Having looked forward to a fantastic holiday in the sun we, along with numerous other guests, were very disappointed with the Blue Waters hotel. Having booked a Deluxe Beath Front room, we arrived to find the air conditioning not working, the internal door to the adjoining hotel room not able to shut, the safe not working, the shower only capable of showering the ceiling and two single beds pushed together! Had everything been handled well and a new room been offered, things may have been better, however, it wasn't!! We had to insist on moving to another room. The grounds were equally disappointing with mosquito ridden fountains by the cocktail bar and infinity pool, as well as mud and water logged gardens around the infinity pool. The restaurant food was sub-standard, my particular problem being with the number of flys continually sitting on the buffet food. The al a carte food offered had a lot to be desired and anything half decent had additional supplements added. I won't even comment on the wine but will say I've tasted much better vinegar in the past! In a nutshell I do not rate this hotel at all and urge potential holiday makers to think twice about visiting there until the Management get their act together. Gordon Ramsey would have a field day!!

My wife and I made our first visit to Blue Waters 11-18 May 2005 on an all-inclusive package. There is only one word to describe the place – PARADISE! From the moment you step into the beautiful open reception area you are made to feel very welcome indeed, and check-in is completed whilst sat in comfy wicker chairs sipping rum punches!

Our room was a deluxe beachfront room in the 600 block, with a stunning view down to the wedding gazebo and the Caribbean Sea beyond. The smaller of the two beaches was just a few yards in front of us, albeit with a fence and 10 feet drop preventing us from hopping over the balcony and straight onto it. No problem though, just a short walk round and you could more or less have the beach to yourself!

The lovely air-conditioned room had a well stocked mini-bar, replenished every day without fail as long as you remembered to hang your mini-bar order form outside of your door before you went to bed. Tea, coffee and milk were provided and towels and bedding changed every day if you wished. Your bed was even turned down for you each evening – all part of the excellent service provided.

Wherever you walk at Blue Waters you are surrounded by beautiful gardens, with palm trees and colourful bushes and plants in abundance. You hear the birds singing all day and the tree frog chorus at night – truly exotic!

Most of the few negative comments I have seen about Blue Waters concern the size of the main beach. Yes it is relatively small, but perfect for a hotel of Blue Waters size. We never once had any problems finding sunloungers, nor did we see any evidence of the towel phenomenon. If anything, the only unoccupied chairs with towels on them were being used by people who were either at lunch, swimming in the warm, calm sea, or using the watersports facilities. Our walk to breakfast each morning took us past the beach and there were always plenty of sunloungers available – enough said!

There are three excellent pools. The main pool and new pool on the sun deck had pool bars whilst the hillside pool had no bar but was always peaceful, perfect for just relaxing in the later part of the afternoon.

The Palm and Vyvien’s restaurants were exceptional. The Palm restaurant was open on two sides, overlooking the sea, and above it Vyvien’s had air conditioning. Both served a wide variety of excellent food, and the service was quick and efficient. Obviously, as the premier restaurant Vyvien’s had the better standard and was usually busy. We dined there twice, both times booking our table immediately after breakfast that morning.

The elegant open-sided Pelican Bar was the main gathering point in the evenings and had varying entertainment, including steel drums, jazz and reggae bands – the perfect place to relax before the enchanting walk back to our room at the end the day.

Overall the service was very good. Within a couple of days our names and room number were known by most of the hotel staff and there was always a smile, especially from the lovely Caroline. If you are polite, open and friendly you get the same back. I can only think that those who have complained about the service here must have presented themselves as ignorant and impolite and deserved all they got!

The hotel is situated at the very northern tip of Antigua. Yes it is slightly off the beaten track, but so are the majority of the hotels outside of the Falmouth/Nelson’s Dockyard area. Taxi’s are easy to come by and the hotel runs shuttles into St. Johns daily and Shirley Heights on a Sunday.

