Sandals Grande Antigua

We have visited 4 other Sandals and chose this as our next stay. Whilst the beach and resort were beautiful and we enjoyed the range of restaurants, bars and facilities I have to say that overall we were disappointed with the service - particularly from the bar staff. It’s not that the actual service was bad but just that there was little ‘service with a smile’. People were doing their jobs but it felt formulaic and ‘going through the motions’, very few smiled or made an effort to ask us about our day for example. The big exception was Marcia in the Guest Relations office who was friendly, chatty, really helpful and personable. Also the water sports staff were great on our daily snorkelling trips. Ironically, the local vendors on the beach were also very friendly and chatty. Marilyn was such a lovely lady and said hello to us every day after we met her, she was such a dear. The entertainment was great on resort - especially the fire eaters and entertainers on Antigua day which was an amazing evening. The pool and beach drinks service was not very frequent and we probably received 1-2 drinks throughout a whole day from them so we generally walked to the bar ourselves. The resort need to look into their sun bed policy as people were reserving beds from about 5.30am and they were getting all booked from about 7am. Many of the beds weren’t being used - we saw one pair that were reserved with towels then not being used until after lunch. Our room had an incredible view of the beach with sunsets each night. We have had a butler previously but didn’t book one this time and really didn’t feel we needed one. The resort is very well laid out, very clean and beautiful. The beach is also fabulous. We have recently been to Secrets and this probably highlighted the difference in the service from the staff. Some of them just need to smile more here and it would make all the difference. We still had a wonderful time and would visit Sandals again.

3rd visit to this lovely hotel and first time at Christmas. As always food and staff were fantastic especially bar staff Sheena, Janeil and Jeemangee (spelt wrong sorry) and Celia still rum punch queen, Ursula in the piano bar and a special thank you to Charmanthia. The Christmas Day parade was fun. Only a couple of negatives the beach has got very very busy with cruise ship visitors due in part I think because of the water taxis that come from St John’s, and they did tend to invade our beach bed space. AND one issue with a butler who literally pushed us out of the way to get to the last table for 2 at the beach restaurant!!! We did report him and was assured it was dealt with. It is still annoying that the butlers can book tables at the non booking restaurants but I guess this will not change. Some past reviews comment on miserable staff, we did not encounter a single one, if you smile, say hello and please and thank you, you get rewarded. Hopefully will be back for a 4th visit at some point

Wonderful experience at Kimonos! Our server Chad was attentive, kind, and truly on top of everything — he even made sure my drink was exactly how I liked it (and I’m a slow sipper). Our chef Teddy Bear (only for the ladies 😉) was absolutely hilarious and incredibly generous with the portions. The food was plentiful, delicious, and cooked perfectly. Amazing service, great energy, and a memorable meal all around. Highly recommend Kimonos, Chad and Teddy Bear. We will certainly be eating here again while on our trip!

