We stayed at Sandals Antigua Jan 9-16 for our 25th Anniversary. Let me say right up front, that after reading all the bad reviews, I strongly considered foregoing my $800 deposit, and doing something else before I was committed for the entire cost of the trip (about $7K). Boy, would that have ever been a mistake. We had the time of our lives!
So, I am dedicating this review to those who simply need some information instead of feeding on controversy. Keep in mind, I have read pretty much all of the reviews going back at least a year, so my review is my impression or change of impression based on what I have read already….Thanks to some negative attitudes, I went armed with a wary eye and a camera….and those of you who just want to have a good time and just need a bit more information, well..here it is:
With all of the bad press about the Mediterranean Village (MV) we had done a lot of research on the Caribbean Village (CV) and resolutely decided that we wanted to be in the lush gardens of the CV instead of the MV, and just avoid the whole MV thing. Well, that was the ONLY unplanned change in our entire trip. We arrived very late on Weds and Caroline, the Concierge, happily told us that we were upgraded to a Venetian Suite on the 3rd floor of the MV for our 25th anniversary. We (not so happily) went...oh....uh..thanks.....Knowing that we seemed not happy about it, she said, well, you should see the room...and, besides, the CV is full tonight, so this is where you have to stay, but tomorrow we can move you if you really want. Well, the room was very nice. And woke up, looked out the window and saw the ocean (and that night, the sunset also). Keep in mind, only the most expensive property of the CV has an ocean view, and the rest is buried in the trees. After getting out and around the next morning, we were quite sure that we wanted to stay in the MV. Again, from all of the NEGATIVE feedback and whining, I thought that the MV would be kind of barren, very much a high rise environment, not real appealing and a long walk from the beach. WRONG! First of all, yes, it is a multi-story building, but the architecture makes it less imposing, especially since it is built into the side of a hill, and the lobby/entrance is actually on the third floor. The hallways and waiting areas are very open and kind of fool your eyes so that you don't feel like you are in a closed up high rise hotel. The balconies are staggered so that it really breaks up the vertical face of the building. So, MV, no problem.

And now, a few FAQ's answered (my opinions, of course)
1) The walk to the beach from ANYWHERE on the resort is brief...no problem.
2) The service on the concierge floor of the MV...excellent.
3) The attitude of the staff...we ALWAYS found they were friendly and helpful. No matter what, when you saw a staff member, they would say hi, and often offer assistance if you looked lost…and yes, a lot of the staff would be singing something happy, but unintelligible.
4) MV Main pool chairs & towels. People can be really inconsiderate, and there is only so much that Sandals or any resort can do about that. I saw chairs reserved pretty much by 8 am, and some people never came back to use the spots all day. I have a hunch that some folks actually reserved chairs at the MV pool AND the beach...consequently, yes, towels were always scarce. My advice is to go get a couple of towels from a pool area when you go to breakfast, or go to the watersports building any time of the day and they always had towels.
5) Beach chairs...similar situation to MV, but not quite as bad. We always saw some open chairs. People staked out the shaded areas very early. Some of these people never showed all day, or for an hour at the most.
6) Potential answer to chair problem....starting on the second or third day and for the rest of our time there, in the middle of the afternoon, when it was quite obvious that there were many untended chairs, we observed a Sandals employee go along the beach and pull towels off of chairs that were obviously unoccupied.
7) The beach itself: We thought it was very nice and clean. There was plenty of room.
8) Beach vendors: Yes, people are selling stuff. BTW, most of them are homeless. If you don't want something, just say no, and they will politely thank you and move on. However, I challenge you to actually treat them like a human being and have a conversation. You will find out that they are people too, and they are trying to make a living in a country that only has two social classes....dirt poor Antiguans and paying tourists (us). Heaven forbid, we actually did business with the "Wood Daddy", i.e. Somarly, the wood carver, placing a special order with him for a item and he came back the next day with a very nice result (payable upon our approval of course). My wife also met Daryl the jewelry guy and had him make some jewelry, as well as Ragamuffin, the basket weaver. They all treated us better than I find myself treating most people when I have my game face on. I found them to all be very intellectual about a great many things.
9) Food...yes, I agree, it is mostly mediocre, and bland at times. Service is average also. But I can't say that anyone was ever rude to us. On the contrary, we had several instances where we would have tipped well, if tipping was part of the deal. I think the biggest problem is that some of the help really does not know what good service means, and without the tipping incentive, it is kind of hard to get the message across.
10) Restaurants: We ate at each one just once, except for the Sushi bar. Marios..definitely average. Ok Corral, probably lowest on our list, really just because there is nothing exciting about it. Best meal that we had (food and service)...Barefoot by the Sea.
Best lunch is the buffet at Mario's
11) Reservations....All of the evening (6;30-9:30 pm) restaurants required reservations except for Barefoot by the Sea and Bayside. The restaurants only make reservations up to two days in advance, and usually these fill up pretty much right away in the morning, lets say 1-1/2 days before the available time. You go to a table in the small MV courtyard and get your reservations first thing in the morning. Here is a strange thing, the two restaurants that don't have reservations, Barefoot by the Sea and Bayside, you would expect to be very busy, with a long wait. Nope....we got right in and were seated closest to the beach.
12) Wake up service. Yes, it is a vacation, but ...we wound up gettting up early most days so we could enjoy the sunshine. The wake up service is truly on Caribbean time. 15-30 minutes late every day. Alarm clock...works, if you can figure it out, but...our electricity blinked at least once, several days in a row, so you really can't rely on the alarm clock (I would blame that on Antigua municipal power, not Sandals). On the day that we left, we had to be up early, so I honestly had my son call me from home to make sure that I got a wake up call on time.
13) Entertainment...there are always more lively/fun things going on in the CV courtyard. The MV courtyard is more of a romantic environment. There was a band every night at the MV paviliaon that played instrumental music (keyboards, guitar, sax) with jazz and/or contemporary tunes, and some nights a band had a singer or two. We had a good slow dance or two in the MV courtyard. The CV had steel drum bands on at least two different nights.
14) Cleanliness, upkeep of resort: The gardens, lawns, flowerbeds, etc were immaculate. There was a constant amount of activity by landscaping crews. The buildings, bathrooms, etc were all very clean.
15) Construction. It appears to be done. I saw some people painting a few days in the CV. It most certainly didn't wake me up. Oh yeah, a staff member told me that CV room renovation had already been done in some room blocks, and was planned for others. If you want help in that area, call and see if they can connect you to the girl at the "Come Back Program" desk. She seemed to know the plans for the CV renovation, as she told me where she would recommend booking a stay in the CV if we came back next year (based on what would be renovated by then). I took a bunch of pictures of these recommendations. Contact me if you want the information.
16) Wrong information: The information booklet has a lot of incorrect information...like times were not always correct, and some services were not like they were stated. When in doubt...ask someone.
17) Internet: Not yet...in the MV. There are two computers at the CV, but one of the two was down the entire time we were there. It is $7 for 1/2 of minutes (not required to use in one sitting). Wireless is available in the CV lobby, but I do not know the cost.
18) Bars. I don't place a lot of importance on bars or bartenders, so for what it is worth I had 2 or 3 beers each day and my wife ordered one or two drinks every day. I have nothing negative to say. I didn't wait long, and they treated me fine. beer...you have the choice of Red Stripe or Wadadli (Antiguan beer) and there are no other choices.
19) Airport Transfers: No problems….they were there when we arrived, and our luggage traveled with us.
20) Security: Sandals has a tremendous number of people working security. There are 3 or 4 security guards on the beach 24 hours a day. We almost always had a guard on our floor by the elevators. It was pretty common to be stopped by a security guard when you left the beach (verifying that you were with Sandals). It safe to say that they had the perimeter of the property covered 24/7. Let me also say that we never felt that there was any time where we felt that security was needed, i.e. we never saw anything that appeared to be an outside threat.
21) CRICKETS!!! I almost forgot this one. On the lighter side...we arrived at night and heard these ridiculous high pitched noises all night. We thought they were artificial noises that were broadcast to keep birds away. Finally I asked, and found out that it is some cricket that they have on the island. I never saw these creatures, but they basically make noise all night all over Antigua.
22) BUGS IN GENERAL Following the note on the crickets...we saw a person spray just one night. at dusk It was quite an impressive fog that hung around for 30 minutes or more, but it didn't really smell. It must work...we had no bugs for a few days, but on the last day we got bit a couple of times. In general, I would say there were no bugs.

