resort day passes

[cruisecouple88]

We only saw a family with about 4 boys around the ages of 7,8 or 9 and they seem to be having fun. With all the rocks I would not trust my little one crawling or walking around. I did not see any snorkeling or any place that was good for snorkeling. I don't know if they have a different rate for children, they just quoted me $40pp but that was for two adults. I communicated with them through messenger on Facebook.

 

Gladys

 

 

Thank you. I think we'll look at other beach resorts.

[Langley Cruisers]

Overall DH and I had an enjoyable time:); however next time in Antigua we will take the cab drivers advice and go to one of the beaches and rent chairs and umbrellas, but next time we will set up in an area that is not near the water sport rental place.

 

Well, sounds like you had a good day overall but I am surprised at some of your comments. We were there just about 7 weeks ago and found the beach to be beautiful, sandy, and clean (no piles of rocks). The beach was not neglected on the day of our visit.

 

As well, I understand you may think you got a bit of a bum deal, but how much do you think chairs and umbrellas, plus drinks and food would have cost you if purchased separately elsewhere? It adds up quickly.

 

We had an amazing day at this same resort, simply amazing. It was our last port and I think it might have been our favorite beach day. We thought the value for money was exceptional - my husband and brother in law drank as much as they wanted and we know it would have cost them way more than the $40 each we all paid. *shrug* Perhaps your cab driver/former Halcyon employee had a few sour grapes about the place, I really don't know. :(

 

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[Mommy4lyfe]

Well, sounds like you had a good day overall but I am surprised at some of your comments. We were there just about 7 weeks ago and found the beach to be beautiful, sandy, and clean (no piles of rocks). The beach was not neglected on the day of our visit.

 

As well, I understand you may think you got a bit of a bum deal, but how much do you think chairs and umbrellas, plus drinks and food would have cost you if purchased separately elsewhere? It adds up quickly.

 

We had an amazing day at this same resort, simply amazing. It was our last port and I think it might have been our favorite beach day. We thought the value for money was exceptional - my husband and brother in law drank as much as they wanted and we know it would have cost them way more than the $40 each we all paid. *shrug* Perhaps your cab driver/former Halcyon employee had a few sour grapes about the place, I really don't know. :(

 

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I never stated I got a bum deal and I did have a nice time. Also the cab driver was not sour. The beach was as I described and my comments are not to discourage but inform. I have pictures but had problems posting. I will try to post later. Please remember what was yesterday may not be today.

 

Gladys

[mamagina]

We just got back to the ship from a half day pass at the Hawksbill Resort. We stayed from 9:45-2pm for $40 pp. 4 of us shared a $20 cab ride each way ($10 pp rt). We had an amazing day. Bar drinks including Pina Coladas. Nice buffet but simple buffet lunch and you can order additional items off the menu or from the grill. Dessert. A few more drinks after lunch. There was a pool and clean wash rooms. The property does look worn and a little in bed of repair. The loungers were a little saggy on one beach near the restaurant. At the beach over the hill there were the newer loungers like at the pool. The sun palapas need leaves replaced but we had plenty of shade under the tree. No crowd and just one vendor all day. Folks staying at the resort were complaining to us that some of the renovations are still in process and some services promised were not available. It didn't affect our day at all and I would highly recommend it for a cruise day trip. The only glitch was that when we arrived the gentleman at reception told us that day passes start at noon. Our friends just explained that she received email confirmation that we could start early because we had to leave to get back to the ship. He then took our credit card with no problem. The same cab that brought us came back for us but we didn't have to arrange because there is a car rental/taxi service right outside the lobby and there were two drivers there when we came out. 15 minute ride with traffic each way.

[Mustangdrew]

So that included unlimited alcohol ?

Edited January 14, 2016 by Mustangdrew

[mamagina]

Yes. But according to the guests staying there they were out of beer, rum and pineapples until the they we got there. They were very unhappy to say the least. There were no bananas to make banana drinks the day we were there.

Edited January 14, 2016 by mamagina

[piginmud]

My husband and I are leaving for our 1 year anniversary cruise on the Serenade in December and are doing our first Southern Caribbean itinerary. We were thinking about getting a day pass to the Sandals Grande in Antigua which they say is located right on Dickenson's Bay. Was wondering if anyone has done this before and if it was worth the money. They told us it would be $110/person for 10am to 6pm all the amenities included except a room. The catch is you can not pre-purchase these passes you must wait until you get to the resort. Debating if this is worth it or should we just venture out on our own, go to a local beach in Antigua, and hope there are restaurants and bars there we can enjoy. Any feedback is greatly appreciate!

