Hotel Review: Staying at Royalton CHIC Resort, Antigua.

Last year my friend Sophie and I spent a week at the Royalton Resort in St Lucia. We loved it so much we decided to do another Caribbean girls trip this year, to Royalton CHIC Antigua, an adults-only luxury all-inclusive resort.

However, I was SO scared in the run-up to us going because the reviews online are horrific.

So, I’m here to tell you everything – the good, the bad, and the ugly, so you can make a decision on whether or not this is the place for you.

Like my St Lucia post, I’ll be covering the rooms, the resort itself, food and entertainment, things to do on the island, and the journey there and back.

So, ready to find out the truth about staying at Royalton CHIC Antigua?! Let’s go!

Please note: this review is of the adults-only Royalton CHIC Antigua, not the family-friendly Royalton Antigua!

Why We Chose Royalton CHIC & Antigua

So as I said in my St Lucia post, my friend Sophie and I are both women in our early thirties.

Similar to last year, we really wanted a place that wasn’t romantic or coupley, had a fun vibe, was all-inclusive, contemporary, and was somewhere neither of us had been before.

We also wanted adults-only this year, as Royalton St Lucia wasn’t adults-only and we just didn’t want to hear screaming kids this time lol.

Once again we looked at going to Antigua’s Pineapple Beach Resort, as I’ve stayed there a couple of times before and really like it, but when we realised Royalton had recently opened a new hotel in Antigua, we figured lets try it out and try something new.

Read my comparison of Pineapple Beach Resort vs Royalton CHIC Antigua!

Booking with British Airways

We booked with British Airways in the BA Sale back in January, to fly out on 14th November 2025, and it cost us £2100 each for economy flights from Gatwick, 9 nights all-inclusive, and private airport transfers.

I’m not a huge BA fan if I’m being honest, I’m such a Virgin Atlantic girlie but VA were sooo much pricier when we were looking.

Needless to say the BA flight reminded me why I hate them so much…the seats were SO narrow and the staff are always just a bit surly and not as friendly as Virgin.

The food was also atrocious and I really missed the little cream tea that Virgin provides!

Anyway, we got there safely and that’s the main thing.

Currency to take with you

I’d recommend buying East Caribbean Dollars or USD to take with you.

It doesn’t really matter which of those two currencies you take as both are used widely and the exchange rates for both was pretty even.

We also found that places in Antigua didn’t charge you more if you used USD, whereas in St Lucia there was a noticeable difference when using ECD.

I took ECD in cash and then paid for day trips and the spa in USD on my credit card, which worked perfectly for me.

Arriving at the Resort

The drive from the airport in Antigua to Royalton CHIC is only 15-minutes (much shorter than the two-hour drive in St Lucia) so we arrived at Royalton CHIC Antigua around 4:30pm, and thankfully our room was ready immediately.

Instantly we noticed how much smaller the resort was compared to St Lucia, but it was actually really lovely.

They only had two check-in desks so we sat on the sofas in the lobby and a staff member came to check us in while we were sitting down.

The reception staff also kindly took my Marriott Bonvoy membership number from me so I would get some points! Because we didn’t book direct through Marriott I didn’t get any of my Platinum benefits, but I was still grateful for the points. I also got extra points for using the Spa and then paying on my Bonvoy credit card.

When we were checked in we were given our wristband, which opened our room. This was really handy and thankfully we had no issues with losing it (if you lose it you have to pay over $100 to replace it).

Our Garden View Room – 2219

The resort has a variety of room options. We decided not to go for Diamond Club because similar to St Lucia, the reviews made it sound like it wasn’t really worth it. In the end we were glad we didn’t pay the extra Diamond Club fee.

The Diamond Club rooms are in a high rise block at the end of the beach, whereas the normal rooms were in low-rise buildings.

We were on the second floor in B2 right by the main bar and entertainment area and the quiet pool.

Our room and balcony overlooked the gardens which was lovely, nd although we were next to the entertainment zone, we had no issues falling asleep at night – although it was loud some nights, the noise usually stopped around 11pm.

I should caveat though that I am a very heavy sleeper and can usually fall asleep no matter how much noise there is (although my awful noise experience at the Esme Hotel in Miami Beach was very a different situation haha).

The room itself was beautiful, clean, modern, and felt very fresh and new. Almost every hotel I’ve stayed at in the Caribbean has had a distinct smell of damp, but this room had absolutely zero damp/mould smell which was SO lovely.

The rooms were smaller than the St Lucia ones, but it had a proper closed-off bathroom which we preferred. The bathroom had a large walk-in shower, and enough shelf space for us to spread out all our skincare and makeup products!

My only complaint with the room is the lack of hangers – the closet only had six hangers, which for two women who had packed a lot of dresses, simply wasn’t enough.

