We have just returned from a weeks stay at the Sandals Grande and I must say I was disappointed. I have stayed at the Sandals Grande in St Lucia twice and could not fault it in any way, however the Antiguan Sandals was not the 5* I had come to expect from Sandals.

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to the meditteranean village within the resort and I am so glad we was as the deluxe rooms are sited at the older end of the resort and are not what you would expect from Sandals. They are of a bungalow style and are old to say the least, they are very dated in the decor and are in desperate need of updating.

The meditteranean village is somewhat nicer and very clean, fresh and new looking. The rooms in the village are all concierge suites and face towards the sea, so try and get a higher floor for the view. The rooms themselves are very tastefully decorated and come with all the amenities you would want ie hairdryer, dressing gowns, alcohol and the most comfortable bed I have slept in, in my life.

Onto the food..... as soon as we arrived we were advised to book our restaurants straight away as they get booked up very quickly (no joke). We booked our restaurants but unfortunatley for us we could not get booked in to the Japanese restaurant which as it turned out (so we were told) was the best of the lot.

The Italian (Marios) was elegantly decorated and very spacious however the food was not great, steaks over done, very very small portions and not great service either.

Tex Mex again food not great, and the restaurant itself is very small.

The caribbean restaurant Eleanor's was ok and probably the best of the bunch with regards to the standard of the food.

The staff were also a very strange bunch, not as friendly as the staff in St Lucia and everytime you spoke to them you got the impression that it was all too much for them.

Dickenson bay beach is stunning, with the powdery white sand and the clear blue waters which was like stepping into a bath.

All in all we did enjoy our stay there, apart from the food, and would give the hotel another try. If you have not been to a Sandals before then as a first I would highly recommend the Grande in St Lucia instead of this one.

We have been to six different Sandals, and recently stayed at the Grande Antigua. Of course it is Sandals, so it was a great experience. We stayed in the Mediterrian Village, and it is new, fancy and nice. The restaurant choices are many, love the pizza in the late afternoon. We didn't have any problem with service, or employees. It is windy every day there, so we didn't take out the boats as often as we like. The thing we liked least about this Sandals is that the beach is public. We are pool people, but the fact that the beach has lots of people on it, one day a cruise ship was in, and you couldn't even find a place to sit, just didn't make it feel as private as some of the other Sandals like Whitehouse and St. Lucia.

We just got back from a trip to Sandals Antigua. Not all bad, mainly because of good friends and a wedding we attended, but generally, the actual resort is to be avoided if you care about service, quality or value. 1. To begin, they play the all inclusive game, excpetionally well, where you cant get a reservation for anything. it always seems to be full if you want to go to any "good" restaurants, but when you show up at the "full" restaurant, there are always lots of open seats. 2. The food is awful. The best we ate on our trip was at the mcdonalds in the airport. not kidding here. 3. service is worse than awful. maybe its the island thing, but forget about proper service. the excpetion is if you spend the big $$ for a personal butler. that seemed to work better for the ones we saw. 4. the rooms are the worst. old, dirty. ugh. where to start? the new tower rooms are a totally different resort. if you try to change your room, they are "full". get familiar with number 1 above for this concept.

