My husband and I just got back from a much needed vacation. I want to put it out there that maybe our expectations of this Sandals Resort was at a very high level. My veiw point now after returning home is something completly different. I will first state some of the positive highlights of the resort; the all enclusive beverage, food, and activities were great! The fact that everything was paid for up front and that we didn't have to worry about carrying cash or tipping was wonderful. The pools,beaches,grounds, were fantastic. The main pool even had a beverage waiter that would float/walk around inside the pool and bring you what ever your hearts desired was perfect. The beach activities; hobbie cats, aqua bikes, and paddle boats were available whenever you wished to take them out. The sailboats, ski boats and power boats for fishing,snorkel, and diving were also available, all you had to do was sign up the day prior or even that very day.
On the flip side to these positive comments came the very negative. The food was terrible. I don't know how anyone can mess up eggs, toasts, spaghetti, you name it, it was bad. . The portions were extremly small, we often found ourselves going from place to place just to get full and our moneys worth. I will say that they had a pizza place for lunch and that we found was the best food we had there all week. Now onto the service, I had mentioned that it was nice not to have to carrying around cash or tip anyone, but maybe tipping would of given the staff some incentive to want to actually work. We did find very few of the staff was happy to be of service and was excitied to be at work but the majoritiy would be walking around aimlesly and when asked to do something they simply waited for some other staffer to do it and had the look of annoyence on their face. This was extermly frustraiting to my husband and I ,we often felt like we were bothering them for their service.
Take what you would like from our opinions, like I had said before the pools, beaches and grounds were beatuiful and you can't go wrong, but be prepared to compromise on the food and service.

I don't want to sound purely negative. My wife and I were at Sandals Grande Antigua on our Honeymoon. We have traveled to the Caribbean, Europe and resorts within the U.S. Our basic expectations were that good service and a romantic room would be guaranteed simply b/c of the name "Sandals".

Our first room, designated as a "Honeymoon Grand Luxury" room was nothing short of a dump. Mildew on every wall, floor and all throughout the bathroom. The tub was something from the stone ages, one was cautious about going in barefoot. No alcahol nor room service was provided. I emailed the travel agent and we had a new room on the next day, "Concierge level".

The Concierge level room was more spacious and nicer, view of the ocean and it did have alcahol in the fridge. Still no room service and the tub for my wife was improved but completely lacked romance.

We had difficulty with service, employees did not seem so genuine across the board. Some were, but many were not.

You will read about the new Med Village. It is nicer, no question. We spent our time there. Pool is nice. Heard the rooms are very nice but from what we gather, the rooms are a couple grand more. The old or original Sandals Grande portion of the resort is just that - old, outdated, lacks sophistication and elegance. Even the rondovals seem old and decayed, un-romantic.

Beach is fine, public so you'll have your share of hassle by locals wanting you to buy stuff and they will offer you an opportunity to smoke some local herb. We calmly declined each offer

Upon check out, you'll be given a set of instructions on the day prior. Disregard those totally. We were told that our bags would be picked up at 630a. At 630a, I called to check the status and was told they would be picked up. I called again at 6:45, again at 6:55 and again at 7:01. Never mind the taxi leave for the airport at 7:00. At 7:05 a bum of a bell-hop comes lazily walking around the corner to get my bags then asks me to carry two of them. It took him another 10 minutes to get them to the lobby. We missed the cab.

I went to the desk and explained the issue professionally and asked why it had taken over 30 minutes for them to get the bags. The person at the desk would not even look at me, he just kept doing whatever "made-up" work he had. He, as many others during the trip showed no care and no concern.

I will give props to:
Lissette (night manager)
Gavin (pool bartender /Med Village)
Flash (Snorkeling guide)

To sum it up, we were really disappointed in Sandals Grande. We have stayed at Secrets Excellence Punta Cana in the past and had a wonderful time. Great service, everybody gets room service, everybody gets alcohol in their fridge and their entertainment staff is awesome. Sandals seems to have "categories" or a higharchy of service. At a place like Secrets Excellence Punta Cana, there are special suites, honeymoon suites, etc. However, everybody gets the same basic array of services .... room service, access to the same restaurants and alcohol in the fridge.

