DETAILS: This is the review for you. From the airport to the food, it’s all here

My wife and I chose to stay Sandals Antigua for our Honeymoon based on the great reviews we had read on this site, and the recommendations of our travel agent. We already knew Sandals was supposed to be an awesome place for couples. To get straight to the point, I'm going to type two words to explain the experience: TRAIN WRECK!

AT THE AIRPORT: The trip started to disappoint from the moment we landed at the airport in Antigua. NEVER have I seen such a wait at an airport. It took a little over 2 hours to get from the plane to the taxi, and customs only took about 10 minutes. Maybe that's normal there, but in 98 degree weather with no air conditioning and a couple hundred people crammed into a 100ftx100ft square, it got miserable in a hurry (I know this isn't Sandal's fault, but it's part of the trip experience as a whole). While we were in line at customs, we were approached by a man (that we couldn't understand) who was determined to escort us to the taxi zone (20ft from the exit at customs). He took our bags and put them on a dolly so we decided we better follow him outside. Around 5 seconds later we arrived at the Sandals desk (which is marked very well) where the strange man waited for me tip him after he threw our luggage off the dolly. We didn’t have to wait long for the taxi, so I thought that maybe the worst was over, but no, here's where things started to get interesting.

THE TAXI RIDE: We met a couple from Canada who was going to Sandals as well, so we had a little conversation while we waited on the taxi driver to get through the traffic. Our driver finally got past all the other cars and to the loading zone, where he opened the doors for us, and packed up our bags up into the taxi. This “taxi” left a little to be desired. I really mean that too. It was a rattling, worn out, Toyota van smaller than a Chevy Blazer, but had a maximum capacity of 14 people!?!?!?!?!?! Either way, our driver was a very friendly guy, and spoke much more clearly, so that’s a plus. We were all starting to relax. Then, we got off the airport property and he turned into Tony Stewart. He LITTERALLY ran 4 other cars off the road (before we even got onto the 1 lane roads). During the trip, he kept looking out the window and pointing to “the best party spots on the island” while swerving all over the road. About half way there, the driver pulled the van to the side of the road and shut the vehicle off and got a map out of his pocket. He turned around to point out all the places of interest on this map, but thankfully the Canadian couple was between him and us (so they got all the awkwardness). When he would look away from them, they would turn to us with blank/confused looks on their faces, and bust out laughing. We were all so bewildered by this…. I mean, just stopping in the middle of nowhere? Well, he started to drive again and eventually arrived at the resort. The driver said “I know the tips are included with Sandals, but if you want to tip me, I won’t say no.” How could we not give him a little cash?

THE RESORT: Here’s the part most of you care about. This was by far the biggest let down in my travel history. We went to the Concierge booking area upstairs where the employees were very nice and very courteous. They brought us a couple cold wet towels, some fruit, and some champagne (yuck). As we were being booked, we were asked if we had stayed with them before, but we hadn’t so they gave us some kind of “temporary card”? This was used to charge things to the room, and other stuff. This is handy, so you don’t have to carry cash with you anywhere within the resort, even at the gift shop. We booked a Grand Luxe Beachfront Concierge room in the Frangipani Block. It looked pretty nice in the pictures on their website, and I wanted beachfront. Again, things start to head down hill for us. After we got our information and headed back downstairs, we were met by a bellman who escorted us to our “room” carrying our luggage for us (that was nice). I noticed that we were getting farther and farther from “beachfront” territory, and then he stopped at a building that caused little red flags to go up in my brain. This was not our room. He opened the door, and placed our luggage inside for us. I told him right away that we had booked a beachfront room, and this wasn’t correct. He said he would talk to the manager at the front desk for us. I called the front desk as soon as he left because at this point it was 6:00pm and we hadn’t even eaten all day. I gave them my information and that we were in the wrong room. They said “yes, we see that we have upgraded you from a Deluxe Room to Premium Room”, to which I replied “I didn’t book a Deluxe room, I ordered a Grand Luxe Beachfront”. The reply I got next was baffling: “Yes, we see that you have been upgraded”. At this point, most Americans would have been livid, but I still kept my temper. I was told to speak with a booking manager to settle the issue, but she wasn’t available. I asked them to have her call me, and they said she would or somebody else would call back in 30 minutes. We never got a return call. I called the front desk again to see if she was back yet, but she wasn’t. I had to call my travel agent back in the US (from my cell phone; yeah, I had service?) and get them on the case. In total, we racked up over $75 in roaming charges to the travel agent. About 5 minutes after my first call to the travel agent, I got a call from the front desk saying that they were working on the situation. After several more calls, and much more frustration, they had found the mix up. Apparently Classic Vacations (the company who do the Sandals Booking—the company my travel agent booked us through) had sent the wrong information. The front desk called my room back at 8:00pm to tell us that the bellman would be by to get our luggage and take us to our correct room.
•Deluxe Room Impressions: This room was very nice for the price on Sandals’ web site. It was clean, well kept, and had no major issues. The bathroom was really nice as well. Nothing stood out in my mind as “bad” about it except for the door has large gaps, possibly allowing bugs to get in, though I never saw any. Another minor flaw was the lack of a view of anything out the door or windows.

