Sandals Grande Antigua

10 Blissful Days in Paradise. This was a last minute booking due to having to change our travel plans for the Maldives, as a result of the unrest in the middle east however the trip exceeded our expectations on so many levels. We were greeted warmly on arrival by our butler Niesha who was waiting ready to escort us to our villa, which was ready for us despite arriving earlier than the usual check-in time. As we walked to our villa, Niesha pointed out areas of interest and on arriving at the suite, she again welcomed us warmly and took us on a very comprehensive tour of everything within, as well as opening a bottle of champagne that had been cooling in readiness for our arrival. She explained about the butler services available to us, including a dedicated mobile phone to contact them, making our restaurant reservations and arranging our sunbeds on the beach every day. Niesha made us feel instantly at home and assured us that we would want for nothing during our stay. We met our second butler Vakesha, a wonderfully vivacious lady, the same evening at Barefoot on the beach and our third butler Wendel the following morning at the beach. Wendel supports the same football team as my partner so they hit it off straight away and enjoyed a lot of football banter with Julien the intern working with Wendel. We booked the One Bedroom Butler Villa Suite on the Mediterranean side of the resort with our own private gardens, pool and hot tub, which we used every day. The sitting room and bedroom were both spacious & well furnished, and the fourposter bed was super comfortable, the bathroom was large with his and hers sinks, a whirlpool bath, and separate toilet & shower cubicle. Our towel closet had plentiful towels of all sizes. We were lucky to meet our lovely housekeeper who asked us if everything was fine and was very pleased when we assured we were very happy. We spent most days at the beach rather than using the resort’s pools. The main reason is that Dickenson Bay is absolutely beautiful with powdery sand, shallow warm water, and wonderful views. Our butler service included reserving our sunbeds and provided a cooler box with beers and water. The second reason is that the pool with a swim up bar attracts large groups of incredibly loud and shouty people, which ruins the ambiance for us, since we prefer more peaceful surroundings. There are a few other pools around the resort which looked fine but we’d already found our favourite spot on the beach before we found these. The Monday night beach party was great fun with 2 lively bands, dancers in Caribbean costumes, an amazing Soca singer, and fire dancing. A must-do during your stay! I had a wonderful experience at the spa, a 60-minute lavender-scented massage. The spa itself is worthy of any high-end hotel and a great way to unwind and relax whilst my partner went to the well-equipped gym next door. The loyalty team here are great. We met Sandy, a lovely lady who helped me to update my loyalty club details and ensured we were invited to the returner’s dinner the same evening. Special and sincere thanks to our butlers Niesha, Vakesha (Mamma V) and Wendel who were amazing and made us feel so special. They all made our stay a truly memorable experience. A huge shout out to Nico, Hospitality Manager, who we met at the returners’ dinner when he hosted our table of 10. He was a real pleasure to deal with, an absolutely superb host, and we’d like to thank him for the arrangements he made during our last few days at the resort. SUMMARY. All the staff here are fantastic, always friendly and accommodating. The resort location is stunning and whilst some areas are older than others, we’d have been happy to stay on both the Caribbean and Mediterranean sides. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and well kept, and despite looking like a large-scale resort, all areas are easily walkable and it’s a pleasure just wandering around. Since returning home we have been recommending this lovely destination to all our friends and we hope to return soon

Spent a fabulous 10 days in Antigua and the first time with Sandals. The resort is lovely and spacious but all easily walkable and beautifully maintained. Main pool very large but the music was far too loud for us so after two days we moved to the beach. This was stunning and more relaxing listening to the sea. There are vendors (its a public beach) but just say no thanks and they move on. The massage lady on the beach was very good and great value. Getting a sunbed by the pool or beach around 9am never an issue as long as you are not precious about exactly where you sit. Most restaurants great - Barefoot our favourite menu lunch and dinner and a very chilled vibe. Eleanors feels very special and they made a real fuss of us on our anniversary. Kimonos good to do once for the experience. Service everywhere around the resort excellent and staff friendly, especially the lady usually at the pizza restaurant. The only poor service we encountered was at Marios where staff seemed unengaged and the food was average for an italian. Did the nature walk with Bobby and it was excellent - very informative and he made each lady a bouquet of the flowers and shrubs he talked about as we toured the grounds!

This place is stunning, the service is top notch.The staff are all polite and very helpful, they make the stay pleasant. Shout out to Stacey and team who made our mornings great, those smiles and jokes encouraged us to start the day well. I will definately recomend, this is our new best holiday destination. The beach is nice, all white sand, lots of towels for the pool, and was never short of sun beds.The food, omg..was really good, hands up for the Tex Max and Bayside.😍😍😍

LOVE the beach at Antigua Grande, LONG beaches to walk..... Water is beautiful, NO seaweed!! Staff is FRIENDLY and FUN!! All the photographers are great BUT, Davon & Delmar are THE BEST of the BEST!! Davon's mom flew in to visit him and we were lucky to meet her <3 Food was delicious but found the service to be slow, and we went in May their slow season.... The pizza place near Mario's was GREAT. Cinnamon (not her real name,lol) was so FUN and accomodating! Ask her about the cinnamon desert pizza :) AND MARIO'S was our favorite for breakfast. Room was beautiful, nice size and great view. It's the first time we haven't stayed in a walk out. Beautiful view but we will definately go back to walk out room for the convenience. Housekeeping was our only big disappointment. Always had bath towels, but never left faceclothes. Called for some to get showered for dinner and never came. It was hit or miss as to what types of bath linens would be left for us. We recieved a bucket of champagne and glasses for our Anniversary on the Monday of our stay and when we left on the Saturday the bucket and glasses were still sitting outside our room. This was our second visit to this Sandals and we were not disappointed. I will also say their entertainment was EXCELLENT!! Loved the pool entertainment. Singers, fire guy, and synchronized swimmers were amazing!!

Third time staying at Sandals Antigua and again we had such an amazing time! Staff were very friendly, amazing food, clean, great service & a beautiful beach with the softest sand. I have food allergies to shellfish, lemon & lime. My travel agent made the hotel aware months in advance and also just before we arrived. Right away I was sent to the culinary desk near the main reception. Stacy was amazing! She went through all the menus with me and pre booked all our restaurant reservations for our 10nights stay with all my meals so that the chefs were well aware and had plenty of notice to cook my meals separately. The staff even got to know my allergies off by heart. They all took this on very seriously and I was never made to feel embarrassed. This is the main reason why we have returned as my husband and I can relax knowing that I will be looked after. We did stay on the Caribbean side which yes is looking tired, but the hotel is in the process of a big refurb which is already starting to look great. The room was still very clean and housekeeping were great with restocking drinks and keeping our room clean and tidy. I would say on this stay we found most of the cocktails on the day menu were on the slushy side with crushed ice and most had syrups in and not real fruit, which are very sweet. So we did have to ask for none iced cocktails which the bar staff were happy to accommodate. But would be good to bring back real fruit and not have the syrups. Also the entertainment was very hit or miss. Sorry but most of the singing wasn't very good, especially when you are having a lovely romantic meal in Eleanors. At meal times it would have been nice to have some soft relaxing music or a pianist. Also the piano bar I feel is open way too late at 10pm. In my opinion it would be better to have the piano bar open for some nice relaxing pre dinner drinks and the loud music for 9-10pm I will say we were really glad to see the fashion show back again. We remember when there used to be a fashion show in the evening on the beach showcasing the shops clothing - this was amazing and very entertaining. The Synchronized swimming was excellent on this stay! These are only a few little niggles and would not stop us returning as we are looking forward to returning and seeing all the renovations they have made.