On last note on Sandals - nightly entertainment is random and inconsistent.

We did however have a good time. We would do that anywhere together but we would of liked Sandals to add to the experience. In our case, Sandals added nothing to the honeymoon. In closing, we are not high maintenance people - simple - down to earth. We were just disappointed, highly disappointed. Hope you have better luck that us....

My husband and i visited this Sandals resort 4 years ago.
Unfortunatly there is little improvement on the standard of customer service in this hotel over those years, which is a pity.
The resort as a whole is very nice, especialy the new Med Village.
As signature guests, we took advantage of the new concept that Sandals started to reduce the time it takes to check into your room. Unfortunatly when we arrived our room was not ready and we had to sit around for over an hour. We retuned to the concierge office and sat in there for a further half hour. We were then escorted to our room. We then waited another 45 mins until i phoned reception to ask where our luggage was. 30 mins later our luggage arrived for us to unpack.
We discovered when we had showers that the tap in the bathroom was running with water (not dripping). We reported this to the reception everyday for 5 days with no resolve.
The hotel made an attempt by removing the tap, leaving all workings exposed with only the shower working and still running with water. The floor was flooding with tapwater and only after speaking to our Virgin rep we where moved to another room on our 8th day. We packed our cases and were told that a bell boy would hang clothes staight on a rail to move them. After waiting over an hour for the bell boy to turn up (tea break !) After dragging a bell boy trolley across the complex with the help,of one of the reception staff , we eventualy arrived at our new room (another afternoon wasted).
The rooms in the med village are lovley, the price is not..
If you are booking anything else, expect a sub-standard room.
They are well past there prime and not worth the money Sandals charge.
Not romantic at all, the place was full of local radio stations from usa and uk, holiday reps and corporate groups who were loud and drunk most nights .
If your a woman don't expect to get served at the bar, Antiguan women will ignore you and serve all the men!
Food good
Maid / mini bar service good
Wanted a bottle of red wine from Managers wine list on our last night. Arrived with an ice bucket ! When questioned we were told "all our red wine is kept in the fridge". We were told by the Med manager that he could warm it up over the oven in the kitchen................................................what can you say?

Thank goodness we had a sense of humor while staying in the hotel , we've never had any problems in other Sandals resorts, this was our 10th visit to Sandals.

My husband and I stayed at Sandals Antigua from 10/19-10/26 for our honeymoon. We stayed on the 6th floor of the tower on the MV side. We were very pleased with our room. It was spacious, had an extremely comfortable bed, huge bathroom, and cute balcolny. We had a great view of the resort and ocean. Overall we were pleased with our vacation. The staff on the MV side are very friendly and helpful. We loved our housekeeper, Jennifer. She was awesome! But, I will say I knew when her days off were because our room was not made up. Anyway, the pool on the MV side is great. We never had a problem getting a chair or a raft. The bar is a little slow but nothing to be upset about. The drinks are great, we loved the Miami Vices. We loved Vincent the pool waiter, he was so awesome and funny. The food exceeded our expectations. The pizza is awesome, we loved Eleanors and the OK Corral. Kimonos was the best, make sure you make a reservation early though, we heard some people had problems getting in. The beach was beautiful. They clean it every morning and there is never a problem getting a chair or a little hut to sit under. I was also impressed with the staff Sandals has on the beach telling people who are not staying at Sandals (ie from cruise ships) that the chairs and tiki huts are for Sandals guests only. There are beach vendors but they're really not a problem. If you say no thank you they will leave you alone. If you want to spend some extra money I would recommend doing the dinner on the beach. The food was awesome, the beach at night is beautiful, and they make you feel so special.

My only real disappointment is that the resort really only advertised things to do that you have to pay extra for. It would be nice to get a list or brochure when you check in of what is free and what you have to pay for. For example, my husband and I forgot that snorkeling is included and didn't find out until the end of our trip that you have to sign up a day or two in advance to go on a snorkeling trip. Our fault for not asking, but it would have been nice for the resort to let you know at check in what the rules for certin activities are.

Overall we had a wonderful trip. Antigua is a beautiful island and I felt that Sandals was a good value.