My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary at Sandals Antigua. We booked a Venetian Oceanview Suite in the Mediterranean Village. Here are a couple of the issues that we had with our Sandals stay:

Check In process
• It took an hour and forty five minutes to be checked into our room
• It took another hour to get our bags delivered

First Room
• Broken “Do not disturb” sign. After our bags were delivered we were walked in on by the maid while we were changing
• Lamps in main bedroom area did not work
• Excessive noise from the construction site immediately behind our room. I realize that the construction is offsite but when a guest requests a quiet room, they should not be placed in a room where they are disturbed from 6am to 11pm, 7 days a week.
• After two nights of minimal rest, we requested a different room. The concierge made no effort to assist us and told us that the hotel was full and that there was nothing that they could do. We requested to be moved as soon as possible, when something opened up, and still they would not accommodate our request. It took five trips down to the concierge desk to get this resolved.
•We requested multiple times to speak to a manager but they would not get one. When we called and asked to be transferred to a manager, the phone kept “getting disconnected”.

Second Room (Slightly less noisy – still near construction)
• Broken mini fridge – no way to chill beverages
• Exhaust fan did not work
• Jets in the Jacuzzi tub did not work
• All of these problems were reported to the concierge desk multiple times but no one ever came to resolve our issues, as was promised.

Pool
• Tremendous shortage of chairs and flotation devices. Guests got up at 6:00 am to put their belongings on a chair to reserve it for the day due this issue. We were unable to get any pool chairs during the day and had to sit in the grass so that we could swim.
• No servers poolside
•Shortage of chairs on the beach. We were never able to find an unoccupied chair. The other chairs on the beach were being ‘rented out’ by locals. I don’t feel that we should have to pay for a chair at an all inclusive resort because there were inadequate amounts provided.

Service
• There was poor service at the bars and during the morning and afternoon hours in the restaurants. Bartenders were unpleasant and took a very long time to prepare drinks
 Example: On our first night we ordered drinks before our meal. Once the meal arrived, we ordered our second drink. By the time we had finished eating (with no beverages) and had sat there for another 20 minutes, we still didn’t have our drinks.
• There were no servers taking care of the guests outside, so they were coming into the restaurant bars for drinks – the short staffing made it impossible for anyone to get adequate service
• At the pool bar, even with short lines, we never waited less than 20 minutes for a drink
• During lunch times, no wait staff came around check guests or to fill drinks. It became a daily problem of having nothing to drink during your meal.
• No wait staff during evening entertainment. You had to go into one of the bars in order to get a drink.

Things we liked:

• Beautiful room (nice finishes)
• Grounds are kept very clean and are designed nicely
• Food at many of the restaurants (especially breakfast and dinner)
• The other guests at the resort – we made a lot of friends and enjoyed meeting people from all over the world!

Overall the hotel has the makings of a wonderful resort but just fall short in almost every aspect. It felt like a two star experience and we paid for a five (it cost us $6800 for 7 nights – including airfare). After reading so many mixed reviews, it seems that this resort provides either very good or very bad service during a guest’s stay. I just wish that I would have been there when some of the other guests were getting their great service! Please think twice before spending your hard earned money on this resort. It seems that they have some improvements to make.

My wedding night was spent with horrible stomach cramps and diarrhea, so you could say I will never forget this place. I can never go back to visit the place we were married because it is a total disgrace. When our illness was brought to the attention of the company that owns the resort, we were were blown off and no changes were made in food preperation cleanliness. So I assume people are still eating food prepared by chef's who do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. When we returned to the States, the Centrer for Disease Control (CDC) contacted us to determine where we were serve tainted food. Apparently in the US something this severe would close a resort - not at Sandals. At Sandals it is the norm - I met other couples back home who encountered the same issue. I wish I knew. For what we paid, we could have stayed at a luxury hotel where cleanliness is paramount.

Positives? Everything outside the resort.

Check In: Oddly, even though we arrived in the private transfer limo arranged by Sandals (so they knew we were coming), no one was there to greet us in MV concierge. We stood around for a few minutes by the desk and finally someone acknowledged us and asked our name. He was polite but very “green”. He checked us in at a table in the lobby and even though we filled out a form right in front of him with our SSG #, status, etc, he still treated us as if we were new to sandals. He then showed us to our room and was again very basic with us showing us around the room by explaining the Jacuzzi, shower, toilet, light in closet, etc- for about 20 min. This was our first experience with the very inexperienced and unknowledgeable concierge staff and it never got any better.

Resort: Stunning!!! The MV lobby is gorgeous and the grounds are the most beautiful of any sandals. The flowers are incredible and so beautifully grown in and maintained especially on the CV (old) side. Best of both worlds with the stunning elegance of the MV and the casual beauty of the CV.

