Cocobay Resort

The check-in was swift, professional, friendly and informative. Accompanied by a 'rum punch', what more can you ask for! We chose a plunge pool cottage (room 3) beach side. Lovely cottage. Beds uber comfortable. Pillows to die for, but WAY too fluffy (not a criticism, just an observation) Rooms very clean on arrival and kept clean. Mosquito nets (not used as they made me feel a little claustrophobic :-) ) Daily beach towels arrived on our beds. The bathroom is dark, but not a problem at all, open the door to the veranda! Air con was a blessing. The ceiling fan was not working when we arrived, mentioned it to reception, when we returned to the room, there is was, going round and round. Minor, very minor comment/complaint - Mini-bar........... We only received water daily. Given what you pay for this holiday with a travel agent I would have liked just a soft drink, or maybe even a beer. I understand if you book direct you receive slightly more. Should it be one rule for one? (maybe an observation for the travel company rather than the hotel......... they maybe are not aware) We alternated between the beach and the pools. Never struggled to get a 'bed'. Less shade at the pool near the beach. But, you are on a 'sunshine' holiday, who needs shade? Be warned the beach is a public beach and very busy at weekends as utilised by the locals (lovely to smell their barbeques and hear their local music blaring out, no seriously, it was actually lovely to mix, the children are very friendly and chat away to you - I mention this as it is an adult only resort, but the public obviously welcomes children) There is a 'steady/intermittent' offer of drinks from staff while sitting at the beach. Pools also, but, whilst it is lovey to be waited on, nothing seems too much trouble for the staff so I was more than happy to fetch my own drinks. We were there for the Antiguan Whitsun bank holiday Monday - The beach was HEAVING! What a spectacle - enjoy. Food, no complaints whatsoever. I will say it's not what I am used to. (i.e. wall to wall all inclusive buffet - but made me realise it is not the be all and end all to have copious food choices) BUT, that is why you visit different countries, for different experiences. Don't expect an abundance of choice, it is ample, BUT, not if you are fussy/a pig/or generally like lots and lots of choice CocoBay is not for you in that instance. Breakfast has everything you want (with a smile) show cooking 'eggs' of every denomination, cooked food, (different options added/taken away daily) pastries/cakes, fruit, toast, continental. We got a little 'bored' (but not in a bad way) of breakfast so diversified to lunch. Lunch, a decent choice. Always show cooking fish, salads, meat, pasta, rice. Daily special on request. Evening, our favourite meal. Won't lie, sometimes we had no idea what we were ordering, (Wahoo Steak - turned out to be fish, the young lady did indeed point this out as I ordered) I've read comments that there was not enough food. I'm a big eater. I had plenty and was very impressed with the choice and the presentation. I was vegetarian when I arrived, I will admit to being a flexitarian now as the food choice was so good I wanted to try new things. We stayed for a fortnight and never saw the same meal twice!! The dining system is fab, you book your slot in the morning and arrive for your table at the allotted time. See previous comment re: mini-bar - I'm wondering if there was a different menu for direct bookers, not through a travel agent, as I saw options delivered that were not even on my menu. We had some 'pay for' options but I saw some food that made me wonder......... Room service - not even an option. BUT, I saw food/drink being delivered to rooms. Maybe again a direct booker option? We had the panini (perfect) - Afternoon tea - ideal choice when we has breakfast and only wanted a teeny sandwich before dinner. Dress code, casual. Smart shorts acceptable for men. Wi-Fi - Absolutely brilliant. Available throughout the resort. Patchy on the beach, but if you are on the beach, who needs Wi-Fi!!! Bar service - always, well nearly always, with a smile. As a couple we drink anything, beers, wines, spirits, soft drinks. Only once disappointed, the bottled beer is lovely, perfectly drinkable. They introduced barreled beer, it was not desperately palatable, but not an issue. WARNING - Drinking in the CocoBay WILL put you in bed, in danger of losing a meal!! The measures are good and strong. Don't expect the vodka/rum and coke you drink at home to be the same............. Always served with a wry smile :-) Staff - SECOND TO NONE! Friendly, nothing too much trouble. Service with a smile. You are on holiday, cut them some slack if they are busy. This is 'Antigua time'. Bear with them. Enjoy the moment. Never once did I feel a burden. I feel a little but mean, I did not TIP once! II am a big tipper normally, but I did not feel pressurised to tip and this resulted in me not offering a tip. I will say, I'm more used to the same person serving me, servicing me room, in the bars etc therefore tipping is easier. At Cocobay, everyone seems to do everything and anything, making complimenting very difficult. Shout out to Mr Gore who was delightful, and 'watch this space', ELVIRA - she is the most smiley, accommodating, lovely young lady I have ever experienced. Clientele - Not a consideration for us. But, an observation. Lots of honeymooners. Mix of nationalities. I don't want to sound mean or derogatory but some guests are very loud. That said, there is plenty of space to gently move away............. Only issue for us - Snorkelling. We book holidays according to the snorkeling options 'AT RESORT'. As one non-swimmer and one strong swimmer. We like to be able to walk out to the reef and snorkel right there. The house reef is vast, but as the strong swimmer I found the reef disappointing, covered mainly in seaweed. I got a little disorientated trying to find anything decent to see. The non-swimmer didn't even get the chance to venture out. We were advised we could catch a bus to a better option, I don't want to move, I want it there. BUT, not an issue. Overall, there is always going to be something not quite right, but for me, I would highly recommend CocoBay, if only for the wonderful, welcoming, accommodating, delightful, nothing too much trouble staff.....................

