Listen up folks, my girlfriend and I have just spend two weeks at this hotel and we have the lowdown.

Basically most of the posts here on tripadvisor are are a good reflection of what is happening with the resort. The hotel is a but rundown but is making an effort to improve. There is a new management tier - the hotel is mostly occupied by brits, americans and canadians.

If you got a good price, you can't complain. If you expect 3* then you'll not be upset. If not, you'll be dissappointed.

The downside:-

The rooms need a fair bit of work, hillside view rooms are a little bigger than lagoon facing rooms - $12 million has been pledged by the manager for a hotel facelift. We had a crabby bed and poor TV reception but it was clean and safe and the air-con was a dream.

You'll have to wear a plastic tag for two weeks if you are AI (or face a $100 bill if you loose it!).

Service is pretty shoddy on the whole. It's very changeable but most staff (although friendly when you make the first effort) seem to have other things on their mind. Some are happy, such as Tyrone upstairs in Barringtons restaurant.

There is little if NO real entertainment. You'll be in bed by 9pm. You'll be lost if you have kids.

All drinks are free, including delicious coctails, but service is S L O W at bars (and to eat!), water costs $4 per bottle so best drink it by the glass. If the manager is hovering then things get much better!

Taxi is also expensive at $12 into town, especially as the locals take the $1 bus from around the corner in the local neighbourhood. "AJ" the driver can be shirty but informative, everybody is in it for the $$$ which is a shame.

Food is very A V E R A G E. If you're used to english food then welcome back home, don't expect any delights. Laughably the food is the same in the 'upper class' restaurant upstairs as in the hotel. They had the cheek to turn me away in my leather sandals which probably cost more than their entire waitress outfits (so I put on some scruffy trainers and they let me in!).

There are many beach sellers (such as 'the bush man'). The typical conversation goes "..how are you?" "want your hair braided, sweetie". Thankfully the sellers aren't pushy although there is a false sense of friendliness until you actually buy something from these guys! Go and see "frenchie" on the beach to book your tours, don't use the desk in the hotel as they will charge you up-front.

The "bushman" is the worst beach seller, he'll try and push his drugs to you; just ignore him and he ignores you. The english lady selling watersports activities is lovely.

The hotel shop is VERY expensive. Everything 200% priced. Works out the same price to take the taxi into the capital and buy your stuff there!

The good stuff:-

Location. The beach and resort is very pretty and has one of the best locations on the island.

There is a HERTZ car rental outlet in the hotel (Barter for a jeep at $50 for the day but beware, you'll have to pay if you get a puncture)

Morning walks. BE SURE to catch LESROY at 9am in the morning for a variety of walks around the resort. LESROY or 'PAPA LES' is a brilliant host for this, we miss him - LESROY for manager!

Free gear at the beach - sun loungers, kyaks and non-powered water things. Beach towel service too.

There is a managers meeting on Thursday upstairs...save up your complaints or suggestions.

There is an internet room (costs money but you can get rid of the software protection by pressing CTRL ALT DEL when the computer starts and stop the secrutiy software)

The resort, and the whole of Antigua is completely safe.

We are at the Royal Antiguan right now. We had read some horrible stories about the food and how shabby the place was. We are here to tell you we just had lunch here for the eighth day in a row. We have nothing to complain about. There is lot of variety at the buffet and you can always find something to please the palette. We also heard that there are a lot of flies around the food. In eight days, I have seen 2 flies. The staff we really helpful and friendly. I think that the only problem would be if you didn't use your manners. The people here are very polite. The beach here is out of this world. Great for swimming and laising around. We are getting married on the beach Wednesday March 2nd. It's truly beautiful here and safe to walk around. We took an island taxi tour which was only $25. US per person. Maximum of 4 people. The taxi took us to Shirley Heights, Nelson Dockyard and stopped at local vendor stand, if you asked. All these things are must sees. I must go now, as my $7.US 1/2 hour is almost up. We will be sure to return here again. The place is a little run down, but really clean. It's not a 5 star, but it is well on it's way to being a 4 star.

This hotel is now known as the GRAND Royal Antiguan Beach and Tennis Resort.

As of right now, it is neither grand nor is it a Tennis resort. I will explain.

