We decided to get married in Antigua in February of this year, unfortunately we booked Sandals Antigua Resort, because we were led to believe it was ‘the best’. Don’t get me wrong the actual wedding was beautiful (if a little conveyer-belt style), the setting was amazing, we got married at the beach gazebo, which was beautiful and have loads of pictures of a typical Caribbean wedding on the beach, which is what we wanted. We were lucky because we were the last wedding of the day (4pm) so we could take our time drinking our champagne, eating our cake and just generally chilling out, however people who got married earlier in the day, I thought were hurried along so the next one could start. Also if you are thinking of getting married at Sandals, don’t be fooled by the wedding included package, the package is very basic and the extras are very expensive. But all that aside I do have to say that our wedding was lovely and the co-ordinators obviously know what they are doing.

Back to the hotel, well I felt it was Butlin’s in the Caribbean, without the kids. The entertainment was ok but the married couples game was very scary and sent my husband and I running off in the opposite direction! The food was poor, with the exception of Kimonos, (but not if you’re a vegetarian). The staff were lovely, but the hotel was in dire need of updating or even just a lick of paint. One American lady actually had her foot go through a rotten plank by the pool. A word of warning if you are eating in the Bayside Restaurant in the evening, I would advise sitting inside or else you may find a couple of extra guests dining with you (cockroaches). There are cats wondering around, but they are totally tame, clean and very affectionate.

With regards to the building work, we only found out about this 2 months before we were due to travel, Sandals refused to give us any sort of compensation. We were upgraded as soon as we got there to Premier Rooms (we had booked Deluxe), but found that the Premier rooms are closer to the building site than the Deluxe, there were 6 in our party and we each asked to be moved and we were told that they had no other rooms available but would let us know if that changed, we didn’t hear anything! We were lucky that our room was the furthest away in the block, but our friends were quite close to the site and they were effected a lot more than us. One evening the cranes and lights were on until 11pm. Our rooms were just opposite the pool bar, which got quite noisy in the afternoons, with all the games, but we were normally on the beach so it didn’t really affect us too much.

Antigua is the most beautiful Island in the world, with the loveliest people and we loved it so much we are going back for our 1st anniversary, however we won’t be going back to Sandals!! We do recommend a visit it Shirley Heights on the Wednesday or Sunday evening, have a few rum punches, listen to the steel band and watch the sun set and would recommend an Island tour, but by land not sea as the east side is very windy and the sea choppy.

I read all the reviews before I went (although next time I will read them before I book), and everyone has different requirements in a holiday, ours was primarily to get married and our wedding was perfect with lots of lovely memories, however I wouldn’t go to Sandals again and I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my friends. This is no reflection on the staff as they were really friendly and helpful (except when it came to our request to move rooms).

My wife and I sepent 7 wonderful days in Antigua at Sandals all inclusive. We were greeted at the airport and within 20 minutes we were sipping champagne while checking in. The staff were great, food was above expectations for an all-inclusive, night life was superb.
There was quite a good range of guests from the mid-20's to late 50's which made for a great range of conversation and options. The resort had 4 restaurants plus an all day/night snack bar. Service was great and there was always lots of activities going on if you like to scuba dive, go sailing, exercice, play volleyball of just hang around the pool or ocean.
Overall we were extremely impressed with this Sandals and would highly recommend it. The new expansion area currently under construction looks like this resort will get even better once it opens up - early next year iIbelieve.

Just spent honeymoon at Sandals. Service was slow food was bad. Drinks were definitly not top shelf. But we still had a great time beautiful beach and a lot to do. Would I return here? Probably not. Thats not to say most would not enjoy it here but food is very important to me. But if you do go a restaurant called George in St. Johns was very good.

My wife and I were there from May 29th 2006 - June 5th 2006. I booked directly through the Sandals web site and one would think that they would let you know that the room you reserved was directly in front of the SPA which is currently undergoing renovations. The noise and the smell was aweful. The only highlight was we weren't at the other side of the resort, where the construction for the new expansion is going on; people we spoke with who had rooms over there said the noise was unbearable at times. Our room was small and not very clean. I saw a cockroach I swear I could have rode it back to Massachusetts if I wanted to. I could continue with a long list of unexpected annoyances, but I won't. I will simply say save your money this resort is way overpriced and the value just isn't there. My wife and I are not the kind of people who expect something for nothing, but in this instance we paid a small fourtune for something and received next to nothing. :(