We have just returned after a 2nd visit to Coconut Beach but will not be going back.

During our time there the management had arranged fofr the buildings to be painted and shrubbery outside the room doors to be cut right back so the place is beggining to look a bit better.

The food, as always, during the day was ok with dinner being exceptional. This would have been made better if we had not had to wait for over 1 hour between starters and main course.

Staff as usual were their usual polite, friendly selves but there was an obvious shortage of staff and the bar was not always manned so customers were having to 'help themselves'.

The reason we would not go back is as follows;

2 nights prior to leaving we were sitting in the restaurant having dinner and one of the 2 dogs that seemed to be resident was sitting very quietly on the decking alongside the pool. Out of nowhere one of the grounds staff leaped on the dog and dragged the poor dog which was at this point screaming, past the guests that were eating,to the back of the Reception. When 2 of the guests went to see what was happening the Manager, Miss Brown, lied and said he was from the humain society and they were taking it to the pound. The guests had recognised the man as staff and said so. She then said the humain society could not send anyone out until the next day so they were keeping it tied up until then.

The men went to look for this dog and found it at the back of the kitchen/reception area 'strung up' by its legs, wimpering and desperately trying to chew through the rope. It was in a terribly distressed state. They then told the manager that they were taking the dog and they would contact a vet in the morning.

By this time a number of people from the restaurant had left and gone back to their rooms without food also distressed.

I fully understand that people have different cultures and ways of treating animals but this dog used to greet the guests each day with a wag of her tail and DID NOT go to tables begging for food but would gladly take food offerred to her after the diners had left the table.

The Management dealt with this matter in a diplorable manner and caused a number of guests to leave the dinning room in tears and distress. I may add that some of the waiters/waitresses were actually laughing when this poor animal was screaming and foaming at the mouth as it was dragged across the floor.

I was told yesterday prior to leaving that the dog was now going to the home of one of the staff and that a number of guests had clubbed together for medication/shampoo/flea powder ect for the dog.

A large number of guests have now said they will no longer return to this hotel due to this incident and I will also be reporting the matter, along with signed statements, to Virgin Holidays. I informed Miss Brown of this yesterday and she had no explanation to offer.

This was one of our most relaxing vacations. We went for a week and enjoyed every day there. This is a small hotel so you got to know a lot of the people staying there and the staff. If you are looking for lots of drinking and carrying on this is not the place for you. A lot of times there was noone at the bar during the day. The girls at the bar spent a lot of time making each drink so you felt special. Try the Chocolate Factory, let Jahilda make it for you! The other girls did a great job as well, we just seemed to click with Jahilda.

Most of the other people staying there were from the UK, only a few other Americans, it was interesting listening to them! We enjoyed all the meals, not as elaborate as some other places we have stayed but a lot of variety. Men need to bring some collar shirts and long pants for evenings, they will need them to go to the bar area and dinner after 7. Nothing fancy, golf shirts and cotton pants and sandels are fine. Women mostly wore sun dresses or capri's and a shirt in the evening, nothing really dressy. You are basically eating outside so it can be a little warm some nights. The dinners were very good, you usually had a choice of a meat dish, a fish dish, and a veggie type dish for the main course. We always found something we liked and were very impressed with the presentation. I would say they were a little lacking in the fresh bread dept. They would come around with a basket and give you your choice of white or brown bread and give you half a slice of what seemed to be packaged bread. They did have fresh rolls one night and I think they were heated up and served again another night. There was enough food to fill you up so it was not a big deal. Just something that could be improved. They were pretty full when we were there but we were taken care of. Only had entertainment two of the nights we were there, a steel drum band on Saturday and one guy with a steel drum on Thursday. It was nice dinner music but it would be nice if they would play some local music at the bar or at dinner at other times. I really enjoyed the music they were playing on our boat trip.

They seem to always be running low on glasses at the bar and cups at breakfast for the juice. The girls would have be running around collecting and washing them to keep up. They were probably short staffed at times trying to take care of everyone but they always did thier best to serve you and always in a friendly manner.

I ordered the local paper for every day and one day the UK paper which I had seen, it was a hoot to read! You can order papers from all over, they have a list at the desk. Bring a deck of cards for the evenings in the lounge area, it was nice to sit, have drinks and just play cards.

The rooms were large and clean, not fancy, we loved the deck though. I would bring a travel clock as there are none in the room and since you have to set you dinner time you sort of need to know. I left a few dollars out on the frig every day for maid, she did a good job. I never say much tipping at the bar or anywhere else on the resort. We tipped the man who brought us to the room with our bags and the taxi drivers. We left a tip with the manager for one of the girls that we felt did the most for us while we were there.