We stayed there in February for one week (not all-inclusive) and yes we had read all the posts here. What i read braced me for the experience.

Antigua itself is poor but maintains a certain sense of self-respect in spite of it's obviously dilapidated state. The roads are more pot-hole than flat-ashphalt but there seems to be little crime and i must say its one of the few islands in the caribbean where i've been able to walk around the capital city at night and not be afraid of getting robbed. The people are a rather sober group but i did not find them to be rude. In fact, when approached some became very friendly. While there, we were constantly reminded of the atrocities committed by the English slavemasters that ruled the island and as a non-native one could easily feel the lingering animosity. We felt that the attitude of the islanders towards us (white) tourists was certainly shaped by this experience. It clearly took some doing for us to earn the antiguans' trust, but in the end it was worth doing so.

The hotel is a high rise (i think the highest building in antigua). It was built in the 80's and now looks run down. It is currently under new management, there are about 4-5 of these foreign-management types now living full time at the hotel. We talked to them during our stay and found out that they want to take the hotel to a 4.5 star status.

Good luck guys. You'll need it.

When we were there hotel capacity was at 45%. This included a lot of the Carribean star/sun pilots who stay at the hotel. Take them away and i'd say you'd get about 35% tourist occupancy.

They are fixing up the hotel as best as possible and many rooms are unoccupied due to construction. We had rooms on the hill side (no balcony). MOst people opt to pay the extra $35 US to get a bayside room (balcony and view of an enclosed bay). Personally, i didnt think the extra $$ were worth this view. The rooms are clean. Bring your own hairdryer ladies! You'll get about 7-8 channels on the TV, reception is cruddy.

The hotel sports the name "tennis resort". While i was there no one ever played tennis. There are no wind screens. Given that there is a constant 10 kt-20kt breeze blowing during the day this makes tennis a near impossibility. Dont bother bringing a racquet. The courts are filthy and only one of the 8 that are there are serviceable.

The beach is nice and very picturesque. However, and here is the problem, it's outside hotel property and as the beach is open to the public it is filled with hawkers. On average i had one come up to me every 15 min trying to sell us c*r*a*p. I could not believe that this is the best idea that these poor (lazy) people could come up with to make money. I will guarantee you that if they volunteered to haul drinks from the bar to the tourists on the beach they'd make more in tips in one day than they currently make from selling beach wraps and other trinkets. I have absolutely no problem with the beach being open to the public. I think this is great (anyone going to Florida will appreciate the idea); however, i have a huge problem with the hawkers. Do the antiguans know that people will never ever go back to their little garden spot because of this? When i go on vacation i want to go and relax - not so that i can be continually bothered every few minutes by lazy-***** human detritis trying to sell me ****. At least you won't get physically accosted (as one might in Rio de Janeiro).

I dont know how this hotel can possibly get return customers unless they get rid of these hawker folks. Hire 'em on staff for goodness sakes! It'd be easily worth the price just to stop 'em harassing the tourists.

The hotel has three restaurants, but typically only one is open at any one time. The food, as advertised on this site, pretty much sucks at all three. Airline food on the way back was better. Sad.

The two most important things for a vacation in the caribbean to provide are EATING/DRINKING and going to the BEACH. Both of which are terrible experiences at this resort. Another important ingredient in a resort is FUN. There really is a lack of FUN here. The lack of ambience contributes to the depressing tone there:

- there is virtually no music played on the whole resort and this contributes to the feeling that the place is fun-less.

- the grounds are kept clean but the virtual lack of "color" again gives the place a humorless tone. there's not a single annual planted anywhere on the resort.

When we were there there was absolutely no entertainment. The "casino" is completely empty (abt 20 slot machines tucked away in a bland windowless room). The "club" on the premises has no live music - actually come to think, i didnt hear any music coming from it and i never saw anyone dancing. hell, i never saw anyone in the club period.

These three points are unforgiveable.

Having said all this, the staff was fairly nice, if somewhat slow and detached.
Once we decided to avoid the beach and hang out at the pool, the experience improved and we were able to enjoy ourselves as we were looking for a quiet relaxing time. given how few people were staying at the hotel, this should have been easy to achieve.

