I have just returned from an indulgent month at the Rex Blue Heron in Antigua. I have been visiting this wonderful island for 21 years, and therefore feel duly qualified to comment on the above resort. This was the first time I have satyed at the Blue Heron, although I have stayed at other Rex Resorts. I found the majority of the staff pleasant, helpful, polite and a total pleasure to be around, their teamwork and bon amie couldn't help but make you smile. I was particularly impressed with the standard of the rooms, particulary in this priceband. They were immaculately clean and tidy with towell replacement daily. The cleaning staff are to be commended. The location of the hotel is on stunning Turners Beach, real postcard material! However, the hotel is suffering from a few problems which could so easily be rectified that it actually became very frustrating! The showers really are pathetic. There is no problem with the water supply, only the water pressure, so do expect to run around under a dribble for half an hour minimum for a decent clean. The evening entertainment was essentially non existant,unless you are particularly fond of over loud music played for the pleasure of the staff, not the guests. The bar staff were wonderful but inefficient and the guests regularly resorted to running the bar themselves! No I'm not joking! I cannot comment on the food as I did not eat at the hotel. Overall, I would stay at the Rex Blue Heron again but only once they have sorted out these problems. It really is a delightful place in a beatiful location with a great team running it. With a bit of a kick up the backside it COULD be fantastic. I had a fantastic time nonetheless and am grateful to all the fantastic other guests I met and to the lovely staff who shall remain nameless but who knoe who they are.

Last minute booking for Blue Heron and it certainly met our expectations for a get-away-from-it-all holiday. Friendly reception staff upon arrival, including a fabulously intoxicating rum punch!

On arrival at our beachfront room, I was pleasantly surprised to find it clean, bright and didn't smell of damp, like many Caribbean hotels do. Instead, there was a beautiful light aroma of flowers, no doubt down to the hibiscus which had been placed on the pillows, on top of the cabinets and through the bathroom. A lovely welcome for the eyes and nose!

Our room was indeed directly on the beach, with a plentiful supply of chairs. It could get a little busy on the days when cruise ships were in town, but that wasn't too often.

All inclusive is really the only way to go at the Blue Heron. There are two good restaurant/bars either side of the the property, but that's really it, without having to take expensive taxis to other parts of the island. Dinner alternated between two parts of the hotel, which helped in breaking each night's routine. We did enjoy the food though and only ate out on 2 nights, just to give the local places a try. I'm still trying to lose the pounds I put on during my 2 weeks in June!

All in all, a relaxing hotel and just what I needed. There are tours, watersports etc if you want them, but I didn't feel the need personally. But if you want to be out on the town every night, this maybe isn't the place for you.

Viz the raucous group of fellow guests who blighted some of our holiday, I've blanked them from memory and hope that the Antiguans don't hold it against the rest of us well-behaved GBs.

Just returned from holiday to Antigua (13th july 07 - 27th July) we stayed at the Blue Heron (Rex resorts). Lovely beach and quiet most of the time apart from on some days jet skis for about 2 hours which spoilt the peace and quiet. The hotel is small and friendly and staff are all lovely very helpful. rooms basic but clean and nice only a couple of places tro eat other than the hotel we went on all inclusive. Food was nice but was a little repetative on occasions and not very warm. but overall nice. Local brand drinks. One big negative advertised as bar open untill 11pm but most nights closed at 10.20pm and one night tried to close at 9.40pm untill Manager was informed. Entertainment not very good the steel band was good but far too loud would have been better with something in the background. 25 minutes to St Johns the nearest town catch no. 22 bus outside hotel for a few dollars Taxi 20us$ one way. St Johns very nice nice duty free shops. Weather hot and humid but rained most days for 5 - 10mins and few days lasted half a day spectacular thunder storms. Husband went diving with Jolly Divers said it was excellent. My biggest complaint was with the Rep Nancy from meeting she just wanted to sell us trips went on island safari at a cost of 90us$ each (£45) it was a complete waste of money we did not do half of the itinary. We did park on a hill while the driver got out to pick some fruit and the jeep started to role down the hill it smashed a workers rake at the road side so the driver spent 20mins arguing with the worker. ended up back at Tuners beach bar (our beach and Hotel next door) for chicken and chips and a beer at 1.15 we ended up walking back t0our hotel. The tour was with TROPICAL ADVENTURES avoid at all cost!! another couple from hotel went on same trip with BO TOURS and they said it was excellent so book that one!! The rep did not want to know nor did tropical adventures. We nearly missed flight home as the rep should have booked our taxi for 2.30 we waited fronm 2.15 until 15.40 could not get in touch with rep eventually did and she tried to pass the blame onto the hotel we arrived at the airport at 16.10 our BMI flight was already boarding as it was due to leave at 17.05 the queues for pass port were long and as we got to the door we were told we had to pay our departure tax at the window further back so we had to go back to the queue again - nightmare!! We eventually got on the plane at 16.50 and to top it all we didnt depart until 17.30. Overall the holiday was lovely and I would go back but only to the same hotel with a different rep and better entertainment.. Best to take $us currency plenty of banks and cash points in St Johns. Easy to phone home with a phone card cheaper than hotel another thing rep advised us wrongly on>

