Jolly Beach Resort and Spa - All Inclusive

The beach here was absolutely beautiful; couldn't be better! Rooms just okay, but we didn't come to stay in the room much!

We were very pleased with our stay. The only thing that could have been better: Less vendors on the the Beach. But, I don't think the Resort can control that. There also was a shortage of towels in the room. But not a major deal. Overall we were very pleased with our stay. Oh one more thing, you could have larger beer glasses. Ha Ha We will be back.

This resort is exactly what you read about it....the beach is absolutely beautiful! The resort is older and nothing special, but rooms are clean. All inclusive is OK since food is not that good. Grill by pool has great jerk chicken! For the price, great caribbean trip.

First we arrived after 3pm and our room still wasnt ready. Then we get to our room and it was the wrong room. It took 4 hrs for us to get our room. The staff for the most part had a terrible attitude and did not do much to make our vacation enjoyable. The dancers were good but the dj and bands were lacking energy. The food was less than average. Gift shop was expensive. They tried to charge us for our beach towels. They have a problem with ants. The only positive at this resort was the beautiful beach.

Fantastic location, beach and surrounds; found it inconvenient to make restaurant reservations.

Hotel is just OK, it has a few miles on it and I must say that the reception staff were splendid-couldn't be nicer. Food is pretty good for a value focussed stay I have no complaints. However, the beach is as fine as anywhere in the world--soft beautiful sand and lush scenery---For the money, it can't be beat.

Hotel staff members who were not eligible for tips were consistently rude. Food was not fresh or prepared well. Do not under any circumstances pay for an ocean view room upgrade (which I did). I received a room facing a courtyard and when I inquired about an ocean view room for the first three days, I was reminded that the hotel does not have any ocean view rooms nor do they sell them. The beach was beautiful and the ocean was very calm. However the water was not clear enough to snorkel nor where the waves big enough to play in (unless you are under 10).

Resort sits on a great beach and the staff is great. That's where the positives end. Resort has not been updated in 20 years and the food leaves much to be desired. Food; not much variation and not prepared well. Based on reviews before leaving I knew this was going to be the case but thought it would still be "acceptable", it was not. I'll also mention I can't stand people that complain about vacations and have never found anything bad enough to actually complain about.

Jolly beach resort and spa is a very popular place. The food was OK in the main restaurant hemisphere where you eat almost everyday if you take all inclusive. But there are three other restaurants in the resort and were really good. Lydia's sea food is wonderful in that you are sitting right at the beach, and the sunset is beautiful. The other two, the indian and the italian were very good. The two pools were very nice, and you had access to food throughout the day. The beach has a very nice location, and enjoyed that very much. Its a great place for a family vacation. we went there with our 8 month old and managed it very well. We did not rent a car, but booked cabs to go to the Rainforest, devil's bridge, nelson;s dockyard and shirley heights. Also, to go to st john's. Its just 15 min away. Jolly beach resort ha sthe jolly becah harbor close by at a walking distance and the shops are nice there and also there is a huge supermarket. The resort also had showtimes from 9:30-11pm and that was wonderful. They had put together nice shows every night, like the dances from the region, we had bonfire one night, and also an antiguan carnival experience. It all made it a nice vacation. The rooms were simple, nothing luxurious, but clean and served our purpose. we had a ground level room, looking into the garden and so it was nice to wake up and see our private garden. It was away form the bar and entertainment area so it was convenient for us with the baby. Overall we had a nice vacation holiday, much needed sunshine and we had a good escape from mid-winter.

I am writing this review to help provide you with a realistic viewpoint. I travel about every six weeks for pleasure.. and as I read through people's reviews I smile realizing that many people who write their opinions are not evaluating this property based on what it is (with consideration to the price of it's value), rather, maybe what they hoped it would be and then tear it up for not being what they hoped. I think that is naive on their part to expect more than what they paid for- so here is what I hope to be an honest review from a viewpoint that is more realistic to what has been paid for- and not shattered dreams of a Caribbean vacation where it is obvious some of these people must have never been to the Caribbean before and are expecting a Las Vegas resort . The rooms are meh. So if the room is important to you don't stay here. The beds are old. This is the worst thing I have to say about the hotel. The bathrooms are remodeled and clean. You get a great high powered shower, and it feels clean, you feel clean! This is very important to me, the room was as clean as you can hope for the Caribbean as it is really hard to keep fine sand of tile floors. I felt they did a good job in this regard. When you arrive to their funky room, there are garden flowers placed carefully around the mirrors and basically anywhere the maid could think to put a fresh flower which made me smile. The food is not a cruise ship style buffet. It has a lot of local style food and it was a fresh as island food could be.. The lettuce and vegies were local and I loved that.. The meat dishes were flavored with local flavors and there was a lot of local fish dishes/seasonings. I could get fresh fruit at any meal, and salad at lunch and dinner which is important to me. If you like fried food, then you will be in heaven. If you don't and I don't, you can easily avoid it but it's plentiful. The desserts are so home-made looking, I loved it. They are the typical local desserts you see anywhere from the Bahamas down to the Grenadines.. and if you realize you are not in the USA ..and expect it to look like home you will be disappointed. If you are happy like I am that it is made onsite, then you will be thrilled. They have great ice-cream-simple but great- You have to ask for it and everyday they have different flavors. We ate in Hemisphere's most days because I noticed the food in the other restaurants ends up as part of the same menu as the specialty restaurants (to a degree- but if you want variety-maybe try the specialty restaurants- we had no problems at all getting in as long as you follow their instructions.. people who had problems, I have to wonder why-perhaps they did not go to make reservations during specified reservation making hours?) We loved the casual fare of the basic restaurant. I am a food snob, as far as quality, but understand where you are and you will be happy. Expect Holland America and you will be just like one of these grumpy unrealistic reviewers. Most people who stay at this resort are not American. I noticed they seemed to innately understand where they were at and where they were eating, amenities and so on.. They seemed content as well. So I must consider when reading these gripey reviews that we might have a problem collectively "American" who think everything needs to look like home.. and to those people, I sense they should travel in the States or travel with a larger spending/expense budget. Yes, there is the matter of the birds flying around the food. I live on Catalina Island where we are criticized for the same problem. It is not the fault of the resort.. it is seagulls and pigeons and all scavenger birds of this nature.. IT's NATURE. Like I said, get out in the world a little more and you will find in remote islands with outdoor food, you will find birds can get excessive. If this is a problem for you, consider indoor dining... but since the indoor dining is sort of indoor/outdoor-the birds manage to sneak th...