The Inn at English Harbour

Complete is the word I think best describes our stay at The Inn. This was the most pleasant vacation experience we’ve ever had, with every need and whim met with enthusiasm. Cabin 9 is right on the beach, just yards from the sea and the private jetty. The room, while not huge, has all the features you would expect. The Reef cafe is also just a few yards away. There, you enjoy breakfast, lunch, and tea served by a friendly staff. Dinner is a wonderful experience at The Terrace. The food is outstanding and they have special nights like the Italian night and a barbecue night. The highest praise I have is for the staff. To a person every one was friendly and eager to help, and seemed to genuinely enjoy engaging in conversation. Another bonus is the fact that this is a small, boutique hotel. We got to know several of our fellow guests and enjoyed seeing them each day. I really can’t say enough about The Inn. I’m very hopeful that we will be visiting here again.

This was our fourth visit to the Inn at English Harbour and previously I have given 5 star reviews but sadly both my partner and I agree that it's not quite worthy this year of top scores. Here are our reasons and the pros and cons. Pros 1. The resort is stunning and beautifully maintained by the gardening team. 2. The location in English harbour is terrific, you can watch all the boats passing into English Harbour. If you feel like a change of scenery in the day, the short boat ride with Captain Vere provides access to the harbour, sadly this finishes abruptly at 4pm and the times are very regimented. 3. The sand on the beach and swimming is wonderful close to the jetty, but not further along the Bay - see note about Loose Cannon below. 4. The lunch menu is fantastic and the reef restaurant a beautiful location to spend a leisurely lunch. 5. We love playing tennis and hardly any one uses the courts, good to see 8 new tennis balls had been bought, but not enough when both courts are being used. The rackets are also quite old now and could easily be replaced 6. The rooms are lovely, we have stayed in all the room levels and this time chose a cabana. It was small and convenient being next to the beach and I believe recently updated, but really needed decent sized mosquito nets over the bed as the sandflies were rife and small enough to come through the window in bathroom and vents. 7. The reception staff are wonderful as were the reef restaurant staff. Cons 1. Each year there are obvious cuts to quality of food. When we first stayed at the resort there was fresh fruit and squeezed fruit juice delivered to the table for breakfast, now it's self serve and the juice seemed long life. The breakfast is poor, several times I had to send uncooked eggs back or simply leave uneaten, in the end I didn't order from the breakfast menu. 2. The dinner menu is limited and dated and apart from a new pasta section, the menu has not changed in the last 4 years. In our view, the food is below standard for a five star hotel and I have fed this back several times to management. At our first evening meal, fish was served semi frozen in the middle, and we saw another family walk out mid way. As we were staying half board, we chose to have lunch each day and took taxis ($30 round trip) to eat out in English Harbour we didn’t return for dinner, we love Incanto and Catherine’s Cafe 3. Although the location in the bay is beautiful, the noise from Loose Cannon is an issue. The thumping of 'house style' music throughout the day and partying at night has changed the whole perspective and clientele of the Bay. I realise this is not the hotels fault, and for some guests having Loose Cannon may be an added bonus, but the noise… 4. I didn't feel safe swimming the length of the bay due to the constant arrival of speed boats dropping youngsters off at Loose Cannon. Again, not a criticism of the hotel, but it does limit where you can safely swi

