With all the mixed reviews about this resort, we were a little apprehensive and went with open minds. No need, it was totally amazing and we are looking forward to going to this wonderful resort again in the near future. My husband and I travelled with four of our children...ages 17, 16, 9 and 7. All of us had a truly magnificent time!!! This is a TRUE 4 star resort. We have travelled extensively in the Carribean, staying at 4 and one 5 star resorts....this resort was definitely far superior to the one 5 star we stayed at. Where to begin...there are so many wonderful things to say. The resort itself, although new, is beautiful...the rooms are divine...the food was good....the people are wonderful....the island is truly spectacular. The beach is rather small, but there are 365 beaches in Antigua so it's quite easy to spend the day at a beautiful beach. The resort is extremely clean, the verandah's are amazing, we accidently left a few valuables out on a few occassions and returned to find them exactly where they were left, that proves how safe the resort is. The resort is perfect for families, honeymooners and older travellers. It's quiet, kid friendly and, more importantly, TEEN friendly, it wasn't busy when we were there so we were always able to find 6 loungers together around the pool at any given time. Making dinner reservations and day trip arrangements were easy and painless. I recommend the deep sea fishing, BUT do note that the resort will buy the fish you catch from you at a fair market price and you ARE entitled to whatever fish you catch. Make arrangements with the restaurants at the resort and see if they will supply a cooler to bring back the fish. We caught roughly 200 pounds of fish and didn't realize this....the money we would've gotten from the resort for the fish would've paid for the fishing trip ($500 for six of us). I DO NOT recommend the circumvent boat tour (goes completely around the island). The snorkling was awful, the crew...not the best...I feel they were more out for their own enjoyment rather than the paying tourists....the food was awful and the boat travelled so far away from the island that we only got to see it from the distance. I felt like it was a total waste of the day and $700 usd. Make sure you take usd, we didn't and had a hard time exchanging our cdn dollars. The resort was selling the local currency for $2.60 usd and $2.00 cdn, even though the Canadian dollar was worth more than the usd. The banks offered a slightly better rate, but the lineups were long. The shopping in the duty free district was awesome!!! So much to choose from and something for every budget. There's a market there with all the souvenirs you'd want, just remember, BARTER, BARTER, BARTER. I got some great deals by spending the time dickering, yet still being polite;) The way to see the island is definitely by a rental jeep, as we did. We rented a jeep for a day and kept it for another as we enjoyed it so much. If you plan on doing day trips, rent a jeep for the day as opposed to taking one of their taxi's....we found it more for us to take a taxi (as they charge you per person, and each way) then to rent a jeep for an entire 24 hours. We took a taxi to go deep sea fishing (1/2 hour away) and it was $90 usd for the six of us...the rental of the jeep was only $55 per day!!!!(plus insurance and your one-time $17 fee for an Antiguan driver's permit). Do take note that they drive on the other side of the road....we had no problem as my husband was born and raised in Scotland and was used to it. We wish our tour rep told us about that. If you have any concerns or doubts about this resort, put them aside and GO ALREADY!!! You won't be sorry, it was the best family vacation we've ever had!!!

The Barrie's
Ontario, Canada

The Verandah hotel is beautiful - the grounds look outstanding, and our room was 'ocean view' with a brilliant view overlooking the beach. (Soundproofing needs work though if you are not too interested in your neighbour's goings on!) The reception staff were welcoming, and as with another reviewer, following our welcome drink, we were quickly whisked to our room in a buggy. I would point out that when the hotel is finally finished, some people, especially those with young children or limited mobility, will be dependent on the buggies to get to the main resort facilities unless they are capable of an up and downhill walk in the hot sunshine for around 5-10 minutes or so. With buggy frequency of 10-15 minutes, this can cause some frustration - one client who had waited at reception for some considerable time for a buggy (and been told constantly it was 'on its way') was indeed mentioning posting on trip advisor that this was just one example of 'where this hotel just keeps getting it wrong - don't they know all of this will turn up on trip advisor?'. This came to be the case often - guests were getting upset over the small things that could so easily be remedied with a little thought.
The food at the restaurants is of a very high standard, and will meet most tastes; however you have to ask if you need provisions to be made for special diets. Agree that you should take your own coffee if you like it a great deal. In the main, the staff in the restaurants were very helpful and friendly, refilling drinks often, although menus didn't change too frequently, especially Nicole's. I was upset at how rudely a male and female manager on different occasions spoke to staff - particularly Toyline, who was having a lovely chat with us got told off for 'speaking to the customers' - surely this is a key part of her job?
The water sports facilities were very good, although the operation is run rather unprofessionally, and sometimes it is difficult to find a member of staff. We loved the beach, and walking out to Devil's Bridge, which is spectacular. My eight year old son wanted to go daily to Long Beach next door, as the snorkelling there is very good, with some lovely reef fish to be spotted.
Where we were terribly upset was over the attitude of many of the members of staff, which ranged on a spectrum of indifferent, through to sullen or downright rude. Please be clear, some members of staff provided excellent service - the two Lionels can't be faulted, the same with the egg chef at breakfast, some of the waitresses and housekeeping staff etc, who would go out of their way to help. However, this accounted for around 30% of our experiences.
I want to disagree with the reviewer who put it down to the customer's attitude. We smiled and were always at lengths to be approachable and friendly, even attempting jokes or trying to chat, never demanding, it is not our way and we have never experienced these kinds of attitudes before - we always tell staff no hurry, not to worry, when you are ready etc etc. Yet we, and many other customers, were frequently blanked, or found ourselves in an entirely word-free encounter. Once at the beach bar next to reception, we asked for three drinks, the bar woman simply got them and gave them to us, saying nothing, despite my husband's attempts to chat. At the other beach bar, generally the more helpful and friendly staff took food orders, and also brought food and drinks to you after telling you to take a seat. However, on many occasions we would approach and ask to order food and simply be told 'over there' aggressively, where we then had to ask the chef for the order. If drinks were ordered and we didn't wait at the bar, the bar person would shout out to us to come and get them; them same with the food. I found it upsetting seeing so many customers being so friendly and charming towards staff and get absolutely nothing back - frankly I have never experienced anything like it. Some of the buggy drivers could barely bring themselves to acknowledge everyone's hellos, goodbyes and thank yous, while one was delighted to engage in chat with my autistic eight year old who was so excited by his holiday. Again on the buggies, checkout is at 12, so we asked reception if a buggy could come by the room to help with the luggage. 45 minutes later the buggy arrived, absolutely laden down with everyone that was checking out also at 12, plus all of their luggage, and we just got on, but the next rooms after ours could not get on board. There are at least three buggies in the resort - surely more than one could be dispatched daily at 12 to deal with the inevitable bottlenecks?
So all in all, it is a lovely hotel, but I guess I am somewhat sensitive, and my memories are tainted by the rudeness that I encountered, and which I found genuinely upsetting on occasions. If the hotel sorted out this inconsistency, then I think it would be excellent.

