We have just returned from a week holiday at Verandah. The hotel is a new all-inclusive at the Atlantic east coast of Antigua.

If you are looking for a dream beach destination that's Antigua is famous for, do not chose this hotel. The hotel is nice, the staff are friendly and make you feel looked after, however if you are looking for a beach holiday, my recommendation is to chose a hotel at the west coast (five islands or dickenson beach).

The hotel is located at the Atlantic east coast of Antigua, open to the westerly trade winds and therefore there is a constant wind blowing from the sea. So much so, it can be very uncomfortable to sit around the pool and the bar area during the day and especially at night.

The rooms are very specious, massive bathrooms (although our bathroom leaked terribly and we had to use towels to keep ourselves from slipping).

The food is an americanised international cuisine, it is ok, but nothing special.

The drinks are good, free champagne included. Be specific about the brand you wish to drink and you will be provided plenty of what you want.

There isn't really a beach at the hotel, there is a little cove; don't be mislead from the pictures you see on the net. The cove is well protected for the watersports, plenty of activities are free for the interested. But not enough to satisfy the beach lovers.

Make sure to discover Long Bay, a walking distance beach popular with the locals. The beach is crowded during holidays. If you don't mind paying extra for sun chairs or for drinks/lunch; you can use the facilities of the Long Beach hotel; very good.

If you would like to explore the beaches at the other end of the island, well a return trip will cost you around USD82 for the taxi only. This is apart from the drinks and lunch and other expenses. Some hotels provide a charge for the daily usage for their facilities, but the beach access is free as all beaches are public on the island.

Overall, the hotel is good for families with kids. Not suitable for beach lovers, couples and honeymoons.

We've just returned from 10 days at the Verandah and I would recommend it to anyone. The staff are among the friendliest you'll meet anywhere, the setting is beautiful and the rooms are new, clean and spacious. The food is good, especially in Nicoles, the fine dining restaurant and the omelettes at breakfast are heavenly. At lunch, let the chef make you stir-fry while you watch.
I love that the reception is away from the main hub of the resort. It means that you're away from the road and completely detached from the outside world. A lot of people seem to have complained about the hills. These must be very lazy people. If you're not happy with walking up to the beach and bar near reception, get on the buggy, they run all the time and it takes about 60 secs.!! I think each baclony has a fabulous view - the 2 balconies I tried certainly did - that's why they've built them on stilts, so that everyone can see the sea.
I need to mention the staff again - they're wonderful. They learned our names and by the end of our stay had remembered our room number and put the Susies sauce already out for us. It's these little touches that make this such a special place, but remember, you get out what you put in - you have to be friendly too!
One thing - it gets a little breezy in the evening.
Oh, and do people really need somewhere to get online during their vacation? If you do, there is a PC for use after 9pm in Guest Services which was, by the way, staffed from 8.30am until 11.30pm.
If you're thinking of booking the Verandah, don't hesitate, book it now because it's going to become one of the Premium resorts in Antigua. You're never aware of the building that's going on, but those guys work so hard, and all through the midday sun, to make this a great place.

In summary, it's really difficult to find fault with the Verandah; people do, because they want to - my room was never hot and my bathroom never stuffy. Hello, it's the Carribean.

Just go!

We originally found this resort through an October New York Times travel article ([--])

We went ahead and booked, but after subsequently reading many of the reviews on TripAdvisor, our expectations were pretty low: noisy rooms, construction, nightmare stairs to the beach, long walk or golf cart ride to reception, and boring restaurants.

As a result of these low expectations (and possibly because we are a little less whiny than many of the negative posters on Trip Advisor), we had a really good experience.

We travelled with our 8 and 3 year old daughters, and found the service for the most part was good with a few outstandingly friendly and helpful people (Lionel, Barbara, Qwame), and only a couple of less than friendly people.

The resort is small and intimate and when we were there (Mar. 16 - 23) seemed relatively empty for the first few days and still not very full when they were near capacity (120 rooms) at the end. The result is that you get to see and in some cases know a number of the other guests because you are in the same restaurant/beach/pool much of the time. I think that I might have viewed this as a negative before going, but after being there and seeing so many nice families, and getting to know several, I feel this is a positive.

The rooms are clean and adequate in size with nice balconies and the bathrooms are nice and spacious. Neighbours' noise could be a problem, but if you use the air conditioner, it provides plenty of white noise, to cancel that out. The one time the next-door TV was too loud, they had fallen asleep with it on. A quick call to reception sorted it out.

We spent most of the time at the beach, which is small but ideal to give smaller kids a place to run around without having to be watched every second. The water is shallow enough that our 3 year old could walk out 50 ft. and still have her head above water. The water sports and provided sand toys are excellent. The pool was cold but refreshing, but lacked shade or "personality" and as a result was often pretty empty. The adults only pool opening in April is much smaller, but looks pretty nice.

The 2 new tennis courts are great, though there was some confusion around booking, which is required. The walk to the courts serves as a good warm-up or you can easily grab a golf cart. The gym is pretty good with basic Cybex cardio and weight systems.

The main restaurant (Sea Breeze) is really pretty good - particularly on buffet nights. On a la carte night, it still isn't bad, but I think the buffet was the best. The "premium" restaurant, Nicole's, has a nice ambiance, but the food was only mediocre. The selection of food at the buffet was good and the a la carte was adequate. The beach burger shack had good food, but pretty poor service, but we still went there 3 times. Remember this place is a 3 star all inclusive resort in a 3rd world country, so don't expect the fine dining you might get in New York.

The kid's club is great with lots of space to play and cool off from the heat of the day. Open from 9am to 10pm, you can even feed the kids early (starting at 6pm) and drop them in so you can have dinner alone with your spouse.

We rented a car for a day (basically US$100 all included) and drove around the island. Definitely don't go to St. Johns on a Tuesday or Thursday when several cruise ships come in - it's a scary scene. We enjoyed English Bay, Nelson's Dockyard and Shirley Heights. We met others who really enjoyed Half Moon Bay beach with its big waves. Also, we heard that Long Bay beach, just a short walk from the resort entrance, is really nice. It is certainly worth trying to get out and see something outside the resort.

We have previously spent March break at Iberostar Paraiso Lindo in the Mayan Riviera (twice) and Beaches Turks and Caicos. The Verandah is on a much smaller scale than those, but much more intimate and worked better for us with kids our age. I would really recommend it for families with smaller children.

We did not book to stay at the Verandah but were given the opportunity to stay there due to an overbooking.
I have read the comments already made and can report on what we found during the past 10 days.
In no particular order.
There are now 2 whites 2 reds and champagne offered in the main restaurants.
The information centre was open until 11 pm
The management team took a genuine interest in any comments made and documented them
I could not fault any member of staff who seemed genuinely please to see you or be of assistance.
Yes there are lots of hills and the climb from the beach to the pool could be called heart attack hill, but my fitness improved.
The food was of a high standard, well presented and good choices.
The spa was very good.
The rooms are well furnished and presented and kept very clean.
The Kids Club and play area were excellent I would be more than happy to leave my grandchildren there.
The adult pool area is now open.
Yes there is some building work going on, and there are plans for a further restaurant and deli down by reception, and some additional timeshare buidlings but I am sure it will be worth it in the end.