The Verandah Antigua - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5261 reviews

• 

  another amazing stay at the Verandah

  We stayed at the resort for 2 weeks between Sept 20th and Oct 4th 2025 Those of you have read a few recent reviews will see that this is at exactly the same time as others with hugely varying reviews! This was our second visit to the Verandah Resort after the year before (Sept 2024) and we also stayed at Pineapple Beach in Sept 2023. We travel this time of year specifically because the hotels are quiet. We were welcomed by SO MANY staff as if we were old friends, not only by Verandah staff but also some from PBC (closed due to a refit at the time) Let's get any slight negatives out of the way first 1) Yes, the Seabreeze restaurant was closed for refitting. Biggest impact (?) here was on breakfast - served at Sails & Tales which is open air rather than air conditioned. This impacted both guests (a bit warm some days) and staff - especially the ladies cooking omelettes in the Pizza hut 2) Towels - always a slight issue here weirdly - but if you grab early you're fine (we got our on the way to breakfast) 3) The Rasta Beach could do with a couple of lorry loads of sand - it's getting a little thin in places ☹ Now onto the positives - and there are MANY 1) Staff – al SO friendly - from arrival at front desk, to buggy drivers, to the office, to the bar, to all the restaurants - we really were made to feel like part of a family. Other reviewers seem to have had issues - can't imagine why 2) Nicole's - fine dining - we ate here 4 times over the fortnight - each time greeted by the lovely Lucy who also has an amazing team around her - well worth the extra cost, superb food and service by the whole team there. We have had the opportunity to dine at some top notch restaurants in both the US and UK over the years – this is right up there. Lucy’s leadership is exemplary. 3) Portofino - modern Italian - we ate here 5/6 times over the fortnight - welcomed with open arms by the lovely Nicole who remembered us immediately from the year before (helps that my wife's name is Nicole too). The team again are very well managed and the service and food is fantastic. 4) Sails and Tales - casual seafood lunch/dinner - another great team here - with Miss Lucy popping in one night to help out. Her influence shows in all the restaurants and the team here again provide great service in a casual environment. When the breeze hits right - it's a beautiful place to eat dinner 5) Sails and Tales Breakfast service - Chemarie's smoothies were a very welcome addition and need to be part of the service when it returns to Seabreeze! Marina & Karen persevered in the heat of the Pizza hut to provide amazing omelettes/egg dishes. Egbert and Theo led the way in service and to be honest we could have listed many more names (and I feel bad for missing so many) 6) The Beach Grill - we used Rasta Beach and the pool there almost every day! Our favourite spot on the resort. On several occasions we had the entire beach/pool to ourselves (heaven). Chegf and team do great lunches and Layasrkas looked after us at the bar (sorry about the exploding mixer – I hope you have recovered!) 7) Staff callouts - Shaun/Tristan on the buggies. Leon, Lassandra, Layasrkas at the bars. Rohan our Bajan buddy at the pool. Rohanna, Destiny, Adainia, Nneka, Nicole P - so many more that my old man memory has forgotten - but each and every one made us feel welcome and special. Oh and to William for sorting us a late checkout - thank you sir. And the ground staff keep everywhere looking so good too! We could go on and on We are already talking about booking again for next year - that's how good this place is! Ignore the naysayers - you won't regret it and to address other concerns of reviewers 1) swim up bars - WHY – certain people just sit in one spot for hours - with NO toilet breaks :( 2) pool umbrellas - there are many shades around ALL the pools - we visited them all - yes even the pool behind the Wavy Wicket 3) availability of lime - we had lime in our G&Ts every evening - never missing 4) breakfast buffet was limited - the choice is HUGE and it was difficult not to OVER eat every morning!!

  Oct 12, 2025
• 

  The staff are the jewel at the Verandah

  Lovely hotel in a great place with super facilities. Had a great week here. The food in the restaurants that were open was fabulous and the staff are truly amazing - so helpful and cannot do enough for you, always with a smile. They are refurbing the buffet restaurant, which was a little loss but manageable with the other places to eat. And the food is great. Where I think they have fallen a little short - and I mean a little, it is still a lovely hotel! But the communication to the guests could be better. We arrived after an 8 hour flight. Obviously the map is online - but it would have been good if at check in, someone gave us a printed map and said - here is your room, this is where breakfast is, this is where guest services are, these are the pools etc. Yes of course we can explore - but only one restaurant has a name on, and for breakfast we just flagged down someone down and said “where do we go?”. It could have been so much easier. Getting to 11am and there are no towels at the pool and none at the beach and having to tell guest services, and it still takes 2 hours before someone comes with new towels. Just give every guest a pool towel in their room and then if they want to change after a week, they can, but there are no squabbles! It could be that it is low season, feels 50% empty but we have paid a full price and have been a bit short on deliverables. I will reiterate that the staff in the restaurants and bars and the cafe - all fabulous! Let’s hope they get the pay they deserve!!

