My wife and I traveled to Sandals for our Honeymoon. This was nearly the perfect Honeymoon. Sandals does a wonderful job of making you feel pampered. At times it felt like we were the only couple on the resort. The resort is absolutely beautiful. There are colorful gardens and blooming flowers everywhere.

THE FOOD - I have heard that all inclusive resorts like Sandals have just ok food, but after our experience at Sandals the food was absolutely wonderful. Every dish I ordered for dinner at the 9 or so different places to eat was delicious. They have an English pub which I order a fish dish which I did not care for but other than that everything was 4 or 5 star quality. The buffet style breakfast and lunch was even outstanding.

THE SERVICE - This was what impressed me the most. There were several times that my wife and I were walking through the various paths and we would see one of the sandals staff working, my wife would ask the employee how to get somewhere and the employee would happily drop what they were doing and escort us to our destination. WOW. The services at the dining establishments were wonderful. The bartenders were humorous and jolly. Our room service was wonderful; they visited our room twice a day and that was a nice touch. The only complaint was not receiving our complimentary bathroom package. At the end of the trip I had expressed at check out that they should sell shampoo in the gift store if they are not going to give the room’s complimentary stuff. The woman said that each room should be stocked with those items and she gave us a gift bag to take home with us. The very best thing was chief SUGAR at the Japanese restaurant. Very Very Very entertaining.

ACTIVITIES - Tones of things to do like snorkel, sail, swim, and play sports. I think we did a little of everything. I will say that the snorkeling that the resort offers for free is ok. They took us out in an area that there is not a lot to see and were loaded with jellyfish. I got stung several times and my wife hated the location. We paid for an extra trip to Cades reef and bay and that was awesome. Tones of tropical fish and the reef was beautiful. They gave us a little scooter thing called a "tiger shark" that reminded me of something out of a James Bond movie. Cades bay was suppose to have millions of star fish but 5 days before we got to the island hurricane dean messed some of that up. So keep that in mind when you book your trip, if its hurricane season even though they have a hurricane guarantee it could limit the things you do and see. We also went into the capital for a few hours to shop and sight see. That wasn't the greatest; the stores are mostly cheap crap that you can buy at any cheesy gift store. We did walk up to the cathedral which was very very cool, so that made the trip into town worth while.

NEGATIVE COMMENTS - My biggest compliant was the construction. If you plan to visit Sandals in Antigua within the next couple of years be prepared to deal with this unattractive and obtrusive problem. My wife and I were so excited to be in a peaceful paradise, full of relaxation and comfort. That gets killed the first morning when you wake up to jack hammers and bulldozers at 7:00 in the morning. If we were a couple that stayed in our room a lot this could have been a bigger problem. Another compliant was we ran out of hot water for 2 days in our shower. We called the front desk but the problem wasn't fixed right away like you would expect from a 4 or 5 star resorts.

we recently went to sandals antigua for our honeymoon. we booked the honeymoon on line at sandals.com. we chose a room in the caribean village that looked nice online. when we arrived we were very dissappointed with the room. what the website looks like is not what we walked into. we had this picture of what it would be like and it was not even close. don't get me wrong we were in paraidse and it was nice but the room was not what we expected. we immdiate took a walk and came across the medaterianean village which is right next to the carabean village. it was 100% a different world.. we went to the front desk asked to move to the medaterrian village. three days later we got a room there ( they were booked) and it was amazing. we are defentily going back and can't wait. if you read this its worth the money. it was paradise. palms trees everywere. just make sure if you go you pick the Meditteranean Village to stay, it is definitley worth the money. If you are a smoker, we highly reccommend that you bring cigarettes with you, they only sell 1 brand in the store and they are about $9 per pack. also be prepared to wait at bars the antiguians are a very laid back people and a sence of urgency is not one of there strong points. everything in the gift shop such as tums, lotions, asprin ect... are very expensive so pack well. regardless of all that we pointed out this was the most amazing vaction we have ever taken and we plan on going back very soon.

have fun!!

