PERFECT GETAWAY!!!
My hubby and I along with another couple spent a wonderful vacation at the PBC for the New Year. It was the PERFECT 10 day getaway and much needed restart & recharge from 2020. I had booked through Elite Island Resorts with an amazing woman named Chrissy who was wonderful & patient. We had multiple (understatement) emails to arrange this trip as I had many questions regarding the resort, safety & cleanliness, travel to Antigua, etc). She was very prompt & thorough and reassured me of an amazing vacation. She was absolutely correct & it did not disappoint!
Upon arrival, we had an easy check-in process and enjoyed the welcome drink which is either rum punch or fruit drink. The room was very open air and there were only 2 couples there at a time. There is also hand sanitizer dispensers and signs to wear masks & wash hands everywhere which was comforting. The resort is LOVELY!!! All very walkable, open air, 3 different pools, 5 places to eat, 2 bars, a gym, private white sand beach, with paths & steps connecting all of it. There was also free watersports and plenty of outdoor activities (pool table, ping pong table, tennis, shuffle board, beach volleyball, sand bag toss). Additionally, they had other fun activities like trivia, dance lessons, morning water aerobics, pool competition, and nightly live entertainment. The resort is clean, covid safe, plenty of loungers, easy breezy. The palm trees, grass, plants, flowers, gazebos, that are all over the grounds was just beautiful. If you have mobility issues then I would advise against the Oceanview rooms (3 buildings on top of the hill). We quite enjoyed being up there with a spectacular view, away from the main areas, and the larger, more updated rooms. Our room was cleaned daily which was lovely since we didn't think that would happen due to covid.
The restaurants were all different and the food was great! There definitely is something for everyone. Topaz is the main dining area, open air, plenty of tables, buffet served by the staff behind glass partitions, so people aren't all up in the dishes. There were lines at times to be seated or at the food stations, but you just need to know when to go or be patient. We ate breakfast here every morning, lunch & dinner twice, and never got tired of it. The 2 other casual places were the Pelican by the main pool and the Outhouse up on the hilltop. Both are great and we ate lunch or late afternoon snack at both of them daily. The Outhouse was definitely worth the climb for some bbq fish, ribs, chicken, & beer and an AMAZING view. It was never crowded up there with plenty of seating. The 2 places for rezzies and a dress code: Chef Pietro's & the Grill. Pientro's is the Italian restaurant which was a lovely setting with red checkered table cloths along with lovely & friendly waitstaff. The Grill was the more luxe restaurant with a stricter dress code and men were being turned away for wearing shoes and/or flipflops. Come on people just follow the simple rules! I was glad that they had this & enforced it. It was nice to have a more upscale dining experience and the food here was exceptional. We ate here 3 times! The waitstaff here was quite lovely and there was one bartender who was exceptional. We went 2 nights in a row and he remembered my Absolut martini with olives order on the 2nd night. He also went out of his way to go to the other bar on the resort to get more Absolut bc I noticed he returned with 2 bottles as he was out which was totally not necessary but appreciated. There's also a coffee/dessert shop that I never went in but others in our group went daily and enjoyed it.
Other staff that went above and beyond were to ladies in Guest Services: Dalisha & Solange. They were AMAZING!!! I had reached out to book a private dinner on the hilltop Gazebo for New Year's Eve for 4ppl. Dalisha was very professional, personable, responsive, and helped us end an awful year and start the new one with a bang. Our dinner was FABULOUS all thanks to her work. Also our waitress that night was Tricia (from Jamaica) who was AWESOME!!! She climbed those stairs and waited on us with a smile & good humor. She made our night! Solange was FANTASTIC in helping me book a sunset cruise on the Mystic leaving from St. John's. She arranged the taxi and booking and all was seamless and wonderful. She also helped me arrange a trip to the Navy Yards and rescheduled a dinner reservation at the Pillars to a lunch. We also had a dance on NYE! She, too, was amazing, helpful, & fun! JoAnne at the omeltte station, the chef at the Outhouse, and a female bartender at the Aqua bar were just amazing (sorry I don't remember their names).
A lot of people complain about having to wait for services or not having a pool/beach waiter. Was not a problem for us and we have pretty high standards. Just remember, you are on Island time, so just relax, take a deep breath to enjoy the wonderful surroundings.
THANK YOU to everyone at PBC for a WONDERFUL vacation!!!!!!