The truth is....it was TRULY AMAZING!!!!!!

First we arrived at the airport, though not necessarily the most upgraded of places, it served its purpose and our plane landed safely. The gentlemen greeted us at the baggage claim and swiftly carried our bags to the Sandals area. These fellas do not work for Sandals, and did request a tip. We rode with another couple who were revisting the Sandals resort after their weddingmoon and only spoke highly of their experience the year before.

We arrived at Sandals, after a somewhat scary drive, but we arrived safely none the less. We were immediately greeted with cool towels and refreshments and after filling out some check in paper work, we were ushered to our room on the Carribbean side. Our luggage was brought to our room a few minutes later. Our room was perfectly fine. Yes, it was on the Carribbean side, which yes, it is a bit more dated, but for somewhere where I am only going to shower and sleep, it really didnt matter. I didn't pay to stay in my room. The only other thing I have to say about the room is the wooden slats/blinds on the window...which allow you to hear and BE HEARD outside of the room.

The grounds are absolutely exquisite and very well maintained. We hung out at the main pool everyday which was perfect. The deal with the towels....ok lets get a grip people, its really not the end of the world to have a chair on the second row around the pool. We were able to get the exact same seats EVERYDAY on the second row, and we were typically out at the pool around 830-9. Yes, the butler's put out towels, and those guests typically do not show up til around noon, but in the grand scheme.......its not that big of a deal. Chill out.

The food:

MARIOS! MARIOS! MARIOS!!!!!!
MARIOS HAS THE MOST AMAZING BREAKFAST AND LUNCH SPREADS!!!!!!!!! And they have a pasta station for lunch, and omelet station for breakfast. I will say that if you are a huge steak fanatic....their steak place (The OK corral) is really just OK.

Kimonos was a fun experience, but not a lot of food. Eleanors was wonderful too.

As for the reservations, we made all of our reservations the first morning. I had looked up where we wanted to eat for each night the previous night. We were able to eat everywhere we wanted. So just make that one of the first things that you do. They are there until 5pm if you want to make them the day you arrive.


IN CONCLUSION:

It was truly the most amazing vacation. If you are snooty uptight and just generally negative person, you are going to find something wrong...as I am sure you always do where ever you go. If you are looking for 100% bliss and relaxation with beautiful surroundings...this is the place for you!! I would go back in a heartbeat!

There is no other word but Amazing! The place is so new (mediteranian villiage side) the Food was amazing, staff is so kind, breakfast was incredible(at Mario's)... 4:30 pizza runs, or a burger on the beach. Not sure what type of vacation you are looking for however we got married on Friday the 13th of June and stayed at Sandals the 16-27th and we already booked to go back. Whether you are looking for a quite night with your significant other, an English pub with kareoke, a casino for entertainment ($5.00 blackjack), fun it the sun at the pool, the drink of the day at the pool bar, amazing restuarants, NEVER OVERBOOKED, so it is very romantic while you are at dinner... you have found your final desination. We had quiet romantic nights (honeymoon package, rose petals, breakfast in bed) and we had nights in the bar till 2am, it can honestly be whatever you make it.
The food was by far the best vaction food I have ever had, Sushi Bar, Japanese, Italian, French, Tex mex, Seafood, after 10 days we still wanted to eat at each place again....

PS- If you are thinking about it for your honeymoon, scan and send Sandals a copy of your wedding invitation, you get an automatic upgrade. Best of luck to all the happy couples! Sandals...see you in June of 09'!

My wife and I recently celebrated our honeymoon with a one week vacation at the Sandals Grande Antigua resort. I must say that reading all the reviews before on Tripadvisor helped us extensively in getting a quick start and picture of the entire resort before we landed in Antigua.

