We went into Antigua expecting a pretty island with a lot of resorts, and we came away with a love for another Caribbean island. We also learned we’d been mispronouncing the island’s name for years — turns out, so has almost everyone else who speaks English.
The island was originally named Santa María de la Antigua by the Spanish, and if you say it the Spanish way, that “gua” actually gets pronounced. But then the British showed up and, well, you know how the British are — they couldn’t be bothered with the U, so “Antigua” became clipped in a way we had never heard before.
Mispronunciations aside, Antigua turned out to be one of our favorite stops on this whole cruise, and a big part of that was booking a private tour with a guide named Cyril.
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Our Guide, Cyril
If you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this: if you go to Antigua, find Cyril with National Tours. He was full of stories — some of which we’re still not 100% sure were true — and he clearly knew the island inside and out. A private tour meant we weren’t stuck on someone else’s schedule, and we got to ask a hundred random questions along the way, which is exactly how we like to travel.
A Resort Island, Through and Through
Antigua leans hard into tourism, and it shows. Lots and lots of resorts, and not a ton else going on outside of them. If you’re the type who wants to book a resort and plant yourself there for a week, this is a great pick. If you’re more like us and want to get out and explore, a private tour is really the way to see what’s beyond the resort gates.
Nelson’s Dockyard: A Gallon of Beer a Day
Part of our day included a stop at Nelson’s Dockyard, a working 18th-century naval dockyard that’s still lined with original stone buildings. Our guide there had a great explanation for why it took a long time for things to get done at the dockyard: the soldiers stationed there were paid a gallon of beer and a pint of rum a day. As you might imagine, that’s not exactly a recipe for a productive workforce.
Eric Clapton’s Rehab and a Royal Vacation House
Here’s a fact we didn’t put together until we were standing there: Antigua is home to the rehab facility Eric Clapton founded after recording an album on the island and falling in love with it. Celebrities check in when they need treatment, and that funds the same services for locals — for free. Cyril told us that if you’re a local in need, you actually get to stay at the fancy facility for a week or two before being transferred elsewhere, but the whole thing costs you nothing. Pretty cool model, and it’s largely funded by the celebrities who’ve gone through it, including Whitney Houston.
We also got a view of Clarence House, which is (or at least used to be) a property belonging to the royal family. If you’ve watched The Crown, this is where Princess Margaret goes to get away after her wedding. We saw the sign, thought “that sounds exactly like something the royal family would name a house,” and sure enough — that’s exactly what it was.
The Climate Feels Different Here
Antigua is noticeably drier than a lot of the other Caribbean islands we visited on this trip. You can actually see it on the drive: palm trees planted along the road by the resorts to create that classic tropical-island look, and cactus growing right across the street where nature’s actually in charge. Because it’s drier, it didn’t feel nearly as hot and sticky as some of our other stops — especially compared to the Dominican Republic. We also spent a lot of our time up on lookouts or out on the water, so there was a steady breeze the whole day.
The Rum Punch at Shirley Heights Lookout
We stopped at Shirley Heights Lookout, and it might be home to the best rum punch either of us has ever had. Good rum punch comes down to good rum, and this was clearly made with the good stuff.
Speaking of rum — one of us has become a bit of a rum connoisseur over the years, so hunting down good bottles is always part of the plan on a Caribbean trip. Here’s the honest truth, though: unless a rum is genuinely hard to find outside the region, don’t expect Caribbean prices to beat what you’d pay at home. We’ve tracked bottles we used to buy for $22 in Puerto Rico that are now $39 there and $40 here — barely worth the suitcase space.
Antigua is a bit of an exception. English Harbour rum is difficult to find in the U.S., and it’s genuinely excellent — a column-still rum, more in line with what you’d get out of Puerto Rico or Cuba than the pot-still style you’d find in Barbados or Jamaica. A little surprising for a former British territory, but worth seeking out. We picked up a 10-year bottle for about $40 and a 5-year for around $20.
The real tip, though: skip the duty-free shops at the cruise port. They’re rarely cheaper than what you’ll pay at home. Instead, tell your driver or guide you’re looking for good local rum, and let them take you to an actual liquor store. When we mentioned to our guide that we loved the rum punch, he immediately offered to take us to the best liquor store on the island — that’s how we ended up with our English Harbour bottles instead of bottles from the duty-free that we can get at home.
One Downside: The Sargassum
The one less pleasant part of our visit was the sargassum seaweed. It’s a growing problem across the Caribbean, and Antigua wasn’t spared — some bays smelled pretty rough. Our guide pointed out a $1.5 million house owned by Americans that’s currently for sale, largely because the sargassum smell nearby got to be too much. From the lookouts, you could actually watch it drifting in from Africa, which was wild to see in real time. As long as we stayed up high, we couldn’t smell it — but down in some of the bays, it was unmistakable.
Should You Visit Antigua?
Absolutely. It’s a different kind of Caribbean island — dry, breezy, but with some genuinely unexpected history tucked into it. A private tour with a knowledgeable local guide is the best way to get past the resort strip and actually see what makes the island interesting.
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