We were on the second floor which I think was better as they did not have the wooden railing downstairs and the palm trees came right up to our deck so the little lizards and bird were always there looking for a snack! You could not really see the water because of the trees, you would have to be on the top floor for that. They have some lovely little birds that come right up to you. We brought some cheezits which they loved. They would get the cheese all over their beaks and then have to clean them off on the wood railing. I would suggest bringing any salty snacks you might want as there is very little in the store and nothing like that offered that was not very pricey. You have a little frig to store food or drinks in but they don't supply anything. You can get a large bottle of water at the desk for 2 dollars and if you want you can get that refilled the bar. The tap water was probably fine but it never really got cold. The little green lizards really like sugar. Don't leave anything out on the deck though as you will end up with little ants or other critters. We only put some snacks out in the afternoon when we were out there relaxing. The birds usually cleaned up every crumb. On the resort we saw what I thought was some sort of heron, a few mongoose, birds, lizards, and a goat on the far side of the beach up on the rocks one day. Also were a few jellyfish that washed up on the beach, glad I didn't see any while I was out in the water! I would recommend bringing your own snokeling equiptment, they were pretty limited with that. They did have a kayak or two and a little sailboat, both of which I only saw used one time each in the week I was there. If you go on the boat tour they supply your equiptment.

One thing I did not enjoy at this resort was at dusk, we would be sitting out on our deck and have to run inside and close the door as they went along the beach side and fogged for mosquitoes every day. It was quite thick, the first day we did not know what the noise was and then saw clouds coming our way. It was pretty nasty, probably helped a lot with the bugs but you would not want to be outside near it when they were doing it. Some people got bites from sand flies or something on the beach but I had no problem with that, just some of the mosquitoes had a taste.

The beach was the best thing about this hotel, you had a long stretch that was fairly private to walk on. Sometimes the cabana's got filled up but there were always enough chairs and there was always shade because of the trees near the back if you did not have a cabana. They came around with cold drinks one day around 11 but not every day. The pool had nice loungers with cushions but not a lot of shady areas, we never even worried about it as we were on the beach every day. We did the Catamaran cruise around the island, it was very enjoyable except we had some rain that day off and on which made the snorkeling not as good. It is a long day but you can have drinks and they provide some snacks as well as the lunch which was very good. Lots of people took advantage of the open bar all afternoon but suprisingly noone fell off the boat! We also went into St. Johns to check out the casino one day, just got a taxi. Our driver, Sonny, was very informative about sites and very friendly. I would say the casino probably had more of a table game crowd in the evening as it was sort of empty when we were there but we had fun trying their machines. Drinks are free there including alchohol(tip the server). Nice way to spend a few hours when it was rainy outside. It was 30 US for a round trip to St. Johns. then whatever you want to tip. All cab rates are set by the Government so you know what you will be paying. It was hard coming back to the snow after a week of warm breezes. This was our first trip to Antigua but I don't think it will be our last.

The place is generally really good. Rooms are big (a little dated, but nothing major), beds a huge and comfy. Right on the beach (pretty much private beach), good pool, nice meal settings. The wait staff are excelent. Very friendly.

Things that weren't great though (and maybe i'm being picky)
- I found reception staff to be a bit surly. I think reception staff should always be warm and friendly
- There's no tea facilities in the rooms (we had a junior suit)
- I emptied my pockets one night on the bedside table with some small notes. The cleaner must have taken it as a tip as it wan't there after the room was cleaned... not too bothered as it was only worth a couple of UK pounds, but wasn't overly bothered.

Overall, I think the place is pretty good. The beach on the first day was perfect - clean, no waves. By the end of the holiday, the sea was quite choppy and I wasn't overly comfortable in the ocean. Our last two days were spent by the pool (which is very plesant). Breakfast and Lunch were very good with both being buffets but not all the same food everyday. dinners on the whole were good and varied.

We were there for 10 days which was a perfect time for us. There isn't a lot to do at the hotel, so if you go there, make sure you're happy to just relax by the pool. We hired a car for four days, and also did a Wadali Cats boat trip (the big yellow boat that picks you up on the beach). I would not recommend Wadali cats trip, unless you wanting a bit of a party boat with "free" booze. We had a lot of young drunken people on it by the end. Of course, it might have just been our particular trip.

A few people have mentioned that they found it annoying getting up early to get a lounger on the beach. We didn't have that problem, but I do think the place was only half full when we were there (second half of October). By 9am though, they were all gone. If people did miss them, there was always a lounger by the pool free.

Would I stay again? Maybe. I think i'd like to stay somewhere else just to see a different area.

If you like large hotel chains that all look the same the world over, don't go to the Coconut Beach Club.
If however you want a small clean friendly hotel with rooms right on the beach where you can relax, have fun and eat good food this is the place for you. We went for two weeks late September early October and had a wonderful time. We did the island circumnavigation on the Wadadli Cat which was fantastic the men learnt to snorkel while us ladies sat in the sea being served rum punch, heaven (if you book through Frenchie on the beach ask for a discount and he will give you a bottle of champagne!) Shirley heights was again a great experience for both the sunset and the steel band and the reggae band. We did the island safari with a really good guide called Randy who took us all over the island and was full of information. The hotel rooms are dated but they are large, clean and the sheets and towels are changed daily. Most of the time the beach was clean and looked like something out of a magazine, a man went along the beach every morning picking up any rubbish. However when the weather changed and the current was different lots of strange things were washed up and three members of staff came along the beach raking up everything they could. I had lots of bites but my husband and the rest of our party only had a few but that's just one of those things you have to put up with. We found the staff at the hotel always helpful and smiley we would recommend this hotel to anyone who wants a lovely quite place to relax and unwind. I loved the fact that about 11.30am a member of staff would come along the beach with a tray of cold drinks, great service!