  Oct 08, 2025
• 

  Nice place, obviously poorly managed

  I have stayed at Verandah several times throughout the years and this is probably the worst experience I have ever had. It was a group booking and I was the first to arrive. They apparently have a new policy where you have to check out AND leave the property at 11am. On check in I was told that check out is at 11am but I can stay until 5pm however members of my group who checked in an hour later was told they needed to leave the property at 11am and not 5pm. How can 2 check ins within an hour of each other be told two different things? The front desk obviously lacks training but it is not really a reflection on them but more so how poorly managed this place is. It would be interesting to see what they tell the tourists who have late flights. I imagine that they get to stay on property until whenever they desire and if that is the case then this is blatant discrimination. After the poor check in experience, we spoke to the duty Manager Vanessa later in the evening who was actually very nice and we enjoyed speaking to her. She seemed genuinely appalled by us being told to leave the property at 11am and said ALL guests get to stay until they need to leave despite having to check out of the room at 11am. This was encouraging to hear but the issue here was there was absolutely no follow through. I imagine that she probably has to submit a duty manager report at the end of her shift and yet there was no update, no one came to speak to us further on the matter, no one came to us to confirm if we are ok to stay on property later or leave at 11am on our day of check out. But, I don't really blame her, poor girl probably has her hands tied in what is clearly a horribly managed hotel. On our day of check out we did leave at 11am as we just wanted to be done with the place however one member of our group was told after calling the front desk that for an additional $50usd we could stay until 5pm. No one told us this from the beginning and perhaps if we had been told this we would have considered staying longer but again the front desk seems to lack training. Despite this ridiculous policy, and feeling discriminated against, we enjoyed our stay for the most part but will not be back. Theodore and the entire team at Sails and Tails for breakfast and lunch deserve an honourable mention. We had the best experience when we visited that restaurant (during the day as we did not have dinner there) and this is probably what saved our experience at Verandah to be honest. The guys who operate the golf carts are also awesome and also the entertainment guy who was on duty for the 2 nights we were there, I think his name of Rohan (I am so sorry if I am wrong) I really wish I could remember all of their names but thank you for making our stay better despite the challenges.

  Oct 06, 2025
• 

  Very Disappointed/Would NOT recommend-this is an honest review of this resort

  We stayed at the Verandah 9/25/2025 to 9/30/2025. I have never felt so compelled to write a review for a resort as I do for this one. To say that we were so disappointed in this trip is an under statement! I would not recommend this resort to anyone because of the issues that we experienced while there. 1. Very short staffed-only 1 bartender at each bar 2. No wait staff walking around pool area to offer drinks but they would walk around periodically to pick up empty glasses 3. Only VERY few employees were friendly/kind-I have never felt so discriminated against. We were ignored and when spoken to, it was a very short/rude tone for an answer 4. Pool towels were not available in the designated towel areas until 9:30 am some days; they do not replenish them throughout the day and I literally saw a man ask for a towel and the employee manning the music gave him a hand towel to use 5. We waited an hour for pizza to be made at the Pizza Cafe-we watched the guy working there talk to the waitress, going very slow and only putting one at a time in an oven that could accommodate more than that at once. NOTE: We were the only 2 that were there waiting and no others had placed their order prior to us 6. The safe in the room is VERY outdated with a key that you had to keep with you at all times 7. No soft drinks or canned beer in fridge in room (only bottle water is given) 8. The door to your room only had a latch; the dead bolt just twirled around 9. The AC unit in our room was broken-I had to wedge a washcloth in the vent so that they air could circulate properly in our room 10. Breakfast buffet is limited and varied little day to day. I asked for a Bloody Mary and was told that "those drinks cannot be served until 11am" 11. There are ZERO umbrellas near the pool area. There are only areas that are covered by awnings but again very limited for guests 12. There is no entertainment except for music and a few games 13. Rooms are only cleaned every other day 14. Only one restaurant was open on Monday 15. When checking out, they gave us our bill and never once asked "how was your stay?" "did you enjoy your vacation? The front desk girl working again was VERY rude! 16. I called to the front desk on day of checkout and asked instead of checking out at 11am, could we checkout 1 hr later (12pm) so that we were not waiting in the heat for 2 hours. She checked to see if our room would still be available and it was and then said it would be a $75 charge--it was only 1 hr later and the resort was no where near being at capacity 17. The liquor availability varied by bar 18. When we asked for a lime with our drink, we were told "we do not have those right now, no one has cut them up yet" 19. No swim up bar by any pool 20. There was 1/4 inch gap in the door to our room; I can only imagine the potential bug entry that could occur After feeling so mistreated by the staff, I did begin to write down the names of the employees that were kind to us. (List is below) Kertie -bartender at the Wavy Wicket-so nice and I told her the first night we met her "thank you so much for being nice to us, everyone here has been so rude and has made us feel so discriminated against; you have been the bright star to our trip" Sheyan: watersports near main beach area-he took us out on the Catamaran and was so friendly, told us some history about the island and made it so fun! Theodore (Theo): waiter at Sails & Tales-super friendly, saw us waiting for an hour for our pizza and asked us if we wanted a drink (the only person that ever came up to us on our entire stay asking us if we would like something); always smiling and he actually seemed to enjoy his job Leon-main bar-very nice/friendly; made the best espresso martinis I hope this review helps you make a decision regarding your vacation. Again, in all of our years traveling, to many different places, I have never taken the time to write a review but being treated so poorly on a vacation, I felt is was necessary! And if you look at the negative reviews, you will see that a lot of the things that I mentioned are also mentioned by other visitors. At the end of the day, we made the best of it but will NEVER go back! And yes, I will be sending an email to management, our travel agent and even the tourism department of Antigua.