 

We did Halcyon Cove Resort but we saw the Sandals and it's definitely grande! It looked REALLY NICE. Seems like it was worth it. We paid $60pp for the day pass to Halcyon which had cheap liquor, no beach chairs for free. IF I went here again, I would do Sandals.

[piginmud]

Hi there. I will offer you another option and it's the least expensive so far. We just returned from a Southern and did a day pass at Halcyon Cove Resort by Rex resorts. The day pass info is not on the website; we e-mailed back and forth and got a rate of $60.00 per person, unlimited drinks and BBQ buffet lunch included. The cab fare using an authorized taxi from the dispatcher was $12.00 one way (not per person).

 

We had a great day! The beach is stunning and the food and drinks were wonderful. The resort is a little tired, not going to lie... but at that price we were absolutely thrilled and we definitely got our money's worth.

 

No pre-purchase - check in at reception and pay when you get there using cash or credit card. We like it better that way as you never know what could happen... the best laid plans and all. ;):)

 

Go early in the day, as the beach is for registered guests and when we got there around 9:45 am, all but one of the large beach palapas were taken.

 

http://www.rexresorts.com/antigua/antigua-resort-halcyon-cove-by-rex-resorts.html

 

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Just back from Breakaway and we did Halcyon. I wouldn't recommend it if you are looking for a nice luxurious day on the beach. Halcyon doesn't take care of their beach area so there's lots of rocks and seaweed on the beach. You have to pay for an umbrella ($10). Was a hassle to get beach chairs since there were none in front of Halcyon. When we went to get beach chairs the guy wouldn't let us because he said they were "for the cruise passengers". I told him we WERE a cruise passenger! Anyway, beach was yucky, drinks were all no name brand and not very good.

 

It's perfect for someone on a limited budget who just wants unlimited liquor and somewhere to park their towel. The water was unusually rough the day we were there so the beach area was extremely limited. Not Halcyon's fault of course, but you could barely fit 1 beach chairs length on what little beach they had.

 

debbie

[piginmud]

We are a group of 9 people with 4 kids ages 2 - 13 years old. Is this a kid friendly resort? Also, is there snorkeling off the beach? Do you know if they have a different rate for kids? Thanks.

 

Not extremely kid friendly. There were no water sports off the beach. Spoke to a couple who were there for a week and they said altho the brochure said "water sports" they hadn't seen anything the whole week. The beach is rather small. The day we were there the water was VERY rough. Not anyone's fault, just MOther Nature. But the beach is very small so there's not a lot for kids to do.

 

We walked further down the beach and the beaches were a lot bigger and a lot better maintained in front of the Sandals and any other resort. All the beaches are free in Antigua so you could go anywhere you wanted.

 

I don't know about the rates for kids since we didn't have any with us.

Debbie

[piginmud]

We visited Halcyon Cove Resort on December 31, 2015. The cost of the day pass was $40pp. We communicated via Facebook and finalized our reservation via email. The cost of the cab was $12 one way and we went to the dispatcher booth (men with orange shirts) to get our cab. The same cab driver came back to pick us up.

 

On our way to the resort our cab driver was telling us about the 365 beautiful public beaches in Antigua. He said all the beaches are public including the ones the resorts use. He stated we are allowed to go to any beach but just not allowed to use the amenities of the resorts. He also tried to discourage us from purchasing a day pass. He said we could rent chairs and by food from the many business on the beach and would save money. He said he only recommend day passes for those who desire to consume plenty of alcohol. He went on to let us know that he use to work at Halcyon before coming a taxi driver. He told us that the resort has changed since he was there for being good to bad. He said the ownership changed and the new ownership is not maintaining their share of the public beach area. The resort is currently between ownership because of a lawsuit the government have against the 2nd owners. He said hopefully when everything is settled the resort will clean up and maintain their portion of the public beach.

