also, people I spoke to on the all-inclusive said that the food regularly ran out and the birds that fly around the dining room use the fruit salad as a bird-bath. The alcohol offered in the bars is of the cheapest, generic kind. You will find no bottled beers or brand-name spirits here, just Wadadli beer (which has a formaldehyde after-taste) and cheapo spirits. If, like us, you are room only, they absolutely sting you for food and drink. On our first evening we were too tired to go exploring so we decided to eat in the "restaurant". We were charged the equivalent of ?45 (US$80) for two of us to eat their muck, and that's with no alcohol. Breakfast was the equivalent of ?35 (US$65). The prices were absolutely outrageous.The beers are the equivalent of ?1.50 (US$2) for less than half a pint. Even if you are all-inclusive, you still have to pay the equivalent of ?2.50 (US$4.50) for a 1.5l bottle of water. My advice is do not ever eat or drink in the hotel!There are four beach bars in easy walking distance to choose from instead. The best is OJ's, which is about a quarter of a mile up the beach (turn right as you get onto the beach at the hotel). The setting is superb (being everything you would expect from a Caribbean beach bar) the food is great (their red snapper is well worth checking out) and the average prices range from ?7 (US$13) each for lunch (including a couple of beers) up ?25 each for dinner (that's for lobster and a bottle of wine!). For a bit more haut cuisine, just up from OJ's is Gibsons which is a bit more pricey but the food is excellent. Heading back towards the hotel is the 3 Martinis. This is set just back off the beach and has a great atmosphere, with a mix of locals and tourists. Their music on a Thursday night is great fun. They also have apartments which I am reliably informed are cheaper and better than the RBH. One note of caution - one of their staff is the resident bar bore if she is off work sat at the bar. Avoid her at all costs!! Finally, if you come onto the beach at the hotel and turn left, Turners is just a short walk. The food here is very good but slightly more expensive than OJ's.Back to the RBH, unfortunately. The default attitude of the staff is surly, which becomes downright rude and unhelpful if you have a problem. We had no hot water or air-con for two days and the maintainence guy had mysteriously just left very time I asked them to fix our room. Nothing happened until I demanded they move us and even then I had to really give the manager a hard time to get them to do that. To say their approach is lacadaisical is flattering. The RBH is third world in its lack of customer service. Don't even try to change traveller's cheques - they will only allow you to change US$100 in any one time. We had to take a cab ride to Jolly Harbour to use the bank. (BTW don't use the cabs if you can avoid it. A 2 mile trip to Jolly Harbour cost US$11, whereas the bus back cost US$0.50 for both of us!). In terms of currency, it is best to bring East Caribbean dollars. The local bars do have menus with prices in both EC$ and US dollars, but they tend to round up on the US dollars.Overall, the RBH is fine for somewhere to sleep but for everything else it is absolutely rubbish. I would only recommend the RBH on the basis that a location this good will not last long before a multi-national organisation sees its potential and ruins it with a big hotel and formulaic bars (like they have done at Jolly Harbour). Stay at the 3 Martinis instead.