Overall, we were severely disappointed as first time Sandals guests in our first time visiting Antigua. Our overall experience was about 3/10; we would rate this as a 3-star resort rather than a 5 or 6 star. We saved a lot of money to experience the Sandals difference and had very high expectations from the reviews and presentation online, but unfortunately this experience was not at all on par with the cost, especially for Canadians with the currency exchange. This trip has honestly made us not want to vacation for a while – it seems that vacationing is just a bad case of “Instagram vs. reality” nowadays. We were supposed to be experiencing “LUXURY ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATIONS ON THE CARIBBEAN’S BEST BEACHES” with the Sandals brand and from our experience of 11 days at Sandals Grande Antigua, that statement couldn’t be further from the truth. We expected to not worry about anything at all but unfortunately there were multiple layers of stress during this vacation that cost an arm and a leg. FOOD: 3.5/10 – The food is basic and limited outside of dinner hours. We found the food to be hit or miss but not luxury or fine dining in any sense. Some of the descriptions are misleading, such as the “smoothie” at Eleanors, which is just small cut fruits on top of questionable yogurt. Our favourite place to eat was Soy (Sushi) and Bayside, our least favourite was Marios and the Drunken Duck. We did the buffet at Marios on our first morning and one of the vents on the ceiling in decrepit condition was dripping onto the plates below. We tried the room service, the nachos were heinous, but I did enjoy the penne the 2nd time around with removals of anchovies/capers. We ended up settling for pizza with the rest of the crowd for lunch most days, sometimes undercooked and served with a rude attitude but it kept us fed. I personally enjoyed the beef however my partner did not, and I really enjoyed the fries. Overall, we were severely disappointed with the food for a “5–6-star” resort. There are 11 restaurants, however the options during select times are limited. We felt like we shouldn’t have been living off sushi, pizza, and burgers during our stay, but it was the most available and safest option from our experience. We did get reservations for supper at Bayside, Kimonos, and O.K Corral for supper listed from most to least favourite. ROOM/RESORT: 3.5/10 – We booked the Club Level walkout room (PF). When we first arrived, we were greeted and escorted to our rooms. The key didn’t work at first which was resolved quickly, however when the key was fixed, we were finally able to open the door and see someone was actively staying inside of it. I was so mortified and so glad it didn’t escalate – so that was our first moments of arrival before we even opened our bags. We were then brought to our proper room on the 1st floor/ground level, and the location was great for us, but the room was meh. Our sleeps were so terrible with the humid conditions and lack of ventilation/air flow. We had our A/C and fan on full blast and our bedding still felt literally wet every. single. night. The fan was creaky at low speeds, but at high speed it will blow all your baby hairs all around. The bed itself was OK, the pillows were pretty bagged out, and the blankets had a strange smell. I also noticed the phone had a pungent smell when using it. We kept the shower fan on, the one inside the actual toilet room did not seem to work. There were multiple broken fixtures in our room such as the table beside the TV stand and the small and large mirror in the bathroom. The hair dryer was also clogged with debris on the vent, and the iron was malfunctioning. On our last few days, we noticed mold on the coffee stir sticks and upon inspecting the room further we found mold spores on the ceiling and more evidence of extreme moisture and poor ventilation. We did use the laundry services as directed on the paper and verbal confirmation that if we had it out by 9AM it would be returned by 6PM – however, after multiple phone calls to concierge and housekeeping we finally got our laundry back the following day around 11 on our checkout day which was super stressful. The grounds themselves were super nice, but we did have a large palm leaf from the trees around the fountain fall right in front of our room that did some damage to the surrounding area. It was a hot day, but we were most concerned with potential injuries as it fell on the main walkway. BEACH: 2/10 – This is the most depressing one for us. We had changed our Sandals trip from Barbados to Antigua solely for the beach. We did a lot of research, so it hurt extra to struggle so much to enjoy our time on the beach. There were a lot of vendors for sure, we did want to purchase a few things, but it was crazy overpriced for plastic, but hey they gotta make a buck too… and they were respectful when we respectfully declined except for some of the middle-aged men trying to sell excursions. We finally found a chair beside an older vendor, and he smoked and listened to the news on full blast, but we settled for our spot because otherwise we wouldn’t have found one! We got up at 8:30 AM on our last day to try and snag a chair on the beach from the brigade of place-a-towel-on-the-chair-to-claim-it-but-never-be-around-to-enjoy-it people and still couldn’t. I literally cried because it was our last day, we just paid an arm and a leg to be here, and we were fighting tooth and nail all trip for a chair. We called the concierge, and they got us a spot beside the smoking vendor that no one wanted to be beside lol – but we were grateful for the chairs for sure. The beach vendors were nothing compared to the horrible attitudes of grown people trying to put a towel on a chair and claim it for 24 hours but only be there for 1-2 before leaving and coming to check if anyone took their towel-chair. We “took” a beach table from a set of chairs that sat in front of us unoccupied for 2+ hours, got dirty looks from the people around us and then got scolded 2 hours later from the couple who “just left to their room quick” when they finally came back at least 4 hours later!!! It’s sad and pathetic for a “luxury” resort attendees to feel the need to be claiming and fighting for little plastic chairs and tables on the beach. The beach is not a calming, pure-white sand and crystal-clear water beach if that’s what you’re looking for. Lots of passer-byers from the cruise ships and Royalton next door. Water is shallow for a bit and honestly a small area to swim when considering the sandals boats/toys and other local boats/toys in the water, but it was nice to be in the ocean, nonetheless. The staff also made a lot of effort to bury the debris on the beach which was appreciated. We felt lucky the times we got to sit on the beach, but at the cost for trip it shouldn't have been a concern at all. STAFF: 8.5/10 – Honestly most of the staff were the best part of the trip. Took off a few points as there were a few times we felt like we were really inconveniencing and annoying the staff although we really weren’t asking for much or anything above and beyond. We found the most unhappy staff were in food/drink service which sucked because we are considerate of the work they do but as mentioned we weren’t asking for much and always brought a good attitude to them first. Drinks were actually pretty good, I would often just get the standard drink of the day to try something new and easy, and they were consistently good. We found that ordering off the menu at the pool bar yielded a less enjoyable drink. My partner mostly stuck to beer and margaritas, which he didn’t really have any complaints other than difficulty getting service time to time. For the most part though many of the staff were very personable and friendly and brought a great vibe when conversing. -- STAFF SHOUTOUTS: We want to give a huge shoutout to the boys who handled our rekindle romance package cruise: Captain Mikele, Photographer JT, and our boy Donjoy. Honestly the best time we had during our trip was on our 2-hour coastline cruise. We weren’t sure what to expect but they were very knowledgeable, played great music, took great pictures, and just gave us an all-around great time where we truly felt like we were living in luxury. Every detail was accounted for and truly made our spirits lift during this trip. We also met some other great staff such as photographer Devin, and our cabana concierges Ayesha and Marsha who went above and beyond, even skipping away after taking our order! Super cute and friendly - just a great vibe overall. TRAVEL/TRANSPORTATION: 10/10 – Transfers to and from the airport were included. Driver was great, the roads are rough and sharp, but they always slowed down and drove accordingly. The vans were always clean and smelled pleasant. No complaints here for that aspect. We were booked WestJet through Sandals as we were originally booked to go to Barbados but changed our destination (all direct through Sandals) and it was smooth all the way through. EXTRAS: 9/10 - We paid the extra $999+tax for the Rekindle Romance package when we booked and it was the most enjoyable parts of our stay… for the small price of an additional US$1,349.00, I would recommend the package if you were already booked. We also really loved the cats on the resort - no fee for the cats but they are adorable and most seem to have been vaccinated/clipped. Apologies for the lack of photos especially regarding the comments on the food and the beach - we wanted to make an effort to keep the screens away while on vacation and didn't anticipate to run into any hassles.

