I just want to say anyone going now dont worry you will have a great time! after having read the bad reiveiews i nearly cancelled my holiday and boy would i have been angry! the Halycon next door was no where near as good.. The food was excellent in all restaurants the staff were friendly ..the pools were lovely.. although ur right if you want a particular spot get up early to reserve although there was always beds available on the beach.
i understand most of the problems were around the time of the building work according to our rep. we had only one problem with a blocked toilet on our first night which was sorted . when we got there we had booked a basic room but were upgraded to premium which was a fab i wouldnt have wanted to stay in the hotel we were in a semi cottage newly refurbished.

Hope you have a good time too..!

Just returned from Sandals Grande Antigua. We had read many reviews on Trip Advisor and were very worried about our choice. However, we had very few complaints.
First off, we were booked in the new Mediterranean Village. We booked a Portofino category room and were upgraded upon arrival to a Monte Carlo oceanview room. There were 3 couples in our party -- bride/groom and both sets of parents. Our rooms were gorgeous. Airport transfer and check-in were simple. No bugs, no mosquitos -- they do fog every night at 6:00ish -- it disappears very quickly. Air conditioner leaked one day and was fixed very quickly. We requested a different type of Vodka and we wanted Jack Daniels -- it was brought to our room the next day.
We rented a cabana each day ($95 per day), and it was well worth it. The cabana boy, Rudy, was GREAT! We could order lunch from him, and he provided us a cooler stocked with beverages, and brought us beverages from the bar. We did notice that chairs at the pool were "held" with towels. However, if you walk down the beach, there are lots of chairs in the older section and lots of other pools.
The wedding planner was wonderful. However, we were a little disappointed on the wedding day to find out that it was her day off and someone else would be helping us. The only wedding glitches were, (1) my daughter's bouquet was not what she ordered -- had greenery and the wrong color ribbon. (2) the steel drum player visited with another employee during the reception, and we had to "look" at him several times for him to start playing again. All in all, no big deal. The wedding was gorgeous. The reception was very nice. Afterwards, we had a candlelit dinner on the beach. A perfect end to a perfect day.
The pizza restaurant is very slow, but very good. Barefoot By the Sea dinner was excellent. Breakfast at Bayside was great. We did not have a butler and were not able to get dinner reservations anywhere except for one night at Mario's. The red snapper was delicious.
I will agree that service is slow in the restaurants and some of the employees are not very happy, but you will find that anywhere you go. The casino is open -- we played blackjack and there were less than 20 people in the entire casino. It is adjacent to the property but not owned by Sandals. I think it had been open a couple of weeks.
One review stated there were lots of large tables for large groups. I would assume that they do this because there are so many weddings here. Each day we were there, we saw severqal weddings. We all wanted to sit together for meals; so I was very pleased to be able to sit together.
We had a wonderful time -- the landscaping and beach were beautiful. I only wish we had gone over to the other side and read the "board" in the lobby about the extra activities.
I never saw any units in the older section; however, it has more of an "island" feel to it, versus the new section with the high rise units. We had a wonderful time. Any problems or request we had were adressed quickly and handled appropriately. sandals is a beautiful resort.

We stayed at Sandals Antigua Jan, 31--Feb 6 2008. This was our 5th trip to a Sandals resort, the grounds were very nice the beach nice but the food was not that great. The workers did not care if we were there or not. We went with seven other couples for a wedding, we were put in the old part of the resort, all of the other couples were in the new building and were all first time guest to a Sandals other than one couple. We had bugs and large cock roaches in our room and very poor water pressure. we asked to be moved but were turned down several times.The worst part of this whole trip deal is that Sandals charged us 6 times on our mastercard for the same item, it was run through there billing weeks after we were back home. This problem also happened to 3 other couples in our group{ multible charges for the same item } Our overcharge was almost $600.00 and is not yet resolved.Becareful - check your credit card statement, I read last year of people having this same problem with Sandals Antigua. I don't think this was an accident.

We were very excited for our stay even after reading the many so-so reviews. We are pretty easy to please and were planning a trip for our 10 year anniversary. We have 2 children so the 'Ultra" all inclusive was a very welcome experience. Since it was our anniversary, we also decided to book a concierge suite for a bit extra money. Thank goodness the hotel was offering a 60% off sale because I would never pay $12,000 for the service we received.

I would have to say that having a concierge made no difference during our stay. We would call for reservations, they could not get them. We would call with problems with the thermostat, they would not call us back (even after three tries). We would call when they did not stock our in room bar that we payed extra for only to find out that a promise to stock it by 8 pm meant around 12pm the following day. We called the concierge desk numerous times about small and large things only to hear "Sorry, it is not usually like this". We also booked Venetian Oceanview which is either floor 2 or 3. When we booked we asked for the 3rd floor. We ended up on the 2nd and called the concierge for an upgrade. Never heard back, no big deal. Then we met a couple who booked a lower category room only to find out that they asked for an upgrade and got the room on the 3rd level. The other couple pointed out this to us. We had both arrived the same day so I find it odd that the people that pay don't get the perks!

The food was okay. In the big restaurants it seemed to be precooked and reheated which I felt was troubling. I did end up with food poisoning on my last night and would not have mentioned it had I not seen another review with the same info. I thought I was the only one. The service was hit or miss. If you had an excellent server, your meal was excellent. Unfortunately, not all of the service staff is on the same level. There is no bar service on the beach and no one walks around offering beverages at the pool or at any of the outside patios. I found it confusing trying to get food as many places were closed on certain nights of the week.

I must say we had a great time on some excursions, we met some great people and had a lot of fun at the beach and pool. We made our stay fun. I would not stay there again but I would try to go to Antigua and try a different resort. I have been on cruises before (Carnival) and would prefer the service there.