TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

My Mom and I returned from Galley Bay Resort on April 1st, 2024. We went there to celebrate her 85th birthday. It is now April 27th and we are still missing it all. From the moment we arrived until the moment we sadly departed, we experienced pure peacefulness, indulgence, beauty and a customer care approach like no other. I am happy to write this glowing review of our experience there for others to learn about Galley Bay Resort and to express our gratitude to the staff who made our stay extra special. We had great expectations of this resort, and they were all greatly exceeded. Arrival at Galley Bay: We hired a taxi from the Antigua airport. It is a short 25-30 minute drive to Galley Bay and approx. $30 US plus tip for the taxi. It was very interesting to see the different views along the way of life and landscape in Antigua. Our arrival at Galley Bay was absolutely stunning, as the lobby itself is open air and very welcoming. Colina, the front office supervisor and her staff made our check in experience very special. The welcome drink of rum punch was excellent and a great “kick” off to our time there! We would like to personally thank Colina for all her help before and during our stay at Galley Bay. She is excellent at her job, a true professional, she is caring and fun and we so appreciated all of her help. Shuttle drivers: Taking the shuttle from the front desk area to Galley Bay Resort itself makes you feel like you are going to a secluded Island paradise. I will leave the rest of the experience description for your first arrival, as it is very special. When I first saw the beach from the entrance near the Tee Pee bar, I was actually brought to tears by the beauty and feeling of peace and serenity there. It is a feeling I will never forget. Mom and I would like to send a HUGE thank you to Kenya, Alfred and Richard, our shuttle drivers throughout the week. We so appreciated their extra care, fun loving ways and prompt service whenever we needed them. These guys are true professionals, polite and kind, and we were very sad to say goodbye to them. Our Premium Beachfront Suite: Upon entering our suite, we were speechless. It was absolutely beautiful, pristine, welcoming and so so much more than we could have imagined it would be. From our patio we could step right onto the sand and steps away were our lounge chairs, umbrella and front row view of the beautiful beach and ocean. The room amenities were all that we could have ever needed. Linens, towels, lotions, soap, etc. were lovely. We so enjoyed hearing the ocean waves from our room as we went to sleep each night. Beach: The beach is simply beautiful! The color of the water when the sun is shining is the most perfect turquoise. I enjoyed my walks from end to end throughout the day. Be sure to watch for the flags with regards to the waves. There were calm days and some were more waves and breezy. We saw some spectacular sunsets while we were the too! Housekeeping: Veneshia was our amazing housekeeper during our stay. She took such great care of making sure our room was spotless and beautiful each day. Thank you so much Veneshia for your hard work to make us feel so pampered and well taken care of. Special mention and thanks also to Michael for keeping our fridge stocked with our favourite beverages of water, sodas and wine. You were very kind to us, and we always enjoyed talking with you. Food and Beverage Services: We were so impressed that Sadi (Senior F&B Manager), Stuart (Food and Beverage Manager) and Nathaniel (Head Chef) took the time to speak with us to ensure that all our needs/expectations were being met and that we were enjoying ourselves. This is outstanding service to have experienced from a management level. Breakfast: Breakfast was served in Sea Grape Restaurant each morning. So many delicious menu choices and a buffet of fresh fruits, pastries, cereals, and so much more! Our servers of special mention: Vaughn, Samantha, Dasani and Jahquan. These servers stood out to us with the extra care, attention and conversations that they had with us to make us feel so special there. Lunch: We had our lunches mainly at the Barefoot Grill which was delicious! Always a fresh salad or fish, burgers and fries to choose from. We also had some of our lunches at our lounge chairs by our room, after I went to the coffee shop (by the gift shop) for fresh sandwiches and cookies which were delicious too! The Beach BBQ on Thursday at Sea Grape is not to be missed! Dinner: We ate most of our dinners at the Sea Grape, which was our preference. The wait staff there are excellent and food always