Hotel Grounds we’re amazing. Food was very good

The bed was uncomfortable too hard. Slept on the sofa couch

lovely location

staff that didn’t smile getting orders wrong told them not to charge me for a trip that they didn’t tell me was cancelled and still charged me!

My sister and I took our mom for her 80th birthday to the Verandah Resort and Spa for a week. The resort is nicely laid out and has a nice beach with many non motorized sports equipment available. Our waterfront rooms were spacious and had a wonderful view. The staff were very lovely and there is a nice new coffee shop. We went to the spa 3 days during the week and the spa manager, Yuly, was very sweet. On my mom’s birthday she picked flowers, had a cake with a candle (from another hotel) and decorated her room with balloons. There are some shining stars there. Nian, the tour desk manager was also very nice. He lent my mom his personal beach chair to use while on the Calypso Cat boat trip (which we highly recommend). The cart drivers took us where we needed and Lemonte especially went out of his way to help people. The hotel manager, Chris, arranged for us to have very nice dinner at a sister hotel for my mom’s birthday after we made him aware of challenges our first days. We found the Buccaneer much better than the Beach Grill.

What we planned to be a relaxing week was full of unnecessary difficulties. The food was one major issue even with expectations for an all-inclusive. We didn’t fly to an island to have hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders and pizza. The wahoo, the “catch of the day” the first night was not edible. It was very difficult to get any local food and we ended up having to request food each day – just grilled fresh local fish, vegetables and potato. Vegetarian meals for lunch even though I’m far from a vegetarian since there were no options. It’s unclear how fresh the fish actually was. Even getting a coconut was an issue. No matter what we tried to do, it was a challenge. Our room was about ½ mile from the restaurants, pool, beach or anything and with an 80 year old we relied on the golf carts to get around. It was not uncommon to wait 15, 20 or even 30 minutes for a cart. At times only one was running at the entire resort and other times the desk didn’t seem to call the driver when called by us. My mother has a heart condition and should not have caffeine. Several days there was no decaf coffee and you can never get a straight answer as to when it will come in. There are no candles for birthday cakes you order and pay for, there is no afternoon tea or nightly entertainment as advertised (no fire breather, dancers – mostly a DJ), and the adult pool was being fixed our entire stay. I should have known this hotel management (especially John, the Elite Island Resorts sales director, who was extremely unprofessional and unhelpful) should not be trusted to appropriately run a hotel. After I booked this trip over 9 months in advance, they told me just a few months before the trip (when it was too late to rebook) that they could no longer put the 3 of us in one room and it would cost me several thousands of dollars more (even though I had in writing the agreement). It’s such a shame to spend so much money when I can honestly say that I left more stressed than when I arrived.

fantastic big rooms and beds in a lovely setting

the food was ok but the buffets could have been better

The resort overall was lovely. Two great beaches, several pools and individual villas set amongst a range of different plants and trees.

The food choices were limited, certainly the fewest choices of the all-inclusive resorts I have been to. Also, whilst the food was buffet style, it was served to you by the staff. This took way too much time as the resort didn't have enough staff to accommodate and also removed the flexibility to choose how much food you wanted. Different staff gave different amounts. Another mild annoyance was the waiting times at some of the service restaurants and the inability of some staff to remember what was actually ordered. This became a bit of a running joke.

Really, in hindsight, absolutely nothing.

There was very little to like about the property. irregular (but necessary) shuttle buses; 2.5 hours to get a covid test to get home; a dark and dingy ‘all inclusive’ restaurant; a beach with no real fresh sea.

Resort setting with 2 beaches and numerous pools great for kids was great. Rooms were nice and lovely views. Food in main buffet for breakfast and dinner was good. Majority of staff in restaurants and resort really friendly and helpful.

Were some staffing issues with reception staff not as customer facing as they could be and under resourcing beach grill & beach bar restaurants meant long wait times. Also as its family advertised it would be a good idea to offer more food options between 5.30 - 6.30pm as kids (under 5) are tired and struggle to get through to the 6.30 restaurant openings. Also initial issues having adjorning rooms/terraces with grandparents (which had been requested months in advance) were poorly handled from reception staff, with a lack of empathy. They did rectify this on day 2 after multiple requests, but for the money you pay & for what felt like a not unreasonable request made in advance this was an odd thing for them to be so unhelpful on. Also, to compound this when we arrived the room they had given us was not ready despite it being late in the day and well after the time it should have been available. Travelling with 2 kids under 5 who were tired further exacerbated this and reception staff were not sympathetic. Finally when we checked out and reception asked how our stay was, we mentioned we enjoyed it, but there were some avoidable issues and they had no interest in asking what they were. Hence the staffing issue comments above.

This is a decent hotel. Not spectacular, but good enough

We arrived a day after Antigua re-opened. The overall level of organisation at the time was a total shambles - no telephones in the room (important where the distance to reception is unwalkable with small children). Coat-hangers in rooms took two days to arrive. They were massively understaffed, and it took them days to catch up. The management were apologetic (and they tried... free jeep trip!), but the reality is that if you have 8 days, and half of it is whilst the resort is having a dress rehearsal, it's pretty frustrating. However - the ultimate verdict... my 6yo daughter is desperate to go back.

Beach. views from the room, cocktails , buffet meals

Lunch was poor and long waits, room needed refurbishing- sink plugs didn’t work for example No facilities for children to eat early.

Great rooms, excellent water sports and very friendly staff. Plus option of day pass to Pineapple Beach Club on beautiful Long Bay Beach.

The fact that 3 of the 4 dinner restaurants were enclosed air conditioned boxes. Would have preferred another open air dining option. Perhaps the food could have been a little better too.

Facilities

Queues for food were long at times, the beach grill restaurant always had very long waits- often 90 mins

Love staying at this resort! My 9th visit in as many years

Food was great, could've done with a bit more diversity in the dishes themselves, but the quality was really good. The amenities were really clean and updated, from the watersports equipment, to the minigolf and table tennis. The terrain is a bit hilly throughout the resort, so if you're of the older persuasion, you might want to wait for the buggies to carry you around and get a room closer to the Main Bar/Pool area. That's where 80% of the action is.

The outlets are all US. Make sure you get the appropriate adapter, as the hotel doesn't provide any and the store sells an overpriced USD 18 monstrosity. The PinkPanther Safari tour is quite on the pricey side, you might be better off renting a car. Finally, some of the staff were occasionally too chilled for my liking, but maybe that's just me coming from a highly-pressured environment.