Room: Absolutely beautiful!!! Stunning bathrooms with big Jacuzzi and separate tiled, rain head shower. Toilet in separate room, double sinks with marble and lots of nice bathroom storage. Small closet when you walk in the bathroom area but adequate for all your stuff and well-lit. Nice safe big enough for cameras and lap-tops. Room itself was a decent size with a really nice mahogany 4 poster bed with a great mattress and wonderful pillows/linens. Large chair in an alcove was pretty but not as comfortable as a little couch might have been. Large plasma tv and drawer cabinet with two nice-sized end tables with a few extra drawers. A little desk and chair and a nice bar area with coffee maker, ice, shelves, liquor and underneath, fridge. They did a nice job on the colors (muted greens and tans with cherry wood molding) and fabrics in the rooms.

Pools: The MV pool is absolutely the nicest I have seen at sandals. Zero entry, huge and very elegant and glamorous with statues and fountains. Some days, there was poolside waitress service for drinks but it was wildly inconsistent (not always there, then sometimes only for an hour a day). Bartenders at the pool were very nice. Most days there were 4 or 5 of them and service was fine. A few days they had only 1 or 2 guys there and the service was really slow. I felt terrible for them on those days but that is a staffing issue not a service issue on their part. They did the best they could. Also, main pool was cold. Unless it was a super-hot day (which we only had a few of over 14 days), the pool was too cold. Because it was cold, there were PLENTY of floaties (few people spent much time in the water). The other problem at the main pool was seating. There weren’t enough loungers by the pool. People were constantly frustrated. We were okay because Rob dove most days so he was up at 7:30am to get our chairs. But by 9:00am or so, there were rarely any loungers left. This is such an easy problem to resolve that it one of those frustrating sandals things that makes you want to scream. There is plenty of room/space- just buy 60 more lounge chairs!!!!

Beach: Beautiful water color and warmth. Clarity not always great because of little waves. Very soft powdery white sand with no rocks at all. A few pretty shells right at the shore line. Sandals (and all) beaches are public. The sandals beach was long but fairly narrow so it often felt very crowded. Beach vendors were warm & polite and did go away readily when you said no but they made sure to always ask even if you pretended you were sleeping or reading- I found that a little annoying. Beaches across the island were beautiful. Nicest we’ve seen in Caribbean ( st lucia, Jamaica Bahamas & Puerto Rico are our comparisons).

Food: We thought the food was very good at this resort. We ate everywhere but Eleanors which we heard was great but the menu just didn’t thrill us. Barefoot by the Sea was excellent for both lunch and dinner. Not just seafood on the menu- pork and steak as well so make sure you give it a try. Service here was always very good. Grill items during the day from 12-5pm. Kimonos was good. Teppanyaki food was well-cooked and tasty. Chef wasn’t as much fun as we’ve had here at other sandals. A new feature at Kimonos was a sushi bar open every night (except Saturday) from 6-9:30pm). The sushi was AWESOME!!! The chefs couldn't have been nicer- thank you, Joseph! We ate here as an appetizer almost every night, it was that good! Bayside was mixed. Breakfast was poor (cold, dried out food), lunch was only so-so ( not many choices. Food itself at lunch hit or miss- one day they did a Chinese them and the food was inedible) But dinner at Bayside was Good. Nice menu which changes every Tuesday, good service. Marios’ was excellent for breakfast (buffet but cooked to order eggs, French toast, waffles & pancakes) and for Lunch (cooked to order meats & fish) and many salads, pasta bar, hot entrees). Mario’s also served really good pizzas each day from 12-6pm. However, Mario’s for dinner was just okay. The chef was italian but the food (especially the pasta, oddly enough) was just so-so. OK Corral was also good. Great steaks and ribs but limited menu. Cricketer’s Pub had good food but very bad service. Very slow in here and most of the waitresses were very disinterested in serving. Open for dinner from 5-10pm and then late night snacks (great burgers & nachos!) 10pm-2am.

Bars/Entertainment: There was always a lot going on at night at this resort. There was always a musical act on both sides each night and then usually one other type of show (magic, dance, fire dancer, talent night, karaoke). There was (in addition to what I just described), a piano player very night in the piano bar from 6:30-8:30pm and from 11pm-2am. There were also frequent special acts such as these great musicians who strolled around the pool a few days, a saxophonist in the pool tower 2 nights per week, that sort of thing. The entertainment was good, too. The pub was the wild place to be at night with flaming shots and a party-like atmosphere. There is a large outdoor main bar near the main entertainment area in the CV with a nice courtyard for watching the shows. There is a very quiet bar by Kimonos and then the Piano Bar which we really enjoyed. Some nights it was peaceful and empty and other nights it would get crowded and the sing-a-long was really fun. Dionne the bartender at the piano bar was very nice and made the best drinks hands down. She is a great bartender.
Daytime activities were only at the CV side and only around the pool there so you had to find them if you wanted them. We didn’t so it was fine.
Specialty buffets were a joke . Choc buffet had 1 small choc fountain (like the kind you buy at Linens & Things) with a few plates of fruit to dip, 1 tray of brownies and a tray of cheese. The seafood buffet was cancelled because of a light rain (huh? Why not just move it under the enclosed area?!)