Around 8:45pm, he arrived and took us to the front desk to swap keys. We got to our “correct room” at 9:00pm to find that the bellman had the wrong key, and couldn’t get in. He left us standing outside the room while he went after the correct key. While we were waiting on his return, a guest opened the door from the inside of the room and was wondering what we were doing there. We told him that they were trying to put us in this room, but that he left us there, so we didn’t know what to do. The bellman came back to tell us that the room was already booked up, and that there were no other openings in that complex. So we went back to the front desk, where they swapped keys again, and placed us in a Junior Suite for the night, with a promise of the correct room in the morning. That was fine with us; we were dead tired, hungry, and frustrated. We had only eaten one bag of Doritos and a Coke all day between the two of us. We just wanted something to eat and to relax a little bit.
•Junior Suite Impressions: This room was really nice too. The bathroom was really clean, the sink and counter were really well done. The view from the balcony was a decent overlook of the gardens and the grounds. Everything within the room looked new. The room also had a nice room safe with a digital keypad lock so you could enter your own code. My only complaint was with the window slats near the door. Part of it was broken so I couldn’t get the lower portion to lock. It wasn’t a big deal though due to the size of the window. Décor was better in this room than the other two we were in.

The next morning we got our things packed up again, and went to breakfast. On the way back we asked the front desk if our room was ready yet. They had an early check out, and the maid was cleaning the room for us then. It was ready by 11:30 am, and we were finally getting into the correct room at 12:00 noon, just in time for lunch. We were excited to think things were finally all worked out. And things had worked out, I got the room with the view I wanted. It just seemed that our Grand Luxe Beachfront Concierge Room was a little run down. I know that if you’ve read this far, you might be thinking “What a crybaby!”, but at $750+ per night for our Honeymoon, I expected the best. That’s what Sandals is supposed to be. I was let down.
•Grand Luxe Beachfront Concierge Room Impressions: This is where we spent the most time, so I’ll try to be descriptive. The décor was ok in the room, but a little bland (as most vacation décor is). The bed was nice and comfortable. The bathroom was in terrible condition. The bathtub masonry tiles were chipped and broken in several places; cracks around the bathtub walls and the flooring were “masked” with gobs of caulking. It was smeared on the glass in one place. The Furniture was nice in the room except for the little coffee table near the balcony was broken. Speaking of the balcony, it’s tiny, very tiny. It’s half the size of the balcony attached to the Junior Suite. There’s barely room for the table/umbrella, a chair, and a person. It was a half way decent view of the ocean, which brings me to my next point; if you get the beachfront room, make sure you get the 2nd floor, because the first floor is ground level the view is blocked by hammocks and vendors on the beach selling stuff. Overall, the room is a 3 Star, maybe 3.5 Star at best.

FOOD: One great thing about Sandals is the food. Everything was delicious there. We were constantly in and out of the Courtyard Bistro because it was fast food. There were other great restaurants there as well. The Italian place, I’l Palilo, was great, but the portions are small. If you get their lasagna, ask for two servings. The other one that really stood out was the Bayside. The food was really nice and it didn’t take forever to make. Be careful ordering Coke though, you may get a Coke and Rum (yuck… again). Lastly, if you go, have dinner on the beach at sunset at least once. It’s aweome.

BEACH: The beach was ok. No cigarette butts lying around, or trash piled up near a can somewhere. It’s well maintained for a public beach. Yes, public beach. There are vendors selling their merchandise all over the beach near the resort, but they are all nice, and do not pressure you to buy anything. It wasn’t uncommon to see boats in right at the beach every day. One day in particular, a cruise came in and unloaded passengers directly in front of the resort, and they all took over the beach. It was packed. And you can forget trying to get a decent picture of the ocean without a boat in it. They’re everywhere. Something else that bothered me was the pictures of the ocean on the Sandals website. Nowhere in their pictures did I see a roped off section dedicated to swimming. There two or three locations in the water where swimming is permitted (within the roped off areas). If you go outside of the ropes, you might take a jet-ski or boat to the face. The water wasn’t really that clear either. It was blue-ish but looked murky with some brown in it, like it had just stormed. It was like this all week. Lastly, the water wasn’t nearly as warm as I had anticipated. It was in November, but it was 95°F outside and the water felt like it was 65°F. I guess I should have researched that more in depth, but now I know, so now you know too. The water is cool in November.

GROUNDS, GARDENS, AND POOL: The grounds and the gardens were extremely well maintained. The flowers were all really pretty, hanging over into the pool areas. The exotic plant life is just a really nice touch to the place. Most of the structures on the property looked really nice and really well put together, especially the courtyard area. The pools and hot tubs were really nice too. They were always clean, and there was rarely ever a time when we couldn’t find an empty hot tub or pool. For as crowded as the place is, the layout makes you feel like you’re the only 2 there.

STAFF: The staff at Sandals left me with mixed emotions. The lower level people did their job really well. The maid came by and changed the bed clothes or made the bed every day; she took out the old towels and provided new clean ones, as well as soaps and toiletries. Somebody was there every day to restock the supplies in the refrigerator. I’m still a bit torn over the bellman, because he took forever to get our stuff, but he did take very good care of everything. He wasn’t slamming our bags around or anything, and was really easy on it going up the steps. As far as the people in charge, I’m disappointed in them. There is no reason we should have had to deal with the situation we did; and it should have never taken as long as it did either. Lastly, they should have upgraded our room when the original was unavailable, not downgrade us (Junior Suite 1 category lower than beachfront). I really struggle with them, but they worked everything out for us, thanks to my travel agent. To top it off, Classic Vacations credited my account $50 dollars for the troubles and the downgrade. That’s terrible right there. Three months later, I received a letter from Sandals offering us 1 night free at the rate we originally booked on our previous trip, if we stay the same amount of time as before. It’s a nice deal, but it’s just business. They’ll still make money if we come back. I just don’t know if we ever will.