The Resort & Pools

Now, the St Lucia pools were stunning, so Antigua had a lot to live up to.

Thankfully there were four pools at Royalton CHIC Antigua and all of them had their own pros and cons.

Royalton CHIC Pools

The Main Pool was where they held all the water activites and the twice-weekly foam party. There’s also a pool bar here with bar stools in the water.

Then there was a smaller kidney-shaped pool right next to the large main pool, which had a nice in-water seating area perfect for reading. There’s also a net in this pool and a ball for games.

My favourite pool however, was the ‘Relax’ pool over the other side of the resort.

I spent most of my time at the Relax pool because it really was SO tranquil and relaxing. There were also a couple of very cute stray cats that hang around this pool!

The only time I had an issue at this pool was the day they decided to powerwash every sunbed directly next to it…it literally went on for most of the day despite repeated complaints to the front desk from everyone at the pool. They kept saying they would stop soon…and then would continue on for hours. Let me tell you, it was not relaxing listening to a powerwash for 5+ hours straight.

Also something to be aware of is that there’s no bar at this pool, so you have to walk down a little bit to the beach bar, but it’s literally a 2-min walk away so not far.

Then finally, there’s also the Diamond Club pool, but it seemed like most of the DC guests didn’t actually use that – everyone we spoke to said there was no vibe there.

Were There Towels?

One of the main complaints in the Facebook group and the reviews online is that quite often they run out of towels. We only experienced this twice, and it was always early in the morning before the fresh laundy had been delivered.

If you grab towels after 9am it’s totally fine and we had no issues, it was only the two times we tried to get towels before 9am!

What are the sunbeds like?

For me, resort sunbeds are SO important – they make or break a vacay. Especially as you’re spending most of the day on them.

Unfortunately the sunbeds here are not comfortable, and the reason is that they’re designed to be used with cushions, but there are only a few cushions available (which weirdly were all on the beach). For some reason the resort has removed ALL of the sunbed cushions on the pool sunbeds…so you’re just sort of laying on the hard underneath part with a giant gap down near your lower back/bottom.

I had to constantly rotate myself to try and get comfortable, and had to use multiple towels and my little travel pillow to get comfy.

The Beach

Beach-wise, the resort is located on one of Antigua’s best beaches: Dickenson Bay, which is located on the Caribbean Sea side of the island. The beach is stunning and the water is picture-perfect!

Royalton App

The staff encourage you to download the Royalton app as this is where you can book the restaurants and see the latest schedule, however, I wouldn’t bother.

The app is clunky and half the time it doesn’t work or isn’t up-to-date.

You can easily book restaurants via the concierge or the restaurants themselves (same with spa appointments as well), so there really is no need to download the app.

Food at Royalton CHIC Antigua

The food at Royalton CHIC Antigua was very hit and miss. I’m going to go through each eatery/restaurant individually to properly give you my full review on them all.

Also a top tip for any neurodivergent people – you might want to take your own set of cutlery and just wash it in your bathroom sink after, because their cutlery is infuriating and constantly slips in your hands because of the awful design of it.

Elements Buffet

The breakfast at Elements was perfectly fine, but much smaller than in St Lucia. I enjoyed the fresh fruit, the freshly made omelettes, and the pancakes and pastries. I also loved that two mornings they even had fried plantain (my fave).

What I would say is the juice options were terrible. They had a horribly bitter orange juice, and a cranberry juice. That was it. Where is the mango and guava that you usually get in the Caribbean!? This was probably one of the most disappointing things about breakfast.

We didn’t try Elements at lunchtime, but I would say the dinner here was awful. I didn’t enjoy any of the dinner options the two nights we went to Elements in the evening. Everything was just a bit cold and bland.

INSOMNIA Patisserie

Insomnia was one of our favourite things about the resort! The patisserie was literally perfection.

They had sandwiches, cakes, tarts, muffins, cupcakes, donuts, fruit and the best freshly baked cookies! They also had  a bunch of different ice-cream flavours that rotated each day (the cookies and cream was heavenly).

If you like coffee, they also do different coffees and drinks here. I only tend to drink water, so I didn’t try any of the drinks.

I think the one thing it was missing, was a fridge of bottled water. It would have been easier to have a fridge full of it for guests to grab, instead of having to queue up to ask for it from behind the counter.

Hunters Steakhouse

Similar to St Lucia, the Royalton CHIC Antigua has a Hunters Steakhouse. And like St Lucia, this was one of our favourite restaurants.

The food was great, reliable, and the service here was also always really good. It was definitely some of the fastest service in the resort!

Olympus

Olympus was another good restaurant that we really enjoyed.

