By the looks of our reviews of the hotel here you have madeanother excellent choice There is some good info in those reviews.
There are a few other highly rated hotels in the review page that would be worth looking at.
It looks as if this will be a bit more expensive a holiday than the MD in Goa though.

We are staying at the MD this winter, last winter we were at the Sunset Beach in Kotu which we thought was excellent value for money. It's a smaller hotel than the Senegambia but we thought had a better atmosphere. The rooms were fine, the staff friendly and although the pool is a bit small it didn't present a problem. It's situated right on the beach and breakfast on the terrace overlooking the sea is excellent. It's about 30 minutes walk down the beach to the Senegambia which is situated in the main resort area. There is a bigger choice of restaurants around the Senegambia but it's a bit more tacky in my opinion. The Senegambia is pretty large and, again in my opinion , a bit soul less. The beach pool area is crowded, as is the beach in front of the hotel. Their grounds are pretty big too. Don't know what the rooms are like as we didn't see any. A typical package here is about £100 per person more expensive and we think the saving going to the Sunset Beach is a bonus as we would choose that in preference anyway.
The Senegambia is favoured by birdwatchers if you happen to be interested, so you have more chance of meeting like minded people to organise guides etc, the grounds have lots of species too. However, the Sunset each is also located in a highly popular spot for watching too. Kotu has a choice of about 6 eating places too.
We found that eating and drinking out in the Gambia was about 2x the price of Goa and the choice of food a bit more limited too. The shopping is limited too as are the choice of trips if you are into that sort of thing. On the other hand Goa hasn't got that many "outings" of interest either. Gambia, however, is still great value for money and an excellent destination for guaranteed winter sunshine. The journey time is 3-4 hours less and there's no time difference either which is all great news.
We will certainly go back sometime.
If you are looking for a slightly smarter hotel, the Kombo Beach in Kotu looks very good or back to the Senegambia area, the Kairaba is considered the best of the lot.

Thanks Dave,

We were really split this year. We love Goa and hopefully will be returning there (at the MD - as always) next year, but my boyfriend fancied a change. However we wanted to go somewhere that had the same kind of feeling. As we didn't get many replies (not like the Goa forum) we took the plunge and booked today.
Thomas Cook had a cracking deal on The Kairaba, so we booked there for two weeks in December. I think the monkeys swayed him, as he's a big kid at heart.

Now we need recommendations of what to do, places to visit, how to do it and where to eat. Don't ask for much do I? Ha Ha

I am afraid we can't help around the Kairaba as we ate in Kotu every night ! To be honest there aren't too many things to do unless you are into bird watching.... which I am, well photography anyway.
You will find The Gambia interesting and a bit different to Goa. I submitted a report comparing some of the obvious differences.
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=113781 This link might work or just scan down the page. This forum isn't as active as the Goa one !

I think the Gambian locals can be a bit more of a nuisance than the Goans, tend to be more persistent and go through the I want to be your friend bit before hitting you with a request for something. You have to be polite and resilient. Just say no thanks !
The Kairaba should be excellent and much better than the MD I would imagine. The Sunset Beach was better than the
the Lagoa Azul in Arpora. Talking of Goa, I have used the internet at the MD but that is all I know of the hotel. Suddenly there seem to be lots of negatives about poor hygene, rotten breakfast and building noise. When did you last stay ? Any comment ?
Dave

We stayed there last December.
Personally we thought the breakfast was much better than the year before, its still eggs, toast, cornflakes, but there was also beans, I think Indian breakfast and porridge. Fruit juice, Tea and Coffee. I'm not a good eater at the best of time, but I had toast every morning, my boyfriend liked the porridge.
I admit there was building noise, as they seemed to be building another hotel at the back of the annexe. As we stayed in the annexe and loved it the year before, prior to the holiday, we email the hotel and requested the same room. The locals begin work as soon as it becomes light. I said to my boyfriend not to worry because, as it goes dark quite early the noise would stop - but it didn't. On the second day we asked could we be moved to the main building.
We were promptly moved and apart from the noise of the entertainment around the pool you couldn't hear it. We stayed around the annexe pool a few days in between trips and although you could hear the noise, after a while you seemed to become immune to it. The first week was the worse but by the second the noisy work had seemed to be completed.
I didn't see any poor hygiene. Some times glasses are slowly cleared, but our room was cleaned daily and there seemed to be a permanent pool attendant around the pool all day.
I can honestly say we would definitely go back. I heard some horror stories about other hotels around the pool and thought we were really lucky.
We like staying in bed and breakfast hotels, so we have a choice each night, rather than be restricted to the hotel. However, one couple we did meet recommended the Sun Village up the road, but thats All Inclusive.

Thanks for the reassurance. Hopefully by next November the building will be largely completed. We like the choice to eat in different places every night too. I wouldn't contemplate AI in Goa. Might in Gambia, depends how long I was staying.
Incidentally, the Duty Free shop at Banjul Airport had a few bargains but they only accept cash in Sterling, won't take their own currency or plastic !