What else would you like to know? I’ll be happy to answer questions, or share pictures. I took close to 2000 pictures.

Ok, we've read alot of bad & good reviews and have stayes at Sandals & ALOT of All-inclusives, so we've "been there"

This Sandals was definately one of the worst all-inclusives we've experienced. We like to tip extra and usually have alot of extra cash for same, but found only 2 people worthy of this.
There was definately some management issues in place during our stay (1/7/08-1/14/08) as was evident by the staff. Example, while at the concierge desk (at Mediterranean), a young girl was inquiring about availability for employment and was told there was alot. Then, DIRECTLY in front of me, the "concierge" said to her, "run for the hills!" This was our 4th day so I really wasn;t that shocked at that point, sorry to say.
The staff were not at all engaging to the customers, except for about 5 percent who actually addressed you as they passed with a hello or good-day.

We read reviers of Eleanors and heard a very bad review from a guest who was leaving, but decided to try it anyway. BAD CHOICE!. Seated at 9:30 for a 9pm reserve, saw the chef come out and visibly complain in front of us to the hostess, served saald on a very HOT plate, and my husbands' salad was no longer available as was another salad (hmmm). The shrimp was cold, my conch was rubbery. BUT, the girls serving were extremely pleasant, to say the least!!

Our light was out in front of our door and then I noticed there was actually no light bulb and told staff for 4 days till I actually got a light bulb. (yes, this was in the new Mediterranean tower). It wasn't until I told our room service delivery man (they were all great, by the way) that maybe now, after having a light bulb, I can't find the switch, he called back w/in 2 minutes and said they were all on timers but apparently, ours didn't work, hmmm.

By the way, room service (if you actually get it in your package) is awesome, quick, and hot. And they are very pleasant.

Also, no pool-side service. When the girls work the pool to pick up cups, they kind of wait till no one's there to get cups. But then the guys from watersports, when they work, they said hi, walked faster then 0.001 miles per hour and he actually came up and talked with us, asked to take my cup, and got me another drink when I asked!! Wow. (Love sponge?)
It's a shame that we felt we had to be extra nice to staff to put THEM into a good mood. Nice vacation.

There was a bright spot, though, Jonathan was a new bartender at the Mediterranean pool bar and was very nice, smiling all the time, hospitable, and even carried a round of drinks for me to the beach. THAT is what ALL-INCLUSIVE should feel like, huh?

We could definately tell there were management issues going on in this place and it's a shame that we, as consumers will feel this and pass this on to anyone else who wants to visist Antigua &/or Sandals in the future.

CP
Reading, P.A.

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.