delicious. Special mention to Chesley, our sommelier. He became one of our favorite staff members with his dazzling smile, humor, kindness and attention to us each evening. We spent 2 evenings having dinner at Gauguin restaurant at the far end of the beach. Hint: Be sure to get up at 7am to make your reservation for the next evening. It is definitely worth it! This is a special dining experience with individual palapa covered tables on the beach. Thank you to Anita and Pearl who gave us wonderful service on our evenings there. Tee Pee Bar: Each day there is a different cocktail of the day which were fantastic and tropical. It is a lovely place to have a drink through the day, a pre-dinner cocktail or nightcap. Our fav was rum cream on ice. Yummm! Our special mention from this bar goes to Caryl who always had a smile, a hug and took the time to talk with my Mom each time we walked by. Beach bar service: It was wonderful to have waiters come by our loungers on the beach throughout the day to take our drink orders. Aphique was our guy! He was amazing and made delicious drinks for us. He went out of his way to always make us feel special and had a spectacular smile too! Entertainment: Our absolute favorite band during our stay was Flash Drive on Tuesday evening. This band was fantastic and sang all the old hits and had us all on our feet and singing away. We wished we could have seen them again. Landscaping: This was my Mom’s favorite part of each day to enjoy, as we walked along the pathways. The lush trees, shrubs and flowers were beautiful. The grounds are stunning to say the least. We spoke with Kemar, one of the gardeners and he was happy to talk with us about the types of flowers, shrubs, and trees. He was very proud of his work, and we were happy to have had this time talking with him. Management: The management/leadership team of Galley Bay are truly outstanding. We had the opportunity to meet several of these people and were so impressed by their presence around the resort, their approachability, kindness and professionalism. Our special thanks to Antoine, Derrick, and Carol. You all left a lasting impression on us with your care and attention, as well as the very evident results of your leadership throughout the resort. Summary: The Antiguan people touched our hearts. They are kind, happy, hardworking people that are very proud of their country. We learned that Happy Birthday there is “Happy Earth strong. More life, more blessings and more prosperity.” Galley Bay Resort provides just the right amount of formality and pure relaxation. A unique balance for a tropical island all-inclusive experience. We met and became friends with several returning guests during our stay and our plan is to return next year to this incredible slice of paradise. Many many thanks and see you soon Galley Bay! ?

Loved it! Room was exceptional, service was awesome and the food was very good and presented well. Beaches were very clean and beautiful. Scuba, sailing, snorkeling and hanging on the beach was epic! Definitely Galley Bay is a must destination if your looking for a proper tropical experience! There was however a couple of areas where this resort needs immediate attention. One was the bar selection and the lack of experience by the bar tenders not knowing how to make the most simple run of the mill cocktails. I had a couple of good ones but most were very substandard. The bartenders would constantly bring you a different cocktail than ordered instead of admitting they have no idea what they are doing. Mai Tai’s with no dark rum floater or fruit garnish of any kind, White Russians with no milk or cream, watered down banana daiquiri’s with no banana and most tropical drinks with zero fruit garnish. Fake corn syrup filled flavored mixers when it should be real fruit mixers. Most liquors were bottom shelf no name brands and only some were standard name brands. Bar selection was less than minimal. A mixologist is in desperate need at this resort and proper training by the mixologist to school the rest. They also need to completely revamp their bar selections if they want a rating to match the room and resort accommodations. Another area is the “attitude” of some of the staff specifically the staff at the restaurants and bars. Most were awesome but some were less than friendly to say the least and didn’t respond to constant respectful greetings and gratitudes. When you greet them in a kind and friendly fashion you would expect one in return. The vast majority did reciprocate but a small few did not. Those few need to be reminded that without a smile and friendly interaction a four or a five star dish can be inedible……..

