Pineapple Beach Club is my vacation perfection. Read the categories below to see if it would be yours. BEACH A lovely stretch of that perfect Caribbean aqua blue water I dream of. It's a wide open beach with soft sand. The ocean is wavy, but not overwhelming. They have approximately five circular "floats" tethered out about six feet into the ocean you can sit on and could fit up to about four people. There are water sports I will include under activities. There are plenty of beach loungers. There are approximately six small shaded tents on the beach to fit two people and a small area with shade and some palm tree umbrella coverings. When we were there, the capacity was at 50% and we never had any problems getting beach chairs or being under the tents or shade. I could not say how much of a challenge that might be if they had higher capacity. At the end of the Pineapple Beach Club beach area, it continues to another small beach where there are small vendor shacks and one of them seemed to rent umbrellas and chairs. I suppose if you needed shade and they were out of shaded areas at Pineapple Beach, you could maybe rent one of those umbrellas to bring over but we never had a problem. That small area of public beach does get some people, but it's not bothersome at all. It was a very small amount of people and the vendor shacks in that area sold souvenir-type items if you were interested in partaking. POOLS There are two pools. One main pool which has a waterfall. It was clean (but cold) and there was hardly anyone in it except for aqua aerobics every day at 10:30 (more in activities section on that). Music is playing during the hour long aqua aerobics, but besides that there is not booming music all day at the pool, which I found to be wonderful. The other pool is the infinity pool, which is the quiet pool. It is small but has a lovely view of the beach and nice and peaceful. Both pools are conveniently located to two different outdoor bars, where drinks are easily available without much of a wait at all. I did not experience any issues getting beach/pool towels at any time. They were always available and not a problem. FOOD There is Topaz, the main restaurant. Topaz is your only breakfast option, which is a buffet. The breakfast buffet was perfect with an egg/omelet station, a buffet of bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, sometimes vegetables, fresh fruits, pastries, breads, smoked salmon and basically whatever you might need for breakfast. Topaz is open for lunch as an a la carte regular restaurant. Your other option for lunch is the "Outhouse". This is an outdoor restaurant up on a hill. They serve fresh barbecue at lunch i.e., bbq chicken, bbq ribs, fish in parchment paper with vegetables, they have salads and fresh fruit to go with it. The Outhouse has the most stunning views of the Antigua beach down below. To have lunch up there is a truly transcendent experience and hard to describe unless you are there. It's a bit of a walk uphill, so if that's difficult for you, you can get one of the porters to drive you up there in a golf cart. For lunch, there is also a pool/snack bar that has basic burgers/fries, veggie burgers etc. For dinner there are two restaurants available by reservation, Chef Pietro or Pineapple Grill. Chef Pietro is Italian and very good. Pineapple Grill is upscale American food very good. Topaz has dinner buffet most nights. Some nights they do a special dinner. We were there on a Wednesday night where they did a "Carnival" night with local buffet cuisine. There is a coffee shop open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Cappuccinos made to order and espresso and regular coffees. They had some pastries available and ice cream. I am a New York City foodie so my take on the food is, it's good. I was not blown away by the food, but I also wasn't disappointed in it. It's good and I think most people would enjoy it. I don't think you would come to this resort with food as the main draw. I am also Celiac and gluten free. I sent an email ahead of time and spoke with various chefs when I was there to make accommodations. Some of the chefs were outstanding and made me gluten free muffins for breakfast and made sure I had gluten free breads. Then there were days where it seemed nobody communicated with each other and that wasn't available. I was always able to find gluten free food wherever I was except for really the pool bar or the coffee shop. ACTIVITIES There was an activity board up every day with times for each activity. Aqua aerobics every day at 10:30 was a good workout most days with lots of the guests participating. All day they had various activities, some athletic, some dart games, some beach bowling, some trivia games, some bingo, some water balloon tossing, some cocktail making classes... it ran the gamut. You could be busy all day if you want or do absolutely none of it! It's up to you. There are tennis courts and a fully stocked indoor gym. They had an excursions desk that seemed fully staffed. We did not do any excursions so I could not comment on those. Nighttime activities could be a DJ with dancing, a band, karaoke and if you are lucky, a Carnival night once a week which is a parade akin to a true Caribbean Carnival, so much fun! Night activities settle down around 10:30, 11 so if you want to get to sleep, the noise will stop then. WATER (BEACH) ACTIVITIES On Pineapple Beach, there is a water activity hut. It was great, they have floats and fins for snorkel off the beach available. Bring your own mask and mouthpiece, due to Covid restrictions they do not have those. They have beach kayaks, Hobie sailboats and never seemed to be a wait for any of it. SPA Not much of a "spa" but I went for a massage and it was professional grade. My back was in bad shape and Marbee, my masseuse, fixed me right up. They have basic spa treatments, massages and facials. ROOM We stayed in a waterfront room. We had a balcony with two chairs facing the ocean and the view was breathtaking. The room was good size for two people with a king bed, toilet/shower area with a door, and open sink area. The room was clean and functional and had a great view. I was not inside the beachfront or other rooms to speak of them. All the rooms seemed to be not modern but clean. VERY IMPORTANT room tip....we were on the top floor of the waterfront rooms (floor 3) our view was great and we loved it, but there were many steps. There are no elevators and it was quite a challenge. If you have any restrictions, I would let them know ahead of time so you are on a floor without so many steps. STAFF Just the heart and soul of this place. Every person you come in contact with from the porters to the bartenders, the wait staff, the activities staff, front desk... all of them. They will do whatever they can to take care of you and get you what you need with a smile on their face. There's one or two not so helpful, but you have that anywhere. It's a testament to their management and the people of Antigua how lovely their staff is. CLEANLINESS I am a neat freak, germ phobe. This place was clean, and that's a lot coming from me. I never felt worried about cleanliness in any of the common areas or eating areas. The pools were very clean as was the beach. I never saw a bug in my room (and I was checking!) Some natural bugs outside but very minimal. Our vacation was still in "Covid times" and there were sanitizer stations everywhere and the staff are all wearing masks all the time, which I genuinely appreciated. OVERALL This resort is not super modern, but well kept. The beach is quiet. The staff is helpful. You can do lots of activities or none at all. It's adults only, so no screaming kids. The guests ran the gamut from families with adult children to couples to friends vacationing together at ages ranging from in the 20s to the 80s and everyone had a great time with each other. This is not a place if you want to go party and have loud music all day. It's wonderful if you want to go relax and do some activities when you are ready on a stunning beach in a safe setting. You choose your level of intensity. I'll be back, and I wish it could be today!…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.