We booked this hotel at the last minute due to our planned cruise had cancelled because the ship was not finished being renovated. So we looked for something affordable and all-inclusive just to de-stress. We booked a water-view room and upon arrival they allowed us to upgrade to water-front for a nominal fee. The view was spectacular! The room was immaculate and very spacious. I agree with previous reviews about the position of the flatscreen TV, can't see it very well from the bed. The staff were always friendly and went out of their way to smile and be helpful whenever possible. I'm in the service industry so I know how it feels when a customer treats you as less than human, so I make it a point to be polite, say please and thankyou and smile when I'm on the other side. Anyway, the management must be doing something right because they were top-notch. The food was above average, the drinks were top shelf and well made and the speed of service was just right. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. There was a very bad rain storm while we were there and it washed away part of the larger beach. But they had it back to normal within 48 hrs. thanks to some very hardworking young men. The smaller beach, near reception was not very inviting. We spent about 30 minutes there as the water looked polluted. I hope that gets taken care of soon. We decided to take a walk to Long Bay Beach ,a five minute walk from the reception area. If you want a change of scenery, and are willing to spend a few bucks, you can use the facilities at the Long Bay Inn. It costs 10.00 per chair (the best beach chairs ever!) and if you have lunch there,they take the 10.00 ea. off your bill. Well worth it for the beach alone, but the lunch was fantastic. We're thinking of going back to stay there but the hotel part is closed until the fall. Back at the Verandah the spa was having a special of 50% off their services because of Mother's Day so we had a few massages and they were fantastic, too.
The Verandah is really a family resort, though and had there been alot of children there we would not have enjoyed it as much. So if you're looking for some couples only fun this would not be the place when school is out.
All in all we would highly recommend the Verandah.

My husband and I were in Antigua for 1 week. We stayed in St. Johns for 4 nights, and we stayed at the Verandah for our last 3 nights. We were extremely nervous about staying at the Verandah because of all the negative reviews it had receieved. Overall, however, we were extremely happy with our stay.

Firstly, the quality of the alcohol is incredible--they have top shelf liquor, and it is included with the all inclusive, as is champagne. The food was fairly good; there are a lot of choices at the buffets, but I do think they need to vary the menu--especially at Nicole's--a bit more. The food at Nicole's was good, but unless you are planning on drinking your body weight in alcoholic beverages, it won't be worth paying more money than what you're already paying to stay there once they begin charging for it. Having only been at the Verandah for 3 nights, I am not sure how often the menues change, but it isn't every night, or even every other night. The egg station at breakfast was delicious, and the stir-fry at lunch was very good. I do agree with other reviewers, however, who say that the coffee is terrible. If you love coffee, bring your own.

We did not like the beach very much, but we also did not really go in the water. It gets VERY hot on the beach, so we preferred to stay by the pool, which does get a nice breeze. Both the beach and pool area are extremely relaxing. The entire complex is beautiful--the landscaping is spectacular, and there are a varitey of plants everywhere.

The staff was simply incredible. It was very obvious that the management runs a tight ship--we no sooner would lay down our forks on our finished plates before they were whisked away. Refills on wine or whatever else we were drinking were offered every few minutes, and all of the staff, from bartenders to cooks to maids to maintenance, was extremely friendly. Many went out of their way to ask if we were enjoying our stay. I think I remember reading complaints that the staff was very slow, and that people would languish while waiting for dinner/refills. We simply saw no evidence of that whatsoever--dinner came in an appropriately timely manner, and as I noted earlier, drinks were refilled almost before we could drink them. I also think I remember reading that some people claimed to have been treated rudely. What goes everywhere else seems to go on Antigua--you get what you give. If you are nasty, rude, or demanding, you will not be treated well. If, however, you smile at people, and if you say 'please' and 'thank you', the staff will happily accommodate you.

Our room was the only part of our stay at the Verandah that we were not extremely happy with. It was fairly clean, but it already looked 'beat up'. The TV is in a very awkward spot, and it's very difficult to watch it if you are in your bed already. There is a ledge over the sinks in the bathroom that is very easy to wack your head on while washing your face. As much as we attempted, though, we did not create a flood! The biggest problem we had, however, was that the front door that leads outside had a big gap between it and the door-jam . It may have been paranoia on our part, but we stuffed the gap with plastic bags every night before we went to bed--we were taking no chance with having Carribean critters crawling in our room!

Overall, we were very happy with our stay at the Verandah. But, as other people have noted, it may not be as peaceful or relaxing once the hotel reaches maximum capacity.