Antigua

[New Judge]

Off to Antigua soon. First trip to the Caribbean – we usually head east.

Anybody know whether Eastern Caribbean Dollars are widely available from ATMs?

Cheers !!!

[237SJ]

Antigua isn`t very built up so unless you go into the capital you won`t find a lot of ATMs.

[ummmm]

No sorry, but lucky you. I want to go to Montserrat via Antigua. Can you come back and tell me what it's like please?

[dotty.]

No there weren't any at the resort we stayed at (Pinapple Beach) and actually, I don't think we used one in St John's, we took Thomas Cook travellers cheques. We used them for the trips we did, which were 2 buses into St John's and a night barbeque to the reggae night, which was absolutely fantastic and really really worth doing.
St John's is all about souvenir shops as the coach takes you straight to the tourist part of the town, we were able to walk to the docks and look at the huge cruise ships.
The only entertainment is at the resort and ours was very laid back and sedate, there were very few children there though which was great.
Every day a coack of daytrippers would arrive from a cruise and use the resort as their base for a day and so it wasn't the same people every day.The people are of course very friendly and very ;'Britsh' and they';re cricket mad!
Just as you walk from the shops in StJohn's onto the quay there is a row of shops with some stores up some stairs on the first floor, there';s a sign pointin up to an adult gift shop, my daughter took me in there and i bought her a pair of white payeny over the knee boots, the owner was from Liverpool !
The airport isn't very well supplied either by the way, it's tiny, but make sure you check out the new cricket ground they built right outside it for the world cup,

[237SJ]

Rethinking about it, I was thinking of the north of the island but I do remember driving around the island and going into a bank to get some money. There must be ATMs at places like Shirley Heights as well but they`re not that widespread. Any currency you get will be East Caribbean dollars.

[New Judge]

Thanks all.

We're All Inclusive so shouldn't need too much readies. I plan to take a few EC Dollars which I shall get before we leave. I was just thinking of emergencies impulse purchases.

[dotty.]

I'm sure they use american dollars and everything had duel pricing now i think about it,

[dzug2]

Well there are some ATMs - http://visa.via.infonow.net/usa_atm/ shows a few. I don't know enough about the geography of the place to say whether they'd be any use

[WesterRoss]

The local currency is EC$ but you will find that you can pay almost everything in US$ if you wish. However if you pay in US your change will be in EC. Better taking EC and US in cash rather than cheques. ATM's can be found in the capital but your hotel will also change US or UK into EC, but at a price. If you pay by credit card, make sure they charge you in EC not US or you will get stung in exchange rates. Anyway just enjoy the island. When i was there we did a trip to Prickly Pear Island. If you get the chance do it. The owner picks you up by boat for the short trip to a very small island where you spend the day with a superb lunch, open self yourself bar, and just pure lazing around. It only takes 5 minutes to walk across the island. The cost is all inclusive so nothing to pay when you get there. Just make sure you are sober enough to jump off the boat on the way back!

[New Judge]

Thanks Wester. I might give it a try. And thanks to everybody for your helpful answers.

[bushbaby_de]

New Judge - we are currently considering Antigua for a trip - where will you be staying if you don't mind me asking?

[New Judge]

Coconut Beach Club (from the Virgin brochure).

I'll post a brief review under this question when I return.

[bushbaby_de]

That's funny, that's exactly what we were looking at! I will await your review with interest!

[New Judge]

[Two Part Answer]

Well I’m back, bushbaby.

We had a great time but did not stay at the Coconut Beach Club! When we arrived there was no room available for us. After about an hour and a half we were shown to a room but unfortunately it had an appalling smell which hit you as soon as we entered. It’s a long story but we had no intention of staying. The manager agreed that we should not and, since the hotel was full, he arranged for us to spend a couple of nights at the nearby Hawksbill Bay resort. After spending the night there we were determined that we would not lose three days of our holiday waiting to be transferred back and so arranged (after a struggle) to remain at Hawksbill.

During our brief stay at Coconut I gained the impression that it was a little run down. The room we briefly had was full of furniture (dining table and four chairs, settee and two armchairs) but the furniture on the patio consisted of two chairs (which were only fit for firewood) and no table and no sign of the promised hammock. The decking on the patio was rotten with rusty screws sticking up and the overflow from the air conditioning unit leaked directly onto the decking. There were few staff in evidence (the reception staff disappeared after we had checked in) and the whole resort seemed cramped, tired and generally neglected. The pool is above ground level about three feet deep. The beach is quite narrow and faces north, so loses the sun after about 3pm. As well as this, it is situated on a narrow inlet into St Johns and you get cruise liners passing close by twice a day.

[New Judge]

[Part Two]

I was surprised at the state of Coconut Beach bearing in mind the reviews we had read on TripAdvisor. Perhaps we were unlucky with our room but the general facilities did not inspire. It transpired (so we were told) that the smell was due to fungicidal paint which had been used to decorate the room between guests. Whether this is true I don’t know, but why paint a room between guests when you’ve no others available? Further, during our stay at Hawksbill we met some other guests who had been bumped out of the Coconut Beach due to lack of room, so something is clearly amiss.

By contrast the Hawksbill was a superb resort, very well run and laid out on four beaches with spacious grounds. The All-Inclusive really does include everything (bar the usual exceptions such as Champers and Lobster etc.) and everything is well organised and well run.

My advice, for what it’s worth, is to give the Coconut Beach a wide berth. The Hawksbill is a bit more expensive and we had a top of the range room (so we got an upgrade which compensated for our inconvenience) but I think it’s worth it and we’re thinking of returning next year (hopefully to enjoy our holiday from day one).

[bushbaby_de]

Thank you so much for coming back with your review. I hope you post something to this effect on Tripadvisor to add a different perspective to the otherwise generous reviews for the resort. I was a bit nervous of booking somewhere so unknown and you've now vindicated our decision to go back to a hotel on Barbados that we have stayed in before, rather than risk somewhere else. I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday despite the hiccups and really appreciate your feedback :)

[craft1948]

I only take US dollars to the caribbean, they usually show you the bill in both US and Caribbean dollars anyway.