This was our fourth visit to the Inn at English Harbour and previously I have given 5 star reviews but sadly both my partner and I agree that it's not quite worthy this year. Here are our reasons and the pros and cons. Pros 1. The resort is stunning and beautifully maintained by the gardening team whom we felt sorry for as they had to mow the lawn in the heat of the day with a hand push lawn mower, a sit on lawn mower would have helped them complete the task in half the time and been far less noisy. 2. The location in English harbour is terrific, you can watch all the boats passing into English Harbour. If you feel like a change of scenery in the day, the short boat ride with Captain Vere provides access to the harbour, sadly this finishes abruptly at 4pm and the times are very regimented, I saw one family with teenagers having to wait a good 40 minutes when Captain Vere could easily have taken them over as he was simply spraying down the canoes which were hardly used. 3. The sand on the beach and swimming is wonderful close to the jetty, but not further along the Bay - see note about Loose Cannon below 4. The lunch menu is fantastic and the reef restaurant a beautiful location to spend a leisurely lunch. 5. We love playing tennis and hardly any one uses the courts, good to see 8 new tennis balls had been bought, but not enough when both courts are being used. The rackets are also quite old now and could easily be replaced. 6. The rooms are lovely, we have stayed in all the room levels and this time chose a cabana. It was small but very convenient. 7. The reception staff are wonderful. Cons 1. Each year we provide feedback on the food, each year there are obvious cuts to quality and service. When we first stayed at the resort there was fresh fruit and squeezed fruit juice delivered to the table for breakfast, now it's self serve and the juice is long life. The breakfast is poor, several times I had to send uncooked eggs back or simply leave uneaten, in the end I didn't order from the menu. 2. The dinner menu is limited and dated and has not changed in the last 4 years. The food is below standard for a five star hotel and I have fed this back several times to management. At our first evening meal, fish was served semi frozen in the middle, we didn't wish to return and saw another family walk out mid way. As we were staying half board, we chose to have lunch each day and took expensive taxis ($30 round trip) to eat out in English Harbour. 3. Although the location in the bay is beautiful, the noise from Loose Cannon is now horrendous. The thumping of 'house style' music throughout the day and partying at night has changed the whole perspective and clientele of the Bay. It’s so sad. 4. I didn't feel safe swimming across the bay due to the constant arrival of speed boats dropping youngsters off at Loose Cannon. Four years ago you could clearly see turtles in the bay, now because of all the extra boats, the visibility has worsened and despite sn

Second visit to the lovely Inn. All was as it should be in this lovely oasis in the sunshine. We had a lovely upstairs larger room, 27, with a great balcony that enabled us to enjoy the outside even when it was raining. Since our last visit 2 years ago, the addition of the buggy to run guests up and down is great, much less of a deal than a taxi. The rooms were generally in good condition - but do remember that everywhere in the real Caribbean feels the effects of the rain, sun and humidity but that is part of its charm. This is the perfect place to watch the rowers home from the Worlds Toughest Row and they were arriving thick and fast at the end of our stay. And of course trips to Nelson’s and Falmouth and Shirley Heights etc are always fun and so easy from here. The positives here - extremely easy pace, very relaxing - no kids under 10 (lovely!) - boutique, small nature : no fights for sunbeds etc. - charming rooms with good A/C - breakfast, lunch, tea all lovely - location - right by Nelson’s dockyard in a beautiful setting on the sheltered side Possible negatives / things to be aware of - this is a low key resort - no bling here - as such, the rooms are lovely but not glitzy. There are little birds flitting around, the houses are made of wood and so they show the effect of the elements - the only change from 2 years ago is Loose Cannon which has set up further round on Galleon Beach and is boom boom boom all day. It’s a pity but there’s not much the Inn can do about it. Sometimes - Sundays and when the wind is from the SE - it’s just a bit too much. All in all though a really lovely ten days in much needed winter sun. Staff are excellent and the huge number of repeat guests from this largely older, British clientele, speaks to the loyal following this hotel inspires (ourselves included)

Shabby but sadly not chic Location is amazing with a stunning beach front but this rather shabby hotel is in urgent need of a complete refurb. Neither restaurant offers good food or choices - at breakfast there were no berries nor fresh juice despite being on the menu. A late delivery of just grapefruit arrived only just in time for a small glass. My fish carpaccio at dinner looked and tasted like veal and the duck overdone. The room was spacious but also in need of updating and despite your claim that we had booked a room with a bath, none of the rooms come with baths. We would only consider returning once the promised new rooms are built. Apart from the beach front area this was disappointing.

Great location good service and excellent restaurants made this an ideal location from which to explore the island of Antigua. The staff were very accommodating and had a great deal of knowledge about the island and suggested several places we needed to try for meals and to enhance our stay.