We chose Sandals Antigua to celebrate my wife and her twin sisters 60th birthday. This was our first sandals experience and after reading the reviews we were worried we had made a poor choice. The reality was so different. The staff were so obliging it wasnt true and they loved to chat and share stories. The restaurants were in the main very good with Marios, Bayside and The cricketers excellent and Kimonos out of this world. Ken the chef at Kmonos was so entertaining as well as cooking superb food. Service was always very good.
Our room in the Carribean area was spacious, well furnished and spotlessly clean. The bar in the room was topped up every day and the concierge (complimentary upgrade !!) made sure all our favourite drinks were in all the time.
There were pools to suit every taste and the bar service was very 'smiley' if a little carribean in pace. Why rush in such a fabulous place though.
The beach and watersports were excellent as well

The bar service in the evening was quick and done with a smile and the bar staff were very tolerant of the few guests who treated them badly.
If I had any complaints it was regarding the main pool where there needs to be a lot more parasols. there seems to be a tendancy to 'reserve' beds with towels very early (06.00 onwards) due to the lack of shade.
Would i go again to Sandals....you bet I would.

My husband and I returned from Antigua on the 12th of April. It was
wonderful. We also stayed at the same resort 9 years ago BMV (before the Med Village ) I was in love with our Butlers Vanessa & Cory They bent over backwards to get us what we wanted, but I found the other staff were not as friendly as BMV. For ex. the bartenders didn't engage you in any sort of conversation other than what can I get you. Last time we had a few amazing bartenders that we had a blast with. you just got the feeling that they didn't want you there or just didn't want to be there. You also needed to say hello first BMV people were just friendlier.

Now to the property the grounds are gorgeous they have let the Caribbean side pool slack. Tiles and stuff falling off. Back to the bartenders they didn't clean the bar off so it was sticky all the time. I realize that it's a pool bar just splash a little water on it right but if your trying to read a book and don't want your hands wet... Ok petty complaint but for 8 g's wipe my bar off.

The water was amazing a little cloudy due to storms in the atlantic but a truly beautiful site to see.

To the rooms. They have built the Med side now get to fixing the Caribbean side. We stayed in a roundavol (beach front cottage) nice but ours need the roof fixed and ceiling in the bathroom. Other than that not bad. There are the same curtains and beds and everything, change it up lighten it up. enough said.

the food was great. the restaurants very inflexible if you didn't get a reservation prior to getting there well you were screwed...you could walk by and no one be there for the 6pm seating and ask if you could dine. nope you don't have a res. they need to revamp the system it stinks. Eleanor's let us in at 6 instead of 9 because we don't eat that late. which was nice but there was no one there? none of the other restaurants would do that like Kimono's not a chance.

The Spa was great and the candle light dinner for two was great too.

They need to have more shade huts at the beach so people don't have to rent umbrellas from the locals "ultra all inclusive " and on that note there was to much stuff they wanted you to pay for. pictures, videos, beer other than red stripe ,wadadli and carib (only from the cricketer) we also had a hard time (back to those bartenders) getting top shelf drinks like my husband drinks covousia (Brandy ) sorry for the spelling. We couldn't get it . We asked for Henessy the bartender said sorry we are out and it was right in front of her face. when we pointed it out to her she was none to happy. And a cigar went for $20us or more a stick.

All that said these were petty complaints and wouldn't have mentioned them at all except for this site. Over all I would and do rate this hotel above average will return!

I recommend this resort if you just want to spend some time with that special someone. The food was good, which is a pleasant surprise for an all inclusive. The rooms are all suites and the new portion of the property is absolutely gorgeous. We were very impressed with the room (and we have been to many resorts). When we went the waters were too rough for excursions so I cannot comment on the activities. I would give the resort an above average score but the island is a little lacking that is why I rate it average. I feel the island should be more than just the resort. It is a great location for a wedding or honeymoon.

My husband and I stayed a the Grande Antigua April 2 thru April 9. We had a great flight over -check in went smoothly with champagne and towels, and our bags were wisked away to our rooms. We got upgraded to a concierge level honeymoon suite in the Antithium section of the caribbean side of the hotel. Our concierge was a young man from Holland who was excellent. He got us all of our dinner reservations and our couples massage booked. the massage is not to be missed..great! We had confirmation letters put in our room each morning lettng us know what time and which restaurant they were at. We did not have vodka in the mini bar which I went down and asked him for and he got it for us right away- Absolute Citroen. Our room was a bit older but very clean and everything worked properly.The grounds are visually stunning. Some of the staff are not as friendly as others- that is true- but the majority we found to be very nice. The food overall is pretty good, there is a huge variety at the buffets and everyone can find something they would like. We did NOT eat at the pizza place, we heard it took it forever and thought why bother..it also looked like frozen pizza from a box and being from the tristate area we get great pizza here. We got the worst service at Barefoot, slow and unsmiling, but every other place the service was very good. Eleanors was great, and Kimonos was especially fun-great group of people..the weather was windy , partly cloudy, and hot but overall o.k. The lounge chair situation sucks, so you do have to get up and put your towel on which ones you would like early, or do what I saw some people do ,sit in the empty ones with towels anyway. Alot of them never do fill up but I heard numerous guests saying that goes on in other Sandals as well.. The main pool and hot tub were great , we saw them cleaning them every morning, and although the water was a little chilly when you first got in it was very refreshing and nice after you were in it a few minutes., We never thought it seemed crowded, no big groups- mostly honeymooners and couples celebrating anniverseries and we met some very nice people. We had no problem getting drinks, and some of the bands we saw were very entertaining and fun. Basically this is a great place to go and do nothing which is exactly what we were looking for. The beach is beautiful, the place is gorgeous and we had a great time.