We went to SAT to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We booked our trip through Dream Makers Vacation Services. They were great!

Flight

The flight from Boston to San Juan and then to Antigua went without a hitch. Immigration and Custom in Antigua wasn’t bad, but we were the first plan to arrive. After getting our bags we went outside where a van was waiting for us and 2 other couples. They were both on their honeymoon. We were celebrating our 25 anniversary. It is about a 15 min drive to SAT.

We were welcomed with cold towels, champagne and snacks.

Room

We booked the Venetian Suite and were upgraded to the St. Tropez Suite (Thank You Amy) on the 5th floor. The room was a little bigger than the Venetian. It was beautiful. It had two sinks, a huge shower with bench and a rain shower fixture. It also had a jazzuci tub. The balcony was very small compared to other Sandals but sufficient. It overlooked the pool and the ocean. You could see the sunset every night. This was the first time we had concierge service and it was great. No problem getting our room made up or turn down service. They even left us a little cake on our 25th anniversary. There are two buttons by the door. One says ‘make up room’, the other ‘do not disturb’. When we left in the morning, we pushed the ‘make up room’ button. The bed was a little soft and creaky. We have a firm foam mattress at home, so we were not used to it. The sheets were heavenly. Even with a sunburn, they were soft. Plenty of pillows and they were very soft. We brought a laptop and the internet was very very fast. No problems at all.

Restaurants

Overall the food was just OK. The food at Whitehouse, St. Lucia Grande and Montego Bay was far superior.

We didn’t make reservations until the second day third day we were there. We couldn’t get into Kimonos, but went to the Sushi Bar EVERY night. My husband loves sushi, so if we didn’t make it before dinner, we would go after. I tried different things and it was very good.

Mario’s was OK. They didn’t have the braciole that I wanted, so I had chicken alfredo. We had reservations there 2 nights later but did not go back. The breakfast buffet was good every morning. We also had a lunch buffet here which was OK.

OK Corral. I had fajitas, they were OK. My husband had steak, he said it was good.

Barefoot By the Sea – dinner was terrible. We both order the steak. I asked for med and my husband asked for his rare. They were both well done. Lunch here was good but the hamburgers were dry.

Cricketers Pub – after eating sushi that night, I wasn’t really hungry, so I just order the nachos which had spicy beef and cheese. They were awful. I ate about 3 of them. I don’t remember what my husband got..I think it was steak. It was OK.

Eleanor’s – They had lobster tail on the menu and I thought ‘finally, something good’. Well they had the beach party that night which was right outside Eleanor’s and they substituted the lobster tail for crab legs. We both had rib-eye and I asked for it med-rare. It was just the way I liked it. We also had Conch Salad which was very tough, not like what you get at the little stands in the Bahamas. My husband had the pea soup and said it was excellent. This was probably the best meal I had.

SSG dinner – Beef and shrimp. Again it was OK. The shrimp (1 piece) was fried with a batter, but it doesn’t taste like the shrimp we get in the northeast. The beef was good. I don’t remember what we had for an appetizer or dessert but I ate it all…lol. It was very long. We were sitting in the dining room for about 2 ½ hours. They had a band and wanted people to dance. We met Chinzia (from Italy) who was the manager of the MV. When we met her at cocktail hour, we introduced ourselves and she rattled off our room number. We couldn’t believe it. She was awesome. We saw her several other times around the resort and she always asked how things were and if we were enjoying ourselves – of course! We also had met a couple from England at the cocktail party – Barry and Sue – they also sat at our table and had lots of great laughs. We ran into them quite a bit on the resort always smiling and quick with a joke or two.

The pizzeria outside Mario’s – it was good. We waited maybe ½ hr for a pizza at about 1:30pm.

Bayside – We ate here when they had the International Buffet. There were a ton of choices. I usually don’t like buffet for dinner, but it was pretty good.

At first I didn’t like the thought of the reservations system, but you show up at the restaurant and you are seated. They only down side is that you are done with dinner in an hour or less. They had shows in the CV and a band outside Mario’s, but we never made it pass 9:30pm

Weather

It was very humid the day we arrived and the next day, but we just stayed in the pool and the ocean all day. The next 4 days we had a nice breeze. One day is was cloudy all day, but it was a nice relief from the sun.

Pool/Ocean

The pool is absolutely gorgeous. We are usually beach people but there was not a lot of shade there and not many huts. I’m not willing to get up at 6am to get a hut. Most days, all the chairs at the pool with umbrellas were taken. We meet a great couple from Austria and they saved us 2 chairs the last 3 days we were there, so that was great. Every day we went to the ocean 2-3 times a day. My husband snorkeled and collected shells. We walked the beach most every day except the days I was feeling good.

We stayed at the pool every day until at least 6 or 7.

Security

You don’t have to worry about anyone coming on the property who doesn’t belong. The security guards are right there. One day, there were some cruise ship people on the beach (I think) and 2 girls wandered over and she came out of nowhere and told them to go back. When we went on a tour, they checked our ids when we went back on the property. If you just go to the ocean to swim, no need to bring your Sandals Membership card, but if you go on a tour or stay on the beach for a long time, you will need it.

People/Service

We met a lot of great people at the pool. Peter and Angelika from Austria. They were very interesting. Sherry and Rob from the Chris and Cheryl board (Vacationgirl), who was emailed beforehand. We hung out a few times at the pool bar because they came on Friday and we left on Tuesday and the couples from the van on the way over from the airport.

There were a lot of honeymoons there. We are in our late 40’s and we were the minority there, but it was OK. Everyone was friendly.

The service and the Antiguan workers were great. Everyone said hello and no problem getting drinks at any bar. There were 2 students studying hotel management doing their internship there from the Netherlands. They were very nice and quick to serve you.

If you treat them nice and talk to them, they were reciprocate.

Tours

We went on Eli’s Eco Tour. It was very good. It was $90/pp if you booked online. This was not offered as a Sandals tour that we know of. They pick you up right at the beach in front of the MV in a boat. The water was very rough but it was fun going over the waves. They show you a lot of the coast line and then on to Bird Island. You can hike to the top, maybe a 10 min walk and not too hard. At the top, you can see the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It was very cool.

We had lunch on the boat, bbq chicken, pasta salad, salad, dessert, soda and water.

Then you go to Devil’s Bridge. We got out and swam over. You need water shoes for this. We then climbed through a cave and to the top of the bridge, walked over the bridge and climbed down. It wasn’t bad. I was really concerned about going through a cave, but nothing to worry about.

We then went snorkeling. One group goes out very far and another hangs back. The snorkeling was good.

They serve a local rum punch recipe on the way back. I didn’t drink, but had a sip on my husband’s. It was pretty good.

Overall, it was an awesome vacation and we will definately go back.