We researched this hotel thoroughly on tripadvisor and elsewhere before booking and knew exactly what to expect. There are plenty of comments and photographs available on the internet, none of which can truly do justice to what is, in our opinion, a beautiful hotel in magnificent surroundings with an excellent service. Many, many people are ‘returners’ coming back year after year, and we will definitely become a part of that group and return next year!

Location - need to get taxis to go out, but readily available & daily shuttle to St Johns. Short transfer to airport. No mosquito problem.

Beach - clean, uncrowded, not good for snorkelling, no jet ski touts.

Rooms - excellent (we had deluxe beachfront), fresh decor, air conditioned, soap not replaced all week.

Activities - limited - hobie cats, windsurfers etc. Reasonable gym, tennis court, games room.

Clientele - English & American, 20s to 50s, mainly 50s couples, some children which could be a problem as little for them to do.

Food - very good, especially Vyviens.

Environment - well maintained, always loungers available although enforcing the "no towels" policy would be an improvement. All bars are open so no air conditioned place to relax in the evenings.

Staff - variable, but mostly good. Reception and maids very good. Bars close too often, e.g. lunchtime.

All inclusive plan - wine only by the glass at dinner which is petty. Bar service variable. Mini bar in room was restocked daily. We ate in all restaurants without having to pay a supplement.

island - less to do than Barbados or St Lucia. Don't bother going to Shirley Heights on a Sunday - one band, a bar and a food stall! Recommend Eli's Eco Tour.

We have just returned from a 10 day trip to Blue waters, the last posting before mine (referring to this as an average 3 star rather than 4 star) is very accurate, however i have to say that we had one of the "luxury" beach view rooms, probably the best on the site, room 607 and we were very comfortable and it was very quiet, however at $816 a night you would expect this, for little more you can get a much better vacation elsewhere.
The mini bar took 2 days to stock, i object to paying a premium in the very average Vyviens restaraunt for "normal" cuisine such as Lobster, Beef and Lamb, it was only the third time in 43 trips to the West Indies that we could not keep our room for an extra 3 hours after check out, even when offering to pay a premium, however i do understand that this is normal proceedure at this type of resort and perhaps we have been spoilt over the years.
The Gin and Tonic was the worst i have ever tasted, Tonic from a tap, even when they managed to find a bottle of local Tonic it was not much better and unlike many resorts there was no choice of gin, the last 2 resorts i have visited (BEL Air and Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada) both went out of their way to make sure they had Tanqueray gin at the bar for me after my first night request. With regard to the rooms i would never have forgiven myself if i had booked one near the resort centre, it is like being on a public highway, Palms food ok and Vivyens average, not once was my meat cooked as i asked for and when asked by the manager if it was ok i showed her a cremated piece of Lamb which was meant to be pink and she just looked and walked away, priceless!!
As for air conditioned, Vivyens always had to have the windows open and you had to book days in advance for a reservation, also we could only ever eat outside Palms as the restaraunt is enclosed on 2 sides and the heat inside is oppresive.
However there are many repeaters who obviously enjoy the place so who am i to pass judgement, most never spoke to me again after my reply when asked if i would return, my stock answer was, lovely spot, beautiful gardens, very average overall, no i wouldnt return.
After 3 trips to reception to request an engineer to come to my room to fix the air conditioning i finally asked for an audience with the duty manager, 5 minutes later an engineer turned up and he worked until 11pm to fix it, he was excellent, i also had to request that my room was cleaned before 4.30pm as it was extremely inconvinient to have a maid in the room at this time, she also regularly forgot to replenish coffee sachets
The really annoying thing is that with very little attention to detail this place could be an excellent product, however at 800 bucks a night i dont expect to change my own beach towels, be charged for Evian water, fill out a form for the mini bar or pay a premium for "4 star" food
On the plus side, the entertainment was top rate, our room was very good but it was a suite so you would expect that, and the resort shop was well stocked with essentials and the hillside pool was very quiet and the staff although not trained to a very high standard were friendly enough
roll on Xmas when Grenada is back on track, no comparison