My husband and I vacationed at the Cocobay resort with my husband’s parents, his brother and girlfriend. I’m going to separate everything into “above average�, “average� and “below average� to make it simple to read! 🤗 Above average: 🌴We arrived at the hotel super late thanks to a flight delay. Nasasha (I think I may have spelled her name incorrectly) and Andy were SO sweet and helpful—making sure we had food sent to our rooms and greeting us with such enthusiasm. Even though we arrived after dark, our first impression of the resort was an amazing one! 🌴The views from the cottages! 🙌� STUNNING. You will for sure wake up at 5:30am every morning because of the sunrise coming right in the room, but you’ll start to look forward to it. 🌴Massages: my husband and I got a massage on our last day. We should have booked a couple sooner in the week. My massage from Topaz was the best massage I have ever received (and I get a lot of massages). Ask for Topaz if you can! 🙌�🙌�🙌� 🌴The other guests!: there were quite a few honeymooners, but all of the guest were incredibly social! It was unlike any other resort we’ve been to in terms of the interaction between guests. My husband and I really enjoyed meeting everyone. 🌴Sonia! : Sonia made everyone omelets in the morning and grilled fish at lunch. She was the SWEETEST. My family looked forward to seeing her every day. —— Average �The food: If you eat exclusively at the resort, you’ll be eating in the same area three times a day. Breakfast and lunch are buffets, dinner is a la carte. The food isn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t excellent. We expected more fresh seafood like we’ve experienced at other Caribbean resorts, and we were a little disappointed with the lack of seafood. �Entertainment at night: it was a pretty quiet place at night. They had bands/singers some of the nights, and some bands were better than others. ——- Below Average �Towels: There seemed to be a towel shortage for both beach towels and bath towels the whole time we were there. Not a huge deal, but it was a little annoying when we wanted to take a shower and had to wait for someone to bring us towels because they weren’t restocked when our room was cleaned. We also asked for beach towels at the front desk a couple of times, and they were out. �The Servers: It was such a night and day difference when it came to the wait staff. Sonia, who made our omelets was SO wonderful, but most of the serving staff seemed like they were in a bad mood most of the time. I’m thinking this may be a reflection of the serving management, because we encountered it all week for most of the wait staff. My whole family (and there was 6 of us) noticed it. We felt like we were burdening them if we asked for a refill. It wouldn’t have been an issue if we didn’t have to eat the majority of our meals in the same space. —— All in all, the vacation was a good one!!! The views were stunning. This resort has great potential if the management just address a few things! 🤗

Our Cocobay vacation was exactly what we needed. We stayed in two different rooms, the first being the Premium Waterfront Suite. The view and the plunge pool were amazing, the bathtub a beautiful addition to such a picturesque location. The pillows and the bed were not all that comfy but we made do knowing that the next room might have a more comfortable bed. The second room, The Deluxe Pool Cottage, had almost as nice a view but a comfy bed as well. The fridge was stocked daily and we couldn't get enough of our own pool. The food at Cocobay was amazing. We ate at the restaurant for every meal but one where we paid extra for Steep Rock Restaurant - also amazing. Having a dairy allergy I was a little worried but every day the wait and kitchen staff were so very accommodating - Special thanks to Saskia, Denise and Mr.Gore - they really went out of their way to make our holiday incredible. There are two large plunge pools at the resort, we mostly stuck to the one beach side. We were on the beach everyday looking for seashells - this beach has the most we have ever seen! We would highly recommend this resort for a couple just wanting to unwind and enjoy great atmosphere, wonderful people and delicious food. You won't regret it, :)

