Galley Bay Resort and Spa

Just returned from a week’s stay at the Galley Bay resort and spa. It’s our second trip there as we really liked it the first time around. It’s a lovely boutique hotel and ideal if you want peace and quiet and a great beach stay. Antoine, the resort General Manager, Is very welcoming and has a great team working with him to deliver very good service right across the resort. It’s hard not to go back next year! If you are there try the Sandy cocktail…..even better when she makes it 😁.

Starting with the good, and there are a fair number of things that are excellent. This is overall a quiet, serene and relaxing vacation destination.

The beach and water are stunning. There are some rocks so you need to be aware but the water is so clear you can see them all!

The room: Premium Beachfront Suite with a balcony and it was beautiful. Amazing view from the balcony, you can actually hear the waves crashing against the sand while lying in bed, it’s incredible. Giant bathroom, bidet, and as a very nice touch for a resort with a dress code, a hand held steamer to keep you looking crisp.

The food is unquestionably the best all-inclusive food I’ve eaten. The food at Gaugin is worth multiple visits. We ate some delicious meals using local ingredients including produce from their farm and local spices. I would have been happy to eat those dishes anywhere. The Sea Grape is very good for breakfast and has more hits than misses for lunch and dinner, but two meals were disappointing overall.

The BBQ for lunch on Thursday was great, delicious ribs and roast pig. Some lovely sides. My only complaint was that I couldn’t eat enough as I would have ended up napping the rest of the day!

The staff who run the water sports were informative and helpful, and the variety is exceptional considering it’s all included. This is more in line of what I’d expect for the extra money you pay to visit Galley Bay. The gentleman who ran the area took us out to sail and snorkel, both outstanding as well, and he was a great guide.
My SO said yoga was very enjoyable and genuinely looked refreshed afterwards, but a little early for me at 8am.

The farm on site is definitely worth visiting! Very interesting to speak to the gentleman there about how everything works.

Now the not so good to downright disappointing. Remember, you pay a premium to go to Galley Bay, it isn’t a cheap or even middle-range resort, and people are paying 5K+ for a week here.

My SO went to book a spa treatment on the Saturday before we left and the woman taking the booking would not even LOOK AT HER the entire time we were there. We don’t think we’ve experienced this level of cold, rude and dismissive service before. Truly made us feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Huge disappointment. There were in fact multiple times I witnessed someone approaching a bar, standing there waiting and the bartender not even having the courtesy to look up and acknowledge them. Very very poor service which unfortunately took away from the other half of the staff who were lovely. Food knowledge was also very limited which is a shame considering it seems so much care goes into the preparation. It would be nice to know more about the food you’re eating. Definitely a failure of training by management.

The Barefoot Grill is a completely wasted opportunity for something that could be special. There isn’t a single seafood dish on the menu, a simple grilled fish sandwich, something! Instead I ordered a chicken thigh sandwich which was very disappointing. For some reason the thigh was sliced up, and served COLD without a hint of sauce or condiments to give it any taste. I would never consider serving that to people for free let alone at premium resort.

The pool is just sad. I admire the signage requesting people don’t play music which is wonderful, but the landscaping around the pool is tired and worn and there was zero draw to be by the pool. Very surprising just how run down the whole area looked. Speaking of signage, during orientation we were told there are multiple signs on the grounds reminding guests not to feed the ducks who sometimes wander the grounds. In our week there we didn’t see a single sign and as much as we hated seeing unknowing tourists feeding them, they had no warning not to.

One lunchtime we ended up leaving the Sea Grape with no food at all, as it took them an hour to tell us our orders had been forgotten even though we asked several times for an update. They just kept stalling instead of being honest when we told them we’d be happy to go elsewhere, just tell us what’s happening. Again, this is not service worthy of a premium price tag. Even worse, this is when we decided to leave and go to the grill where that sad chicken thigh sandwich awaited.

You can sign out a bike and tour the grounds but it’s not nearly as pleasant as the pictures would indicate. You’re basically on service roads with no aesthetic appeal. Also, the tire pressure is so low on the bike tires they’re difficult to manage. This may sound like a nitpick, but if you’re paying a premium premium these are the types of details that should be noticed.

Charging people $50USD/pp to dine in the 3rd restaurant was another disappointment. People have shelled out 5K+ to visit Galley Bay and then you’re nickel and diming them to have access another restaurant? This is a very low end money grab. We rented a transport to St. John which cost us $40. OK, not a big deal, except that when it was time to return, our driver told us we’d have to wait 30 minutes for another couple who were also going back to the resort, and who no doubt also spent $40 on what they thought was a personal transport. This felt very deceptive and like another underhanded money grab.

The only reason I decided to write this lengthy a review was to give people an idea of what they can expect. This is without a doubt, a quiet, relaxing, serene spot with a beautiful beach, lovely food and a number of activities to keep you busy. Is it worthy of a premium price or a five star review? Given the number of oversights and not infrequent rude and dismissive attitude of some of the staff, I’d have to say not.