First of all..DONT listen to all the bad reviews on here..i think these people went to another planet as my partner and i LOVED everything about jolly beach!
Let me start with the staff at jolly beach..amazing people..friendly, always helpful, great entertainment on the evenings..ann marie is reallly good!!
Beverly..a true gem! she helped my partner organize a romantic setting for me on the beach where he proposed..she went out of her way and truly is an amazing person. if you are thinking of getting married at jolly beach..DO IT! she will make ure day one to remember!! she really is an amazing wedding coordinator!!
Everytime we went to any of the restaurants the staff were always exceeding our expectations..so poilte, friendly and good humoured!!
The jolly beach has three speciality restaurants, Utsavs - indian, Lydias - seafood, and Bocciolos- italian. I had the pleasure of having bocciolos as my private meal on the beach and i have to say that is the nicest italian i have had.,.and the dessert..out of this world!!
Lydias was good too..definitely book the sunday brunch at lydias the atmosphere is lovely and the steel band is just spectacular!!
Utsavs is really good and has some excellent dishes and again the dessert is worth having too.
Hemispheres which is the buffet restaurant is also good. The caribbean night is good and it always has a good spread of different dishes.
There is a grill by the main pool and the burgers and jerk chicken are addictive!!
Hotel bars are also fab! really good cocktails and there are slushie machines by each bar which is really refreshing!!
The pools are fantastic and the man that sits by the pool most days does some amazing paintings woth getting one!
The beach..what can i say..jolly beach has an amazing stretch of white soft powdery sand and is possibly the nicest on the whole island. Dickenson bay where sandals is located is not that impressiveand is crowded with several hotels sharing it.
Jolly beach on the other hand is the only hotel based on the beach and we found we had privacy most days.
The vendors are harmless and leave you alone if you say a poilte thank you. Worth going on the jet skis!
Jolly beach also hires out kayaks, peddle boats and floaties free of charge. These are fun in the sea!!
We stayed in the junior suite which was really good..always clean and comfortable. We had two balconies, a living room area and the shower was really good. Had views of the sea from our balconies and watching the sunset while we got ready was always a nice touch!!
In terms of excursions i highly recommend going on the excellence cataraman to barbuda and also going around antigua on the same cataraman. The sunset cruise is also fun.The crew on both tiami and the excellence are extremely fun and i would definitely definitely say go to barbuda with them!
Barbuda is just paradise. The sand is pink and the sea is aqua blue and so clear! we loved it. We didnt go to the frigate bird sanctuary. This is optional. We chose to swim in the sea and was great fun! we also went to green island which is also nice. On the around antigua sailing trip we saw many lovely sights including the pillars of hercules which is breathtaking, nelsons dockyard, shirley heights, and eric claptons humble abode!!
Iwould say to anyone who is worried about the bad reviews on here IGNORE them..you will have a fantastic time!!
Final word of advice..antiguan rum punch is deadly but realllly goooood!! bring some home with u!!

I have just come back from a weeks holiday at Jolly Beach, whilst the beach is great the hotel is not and needs a lot of work.

The rooms are small and there is very little in them, no fridge, no tea/coffee making facilities, you do get a TV and a hairdryer, the bathroom is also tiny and only has a shower no bath. There is no sound insulation and you can hear everyone walking past outside your door this is bad late at night when people come back drunk from the bar.

The staff in the hotel are pleasant and friendly, the food is ok, the Italian restaurant was the best one, the Indian is not that good, there is very little choice on the menu. The main restaurant at breakfast is annoying in the amount of birds that are flying around inside, they have put a mesh to keep them out but there are so many holes in it they get in anyway, it wouldn't take much to repair it.

The beach and the sea are lovely the only problem was the local people on the beach constantly trying to sell you stuff even when you have already said your not interested they will still ask you every day, it's even worse if your female and there is no guy with you.

I would not recommend this hotel, it does not offer value for money, the hotel is old and a lot of it looks dated it badly need refurbishing, for not much more you could stay in a far better hotel.

OK, after reading all the reviews we knew Jolly Beach would be a bit dated but a word of advice....don't book the standard room as it really would only suit kids on "schoolies week" . We were really disappointed with our room (my wife wanted to leave on seeing it) and so we upgraded to a reasonable room at a reasonable price (no rooms here are luxury!).

The beach is glorious (we weren't hassled by sellers that much), the pool very good and the staff were all pleasant and helpful (special mention to Skip and Janice).

The food is typical school camp stuff with not a bad variety, but for a tropical island the fruit was very disappointing (didn't seem fresh) and the juice is watered down and not freshly squeezed.

We chose jolly Beach solely on location and on that score we did well. You really need a car to get around to restaurants etc in Antigua.

If you like drinking beer and wine from plastic cups, eating at the same restaurants every day and not having to move then this is the place for you. All inclusive suits some but it's like Ground Hog day to us.

In a 5 week holiday we stayed at far nicer places but we got what we paid for here, and next time we'll pay more!

The suites are actually the time share part of the Jolly Beach resort. The suites are very clean and spacious. However people with small children, the elderly and those with handicaps should be warned that the buildings are 3 stories with no elevators. Our room was on the top floor . We had a large dining/living area, small kitchen, a laundry room, 2 Bedrooms and 2 Bathrooms. The best part was the deck, it was huge and furnished with lounge chairs, a dining set and a jacuzzi. Our only disaapointment came from the Jolly Beach resort which facilities you will use during your stay. The pool, beach chairs etc all seem to be pretty run down. The hotel is in dire need of an update.We spent the majority of our time down a bit from the resort on the beach and only went to the pool a few times. The pool was very crowded and there was a lot of trash around it, as a result of people eating and drinking around the pool.

The suites are next to a marina, which has a grocery store and a few restaurants which is very convenient. We never ate at JBR so I cannot comment on the food there. We had a few meals in the Marina which were good (not great) and a fantastic meal at Sheer...definitely a wonderful place to go for a romantic meal. We found the people in Antigua to be some of the nicest that we have met in the Caribbean.