My husband and I recently visited Sandals Grande Antigua, and were surprisingly disappointed. After reading all of the posts, here, I think that it’s a “hit-or-miss” with them. Some people had fabulous experiences, while others were as bad as ours. Let me start by saying that we are well traveled, but have never experienced an all-inclusive aside from a cruise. After everything we experienced, it will be our last.
CHECK IN – After traveling over 13 hours to get to the resort, we couldn’t wait to get to the hotel, check in, shower, and relax. We were hot, sweaty, tired, starving, and a little bit on the crabby side…but ready to start our vacation! Upon our arrival, we were quickly asked for our credit card and passports, and told to have a seat. That’s where we sat for the next 45 minutes!! We were offered champagne, of course, but felt it a bit unprofessional for them to ask for our CC and then leave us for close to an hour. Finally, we were approached by the Director of Guest Services, Sonya. She gave us back our CC and passports, and proceeded to tell us that due to overbooking, we were being downgraded from a Venetian Suite in the Mediterranean Village to a Portofino Suite. After 3 nights, we were welcome to pack up and move to a room that was a lever higher than what we actually booked (Monte Carlo), so she believed it balanced out. Additionally, she would “give us a refund” for the difference between the downgrade, and what we had booked. We reluctantly accepted, even though we booked this trip WELL in advance, and even called the day before to confirm our room.
OUR DEBACLE - After our three nights in the downgraded suite, we had to waste an entire morning packing up, and waiting to be moved to the new room. After a couple of hours, we were told to just go about our day (and let them move us). Later, we found our belongings (including our laptop) sitting in the hallway without any supervision. There was nobody in sight!! Anyone could have swiped my computer, or bags! I was furious. The people at the front desk were in the dark, and had no idea what was going on, so we had to bring our luggage down for them and ask that they be brought to our new room when it was ready. We spent the better part of the day waiting for the new room---unable to shower, nap, unpack, etc. A complete waste of a day. To top it off, an hour before checking out and heading home, we received a call from concierge telling us that we had a $260 credit on our account that we’d need to use at the gift shop (the credit was a result of Sonya’s $100 promise, and a refund from a botched pre-paid special meal, which I talk about later). I explained to them that not only was I expecting a REFUND AS PROMISED, and not credit, but also---they were giving me 1 hour to spend almost $300 at their GIFT SHOP, which sold sunblock and peanuts?!?!? In the end, after spending our last hour in Antigua dealing with this, we got $170 refunded (within 6-8 weeks no less), and had to forfeit the rest. I’ve never heard of such ridiculousness! We were downgraded, wasted an entire day dealing with moving/changing rooms, another hour dealing with their mess, and were not compensated in any way!!
THE ROOM– Very clean, and exactly what we expected. The shower was less than great (no water pressure), and one of the sinks backed up regularly, but other than that—the room was great!
THE FOOD – Terrible. You would think that with 9 restaurant options, and the all-you-can-eat perk, that anyone would be happy…but not only was the food cafeteria quality, but many restaurants closed early, or simply turned you away for any number of reasons (you cannot wear flip flops, and you cannot come anywhere near their 9:30pm closing time). Also, three of the restaurants required reservations, but you can only make them 48 hours in advance. Also, if you call after 9:30pm, chances are you are out of luck for the next two days. Kimonos was lots of fun, even though we were forgotten about after ordering dessert (it never made it to us). The Sushi place was great, as well. None of the other places were particularly great in atmosphere or service, let alone food. Menus are very limited, and portions are small. I ordered two entrees every night!!
THE SPA – Worst I’ve ever experienced. Not only are they overpriced, but the service was absolutely terrible! After checking in, my husband was dropped off at the men’s locker room, and I was dropped off in the women’s. Once we were in our robes, we had no idea where to go or what to do…we sort of wandered around until we saw each other, and then had a seat in an awkward sitting room that is in the middle of all the traffic. We were not given a tour of the facility, or told what amenities we had privileges to enjoy. After the massages—same story. We were left to find our way back to the locker room, gather our things and leave. The spas we are used to in California absolutely cater to your every whim. You get tours, offered beverages, urged to utilize the facilities, and pampered on a grand scale. This was more like a massage factory where they were trying their best to crank out as many visitors as possible.
THE GORUNDS – GORGEOUS.
THE MAIN POOL – FABULOUS (though there are limited umbrellas, and in the scorching July sun, this was a problem for me). The smaller pools – Not very inviting, and equivalent to a Motel 6 pool.
ENTERTAINMENT– Laughable/Ridiculous. The beach party was horrendous and a waste of time, the bands can use some help, and the Playmakers obviously don’t care to ensure you are enjoying yourself. They really need to come up with some new options. The Couples Game was fun, and the pool Olympics were the only enjoyable parts.
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS – A month before our trip, I made arrangements for a romantic candlelight dinner on the beach, that Sandals advertises for $170.00USD, for my husband’s birthday. It includes dinner on the beach, white glove service, a rose, champagne, and a 4-course personalized meal. The day before our reservations, I called Concierge to ask them where we go, and what we need to do before the schedule dinner (we had not yet chosen our menu). She told us to just show up at a specific restaurant and they would take care of everything for us. That’s exactly what we did, and after a 15 minute wait, we were told that since we did not pick our menu, we’d be eating from one of the regular restaurant, Barefoot’s, menu. WHAT?!?! We JUST eat dinner at that very restaurant the night before, the food was terrible, and what was I paying $170 for? Barefoot’s menu is included in our all-inclusive package! No rose, no candles, no white-glove service, AND we were approached by a local to buy drugs mid-way through dinner. Very romantic!
THE SERVICE – The worst part. 70% of the Sandals employees seem very unhappy with their job. Example: On one occasion, we spent a good 20 minutes at the pizza counter waiting for one of the 3 employees behind it to acknowledge us in ANY way. This was a reoccurring atmosphere at almost all of the restaurants, bars, and amongst anyone that you’d try to get the attention of (front desk, concierge, tour desk, etc). Everyone says hello to you as you pass them on the grounds, but that’s the extent of the warmth from these people. We felt like more of a burden than anything else.
Sonya, the Director of Guest Services, was one of the most condescending people we’ve ever met. She spoke to us like we were children, and even though she downgraded us, made absolutely no effort to “make it right”. The few other times we’ve encountered being downgraded, the hotel Manager, or Dir of Guest Services have gone out of their way to make it up to us, be it offering spa credits, butler service for one night, or helped make special arrangements for an excursions. Sonya simply hung us out to dry, and treated us like idiots when we attempted to speak to her about it. She expressed multiple times that she hoped we didn’t think she was “cheating” us, but she didn’t know what else to do. When we expressed how disappointed we were, she offered us a comp’d day at any other Sandals resort in the future, even though we had already told her that we’d never stay at another Sandals again. The trip cost about $5k total. We spent last summer in Europe, sparing no expense, and spent about the same there. Needless to say, Europe was a much better vacation!
In the end, the service was terrible, the food and spa were just as bad, and our personal experience was horrible. Management made ZERO effort to help the situation, and in fact that was the worst part. We’ll never return.