My husband and I have just returned from a wonderful two weeks in the Caribbean, most of which we spent at the Blue Heron in Antigua. We loved it there! The beach was amazing – the best I have ever been too and we consider this hotel to have been a real gem of a find. Most of the time the beach was quiet and we felt as though we had it to ourselves. The sea was warm and clear, and the sand is white and very clean!

We had only planned to spend one week at the Blue Heron and had arranged to spend the second week on Montserrat. However we had had such a WONDERFUL time at the Blue Heron (and found that on Montserrat there was only really enough to do for a day trip) that we returned to the Blue Heron for the remainder of our second week as well.

STAFF:

We found the staff friendly, helpful and very obliging – especially Carleen, the assistant manager. I can't understand some of the negative reviews saying that the staff are rude or unhelpful, as we found the exact opposite.

ROOMS:

Initially we had booked a standard room, which we thought was lovely. It had a rustic charm about it, and for the money we had paid we thought it was delightful and had all we needed. Not having air con didn’t bother us, but as the windows aren’t double glazed, we did find that noise from the staff setting up breakfast at 7am and noise from the bar in the evenings became a nuisance by the middle of the week and so we upgraded to a Superior Room with air con, a TV and, more importantly, double glazing! We didn’t get a beachfront room, but our room was wonderful! I note that other people have complained of uncomfortable beds and outdated décor in the beachfront rooms, but as you see from the pictures, both our standard room and our superior room had fresh white linen and neutral coloured curtains, which gave the room a fresh modern feel. Our bed in both rooms was comfortable, although notably better (and larger) in the superior room. It may be that in the program of refurbishments, the management have not yet updated the more regularly used beachfront rooms, so if you are heading out there this summer you may get a better room if you are willing to forgo the view and convenience of being on the beach front and take a room in the block at the back of the hotel.

REFURBISHMENTS:

The refurbishment program, involving the provision of a new outdoor beach bar (see picture) and covered dining area in the place of one of the rows of standard accommodation and the provision of lovely new pool and bar furniture gives the hotel a modern feel. This was our first visit, so we didn’t see it as it was previously, but other guests told us that this new development said that it was a great improvement.

FOOD:

During our first week we had a room only plan, which worked well on our budget. We bought food for lunch and breakfast at the supermarket at Jolly Harbour (a shirt bus trip away) and kept our food in the fridge in the room. We acquired all the crockery/cutlery we needed from the restaurant. We couldn’t afford to eat in the hotel every night ($30 USD each for three courses) and as the hotel was only at 30% capacity, when we did eat in, we didn’t find the food to be that amazing anyway. In the evenings we ate at OJs (a 10min walk down the beach), Turners or Barnies (just passed OJs). All were very nice, although nothing special. When we returned to the Blue Heron during our second week, the hotel was fuller (50% capacity) and we got a good all-inclusive deal. The food over those three days was great. The hotel alternated the location of the evening meals, eating in the old restaurant and the new beach restaurant alternative nights. We felt that eating in the new beach restaurant was much more pleasant, and that the management should consider abandoning the old restaurant area altogether (except for during stormy weather).

TRANSPORT:

For getting around we used the buses (taxis are extortionate!). We did look into hiring a car at the hotel, but the insurance seemed a little dodgy as we’d be liable for up to $1500 USD if we caused damage to another car, even after paying a waiver! As we deemed the likelihood of a collision to be quite high (given the speeds that many of the locals drive at) we decided not to go ahead with that plan. If we return, we’ll look at hiring something at the airport or in St. Johns with an international company. If you don’t hire a car, the buses are fun and reliable and you can get most places with them, including English Harbour, if you go via St. Johns.


So if you are heading to the Blue Heron for your holiday and you’re looking for quiet Caribbean charm on a fantastic beach, you won’t be disappointed – relax and enjoy it!!

Susanna & Pete