We have just returned from a weeks stay at the New Sandals Grande Antigua....The place is beautiful..no argument there. Like those before us we received a washcloth to freshen ourselves and a couple glasses of champagne while all the paperwork was put together......and your not going to believe this..we knew as ssg members we would be given an upgrade ...we had no idea that it would be 6 levels up!!!!!!! We hit Gold. we were in the new MV . We booked the CV side.....Honeymoon Gr Lux and we were given a room on the ground level...not sure what it was called but we enjoyed our patio...it was hugh compared to the very, very tiny balconies of those above us.. We had a jetted tub and a free standing shower, double sinks and a fully stocked bar and refegerator which they stopped by daily to replenish...always leaving Champagne and flowers on the bed and towels. hubby enjoyed the flat screen...thought not as good as the one at home. but nice to have while on vacation.anyway hubby loved the CV side because it was so lush and seclusive and I loved the MV side....just because :) I must admit that the MV side was a little boring at times...most of the entertainment took place on the CV side...they did have music from a live band playing every evening outside the Cricketeers club..so when there we just sat and listened and drank....not my idea of a fun evening...they had some newlywed games that was funny to watch...Musical hats & bingo on the CV side as well as limbo dancer who also put on a show using fire, there were professional local dancers and dance lessons...midnight seafood buffets & chocolate buffets which actually took place at 11 p.m.
The Beach was beautiful, just as I had remembered it from many years ago, snorkeling wasnt that great to us because we have done this on some of the most colorful reefs in the caribbean, but we still enjoyed it, the zero entry pool on the MV side was beautiful...but be WARNED you will have to get up at 6am in order to achieve your goal of getting a chair pool or beachside ESPECIALLY if you need one near some shade or an umbrella
we did the jet ski's as well as parasail loads of funnnnnnn
we took a trip to St. Johns and did some shopping......$19. us for a carton of cigarettes!!!! We bought some great gift items for both ourselves and family members...loads of fun
we want to thank our new friends Mike & Ida from Long Island as well as our West Coast, California buddies Don & Rose and the always friendly jim & jackie from Kent England you made this trip a trip to remember ! John & I look forwad to visiting you all in the new year as well as our next vacation all together in JAMAICA!!! Dunns River! I know they celebrate Thanksgiving LOL

Oh before I forget....every early evening...they fog the entire complex so try to be away from the area or indoors until it disapates..usually just a few minutes (photos to come in the next few days or so ) We have over 400!!!!!!!so I have to be selective.

try not to be inpatient....because you will need to be patient
the average wait time for your dinner after being seated and ordering is 1 hour and it doesnt matter whether you are at Marios, Barefoot by the sea or the Bayside...they just move slower on the island...maby its the heat ....dunno....there working...were being waited on.
We had breakfast at Marios our first morning and never went back...instead we ate at Bayside much nicer we thought to be outside overlooking the ocean with all its sounds. Marios did have a nice buffet lunch...dinner was a nightmare 2 hours...with long wait periods in between appetizers and our entree Yikes!

if you didnt hit the pool bar at the right time it could take a little while to get a drink...or was it because we were thirsty and sitting in the sun???? after a couple of days we setteled in and got on the slower pace of the island and
"everyting was good mun" The drink is th BBC .....bailys, banana's & coconut, pina colads, Banana darique (?) grasshopper, antigua smile and the house wine was ok we mostly drank pinot & merlo...ordered from the wine list twice because we wanted a better grade of wine...but it was ok....

the venders on the beach are social and polite never once did we have any issues or problems with ANYONE not taking no for an answer....they may forget that they have already asked you and hit you up again on there return trip from walking to the end of the beach and turning back around...no thank you still works!
Oh one last thing I wanted to clear up......both sides of the resort have roaches..we killed two in our room as well as a spider the size like I have never seen! we killed them and went on our way to continue to enjoy our stay...just be sure to shake out everything befor packing to come home and you;l have no worries.
you must expect some bugs as well as mosquito bites
it is the CARIBBEAN people!
feel free to contact me here on the boards or privately. I will do my best to answer your concerns & questions honestly & candidly.

Visited this resort on a work trip and was extremely disappointed. I had read several reviews and many of them were true....

The ONE redeeming quality the resort had was the butler service in the Meditterranean Village...they were OUTSTANDING!!!

Other than that, the food was definitely lacking, most of the employees were cordial but did not have answers to any questions.

A large handful of them were very rude and unhelpful.

A small handful were above and beyond pleasant and helpful.

The resort and the rooms were also infested with mosquitoes - who LOVE the tourists :) And there were SEVERAL power outages on the Friday night I was there. Power outages to the ENTIRE resort....which left us in the dark for several minutes....

I have traveled all over the world in all types of hotels/resorts/hostels with all types of people.

Since I didn't pay for this trip (was work related) - I suppose it was acceptable (and beyond my control). However - had I paid upwards of $2000 to travel across the nation for a wedding or honeymoon I would have been seriously disappointed.

Can't speak for any of the other Sandals resorts - but if you are looking for top of the line treatment and great food - this resort is not the place to be.

And yes - the pictures are AMAZING - but deceiving.

Check out some pictures here :
http://dream-crazy.blogspot.com/2007/11/antigua.html#links

Please feel free to contact me if there are any questions...would love to share more if it will help!