 

We arrived at the resort between 9:30 and 10am. The staff was very polite at check in. We paid with cash and they put a green band on our arms and asked if we needed towels. I believe they change the band color every day for day passes. When we arrived to the beach the water was blue, beautiful and calm; however the chairs where thrown all over the place and in bad shape. The tables around the palapas where broken with rocks holding them down. The palapas had some distance between them which gave you some private space. The beach area had rocks all over the place and in some places large piles of rocks. The beach area was really neglected.

 

There was a small bar area that open at 10am that served drinks in small plastic cups. I don't drink alcohol so I can not comment on that but they non-alcoholic drinks was good.

 

There was an outdoor buffet restaurant area that served lunch starting at 12 noon. They had fish, hamburgers, hot dogs, various types of salad, french fries and cake for dessert. Waitress walked around asking for drink orders. The area was clean and the food was just ok but the service was excellent. They did have a lot of birds flying around that would steal food off your plate if you was not looking.

 

They had a small pool that was clean looking with chairs, however I did not see any umbrellas.

 

The bathrooms where large and kept very clean. I saw cruisers using the restroom who had no bands on their arms. I could tell they where from the ship because of their towels;).

 

They had free WI-fi and no password was needed. The speed was not so bad!

 

Overall DH and I had an enjoyable time:); however next time in Antigua we will take the cab drivers advice and go to one of the beaches and rent chairs and umbrellas, but next time we will set up in an area that is not near the water sport rental place.

 

Looking forward to our next visit to Antigua on December 27, 2016 on the Grandeur of the Seas!:D

 

Gladys

 

 

Was just there last week. I concur with just about everything Gladys said. We paid $60pp for the day pass but we got there about 9am and had the unlimited drinks. Umbrellas were $10 to rent. There's really no shade on the beach except for one tree that gave some shade early in the morning.

 

Must have gotten the same taxi driver! (Bobby) HE didn't recommend Halcyon either. But for unlimited drinks for the day for $60 it's worth it for someone on a budget. Next time I would go to Sandals and pay the higher fee. The beach was so much nicer there.

 

debbie

[piginmud]

Well, sounds like you had a good day overall but I am surprised at some of your comments. We were there just about 7 weeks ago and found the beach to be beautiful, sandy, and clean (no piles of rocks). The beach was not neglected on the day of our visit.

 

As well, I understand you may think you got a bit of a bum deal, but how much do you think chairs and umbrellas, plus drinks and food would have cost you if purchased separately elsewhere? It adds up quickly.

 

We had an amazing day at this same resort, simply amazing. It was our last port and I think it might have been our favorite beach day. We thought the value for money was exceptional - my husband and brother in law drank as much as they wanted and we know it would have cost them way more than the $40 each we all paid. *shrug* Perhaps your cab driver/former Halcyon employee had a few sour grapes about the place, I really don't know. :(

 

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Was there last week and I had a very similar experience like Gladys did (but not yours). I don't think I got a bum deal at all because I had read these boards and saw what your experience was like and what Gladys' experience was like so I had a feeling I knew what I was getting into - it was a crap shoot. The beach was very rocky (hurts the bare feet!) and there was tons of seaweed on the beach. Halcyon doesn't keep up their beach, but the other resorts do because in front of Sandals and the other resorts it was nice and clean. No seaweed.

 

With that said, I knew for $60pp you weren't going to get a luxurious place. We had breakfast there and lunch. Breakfast was minimal but filling. They had really good grilled fish for lunch as well as other things like hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, salads, etc. The lunch was good. The liquor was no name brand and didn't really taste good. But if you wanted to get drunk, you could easily!

 

Our taxi driver also swayed us to not go to Halcyon. I don't think he had any beef against it other than he knows what other people had said about it. I heard that it was just sold so new management may take better care of it.

 

debbie

[c-leg5]

I am confused that some people seem to have paid $40 and some $60 at Halcyon? is this a seasonal thing or do some passes include different things?

 

Also has anyone been more recently with the new owners and can report any changes?

 

Thanks!

Edited April 19, 2016 by c-leg5

[Mommy4lyfe]

I am confused that some people seem to have paid $40 and some $60 at Halcyon? is this a seasonal thing or do some passes include different things?

 

Also has anyone been more recently with the new owners and can report any changes?

 

Thanks!

 

I am not sure why the price difference. We went over Christmas holiday. Ours included food, drinks, towels, chairs, umbrellas and use of the facility.