We have just spent a blissful 10 days at Blue Waters in January '12. Having waited 7 years to return to Antigua expectations were high - but the resort lived up to them all. Our Cove Suite was delightful - but it was the staff who made the holiday. Each and every person went out of their way to make guests feel welcome and special. From Daniel the General Manager who greeted us on arrival, through to Dorothy in the restaurant and Jean who looked after our room staff members were kind and considerate.
The beaches aren't particularly large, but they easily accommodated those who wanted a bit of quiet time time to relax. The pools were equally popular and welcoming. And the nearest thing to a decision that had to be taken was whether to accept regular offers of a sorbet, or a drink, or a cold flannel.......
The food on offer was generally excellent although not 'fine dining' by London standards. The main restaurant (The Palms) was very good and specialised in local dishes and excellent barbecues. An informal setting. The Cove restaurant, a lovely ambience and a more refined menu. The place for those 'special' evenings. Bartley's was out third choice.
The spa treatments - though not cheap - were of a high standard, and should be even better now that they are ion new accommodation.
In short. if you are looking for a totally relaxing break Blue Waters must be on your shortlist.

We (family of 5) stayed at this hotel in January. It is about 20 minutes form the airport which was a big plus. Upon arrival, you are welcomed and given a nice cool drink. We upgraded to the cove suites and also purchased the all inclusive food plan which is a good idea since it can get a little pricey at some of the restaurants. The cove suites are located a little distance away from the lobby, but this did not prove to be any problem as you can request a ride to and from the lobby via a golf cart. The suite was spectacular (Building #3), well designed and furnished exquisitely. We had to walk up a set of stairs to get to the 3 bedroom suite, but the hotel staff will carry the luggage up for you.
Two of the rooms had king sized beds with their own huge bathroom, and were mirror images of each other, while the third bedroom was off the kitchen area and had a double bed. The doors to the bathroom for the bigger rooms could be opened up fully so one could look out at the ocean while having a bath. There is also a pull out couch in the living area. The kitchen had a fridge which could be stocked by selecting items from a list if requested and this was done at no charge if you were on the all inclusive plan.
The view from the balcony is spectacular, you get to see a private pool that you (or others in the cove suite building) can use, as well as the ocean. There are small flat screen TV's in all the bedrooms and a large one in the living area. I did think the bedroom TV's were too small for the rooms, but you are not really there to watch TV anyway. There is a DVD player with a DVD selection in the lobby, but the two DVD's we did get (at no charge) did not work in the machine.
There are three public pools, one of them is for adults only. There are also three restaurants and the selection of food on the menu was changed every so often. The food is excellent, but if you are not on the all inclusive plan, the prices could quickly add up.
There was some construction going on as they are adding a huge spa area, but there was no construction noise that bothered us at all.
The games room was a little small and offered little choice, but my children did like the billiards and foosball tables. The beaches are slightly small, but not crowded at all. The sand is very nice and feels great between your toes. There are paddle boats that you can get as well as other beach stuff. Also, no one is allowed to save the beach or pool chairs so there were lots of places to sit and tan or read.
The attention from the staff is simply the best. Everyone remembered our names, were prompt in getting anything we wanted and were very helpful in suggesting where to go in Antigua. Alistair (the GM) and all the rest of the staff deserve the highest praise for their exceptional work. We really enjoyed our vacation and we shall definitely look forward to visiting this resort again.

Honestly people... How can this place be beautiful, excellent etc etc?

I'm a young professional, traveled a lot, stayed at many hotels - people from my age group who can afford $300-600 a night hotels - go somewhere else

I am very sorry for the place, for the management because it looks like though they try to catch up with modern level of high class hospitality and badly fail... They do have some nice touches like brinding little cold towels for refreshment or fruits to the beach but then the beach beds are terribly old and worned out and the seats in the restaurant are all wet cause no one took care to collect them when the rain started or at least put them away for a night...

The food is such that you can't just understand want you pay for. A dinner for 2 with just 2 main courses of 2 slightly burned pieces of grilled fish (taken from the grill smoking right next to your table where lots of fish is grilled for those who stay on all inclusive and dont seem to eat it up anyway) and not so fresh salad on the side and 2 glasses of terrible wine (that's another point!!) is around $100. One gets the feeling that they figured out the level of prices at expensive resorts but failed to cross check what is served for such prices and how it is served...

And it's all the same food everyday with very little selection and more than average quality - even if you take all inclusive you can't really look at it anymore after day two or three

We stayed here for 12 nights and it was the most relaxing holiday I've ever been on. Our room was one of the standard ones but it had everything we needed and was clean and tidy. We had a view of the sea and the beach and main restaurant was a minute walk away.
We didn't go for the inclusive package, choosing to have a big breakfast, skip lunch and stay on the beach until 4pm when they serve an afternoon tea, then have dinner around 7pm. The food was quite expensive and over the time we were there I guess we spent around $1300-$1800 altogether on evening meals, so approximately $50-$75 per person. If my wife wasn't pregnant and we could have made use of the free drinks we probably would have gone all-inclusive and I think that would make life easier!
However life didn't get much easier than staying at Blue Waters. Staff were genuinely friendly and the whole place had a very homely feel. Great entertainment as well with live bands on almost every night and sometimes during the day. We felt that we had the beach practically to ourselves most of the time as people tended to sit around the pool. The sea was perfect for swimming but too cloudy to snorkel straight off the beach however there is a chance that the guys that run the watersports will take you out on a hobby cat to a good snorkelling spot about a mile out. There are plenty of trips to take but for this holiday we were happy to stay by the beach.
We ventured to Saint John's once for an evening meal. Seemed a friendly and safe place and we had dinner at Hemmingway's which was very nice and worth a visit. I can also recommend Lewis the taxi driver who was a nice chap, great guide and with fair prices..in fact taxis in general were fair.
I can't say enough about the staff here, they made my wife and I feel welcome and relaxed and we'd love to come back some day when we need another relaxing break.