The only fault I could find was that about 20 poeple had ear infections from the pool, which was closed for a day while treated, but was then sorted. The hotel did bring in a doctor and paid for the treatment but the doctor was not the best as he examined peoples ear and did not clean the equipment each time, so I think if you did not have the infection you would have after he examined you. My wife did read on another forum about ear infections in hot countries, so we did take our own ear drops out and had no problems.
I have read on other posts about staff being unfriendly but thats certainly not the case we have found...in fact quite the opposite. If you take the time to talk to the staff they are so friendly, and I must thank Leslie (Hotel Manager), Scotty (assistant manager) Devon (restuarant manager), Esther (front desk manager), Jason/Brett (bar), Niamoi (waitress).
The location is great right on the beach, and we did see a leather back on the beach during the day, as well as a couple at night that laid eggs. The vendors that used to hang about under the tree on the beach have now been moved on which was good, although I must say that if you say a firm no, they did not hassle us, and we ended up talking to them about life on the island.
We visited |Argyle falls again, and this time did spot a Caymen and a bright green snake, and it well worth a visit. This year we went deep sea fishing with http://www.hardplay.net and caught some Barracuda and king fish. One of the guys had a barracuda on the line when a 500lb shark surfished and ate half of it. On the way back a pod of doplhins followed us in which was great. The 2 guys who ran the trip were great and offered us the fish, or they gave the fish to a local old peoples home which I thought was good.
I can recommend Arnos Vale for snorkelling, and we've still not found anywhere better yet. Just round the corner from the hotel we found a place called Aventure Park, where for a small donation you can see humming birds fed, which was amazing. We have in the past had the afternoon tea at Arnos Vale, but there were more varities at the adventure Park and more birds, so I can recommend that.
Some people there were moaning about the hotel, but what I think people forget is that this is a 3* hotel and to me offers great value for money. If you want a 5* hotel goto the Coco Reef and pay twice as much.....We had room 104 on the ground floor near the pool which was adequate. 2 double beds, air con, fridge, tv and right outside the room was a mango tree which was great for shade, and look out for yellow mangos, they are delicious fresh from the tree.
Were definately go back again in a few years, fancy a change next year. Steve W, do you know you an excellent site like your for Antigua?
Were thinking of the Rex Halcyon Cove as the RTB manager gave me his email address and said he would be able to arrange us a deal and treat us as a repeater there as we have been to another rex hotel, so be intgerested to hear from anybody who has stayed at Halcyon Cove Antigua
cheers