We have just had an amazing two week holiday in Antigua. We love Antigua and it is now one of our favourite Caribbean islands. We are lucky enough to be able to travel a lot and have visited 8 of the islands, staying at lots of different resorts, at various price points over 20 or so Caribbean holidays. We chose Galley Bay because of word of mouth feedback we had from people we had met at other resorts and the high praise it receives on the various review sites and Facebook groups, most of which is from repeat visitors. We felt something must have changed at Galley Bay as our experience was not the luxury we were expecting! The resort itself is beautiful with well laid out maintained gardens and a fantastic beach. Our room was right on the beach, which we loved but it was basic, quite dated and lacked any character. The sea can be rough here, but we were very lucky and were able to swim in the sea every day. The beach team change the flags to red when they leave at 1630 each day, no matter what the conditions are, and I think this might compound the issue that some people have with the beach. We visited many other beaches on the island and loved them all for different reasons, but Galley Bay is a lovely beach. We also liked the pool area, which was nicely laid out and always clean. What let the resort down for us was some of the hotel team alongside the food/drinks. The staff in general do not seem happy, barely smile and mostly offer lazy, slow service due to poor management in our opinion. Even the supervisors don’t seem to know what they are doing although the ignorant way they are treated by some guests might play a part - for example, one guest felt it was appropriate to hold his glass up in the restaurant and shout ‘waitress’ when demanding a refill! Sadly this seemed to be the norm rather than an exception. The food was poor to average at best in the included restaurants. Ismays (the additionally charged restaurant) was just about good, although the service on our first visit, when they completely forgot about our starters was not great and we also felt the service impersonal. The supervisor seemed to read from a script repeated to every guest and didn’t recognise us from one day to the next! It is certainly not a high end venue, but we found ourselves paying the money a few nights purely for the better food and wine (they had a pinot noir that was a bit better than the just about drinkable, wine offered in the other restaurants). We loved the track around the lake for running in the mornings before it got too hot and the evening entertainment was also good albeit a little repetitive(every act seemed to have the same play list) It was great there was no problem with mosquitoes at this resort, and after a few days we weren’t even using repellent, which was nice. However, in our second week there was a huge problem with flies in the main restaurant and barefoot grill, making breakfast and lunch unpleasant. Breakfast was unusually drawn out although nice to be offered an al a carte menu, with plenty of choice it could be over 20 minutes for someone to take your order and a further 20+ minutes for you to get it. One morning I tried to short cut this by telling the lady that showed us to our table and gave us the menu that we already knew what we wanted and asking if she could take our order, however we were told this was not possible as it is not the way they do it! I understand businesses need to have a process but insisting we sit for 20mins with a laminated menu in front of us did not feel customer centric. In general although the salad and vegetables were fairly good, the ingredients the chefs have to work with seem to be poor quality, which must be frustrating for them. The best meals and drinks we had in Antigua were all off resort. Food and drink are a big part of our holiday enjoyment and would probably be the main reason we would not visit Galley Bay again. One last frustration was having to pay $80 to keep our room for 3 extra hours on our last day - we have never had this at any other Caribbean resort, and when added to their nightly resort fee, it leaves you feeling that they aren’t being completely open with their pricing. At this price point, there are better options in the Caribbean.

If you want to experience customer service at its best, then go here. Off or on the complex the people of Antigua our simply the best! The hotel was beautiful with views of the ocean. The food plentiful and of a great selection. The rum shack a hidden treasure. Highly recommended!!

