Jolly Beach Resort Trip Report<br>July 1 – July 8, 2002<br><br>RESORT<br><br>ROOM - Our room was #106 on the ground floor in the St. John’s bldg, which was 2 stories high. We were located right next to the beach and fantasy pool, a great location for us. About 5 minute walk to Lydia’s and Crab Hole Village which was the farthest from our room. Everything else was in-between and no problem getting around the resort.<br><br>DINING – we like the 3 restaurants and ate twice at the Italian (best one), twice at Lydia’s (seafood) and once at Olive’s(Greek). You are now surcharged for shrimp, steak and lobster at Lydia’s. $15 US but they also add on 10% service charge and an 8% government tax. Lobster was only ½ a Caribbean at Lydia’s and shrimp dish was not very good. Lobster and shrimp at the Italian were far superior in both quality and quantity. The size of my lobster at the Italian restaurant was huge and our daughter’s shrimp plate had about 7 more shrimp on it compared to Lydia’s. Many of our new found friends did not enjoy Lydia’s for dinner. <br><br>Only surcharge at Olives was the shrimp. Very tasty steak there. Let me say that if you have an average appetite you won’t get full from the sit down restaurants. Portions are very small but at the Italian you can fill up on the cold Antipasti bar where you help yourself. This is the only air-conditioned restaurant and the only one man is required to wear long pants. We had brunch on Sunday at Lydia’s and there was a steel band and buffet, which was very good. The buffet, Hemispheres is open for breakfast from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. but after 10:00 a.m. it’s only a continental breakfast. Hemispheres is open every night while there is a schedule for the restaurants and they are all open different nights. Serving from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m.<br><br>We ate at the buffet Hemispheres twice for dinner and several times for breakfast. Never for lunch since the grill served from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. some nice items and was right in the middle of the pool feet away from Splash Bar. You could get hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, fish and chicken sandwiches and grill cheese. The chicken burger was more like a fried chicken patty with lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber. It was very good. <br><br>They also had high tea each day around 4:30 p.m. by Olives. Served tea sandwiches (same every day) along with some scones and cookies which varied a little. <br><br>Liquor – not top shelf so if you drink vodka, scotch, etc straight I’d suggest buying a bottle. We had a superior room so we had a small refrig and kept a bottle of Finlandia which we bought for $6. They have pina colada machines so you help yourself and there is a bottle of rum next to the machines. A lot of the times the machines had just been refilled and were not frosty enough or there were wasps swarming around them in the day. I wish they had disposable drinking cups but they used these small 6 oz glasses and several times my drinks or beverages tasted like soap because they hadn’t rinsed the cups out very well. It would be much more sanitary if they just used throw away. I watched the bartenders clean the cups and they didn’t do a very good job. No way was the water hot so the cups weren’t getting washed very well. <br><br>WATER SPORTS– they had hobie cats, surf bikes, kayaks, paddle boats, floats, wind surfing for free. Lenny at the water sports shed was great and would take you at in the morning sailing. <br><br>Banana boat rides were $10 each (reasonable) which was offered at the hotel. Wave running was $35 for ½ hour but you rented those from a beach vendor. <br><br>July 4th the hotel did an excellent job of making it festive for us Americans. All that was missing was some fire works. They had decorated Hemispheres with red, white and blue balloons and streams. Had an American bbq with chicken, ribs, corn on the cob and baked potatoes, etc. At 11:00 p.m. they had a beach party which last way past 2:00 a.m. Disco is only open on Thurs, Friday and Saturday. Because of the beach party on Thursday Disco was not open. Can’t smoke in the disco, very small.<br><br>GOLF – My husband played golf at the Jolly Harbour, which was next door to our resort, and we walked over one day to check out some of the stores, nothing great and not all that much cheaper than the shop we had at the Jolly Harbor. I will comment that motorized water sports and golf was much cheaper than any other island we’ve been to. My husband paid $30 for 18 holes plus $15 for the cart.<br><br>HORSEBACK RIDING – we booked the ride through one of the licensed vendors at our hotel. $35 each for a 1-½ hr rides. The women who picked us up were a Brit who owned the stable with her partner. She was gracious enough to give us a tour of St. John’s and some other parts of the island on our way back (this was our further investigation). They also agreed to take my husband along who they dropped off at the beach were we would end our trip so he could take video of us galloping on the beach. Since both my daughter and I are novices and were the only ones riding they let us only ride for an hour so we skipped one of the beaches. Rode through one of the villages were they had abandoned houses and cars and it was a bit depressing. No farming so the land was very dry. Our guide told us that the prime minister is pushing tourism so they are no longer farming and have to import sugar and a lot of food which use to be grown locally. Our ride then progressed to an old sugar mill, onto a beach and then to one of the last semi intact forts, which was over 300 years old. Still have many canyons but the place was falling apart, too bad it’s really a shame but government doesn’t want to invest in it.<br><br>AIR JAMAICA – Flew out of JFK direct, pleasant flight down and back. Slight delay returning both in Antigua and JFK but only by a little more than an hour so I won’t complain. We were lucky to go through customs and immigration down and back without getting any of our baggage checked. We were lucky others were not. I would fly Air Jamaica again.<br><br>PEOPLE – Not many children the week we were there in my child’s age group but lots of sixteen year olds to twenty. They had a blast. Lots of Brits, Scots and people from Ireland at our resort. All lovely and very friendly. Think we’ve made some friends for life. Exchanged hugs and emails with the promise of staying in touch and visiting each other. <br><br>And yes the women went topless although signs around the hotel said it was not permitted. Usually the women put on their tops when in the pool area, only laid down with tops off in most cases, there was some exceptions. Our new found friend went topless and the only time she felt uncomfortable was when the local rasa men walked by and tried to sell us coconuts or aloe vera leaves. <br><br>Beaches are public so there was a lot of annoying vendors at the beginning of the trip and as previously reported on some active boards just saying no was not enough. Often the vendors got pretty indigent which led to further heated conversations. After several days many guest complained and in response to this the hotel had security stand on the beach so only the licensed vendors came around. Usually the security staff just patrols the beach so of course when the rasa men see them on one side they hurry to the other. We were offered weed many times, it was really annoying!<br><br>Hotel Staff at the resort – Bartenders were a bit crabby while the rest of the staff on the resort were friendly. We encountered many bartenders during our stay and there were several who were ok but nobody that really stood out. Maid service was very good, we left a tip each day and made some requests which were honored. Wait staff was general nice but slow (island time). <br><br>ENTERTAINMENT – OK. The bands played very well, but the limbo/fire eater Mr. Moves was just ok. Seen much better in other island shows. Talent show was good because of the hotel staff was very good, and some very talented guests that evening. “Best couples” was a bit funny one night.<br><br>Had 2 pool tables and game boards along with darts. <br><br><br>OVERALL IMPRESSION OF ANTIGUA<br><br>I’ve been to the Caribbean 15 times and based on some of the prettier islands I was disappointed with Antigua. The ride from the airport to our resort gave us a quick view of some of the island and it reminded me of a mini Jamaica. We had every intention of doing Shirley Heights and renting a car to travel around the island but after our initial ride through the country and further investigation during our horseback ride, we decided to save our money for the car and $20 license fee and just stay at our resort. <br><br>I would recommend the JBR as a good all-inclusive for the price. Not a 5 star hotel but an excellent deal for a 3 1/2 star. Swim up bars, fantasy pool, big nice beach, relaxful yet full of activities during the day if you want to participate. Rounders, cricket, croquet, pool volleyball, beach volleyball. <br><br>
