Found the staff very nice - our personal experience only. The room on the other hand was awful, as per some of the other reviews, it was unclean and shabby - not what we expected for a supposed top notch & expensive resort. The whole resort was run down some what and in need of a major revamp. So think again. A few people there told us how they wished they had gone back to Mexico Cancun as the service and hotels were fantastic.

After reading reviews about this resort I was a little sceptical. I was not sure what to expect when we were to arrive. But believe it or not 2 days before my departure I had still not received any confirmation or vouchers confirming our stay at Sandals. What I did receive was a phone call for a Sandals agent stating that they had over booked and there was no room for me and my fiance. They told us our only options were to cancel or leave 4 days later. I was furious and realized my mistake was booking this resort even after I read the negative reviews! How could they do that to guests 2 days before they arrive. Needless to say I refused to leave 4 days later and we were sent to another hotel at Sandal's expense! Their aweful service was seen before we even had the chance to arrive. I will NEVER book through Sandals again and I wouldn't recomend Sandal's to anyone! Stay Away!

We visited ,along with our son and daughter-in-law in Feb . We booked this trip after visiting Sandals web site and was told the new addition was completed and totally booked . False . We arrived to find a tired resort with costruction being done all day long,which started at 7:00am.The new addition ,we were then told would not be done untile sometime in thwe summer of 07. Based on the work still to be done I doubt if it will be done this year.All in all a bad experience which could have been avoided if Sandals had been honest.
CP

We stayed at Sandals Antigua for our honeymoon in August, despite the many negative reviews. Having stayed at various hotels around the Caribbean since being a child, I am used to hearing very mixed reviews. Mostly it is because people aren't used to the Caribbean lifestyle (laid back, slow pace) and expect the western equivilent of 5* when in fact they are in the Caribbean and your views should come down a notch or two. If you don't want to be 'bothered' by locals, stray animals, or you are the type of person who enjoys taking photos of broken tiles on your holiday (???) ... go somewhere else. There are plenty of hot, tropical places around the globe. The Caribbean is extremely laid back and goes at its own pace - but at the same time, it's the friendliest place on earth. If you are happy with that, then read on ...

We arrived on a Virgin flight from the UK (albeit it was a Continental plane that had been bought but obviously not done up as a Virgin plane yet. Confused? We were too). The airport was fine - we were out of there within 15 minutes. Yes it was hot, yes the wait seemed longer at the time, but it wasn't. Outside was a bit manic but we found our mini-van to take us to Sandals without any problem. Before you get in, they hand you some documents (literature about Sandals) and we all opened ours on the van. I can't remember what exactly it was but someone had a special coloured card in there envelope and we all talked about what it could possibly mean. The couple said they weren't on their honeymoon or anything and weren't sure what it was. The driver and our rep kept quiet. At the resort, the said couple were whisked off to a separate area and when we met up with them later they said that they'd been upgraded to a Butler Suite. Now, this is the only thing that put us out for our whole stay. To be honest, we were jealous but still. We were the only honeymooning couple on the van for that trip and so we figured it would've been nice if Sandals had given it to us. But that's just childish jealousy. Let's move on :)

The check-in was quick and easy and we were greeted with frozen face towels and 'champagne'. The reception area is beautiful and as you sit filling in your forms, you can smell the Caribbean air, listen to the birds and tropical music in the background ... bliss. Very relaxing start to our honeymoon.

We were shown our room within 20 minutes of arriving. Our bags were taken there for us of course. The porter came into our room and showed us how everything worked and explained the phone in case we needed to call reception. Within an hour we were at the bar just off the beach (stunning views!!!), fully enjoying the resort.

RESTAURANTS: There are 4 - The Italian one (Il Palio??) which we ate at once and didn't enjoy (personal preference), the Tex Mex which had brilliant steaks and cornbread, Kimonos which is the Japanese one and a lot of fun (we booked a day in advance for this both times), and the Bayside which serves your breakfast, lunch and dinner should you want to miss out on the other restaurants for the night. We ate mostly in Bayside because we kept forgetting to book the others but when we did book, we got a sitting the same day. We enjoyed the food at all the restaurants and once we'd discovered that you could order a bottle of champagne with every meal, that was us for the evening! :)


THE CLUB: We, along with 2 other British couples and 1 American couple, really enjoyed this place. Our ages averaged from 23-29. Unfortunately, it was always just our group in there which was a shame but that was okay in a way because we had the DJ and bar staff to ourself and they would end up dancing with us/playing whatever we wanted. We went during Festival too so we had a lot of fun dancing around with parade sticks & feathers. I ask anyone going to Sandals to give the club a try - the staff are there every night without fail so why not go and have a drink with them.

THE PIANO BAR: We would usually roll into here either before or after the club. It is a really nice relaxed environment with some lovely staff. The piano player is a really sweet guy and the sing-a-longs are great fun! There is a book if you don't know the words so there's no excuse not to join in.

THE BEACH: Gorgeous! White sand, cleaned every morning, never crowded, warm clear sea. Stunning. My husband and I have decided that it's 'our beach' and no one else is allowed to go there :) There are beach sellers around but a polite no thank you and they will wander off to the next person. It isn't hard to be nice to them as they're so smiley! The one person we did buy something from was The Wood Daddy - seek him out. He will carve you anything out of wood and he is such a sweetie. Ask him to tell you about his previous career in basketball!!

THE ROOMS: I can't remember our room number now but we were in the Oleander Building which was just lovely. Our room was on the ground floor with a patio and we were about 10 steps from the pool, surrounded by gorgeous tropical plants and spotlessly clean walkways. We loved being greeted by our kitten each morning who used to lie on our sun lounger outside. We could also sit there and watch lizards running up trees & walls. It was a great location to get to everything else on the resort as well but not close enough to hear the noise of the caberet if you fancied an early night. Our room had a 4 poster bed, fridge, tv, sofa, desk & chair, and a separate bathroom with dressing area. We were upgraded from a standard room so I guess this would be the one above that.

THE RESORT & STAFF: The resort when we stayed there, was very small and intimate. You recognised the same faces and got to know people quite well if you wanted to. The staff were always around and always very helpful and smiley. We befriended one of the bar staff (who we partied with in St Johns for Festival) who we have kept in touch with. The pools are regularly cleaned, as are the walkways and communal areas. The toilets located near the courtyard area are so nice that I could have happily stayed in there for the 2 weeks! :)

The General Manager, Franklin Eaton, is an absolute star!! You will see him most mornings serving you Bucks Fizz as you walk in for breakfast. We sat with him for our Signature meal and he was very friendly and obviously has a great attitude towards his staff and resort. And his staff are obviously very happy to be working there, especially Telcita on the bar - what a diamond!

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On a whole we had a fantastic time and I could talk about it for hours. If you want to know anything more about what we got up to away from the resort (we hired a car and did some 'non tourist guide' exploring) or just want some more specific info on the resort/rooms, feel free to contact me. We also have lots more pics of the resort that we can email ....

Stephanie (Ord)