The starters and mains were perfect (the steak with gnocci was delicious), but the dessertts were a bit tasteless and a bit of a let down.

Vespa

Vespa was the worst out of all the food places.

The service and food were ATROCIOUS.

My friend Sophie’s pasta arrived after an hour, and it took them a further hour (almost 2 hours total) just to bring my pizza.

It was absolute chaos in there and despite complaining multiple times to them about the wait, they kept telling me ‘it’ll be here in a minute’. When the pizza did finally arrive (sorry but HOW does it take TWO HOURS to shove a pizza in the oven) it was horrific. I actually couldn’t eat it, it was so bad. After all that it wasn’t even the pizza I’d ordered and had ingredients missing.

Do not go to Vespa.

The Pool Food Truck

The pool food truck was perfectly fine – it was fairly basic burgers and chips and we didn’t have any problems with it at all. I really liked the Hawaiian burger which was a beef burger with pineapple!

The only thing I’d say, is that it would be ideal if they had more shade for the area because sometimes the wait could be quite long so it’s a long time standing in the sun.

Haven Grill

Haven was another one I really enjoyed!

I loved the Caribbean patties, the curried Mahi-Mahi, and the fried plantain. Sometimes the service could be a little slow, but it wasn’t too bad and I enjoyed the food.

Pescari

Now, Pescari is the special overwater restaurant in the resort.

If you’re Diamond Club you get one meal here included as part of your package. If you’re not DC, you have to pay a-la-carte prices, although I didn’t think the prices were bad at all.

The restaurant is also open to the public, so non-resort guests are able to dine here as well.

I loved this place! We had so much food and it was all AMAZING. Really good sushi, meat and fish, and tasty cocktails and desserts too.

I really recommend booking in here!

Royalton CHIC’s Entertainment & Activities

Ummm…I’m not really sure where to start with the evening entertainment lol.

The musicians were  really, really talented.

However, the dancers were…not good. They have a group of dancers each evening doing performances and only one or two of the dancers were decent, the others looked like they were taking part in their high school talent show.

When it came to day time entertainment things were better. Similar to St Lucia, the Vibe team were good and did a great job hyping everyone up, and we really enjoyed Elvis’s aqua fit sessions.

The resort also has lots of kayaks, pedalos, and hobies etc to take out on the water, and there’s a full gym onsite too.

The Resort’s Spa & Shops

I went to the spa for a 90-minute hot stone massage one afternoon, and had a lovely time.

The massage was great, but if you arrive about an hour before your treatment the spa itself is honestly sooo relaxing and feels brand new, and nice and luxurious. There are saunas and steam rooms, and then different pools to use1

My top tip is to look at the daily offers, then go to the Spa and haggle to use an offer on a different day.

Important to note, that the shops in the resort are incredibly expensive, so make sure you take enough suncream with you – if you need more suncream it will cost you $45USD per bottle.

Antigua Activities & Day Trips from Royalton CHIC

Antigua has SO much to do and see so I definitely recommend taking a couple of days to explore.

We didn’t do any organised tours on this visit because they were SUPER expensive from the resort and both Sophie and I have been to Antigua multiple times before, and have seen most of the island. But we did do a morning trip to the capital city of St John’s, and the Shirley Heights sunset BBQ on the Sunday evening.

Anyway, below I’ll cover off all the key things to do and see that I’ve done on previous trips.

Dickenson Bay Phone Box

The resort is located right on Dickenson Bay, one of the best beaches in Antigua. We loved taking an early morning walk along the beach up to the famous Phone Box.

There’s also a beach club and cafe next to the phone box if you wanted to try that.

St John’s

St John’s is the capital city and is worth visiting – you really only need a couple of hours to explore.

It cost us around 30USD return in a taxi, and we had a wander around the colourful buildings, went up to the Cathedral to see the brand new interior (which was being renovated back when I went in 2016), and had dessert and cocktails at Hemingways restaurant.

Shirley Heights & Nelson’s Dockyard

Shirley Heights sunset BBQ is a must-do! It only happens on sunday evening and thursday evening each week, with sunday being the busier one.

Get there early so you don’t miss the sunset, grab a very strong rum punch, and enjoy the jerk chicken and other food on offer!

They take cash and card for the food and drink, but take cash for the $15USD entry fee.

If you have time beforehand, go to Nelson’s Dockyard (English Harbour) in the afternoon for a wander around there, as the entry fee gets you into both the dockyard and Shirley Heights.

You can either do the tour through Nexus tours in the resort, or you can book a round-trip taxi journey via the hotel’s concierge.

Boat Trips & Day Trip to Barbuda

I’ve done a few boat trips in Antigua before, and I do really recommend doing one. Especially the snorkelling trips to the Pillars of Hercules and Bird Island.