Service: Service in most cases was pretty good. It is true that the service isn’t as polished or as outgoing as Jamaican service but in the bars, restaurants & at the pools, the people were very sweet- warm and polite. If you give them a big smile and treat them nicely, they became as service-oriented and eager-to-please as any Jamaican employee. The exceptions to this were in the pub where the waitresses (not the bartenders- they were great!) just couldn’t be bothered and were more interested in hanging out than serving. They weren’t rude, just slow and bored. Also, drinks at the Bayside bar weren't very good and the bar staff here was slow and very inexperienced with drink-making.
The biggest problem was in the concierge area. These employees had absolutely no clue how to do anything and immediately said “no” to almost anything you asked them. Some examples- we called 3 times for 2 days to get bathrobes, called 4 times for 2 days to get a refrigerator that worked, we called 3 times (and gave up) to get a list of restaurant opening and closing times/days/dress codes, we called 3 times to get a bottle of Baileys/Brogans (which we knew they had because it was at every bar), wake-up calls that never came. And I have lots more examples. Either they just said “okay” and never did it or they immediately (without even checking) said “we don’t have that”. Nothing that ruined our trip but very poor and annoying service from that team. I also did not feel any effort at this resort to cater to returning guests. For the first time ever, we didn’t receive any special note or treat in our room, no welcome home, no acknowledgement of any kind that we were Diamond guests (other than the limo transfer which was great).

Spa: Very nice. The therapists we had were very good- Tess, Keron & Leonie. The spa is newly renovated and looks great. The management of the spa seemed a bit disorganized here, though. Again, even on my 4th visit, no one really remembered my name and they often didn’t seem to know what service I was there for (even when I was entering the treatment room with the therapist ready to start!). But it was still very enjoyable.

Off-Resort: We visited the Grand Princess casino near Jolly Harbour and this casino was very nice. Very clean, new & elegant. We visited St John’s one day for shopping and were very disappointed. The shops were sort of dirty and run-down. Typical stuff like jewelry stores and about 10 bathing suit stores with a few weird stores thrown in the mix (The Body Shop?!). The craft & food market was good for a nice stroll through but nothing really interesting to buy. Casino in St John’s (King’s) was sort of seedy and dirty. I We also hired a private taxi ($25 per hour) for about 5 hrs and he took us all around the whole island. Some really beautiful scenery and gorgeous beaches- our favorite was Half Moon Bay- stunning. We also saw Nelson’s Dockyard (interesting), Shirley Heights-(beautiful- nice place for a drink) and the rock formation called Devil’s bridge which was pretty cool.

Diving: My husband got his PADI certification here and he enjoyed himself. He has limited diving experience but said it was better than Jamaica but not as good as the diving in St Lucia. He though the dive people were nice but sometimes the dives took a long time to get off the resort (8am dive often left at 9am)

Overall: We had a great time and really like this resort overall. It could have been our favorite sandals if not for the service issues we had in concierge and the public nature of the beach. Hopefully, they will work out the kinks soon.

My husband and I were at Sandals over Christmas - 9 nights and stayed in the concierge grandlux beachfront in the Carribean village.

Overall, we had a fantastic holiday. Weather glorious and we were simply able to just relax by the pool outside our room and swim in the sea when the mood took us.

the grounds were stunning, although I preferred the carribean village to the new med village, which felt more like a concrete jungle and lacked character.

Yes, the accomodation blocks in the carribean side were a little down at heal, but that was part of their charm and we are told that the interiors are being upgraded in 2008.

There were one or two service issues, but nothing to get hung up about, and generally the staff were friendly and helpful.

the food was just okay, and certainly not 5 star, so we just chose to go off site on 3 nights, but again, you were never going to go hungry or thirsty.

We did feel, however, that just after Christmas, as the resort went to full capacity, the staff started to struggle, especially in the restaurants (breakfast/lunch) where there were long queues to get seated nd quite often, food dishes empty. Up to and including christmas, this had not been an issue, so we were glad to leave on the 29th.

We have taken advantange of the advance booking, to go back same period this year, with the same room.

Some of the reviews have been overly critical, and if they want the 5 star quality in the carribean, then they are going to have to delve a lot deeper in their pockets, having stayed in several carribean islands, we know that 5 star in the carribean is more like 3-4 star in the UK and the USA.