Selected this resort for its location and the deluxe pool cottage. Lovely view from the room and stunning views no complaints at all. Reception staff are really friendly. Then it becomes a little patchy. Drinks were good but cannot say that all bar staff were super friendly. Food is mediocre at best. Lunchtime paninis are really good. At breakfast one morning serving staff were more concerned about arguing amongst themselves than looking after clients. I picked this resort just to spend a couple of days at a nice location and cannot complain about the location. Wifi is only really available in reception and the bar area.

We chose Cocobay as a destination to get married and before we settled on Cocobay we had looked all over the world. First Impressions You arrive in a casual reception to a rum punch (much needed after the journey) and you receive a very friendly greeting from the staff where they give you a brief but informative introduction to the resort. We were greeted by Nasasha who was also our wedding coordinator and we cannot thank her enough for making our wedding/honeymoon the best it could have been. Room We have a cottage with a plunge pool and the cottage was lovely, clean, well air conditioned and had amazing views. The best thing we done was upgrade to a cottage with a plunge pool. The rooms were cleaned daily if you wanted them to be and the girls who cleaned them always done a good job and the room always smelt amazing when they has finished. You always got clean bath towels and beach towels, just make sure that you take the chain out of the shell everyday if you want it cleaned and you towels refreshed, this was explained to us when we was escorted to our room upon arrival. We read a lot of Trip Advisor reviews before we booked a quite a few people said that the Americans got special treatment in the rooms with their fridges being stocked everyday with beer, wine and water. We only received water this is because we booked through Virgin, if you book direct through the hotel you also get the beer and wine, this is not special treatment for "The Americans" this is a perk if you book direct with Cocobay which if (when) we go back we would definitely do, so please bear this in mind if you decide to go to Cocobay. Restaurant We found breakfast to be the best meal of the day, it was buffet style an there was lots of fresh choice from freshly cooked eggs and omelettes, bacon, hash browns, beans, pancakes, pastries, fresh fruit, yoghurt, cereal, fruit juice, toast and tea and coffee. Lunch was also buffet and was okay to loads of choice but we always found something to have. Dinner was the only thing we could complain about, the setting was lovely and the staff were always friendly and attentive, however this was a sit down meal with a choice off of a menu. It was 4 courses and we sometimes struggled to find food that we liked (my husband eats pretty much anything). The food was always beautifully presented and did look appetising on occasions we did wonder where the rest of your main course was as it was so small and we did start to dread dinner by the end of our 2 weeks. We did end up going out for diner on a couple of evenings which we really enjoyed. Bar We had some amazing cocktails and if we wanted a cocktail that wasn't on the menu they was always happy to make it for you with some guidance, my favourite was The Caribbean Daze and my husbands was a BBC. The staff were always friendly and helpful. Entertainement There was light entertainment most evenings and was always quite lovely but to be honest most evenings we had an early night so that we was up early to enjoy this beautiful island. Front of house staff These guys are fantastic and really helpful, nothing was ever too much for these guys The Wedding We wanted something simple and quiet with a beautiful setting and this exactly what we got. Nasasha our wedding coordinator was fantastic she couldn't help us enough. Naahs completely put our minds and ease and organised everything for us all we had to do was just turn up. She arranges for us to go to the legal offices which you are taken to by a driver, taken into a private room (men need to wear trouser and a short sleeved shirt and women need to wear something over the knee and a top that covers your shoulders). You are then taken into to meet the legal representative which is quite relaxed, then you leave, it's that simple. Our wedding day was perfect, we chose the spot just behind reception on their private beach and it was beautiful. The package came with a cake which not only looked beautiful but tasted amazing (we chose chocolate, but you could also chose vanilla or fruit cake), the cake is quite large so we ended giving it to the staff to share. Location Is absolutely stunning all the pictures that you see is what it looks like we were stunned at how beautiful it was I know I have mentioned her a few times but we would like to thank Nasasha again for making our wedding and honeymoon perfect, she exceeded our expectations and we can not thank her enough. Mr & Mrs Thompson x