Spent the week of June 21-27 in a Mediterranean Penthouse Suite with butler service - it was fabulous! I haven't seen many reviews talk specifically about the butler service so I will elaborate! Sorry this is so long! Our butlers Desmond and Geoffery really made our 25th wedding anniversary extra special. Geoffery worked days & Desmond worked nights and the 1 day Geoffery was off. You can tip the butlers if you wish, we knew we were going to take advantage of them so we decided in advance that we would tip each of them $100 up front, then give each an extra $50 as they impressed us - THEY DID!
Arrival: When we arrived at the resort, we were seated in the lobby area and offered the cold towel, champagne and a small plate of hor's d'ouvres. In about 10-15 minutes Geoffery arrives and greets us. He explains that our room is not quite ready (we did arrive before check-in time), so he escorts us to Barefoot on the beach, seats us and we enjoy a good lunch and a couple drinks while he goes to see about our room. About 45 minutes later he takes us right to our room-7th floor. Our luggage is already there. He shows us around the room, separate living room and bedroom, a small pantry on the left as you enter the suite that has the fully stocked fridge, a coffeemaker, microwave and a small sink. (Hint: the fridge is in a cabinet that really holds in the heat. Your drinks will stay cooler if you leave the cabinet door open.) The bathroom is as others have described - nice Jacuzzi tub, separate large shower, separate commode room and his & hers sinks. The balcony has both patio chairs with table ,as well as lounge chairs with a smaller table, and a stand to hang bathing suits to dry. In the living area, a bottle of champagne and glasses are chilled in an ice bucket, and a plate of fruit/cheese/crackers is there as well. The bar cart was stocked with everything we asked for on the online butler preferences submitted when we made our reservations. Geoffery gives us a cell phone to call him whenever we need anything. He took our dinner/spa/tour requests to set up. We told him we wanted to have breakfast in our room each morning, he just asked what we wanted and what time. We gave him $100 when he left the room. Later that day when we returned from the pool, he had a daily calendar printed up for us with all our reservations on it plus what was going on at the resort as well.
During our stay: Each time we had a dinner reservation, our table was prepared in advance with fresh flower/petal decorations, champagne already chilling in a bucket at the table along with a card from them. For our island tour, Geoffery arranged a private tour in a nice van with a knowledgeable driver (Roger) and a prepacked cooler (earning his next $50 tip!). Our breakfast was always delivered to the room, we just called the night before or even that morning and let them know what we wanted (gave Desmond his $100 that morning as Geoffery was off on Sun). We hung out at the beach alot, we always had chairs under the shade palms, towels, and a stocked cooler waiting for us, we just called the night before or that morning at breakfast & told them what we wanted. We used the cell phone and they would bring frozen drinks and lunch-even the pizzas- to the beach, or set up our lunch by the pool. When we left the water for the day to head back to the room , we would call to have a snack waiting for us, usually accompanied by a bottle of wine on ice. For our anniversary, we had pre-booked the candlelight dinner on the beach - it was $160 booked through Sandals by phone 3 weeks in advance of our trip vs. $240 if you wait to book when on island. Desmond came to our room to escort us to our table which he had already set up for us (his next $50 tip). Our meal was delicious, we had shrimp cocktail appetizers, soup, salad, beef tenderloin medallions and lamb chops and dessert (don't remember what it was, but it was good.) Just keep in mind that the beaches on Antigua are public, so maybe 6 people walked by on the beach in front of our tables during the entire time, also, Sandals books several dinners each night, but the tables are about 15 feet apart so you don't hear other conversation. When we got back to our room that night, Desmond had set up an anniversary cake in the living room. He also decorated the living room with candles and a congratulatory banner above the entrance to the bedroom. The bed was turned down and decorated with rose petals and flower petals that spelled out Happy 25th Anniversary. He had scented candles on the dresser and a CD with romantic music playing on the Bose. The tub was filled with a scented bubble bath, hibiscus flowers floating on top of the bubbles and the tub was surrounded by candles. The bath mat was folded into a heart with rose petals as well! The champagne bucket was by the tub this time :)
Departure: They said they would pack/unpack luggage but we never asked them to. The day before checkout, they asked what time our flight was and made arrangements accordingly. Desmond came to the room around 11:00am on check-out day & took the luggage down himself. We went and ate a pizza & got one to go for the plane ride! Then went to the concierge to check out & pay final bill. We left the butlers each another $50 on the credit card, you can just do this at the end if you wish.
Miscellaneous: The best kept secret is the sushi bar. It's next to Kimono's. Ate there the 1st night & loved it, but never got back. Met a couple who was leaving the next morning, they ate there 4 nights! They do not take reservations, there is one table that seats 6-8, and about a dozen chairs at the bar. It opens at 6pm and fills up fast. They serve sashimi and sushi. We had tuna, blue marlin and salmon sashimi. They have a menu, but we just asked the chef to make a sampler platter of the sushi, we were not disappointed! If you can't get into Kimono's, just get here when they open & give it a try. They don't serve eel.
The beach vendors know your cooler when they see it & may ask for water, beer or juice. The security folks will scold them if they hear them ask for anything, you can be charged for whatever you give them, but our butlers said you can give them your empty beer bottles if they ask.
Tell the butler you want to keep your cooler at night, fill with ice, a bottle or two from the room, take some glasses & go down to the hot tub at the main pool around 10-10:30. A couple nights we were the only ones there, one night there was a group of couples who travel together each year, we just soaked and talked and drank! Too hot in the spa, turn around & get into the pool. Too cold, back around to the spa! Find an empty cabana to lounge in before going back to the room.
If you have breakfast on your balcony, bring your dishes in when you are finished or you will have a scene out of the movie "The Birds" within seconds after you go in!