I also did the boat trip to Barbuda back in 2016, but we were quite disappointed by it as it was a really large boat and quite overpriced.

Hiring a Car

My second favourite way to see the island after doing it by boat, is by car.

Hire a car for a day and drive yourself around Antigua. You can see it all within one day and it’s worth doing so you can go to places like Fig Tree Drive, Jolly Beach, Half Moon Bay, and Turners Bay.

You can also visit Stingray City which is great fun!

Helicopter Tour of Montserrat

The Helicopter Tour of Montserrat was one of the best things I’ve done in Antigua! It was SO amazing and so much fun!

The island’s Soufriere Hills volcano was inactive for hundreds of years, and the main city of Plymouth was built on historical lava deposits. And then after hundreds of years of inactivity, the volcano awoke in the 90s, and destroyed everything in it’s path.

The helicopter tour takes you right over the city of Plymouth and it’s incredible to see how fast nature has taken back the area.

You can book via CalvinAir.

Service at Royalton CHIC Antigua

Right, now let’s get into the service at the Royalton CHIC Antigua, because this is something that comes up a lot in the online reviews.

In general, it was very hit and miss.

Some of the staff were really amazing and went above and beyond, were super friendly and caring. And others just did not care and clearly didn’t want to be there.

The service in general was definitely slow, but I think as long as you go in knowing that, it’s okay. After all, you’re on holiday and there isn’t exactly any rush to be somewhere!

For me though, it was the little things. Like at breakfast it took forever to get any water – why can’t they just fill the water glasses when they seat you at the table? I don’t understand why it required a separate person to do this…and that person would take ages to do it.

I’d say 90% of the time our drinks arrived as we were finishing our food, which is just not okay for a 5-Star hotel.

What are the vibes and clientele of the hotel like?

If you’re a group of adults or friends wanting an adults-only vacation on a beautiful beach close to the main area of the island, that doesn’t break the bank, and has a good mix of things going on and peace & quiet, Royalton CHIC Antigua is for you.

If you’re a couple looking for 24/7 peace and quiet and a proper romantic luxury experience, do not book this hotel. If I was going with a partner and wanted a romantic, peaceful vibe, I would not stay here.

Honestly for us, we were looking for these things from our vacation:

• All-inclusive
• Adults only
• Suitable for a girls trip/friends (not couples/romance focused)
• Contemporary comforts
• On a beautiful beach
• Multiple pools and multiple a la carte restaurants (rather than just a buffet option)
• Some entertainment/parties, but the ability to get away from it and relax as well

And for us, Royalton CHIC Antigua delivered all of that.

That doesn’t mean it was perfect though. Which brings me onto…

Honest Thoughts on Our Stay & The Negative Reviews

The hotel is apparently a 5-Star hotel but I’d say it should realistically be a 4-Star category. Do not expect the service levels of a Four Seasons, a St Regis, a Mandarin Oriental, or even the Sandals Grande Antigua(which is right next door) etc.

However, the price of the resort reflects that. It only cost us £2000pp for 9 nights all-inclusive, and I think that’s good value for what we got.

If the complainers were willing to spend double the price to stay at Sandals, then they’d get Sandals levels of service.

We also met some couples who complained about the noise at the resort, but the resort literally bills itself as a party resort, so that’s on you if you didn’t do your research before booking.

Also one thing I loved about it was that you can take part in the foam parties and goings on at the main pool, but then there was the beautiful beach and the relax pool if you wanted peace and quiet.

A lot of people were complaining about the food, but let’s face it, it’s a large all-inclusive in the Caribbean…you’re never going to get amazing food. For us the food was hit-and-miss, but it was fine and again, for what we paid I don’t mind that. This isn’t ultra-high end, boutique Galley Bay, you’re simply not going to get the same level of food quality as the likes of Galley Bay and Hermitage Bay.

To be honest I think us Brits also have much lower service expectations than Americans. Out of everyone we spoke to, it was the Americans who were super unhappy with everything while all the Brits were saying they were happy with a comfy bed, some sunshine, and a good cocktail.

But I 100% get why the Americans are all complaining, especially as it’s part of Marriott so you do expect a certain standard.

Tbh I think Marriott need to do some serious training and sort the issues out, because the negative reviews online are 100% turning people away and making guests cancel their trips (and the resort felt pretty quiet when we were there). I’ve seen sooo many people in the Royalton Facebook group saying they cancelled a trip because of negative reviews.

So, would I go again? Honestly, probably not…but that’s because a hotel has to be really good for me to revisit because I love going to new places. However, I’m glad we went and despite the issues we did have a really lovely 10-day vacation there!

Anyway, I hope this review has been helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions 🙂