This is our 4th sandals holiday. We had a great time and met some great people. We stayed in sunset bluff in renovated rooms. Nice an modern and the small pool in front of the rooms was also newly renovated with nice sun shades and modern loungers. Best room we have had at a sandals, some rooms however are still the mahogany older style so choose carefully. Antigua had stunning grounds like a botanical garden. Food generally good though sandals seems not to change its menus in each resturant so the same resturant name has the same menu in different locations on different years. The beach is stunning however as it’s public, there is a fence between the resort and beach with security because all the cruise ships water taxi to the beach. Lots of temporary tents selling clothes etc. first sandals like this for us. A walk up the beach takes you to an independent floating tiki bar well worth a visit. Beach sunbeds a little basic for a 5 star hotel. Service was ok in resturants however it felt like a machine with many staff less engaged as we have come used to at other sandals. Same with the bar staff. I bit hit and miss one visit you get a hand made Margareta with salt in a nice glass next visit out of a pre mixed bottle in a plastic tumbler. Early in the week there was a lack of waiting staff to get drinks around the pool. We raised this with management and did see an improvement . In the evenings where there was entertainment no table service for drinks. Disappointing for a luxury included holiday resort. To summarise good location , great room, we had an excellent time however staff and service were not what we have seen at sandals elsewhere. I don’t think we would return to this hotel but have booked our next sandals. We go to sandals as diving is included. At this resort they have fewer sessions. Normally the do a two tank dive in the mornings and a single tank dive in the afternoon. Here is was only a two tank dive three days a week then single tank dive morning and afternoon on other days. When we arrived we had to wait from Wednesday to Saturday to get on and you needed to be on the phone booking at 8 am. Disappointing. They should increase capacity like other sandals resort. In my opinion sandals is a good resort to have a great holiday if your not expecting the best but acceptable service. improve the service and beach sunbeds it would be back at the top. However for what we paid it was good value.