We just returned from our two week honeymoon at Sandals Grande Antigua, and I have to say that the positives definitely outweighed the negatives, even with the mediocre service. The island is amazing - absolutely gorgeous beaches!!!
As for Sandals, we had mixed feelings... The resort is a combination of very beautiful (Med. Village) and needing a bit of work (the caribbean side), but from a visual standpoint, overall, it was a great place to stay. Upon arrival, we found that they made us feel absolutely special. Our room was fantastic as was the initial service we received, but from an overall service standpoint, it's true what you hear... The service could definitely use some improvement - Very tough getting reservations for dinner where/when you want, BUT on the other hand, if it doesn't matter to you, there's always very good food available - Cricketeer's was yummy, and you don't need reservations, and for lunch, the pizza is soooo delicious!! If you don't want pizza, there's always Barefoot by the Beach, your typical burger type of place (Just be warned: the service was slower and more miserable than most burger places and probably the worst service at the resort besides the Med. Village pool bar - don't expect a smile when placing your order and definitely don't expect to be asked if there's anything else you need 'cuz it won't happen....)
As for the pool situation, the main pool in the Med. Village is huge and very beautiful, but it is very difficult to find a chair there after 7:30AM, BUT again, we found the smaller pool bar on the caribbean side to be absolutely delightful - not as new, but there were always chairs available, and the bar tenders at that bar were fast and friendly... Something that I can't say about the Med. Village pool bar, where you can expect to wait at least 15 minutes before getting your drink, especially if the bar tender is doing something else, such as dishes... They don't stop to wait on you, instead, they make you wait. Again, not so great on service...Oh yeah, and don't expect to find a pool towel when you need one. They can't seem to provide them at the rate at which they are needed. (Hint: As soon as you find some available towels, bring them to your room and save them for the upcoming days. It may not seem fair to everyone else, but apparently people are doing it because there are never enough pool towels!) On a positive note, we found that renting a cabana by the pool is a fantastic experience. It costs extra, but it's well worth it!!
Again, you'll find some people that will provide great service and others who haven't realized that they are in the service industry, and if they do realize it, they don't care much! With that being said... I would definitely go back to the island - it's a great place, BUT I would also do some research on other resorts just to see what is available. If I didn't like what I found, I would definitely stay at Sandals again. The experience, overall, was super enjoyable!! I'm only filling you in on the negatives as a way to set your expectations...
Oh yeah, and the spa was unbelievable!! Amazingly fantastic!! We went twice and both times were very pleased. Also, the tours that are offered through Sandals were amazing. We booked the tour to Barbuda (A can't miss tour!!), the Extreme Circumnav (I can't say enough good things about it!!), and a personlized island tour (Highly recommend it!!), and we loved each one of them!
So, as you can see, although the service left a lot to be desired, we enjoyed our overall stay immensely!!

Stayed at Sandals Grande Antigua for one week begining of April 08 for our honeymoon, first things first this is a lovely place but for us we both felt that it just did not quite hit the spot as a 5 star resort or for value for money.

We stayed in the mediterranean village section on the 5th floor and the room was very good,double shower, seperate sinks, spar bath, large flat screen tv, 4 poster wooden frame bed, great views from the balcony you would need to be very fussy to find fault with this room.
Now a few negatives! the booking system for the resturants was a problem frequently the one you wanted was not available and the whole system was hit and miss, basically their are about 7 resturants of which 4 need to be booked 48 hrs in advance i assume most people would like to try each one as we had hoped to do, we ended up not getting to one as it was always booked and a repeat visit to another as it was all that was left ,surely their must be a better system for a 5 star establishment, the food on an evening was very good however we felt that the lunch was a bit more ' fast food' style unlike other places we have been to where the quality was equally as good on a lunchtime as in the evening.

The Sunbed situation was also irritating basically if you want a poolside good location you need to be down with your towl at 6am this is no joke, we could not believe it on the first morning seeing the stream of people with towels to reserve sunbeds from 6am onwards, trouble is if you don,t join them you have no hope, to be fair their was always enough sunbeds to go around however their was 2 types of sunbed and the best ones went early!

The thing that did not help with the sunbed situation was those guests who had butler service had the butlers out from 5.30am reserving the best seats! as stated in previous reviews somtimes the sunbeds were not used until the afternoon, the situation could be easily resolved by the hotel by them removing towels from unattended/unused sunbeds. EASY!

I complettly agree to all bad experiences other,s right before.We have been several times in the carib,but this was the badest place.
Entertainment every evenning till 11 o,clock,so no way to sleep earlier,because you hear it everywhere !! Bad and unfriendly service,complettly disorganisation for the advance booking of the restorants,if you ask they are mostly booked,but if you are in,60 % is empty !!The rooms in the caribian village,the older section,once have had ,maybe 5 stars,but now they have max 3.beach is fine,but no umbrellas,towls for pool you have to take till 11 o,clock,=later they are out.Bar ,drinks only island brands,Food,breakfast buffett o.k..,Sushi bar is o.k.,the pub is o.k.the rest not worth for booking.So thanks good we stay only for 8 days and than move to grenada,which was wonderfull !!

We just returned from Sandals Antigua. We had a fabulous vacation. This was our sixth time at the resort and the new mediterraen village is beautiful.
The management and staff could not have been more accomadating. there were many different restaurants and options for eating.
The carribean grove was still as beautiful as ever.
We would highly recommend this resorts as we think this is overall the most beautiful sandals.
Charles & Martha Staten Island New York