jaklpd

Has anyone stayed at Galley Bay (Antigua)? Considering this location for our honeymoon.

qwovadis

Congrats!

seen not stayed nice though overall island not as pretty.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...sort-St_John_s...

Prefer www.caneelbay.com though

more upscale romantic

St John USVI lots prettier better diving.·

Happy Hunting,

RoamsAround

Yes, we enjoyed our stay there but much prefer other islands we have visited to Antigua. We found the resort offered good value for the money.

So it all boils down to what YOU are seeking in a resort and an island experience.

lustfulwanderer

We just got back from a cruise having spent a day at Antiqua. We really enjoyed our time at Long Bay which has a resort there although I don't know the name. It's 1/2 hour away from St. John's which can make a difference when the cruise ships come into port. It has a lovely beach and terrific snorkeling.

sharona

My husband and I vacationed there in October. We had an okay time but we wouldn't go back. The accommodations were nice. Room was large and the bathroom was huge (although no a/c in the bathroom). The water was very rough and almost impossible to get in when we were there. I don't know if that's normal but there were a lot of similar comments on Trip Advisor so I have to think that rough water is often an issue at this resort. We found the food to be very hit or miss and, unfortunately, mostly miss. I also didn't appreciate having to pay additional for the more upscale restaurant which was the only place you could get consistently good (not great) food.

A major issue for me was that there were no beach umbrellas. I had melanoma a few years ago and I have to be very careful in the sun. I can usually manage by staying under an umbrella, using high-quality, high SPF sunscreen, and wearing SPF clothing. But it was really hot while we were there and I can assure you it was no fun trying to sit on the beach clothed from head to foot in SPF clothing. There are palm trees at the back of the beach but in order to sit in the somewhat sporadic shade you couldn't even see the water plus the bugs were pretty bad sitting under the trees. There were palapas around the swimming pool but we didn't use the pool. Those umbrellas were always taken.

I'll give you more info if you want but it'll probably be mostly nitpicky things that may not matter to you (thin beach towels that you had to go to the front desk for, etc.) We had such a poor experience our first night that my husband wanted to move to Jumby Bay. I convinced him to give it another day and things did get better but for those prices, and the Trip Advisor reviews, I expected better.

Just as an fyi, we talked to a lot of people, particularly honeymooners, who really loved it there. Maybe Galley Bay gave them different food!

This was our second visit to Antigua so we didn't do a lot of tourist activities that we did on our first visit. We prefer a lot of other islands so we probably won't be going back to Antigua anytime soon.

jaklpd

Thanks to everyone for their feedback. The reviews on tripadvisor seemed pretty good - some issues (bugs, inconsistent food and service at times) but overall seemed good.

Sharona - Had not thought about umbrellas . . . I suffer from melasma and always have a hat on while at the pool or beach.

allisonjames

Galley Bay is our all-time favorite resort and we've been to quite a few. We've been twice and our experience was quite different from Sharona's. It's a very romantic, lush, tropical, peaceful place with a great "Robinson Crusoe, getaway from it all feel". The beach is never crowded, and if you stay in the rooms on the Gauguin restaurant side, they all have their own palapas, I think Sharona must have stayed on the other end which do not have their own palapas, which as I a fair-skinned person I agree can be a real problem! I don't think they food is excellent, but I think it is good and we didn't have a bad meal. If you go on the Antigua forum on tripadvisor.com and do a search, you will find lots more of my comments and details, screen name allyjamie. There are lots of good sales -- at least 30% off, don't pay rack rate! Oh yes, and I am the kind of person that bugs love and never had a problem, but we went in March and in April so it might depend on time of year.

jaklpd

Reading some recent not great reviews of Galley Bay. Mentions of rough seas so bad the vistors could not go in the water.

We are looking to go June 20 - 27th - what were the experiences during the Summer months. Getting nervous that we are making the wrong choice.

If not Galley Bay, what other small AI options are their in the same range as Galley Bay? Not looking to spened more than $7K for the week.

Doverjoe

My wife and I have stayed at Galley Bay several times. No
glitz just quiet luxury in a lovely setting. Great staff,
great food. We were once there duing a very rare and
unseasonable storm (outside Hurrican season). It struck
in the late evening. By 9:00AM every palm frond and leaf,
every path, dock and porch were neat as a pin.

It's a great place.

cbgirlie

My husband and I stayed at Galley Bay for our honeymoon the first week of July 2009. We loved it for an all inclusive resort. We aren't usually all inclusive people, we would rather explore and eat somewhere new every night. One of our biggest worries was that we would be bored with the food. We weren't. We really enjoyed our time there, the food, the drinks, and even the activities area were great. It was great that there weren't "group activities" because that isn't our thing, but we loved that you could borrow snorkels and explore the waters by Armani's house right next door. I would not describe the water as rough at the time of year we went. The staff was wonderful, our room was beautiful, and the team was very helpful with arrangements for things outside the resort. We enjoyed it so much that we have friends going there this May on their honeymoon.

One of our favorite days:
The resort has taxi's available and you can rent one for a day. We did this and loved the day. We ate at a local roadside stand, we picked up some beers and then went to multiple beaches through out the island. It was a wonderful way to explore.

allisonjames

Hi, the people who wrote the recent reviews seemed like they hadn't done much research as it's pretty well known that the sea at GB can be rough. That being said, if you want to spend a lot of time in the sea swimming and lying on a raft then GB probably is not for you. The seas tend to be rougher there in the winter, and reading recent reviews of other resorts we have been to (Nisbet Plantation on Nevis for example and The Crane on Barbados) it seems like this winter in particular the seas have been rough and many beaches have eroded. (Last March in Barbados for example Crane beach, which is very wide, was unusually narrow as was Mullins Beach, but Crane Beach was back to its full glory by the summer. We have been to GB in both March and April -- in March we had a mix of rough/calm days, in April it was calm enough for a catamaran to pick us up right from the beach. Your experience in June will probably be significantly different than this winter but if you want to be guaranteed to be able to spend a lot of time in the ocean you might choose another resort.

camirami

My husband and I just got back from our HM at Galley bay. (First week of january) We loved it! We were a bit skeptical at first..because a lot of people had written negative comments about the service there...we found this to be the opposite. Everyone was very pleasant and accomodating to anything. Example.. they don;t have room service, but my husband wanted to watch the football game in the room, and they were able to accomodate us and deliver lunch to our room. We didn't have any problems with the water, but we were also comming from El Salvador beaches with big waves... so we're used to rougher waters. Just a heads up...this palce has pretty much no night life. They have bands playing evey night..but it's pretty mellow. This worked out great for us...we just wanted a place to chill and relax.
I would deffinately do their private lunch at a beach...I beleive it called Pinchin Beach lunch.... they drop up you off on a beach that is not accessible by road, only by water (so therefore it's msotly desserted) and have a lunch, beer, and chapagne for you. They come and pick you up after 3 hours...totaly worth it to have a beach just for teh two of you for several hours.
We stayed at the Gaugin Cottages...they were pretty nice, just be warned... the breeze way between the two huts (bedroom and bathroom) is not compeltely covered. The back opens up to a communal garden. We never saw anyoen there, but just a bit unexpected.
As for the food, we never got bored with teh food either. We tried Ismays, the extra cahrge restaurant. It was good, but not exceptional for the extra money. Would still recomend it though.
I hope this helps!