THE GOOD -
The resort is very beautiful, well maintained and landscaped. We booked the top suite in the resort (Luxury Ocean Villa w/ Private Pool) and found that it way surpassed our expectation. It comes with a private plunge pool and outdoor jacuzzi hidden in the flowers for privacy as well as an indoor jacuzzi and spacious shower. No expenses were spared with the vanities and the green marble and mahogany furnishings. The addition of plasma screens in the bedroom and living room areas just made our honeymoon that much easier when the rain came one morning on the 2nd to last day of our trip. I must say that the butler service was exceptional, but as i found out later on we failed to utilize them fully. They however provided us with some of the most romantic surprises that just had our honeymoon going on and on. The resort page boasts of nine restaurants, all of which we sampled besides the OK Corral and Kimonos. Our butler had taken the liberty of scheluding reservations in for us before we arrived for all the restaurants that required reservations. We however chose to cancel Kimonos and the Corral to have Sushi and food at Barefoot instead. Breakfast was always extravagant at Marios or the Bayside. We could always find a ton of things we wanted to eat, but had to hold ourselves back. We were always able to get a midday or midafternoon snack at the Pizzaria outside Marios and delicious ice-cream from the cart next door. We found out that the ice-cream is usually self-serve, but a server was always bustling out of nowhere to come help us with the ice-cream. Drinks flow like rain on the resort. There is nothing that you can't find except some of the wines (outside the resorts' own Beringer) which you have to pay for. My wife and i were always able to get a bottle of our favorite rose/blush wine when we needed. For the best seafood dinner you should try Barefoot. It is has the widest selection of fresh seafood on the resort and no reservations were required. Our next favourite was Kimonos Sushi and then the Monday beach barbque (get there early!!). Cricketers is wonderful for the midnite munchie! The beach is the best we've been on in our life. The turqoise blue water and white powdery sand make this a true paradise. The roving beach salesmen didn't bother us much, but when they did a polite "no thank you" was enough required to send them on their way.

NOT SO GOOD -
If you've snorkelled on a reef before, don't even bother going out on the Sandals snorkelling trip. We saw some of the biggest reefs we've ever seen in our life, but the aquatic life and variety was minimal. When you reach the reef, the tell you to don another life jacket and swim in front of the boat. That's it. No tour or big explanation. Seemed quite impersonal but it could have also been that it was the last of five snorkelling tours for the day. I'd say, go pay for a snorkeling trip to one of the shipwreck sites.
Sandals needs to make sure that their housekeeping or watersports department also cleans around the pool and outdoor jacuzzi daily. Ours was cleaned only whe we left even though the poolboy came by daily to take care of the pool. What we noticed when we arrived at the resort, is that it is heavily patronized by Americans who sit around drinking or sunbathing at the main pool for almost the entire day. We didn't even venture into that pool! Some of the guests who stay at the resort can be very unkind to the people (mostly "black" Antiguans) when the people are trying their best. One has to remember that Caribbean people in general are slow and easy-going people and they are doing their best at the resort. We could not complain about anyone at the resort. The service everywhere was phenomenal and always with a smile! Lastly, we wish that Sandals could post a representative at all times at the airport as well as for departure. Signage would also help guide us properly when we come out of the arrival area.

In all 5 stars it was.....a beauty, but for $1000 USD a night you would probably need to offer free 24hr room service, premium cable/satellite tv channels, premium wines and a better watersports package (throw in a couple power sports!). We will be back though...perhaps to a cheaper room.

my husband and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversery.june7-15 we had searched for along time for the perfect place,we've been to the caribbean many times and this resort topped them all, don't believe the negative reviews, any resort is going to have some faults as this one was very minor, nothing worth complaining about. we stayed in a beachfront rondoval which was beautiful we stayed in room 303 and i think that was the best location, yes you are one the major walking path but you still have privacy, the nights were so peaceful you could hear the ocean waves even in your room. the beach was beautiful never crowded you could practically swim by yourself. we ate at all the restaurants except ok corral and the food was always good not your typical every day food and it had a caribbean flare and if you wanted american food you could still get that . the next highlight of our trip was the butlers korie and kevin.when we had arrived korie asked us what we wanted to do on our stay, we said we wanted to check out turner beach or darkwood beach so on his day off he took us there and it was beautiful no one on the beach korie was great but we only had him for a couple days and we had to say goodbye. kevin was great too they each had to take care of 9 rooms and i think they were great with a butler you did not have to do a thing they were right there for you and we are even hoping to have korie visit us someday. i would not have changed a thing about this resort and would love to go back. best vacation ever.ps. i fogot to mention the staff EVERYONE went out of there way to talk to you and make you feel welcome best group of people i ever met in the caribbean. so don't hesitate about booking this resort it was great!