Galley Bay Resort and Spa

Antigua offers the friendliest peoples. The island has little to offer outside of water sports but is perfect for relaxation. The resort staff can???t do enough for everyone and they do so with a joyful attitude. The accommodations are wonderful and you can as much or as little as you wish. The food and drinks are well presented anf again can be customized in every regard. We never heard a NO. Every request was fulfilled with a smile. The entertainment every evening was all local engaging and enjoyable talent If your looking for a relaxing and carefree vacation GALLEY BAY is the go to

Excellent location, great food and friendly staff. We enjoyed our stay very much. you walk out onto the beach from room. Very friendly and relaxing atmosphere. Food was all al a carte and very well prepared and tasty. We enjoyed our stay and will come back.

We chose Galley Bay specifically because of the high reviews, particularly mentions of service and repeat visitors. We did not find, for the most part, the sentiments in the reviews here on Trip Advisor or other vacation websites, to be reflected in our visit. To be fair, most team members would try to fulfill any needs we had, it was more their general demeanor. It often felt like you were putting someone out. We found this to be a shared sentiment at least with a few fellow travelers we spoke with about it. ***That said, I???d be remiss if I didn???t highlight those who far exceeded our expectations, including Sandy C, Natasha, Tarick, Claudia, Keiran (sp) and Wass. These team members were exceptional - always friendly and highly personable. We enjoyed catching up with them and particularly Sandy and Natasha almost daily*** Food & Drink: I find food & drinks to be hit and miss at all inclusive resorts and Galley Bay was no different. Breakfast is generally the best and that???s the same here (flapjacks are great). Dinner was hit and miss in terms of quality and preparation. Probably 50/50 over our 6 days - had a couple of great fish dishes and then some dishes that were severely over cooked. Galley Bay has fewer restaurants than most resorts, understandable due to their boutique nature and size. They do a nice job rotating the menu daily at the 2 main restaurants (the 3rd is a beachfront grill open during lunch and the 4th an add-on restaurant for dinner only at $45pp extra). Find 2-3 drinks you like and rotate them. Highly recommend the frozen mojitos and Natasha and Tarick make the best! Something irritating to my fellow travelers was the lack of availability of Carib (beer). The bar ran out daily and it seemed they restocked only a 12 pack at a time - maybe daily or every other day. This was one of the two beers offered onsite (the other a green bottle skunkier beer like Heineken). Some recommendations to the resort: - A recommendation I???d give to mix it up a bit more and feel like you offer the same variety as larger resorts with fewer restaurants is rotating theme nights (Italian, Mexican, Traditional Antiguan, Asian, Mediterranean, etc) with a couple nightly staples (fish of the day for example). - Re-evaluate the staple dishes at the barefoot grill - Invest in stocking a couple of quality drink mixes- Bloody Mary and Margarita (or make an effort to develop some quality house mixes). These are popular drinks that you can really step up the quality with this simple fix. A nice Bloody Mary would be a great add to your breakfast and lunch menus. Highlights: - Awesome beachfront access from your back porch (we were in rooms 14 & 15 - 14 is larger, request it if you get the chance) - the room was great and the beach access cannot be beat - Morning beachfront yoga w/Meckenzie M-F - Beach itself was very nice - beautiful water, nice soft sand COVID Mentions: - Rum shack is currently closed - Coffee bar is currently closed - On-site Inexpensive COVID testing ($60) Areas to Improve: - Consistent customer service (team demeanor, namely) - Food & Drink Quality (+ Variety) Recommendations to Travelers: - Do the morning yoga - enjoyed that quite a bit! - Hike Shirley Heights Lookout - Carpenter Rock Trail (coastal trail). You can take a taxi to Galleon Beach (ask for Wass who is a taxi driver at Galley Bay). We took the Lookout Trail up and the Carpenter Rock Trail down. - Boat Trip w/ Capt Sean - nice guy, enjoyed the sailing and traditional food, snorkeling was just so-so - Bring a couple of noodles or blow up tubes, you???ll thank me for this on a lazier beach day!