Stayed for the day while waiting for night flight, very tired, in need of investment; although staff are helpful. Major problem with Mosquitos due to stagnant lake alongside resort

This resort is certainly idiosyncratic!

We went for 14 nights in late November/Early December 2011 with Virgin (who were excellent). Weather was 1st 3 days showery another couple of days of very heavy tropical storm (fun in a bizarre way but probably not if for much longer), otherwise mainly sunny with occasional, appreciated, fluffy clouds

When I first got there I didn’t think that I was going to like it. It was much quieter than any other all-inclusive resort we have been to in the Caribbean. There is also less to do. This took a little adjusting to. But after a short while you realise that this is a major part of where Hawksbill’s charm lies.

We had one of the Garden Bungalows (the cheapest). There is no air conditioning but this was not a major problem as the ceiling fan was very efficient. Incidentally, there is a small in room safe though it doesn’t say so on the web site. These units are very close to the sea so if you think that the sea will keep you awake book something else. Personally I found the sea noise very soporific and slept better than I do at home! Similarly the frog noises (ribits?) were great to listen to as you drifted off after a few cocktails!

The resort has three major plusses in my book;

1) The location. It just epitomises the Caribbean. Just like the very best brochure pictures. 4 beaches, each with their own character, clear but paradoxically very blue warm sea. Just a short drive from St Johns though. Do visit St Johns, preferably when there are a few cruise ships in if only to remind yourself how fortunate you are to be at Hawksbill and not one of the herded masses of cruise passengers
2) The food and drink. Top marks on both counts. The food is of very high quality with a mixture of local and international cuisine. There is not as great a variety as we have had at a Riu or an Iberostar but then, the resort is smaller. What there is, is of a better quality. The mixture of buffet/ grill and waiter/waitress service at the Sea grapes at lunchtime is great. Drinks are whatever you want basically so long as you don’t want a bottle of wine (or water). The bar staff take a real pride in their cocktail skills. A small point but one we appreciated was that the tap water is OK to drink so no need to fuss around with bottled water
3) The staff. They are honestly the friendliest, most efficient and most approachable we have come across anywhere. They have their own speed, which is certainly not rapid, but hey you are on holiday (vacation) so as Bob Marley would say "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.” All the staff will say hello to you. They enjoy getting to know you personally. Its not like in some of the resorts where they are clearly seeking tips, so get to know the staff and it will give them pleasure and considerably enhance your holiday.

Nowhere is perfect. The two main minuses are, in my opinion;

1) The standard of repair and maintenance. Elsewhere you will have read that standards are slipping, possibly because of problems with securing the renewal of the lease. We haven’t been before so don’t know if there is a slippage but it sounds right as standards are not good. Initially we had no water to our unit (swiftly sorted by the ever helpful staff), then we had a flood when the water intake pipe broke (we were lucky as apart from shoes we had nothing at floor level). The standard of basic cleanliness of the unit was adequate but no better. I am NOT criticising the work here of the maids who did good jobs (especially after our flood!). Its just that the basic infra structure is clearly basically old. The furniture and fittings were all pretty ancient and one of the beds was (literally!) on its last legs
2) The bugs. OMG the bloody bugs! We had read on here of the problems with mosquitoes and sand flies and had half filled our luggage with preventative sprays and lotions and also tablets and ointments to treat any bites. We were eaten alive. We really did do everything we could. The resort is doing all it can. It sprayed the grounds. It supplied those little plugs in things with the blue tablets, which you put on over night in your room. Nothing works. For this reason, and for this reason only we would not return. If this was sorted we would be back like a shot but it really is very debilitating when you are picking up on a daily basis up to ten or more new bites. I honestly don’t know what the solution is for the resort and feel sorry for them. I am sure that if there was a straightforward one they would have implemented it
3) The airport departure lounge. Not the worst I’ve seen (Sofia, Bulgaria step up for your award), not even the worst in the Caribbean (Dominican Republic, you really SHOULD have spent some of the money which went on fancy thatch roofs on a basic passenger information system), but not great either. TIP go upstairs which is less crowded (well it could hardly be MORE crowded) and where you can actually hear the announcements

Recommended

1) Sylvia’s Garden tour. Sylvia’s day job is Dining Room Supervisor. Once (I think) a week she does a tour of the gorgeous grounds and is exceptionally knowledgeable about the local plants. You will learn about Ackee (don’t eat until it opens naturally or you will die!), Neam (branches will allegedly keep the mozzies away – sorry Sylvia it didn’t work for us!), Antiguan firecracker (squeeze the blossoms and they pop), bougainvillea, banana, flamboyant tree, sand box tree, sea grape, sugar apple, tamarind tree, turpentine trees Almonds and lots of others. Also a lot about real life on the island
2) Mille’s mixology. How she mixes her cocktails, what goes in, what the variants are, why the rum bottles might have the wrong labels on and more. Lots of samples! You probably won’t remember it all at the end, but for obvious reasons you probably won’t care either!!
3) Do the round the island boat trip. The usual stuff, beach bbq, snorkelling, plenty of drink. But with a small island like Antigua, you will go ALL the way around and see things from a different angle
4) Jeep Safari tour of the island. Our guide was great and didn’t stick to the touristy bits. E.g. showing us what they call their ghetto (pretty up market as ghettos go actually)
5) Shuttle into the capital St Johns bookable via Reception. Probably not the cheapest way to do it but totally hassle free

Look out for

1) The herd of goats, which invade the property regularly. The only time we saw a member of staff hurry was when the Security guy was chasing the goats
2) Rainbows. Beautiful ones. Possibly only because we had a few showery days
3) Lovely locals with lovely smiles. Count the smiles; you will lose count before you are out of the airport!

So in summary highly recommended unless you are susceptible to mosquito or Sand Fly bights, which very very sadly will do more than just take the edge off of your holiday in this paradise

Have just returned from a 10 night stay, to keep this brief I would like to say the staff are
lovely, friendly and very helpful. The 1st night we were put in a room on the main block,
the hotel called this a superior room, it was very basic and not at all upto par, broken wardrobe
doors, bathroom door did not shut, completely bowed, hairdryer didn't work, and the sink was filthy, and a very inadequate fan.
Saw the rep, we ended up in a beach front air conditioned room, much better. I would like to make future guests aware, to take mosquito spray, they bit all the guests night after night, only saw the hotel spray once. We left covered in bites. As one guest said "just one night more
of drink and torture". Also dinner was awful had to fill up with breakfast and lunch. The evening
meal was so below standard.

Just returned beginning of December 2011.Rumours of a take over.People we spoke to who have been in the past and there were many of them,say the standards have dropped.Dont seem to be spending much on maintenance.If you want a good nights sleep,try to avoid the rooms that back on to the Forest area,we had room 81 that faced the forest.It was so hot with no breeze and the frogs at night were a mere!!!! like hundreds of alarm clocks going off all night.In that room the fans were useless,i held tissue under them and it didn't move.Sleep was awfull till we moved to a A C room on the sea front.Food was ok,but the birds made it a bit unhygienic,by flying on to your table and eating your food when you turn your back.Ants in the bread at breakfast.
The place is a bit cut off and they dont allow the local buses down to the property,they charge a dollar into st Johns and a taxi shuttle is 16 dollars,no wonder they dont allow buses,rip off comes to mind lol.But we had a nice time,would i go back? No is the answer.