  Oct 03, 2025
• 

  Terrible Experience

  I am writing to share feedback regarding our recent stay at The Verandah Resort and Spa. Unfortunately, our experience did not meet expectations, and we were so disappointed that we even considered changing our flights to leave earlier than planned. While there were some positive aspects worth acknowledging, particularly the excellent service provided by Kertie, Theodore, and Leon, who were consistently friendly, responsive, and attentive—we encountered several issues that significantly impacted our stay. Dinner service was also generally good, and we appreciated those moments of hospitality. Below is a summary of the concerns we experienced: Guest Rooms • The room door was not secure. There was a visible gap in the frame, no deadbolt, and the main lock could be bypassed with a credit card. The top latch was barely attached, missing a screw, and could have easily been breached. • It would have been appreciated to have soft drinks available in the room or at least the option to request them from the main bar to bring back to our room. We were told this was not allowed. • The safe was outdated and you needed to carry a key with you when you left your room. I have never seen a safe like this, and it was very inconvenient. Towels • Access to towels was consistently problematic. Regardless of the time of day, towel bins were empty. We were fortunate to find three towels one morning at the beach and occasionally found a few at the adult fountain pool. Staff often said more towels would be brought later, but they rarely appeared. We even witnessed hand towels being handed out at the pool one afternoon. Staff Interactions • Aside from the three individuals mentioned earlier, most staff members were disengaged, unfriendly, and at times dismissive. At breakfast, we waited for coffee until after finishing our meal. Servers frequently walked past us to assist other guests. On one occasion, staff only became attentive after noticing we intended to tip—at which point we ensured the tip went directly to the person who earned it. • Bar staff often seemed inconvenienced by drink requests. One bartender claimed they were out of limes, while another later said they had limes but hadn’t prepared them. It was confusing and frustrating. • We waited over an hour for pizzas despite no line, and it was unclear why they were made one at a time when the oven could accommodate more. Entertainment & Amenities • The beach party was canceled due to weather, though there was no rain or wind. We were also unable to sail for four days due to “lack of wind,” yet the neighboring resort was sailing daily. • Contrary to what was advertised, there was no drink service at the pool or beach. • Liquor availability varied by bar, making it difficult to consistently enjoy preferred beverages. • Alcohol service did not begin until 11 a.m., meaning breakfast options like mimosas or Bloody Mary’s were unavailable. • There was limited shade at the pool, it was unusual to not have umbrellas to provide shade. Fees • The resort fee was higher than other Antigua resorts, and it was unclear what justified the cost. • We were surprised by the $75 late checkout fee, especially during a non-peak period. We opted to wait at the airport instead. We’ve visited many all-inclusive resorts over the years and were genuinely shocked by the poor experience at Verandah.

  Oct 03, 2025