This review was a tough one, as it took almost two weeks to compose. I totally agree with Wine Wally's last review in every way. I could almost cut and paste his review. Galley Bay is a three-and-a-half-star hotel. It needs work and, more importantly, new management. The average age, which does not matter to me, was probably in the mid- to late sixties. The non-beach grounds were beautiful and well-kept. The weather was excellent. Our room was a non-renovated Premium Beach Front, and it was great—right on the beach. We sat outside every night and just enjoyed the location. Staff: They need a massive amount of training....and I mean massive. Most had an attitude, never smiled or said hello, and had no idea what they should be doing. I have never seen this type of service and confusion in an island resort and I have stayed at numerous Caribbean resorts as well as other resorts in Antigua. Just a lot of unhappy and confused workers. To be fair, there were some notable mentions, such as Anya at the front desk, Aphique from the beach, and Rose-Ann in housekeeping. They did their best to accommodate. My wife, who always looks at everything with a glass half full, commented on more than one occasion how unprofessional and unfriendly the staff was. There is definitely a major need for training. Beach: Yes, the water is rough, but we knew that going in. If you want to spend your time in calm waters or relax on a raft, this is not the place (during this time of year). The water is beautiful and warm but rough. There is no beach service. Every once in a blue moon, someone came to ask if we wanted drinks, but most of the time, they never came back. The beach is also not well-kept. It just was never in a pristine condition. Hard to imagine this as there is nothing to do at this hotel but spend time on the beach (or pool). This should be a hotel priority. The beach/water sports staff did not start their day until 10/10:30 am. It took two days to remove the seaweed that I was told had been there for almost a week. They had one person...yes only one person tending to the beach. I watched as he raked for ten minutes and then disappeared for the rest of the day. Why aren't there more workers for the beach? Why are they not out at 6 am like every other hotel, cleaning the beach and beach chairs, etc.? Why do guests have to wait until 10/10:30 to get a beach towel, and why do we have to walk the length of the beach to get one? I am aware this was a complaint that many guests had. Why couldn't housekeeping bring beach towels when making up the room? We had to use dirty towels more than once and our dirty glasses took days to be removed. I don't expect ice face towels or cold sorbet served but I didn't expect our beach chairs to have bird droppings on them the entire week. There is definitely a lack of management oversight, as we never once saw management on the beach. Pool: It's clean but definitely needs an update. How about this: There are no towels at the pool. I had to walk back to the beach to get a towel. Whose idea was this? It's just another confusing management idea. Housekeeping: Our morning service was excellent. She cleaned the room well and we had zero complaints. Turn-down service, on the other hand, was absolutely useless. No mopping or sweeping. There was no replenishment of towels or anything missing. They just folded the bed down and left. I don't expect chocolates or a weather forecast card on the pillow, but how about a quick sweep? Another lack of management oversight. Food: Let me say this right off the start....the food was far from excellent. It was OK at best at all three restaurants and this is a very fair assessment. We had some good meals and some meals we barely could eat. I know this is an all-inclusive resort, so I didn't have too high expectations of the food going in. In any event, the service at the restaurants was usually super slow and, unfortunately, usually without a smile. It really seemed as if they weren't sure what to do. There were some workers outside the norm, but not too often. One night, they took our order and never came back. We waited for forty-five minutes and then had to reorder. The menu changes but only creatively. It's hanger steak one night, then flank steak the next. It's lamb chops one night, then lamb shank the next. For an all-inclusive, the choices were very, very minimal. As much as I hate to say it this hotel would have been better off with buffet service. Regarding the coffee shop, the coffee/espresso, etc., was excellent. The problem was they served the same four jars of cookies the entire week. Cookies for an adults-only resort? Besides just barely edible ice cream and small bite-sized pieces of cake, there was basically no dessert, and nothing at all after 10 pm. Completely inexcusable. Bar and Entertainment: I never ordered a drink, but the choice of alcohol, etc., looked satisfying for most guests. The nightly entertainment/music was fine. Spa: The message palapas were nice, but the whole spa definitely needs a makeover. The spa-wading pool is borderline an eyesore. I give very few excellent ratings and very good ratings only to hotels that need just a little tweaking. When I compare Galley Bay to other hotels I have stayed at for the same money and the same expectations, Galley Bay doesn't compare. It's not even close. There is just too much that needs to be corrected. I attribute this failure solely to management. It's important to note that my wife and I had a great time. We always have a great time when we travel, and we never expect more than what is to be expected. I always compare apples to apples when writing a review, and I have been to plenty of island resorts, and Galley Bay does not compare.