The tourists were mostly from the U.K. (and clearly accustomed to sub-standard fair given how few complained about the hotel). Most of the north americans were professionals, the europeans tended to be more blue collar, some were yabos i'm afraid (men wearing England soccer jerseys with their guts hanging out and their women running around showing off tattoos on their butts). Pretty. Many of the ladies went topless, undoubtedly this contributed to keeping prudish Americans in Boca Raton where they all belong.

We found it nearly impossible to find a direct flight into the island, this amongst the reasons above has made us decide we would never go back.

We were told the hotels around Jolly Harbor were much better and those who stayed there really enjoyed themselves.


Things to be aware of:

- porters at the airport are overzealous and will grab your bags before you notice and then demand a tip. very annoying especially when youve just landed! not uncommon to see are local tramps trying to pretend theyre porters as well. swat them away.

- downtown st. johns (esp. nr the port) is filled with idle taxi drivers looking for marks (i mean fares). they outnumber the tourists in most areas. We literally could not go ten feet without being asked if we needed a taxi. If you do take a taxi make sure it has the "TAXI" sign on the windshield.

- prices, especially food and taxis (oddly enough - given the huge availablity) are unbelievably expensive. bring lots of money.

- avoid the beach peddlers, especially the rastaman who camps out on the beach near the hotel. aside from being a lazy twat, he's also a pusher (marijuana, coke, magic mushrooms ...etc).

- avoid the harbor area in st. johns on Thursday, that's when many of the big cruise ships come in and the area becomes a buzzing mass of tourists and local hawkers. In fact this whole area is rubbish. THere's nothing to see or do there unless you're desperate for a $2 T-shirt (which you can buy for $15).

- the island is very breezy all the time and there's very little humidity. it's real easy to sunburn. bring lots of sunscreen.

Things to definitely do:

- Even though there will be hundreds of people there, try to go to Shirley Heights for the sunset.

- The eco safari jeep tour around the island is a must . Go for the "classic" tour. Be picky about the tour guide: ask around!

- the catamaran round the island cruise is also very good.

- Go to Nelson's dockyard

- Go see Eric Clapton's villas.

- Go see Oprah's digs there.

January 2005 We were greatly disappointed. Our hearts sank at the reception: no-one to help with the luggage, no welcoming smile, an abrupt gesture to show the way to the lifts. One couple had to wait an hour for checking in!

The buildings are run-down; the roofs leak, with puddles forming in the bar area. The beach restaurant is OK, but how could it not be with such an outstanding beach and view?

The room was large, clean and the a/c worked well. The bathroom tiling was amateurish. Cleaning was well done, though. Clearly the hotel had no funds for towels: thin and worn out, they were whisked away while we were at breakfast and none were available until about five o'clock. Tough if you wanted a shower during the day!

What was laughable was the selection of restaurants and bars: for instance. if there was a karaoke due in the Club the foyer bar was denuded of all bottles and transported lock, stock and bottle there. Then it was moved back again for next lunchtime. The drinks were fine, though, especially the Chilean wines, dispensed with gay abandon to those on AI. Whisky is free, but you have to pay for water!

The food was limited and routine. There were Italian and Caribbean evenings and these made a change. You learnt which were the good dishes and avoided the tasteless ones. We drank wine to while away the delay.

The beach is lovely, but there is no snorkelling to speak of. The water sports are nominal, with a marked reluctance of Linford (?) , the man in charge, to rig any hotel equipment unless he was renting it to you as an outsider. Also, don't take up any offers of trips from him: they are extremely expensive and poor value. How does £60 for 1 1/2 hours of indifferent snorkelling grab you? The 9 tennis courts are going to rack and ruin and no-one is using them. There is no-one as animateur to arrange games and no notice-board so you can advertise for a partner.
I recommend renting a jeep to tour the island; at $50 a day, it is much better value than the trips. The roads are poor, so don't take a saloon. Dollar, Avis and Herz are all there. Also, as it is very quiet at the hotel in the evenings (lots of card-playing, then) you can drive into the capital. There are no local bars and restaurants near the complex.

Not to be negative: the location is exceptional although not properly exploited. The staff are generally very friendly, especially Heather, but often lacking nous. The management really needs a kick and the place needs investment. If it has been taken over by Hilton, so much the better. Don't go to the Royal Antiguan until they have had a chance to improve it.