In October, just a few days after our wedding, my husband and I did a quick mini-moon to Antigua. Of course, this was NOT a work trip, but I still wanted to share our experience at the hotel in case you’re looking for your own Caribbean escape!
 Truth be told, we originally weren’t attached to Antigua itself. We wanted our mini-moon to be as easy and stress-free as possible so that we could truly unwind after our wedding. So, our criteria was to find somewhere with a direct flight from NYC, adults only, and all-inclusive.
We couldn’t have felt luckier to have found the Escape at Nonsuch Bay, which is actually quite new! Nonsuch Bay itself has been around for years, but their recent adults-only addition, the Escape, was just opened in early 2019.
Location
The resort is about 45 minutes from the airport. But, once you’re there, there is no need to leave. You can also walk back and forth from the Escape resort and Nonsuch Bay, the bigger resort. The former has a private pool and dock, but Nonsuch Bay did have a wonderful beach so we found ourselves over there often! The walk is pretty steep and can be tough in the heat, but a driver was always happy to take us.
Staff
The staff was excellent and made the entire trip. This was one of the highlights of the resort. I can’t say enough good things about them, especially Philson and Zoe!
Food and Bars
There was really only one bar and one restaurant per resort, which was perfectly fine considering the intimate nature of the hotel.Â
The food was okay, but honestly, nothing to ride home about. Such is often the case with all-inclusives though! We weren’t expecting much different. There were only three selections per meal. Sometimes that worked, other times we didn’t care for anything on it.
The bartenders were always so sweet and we loved the local rum!Â
Rooms and Space
The rooms were really what sold us on this hotel. Each room in the Escape has a private plunge pool right on the terrace with a view of the water. It was incredible to wake up to this every morning!
The rooms themselves were small but incredibly romantic.Â
Pool and Beach
Private pool– as I mentioned above, we LOVED the small plunge pool outside of our room. We got in first thing in the morning and loved going in at night too. It was so refreshing and big enough to actually spend time in. Not just an oversized bathtub!
Pool at the Escape– the Escape resort had its own pool for the adult-only section. It was beautiful and right next to the bar, so you could spend the afternoon there and relax! It was very quiet and calm, not loud like some other hotel pools. We liked that, but we found that we’d rather be at our private plunge pool than this one.
Beach– there was no beach at the Escape, but the one below was at the Nonsuch Bay resort. As I mentioned, the Nonsuch Bay was a ten minute walk or a two minute drive, so we would often go after breakfast and spend the morning at the beach. We loved it here! It was always quiet and never too crowded and the water was beautiful!
Transportation
We booked a car through the hotel which came to get us from the airport privately. It was about $40 each way. Very easy!
Cost
We thought the cost was well worth the price! There’s definitely less expensive all inclusive resorts out there but we found the quality here matched the price. Specifically, the entire resort felt like it was your own private experience. We never felt crowded whether at dinner, at the beach, or at the pool. To boot, the staff had told us that the Escape was fully booked! We never would’ve known. That alone separated this out from other all inclusives.Â
As I mentioned, we also thought the staff alone stood out as a much higher caliber than many all inclusive resorts we had visited.
Entrepreneur Rating
The few times I did work, I worked on the patio near the plunge pool on the comfortable floating bed or chair. There was no desk or place to properly work in the hotel, as there shouldn’t be. They did have fabulous wifi though.
As an entrepreneur, the best thing you can do here is unwind and get your creative juices flowing!
