Stayed at Royal Antiguan 7-17 Jan 2004 with my wife and 2 girls 11 and 7 and enjoyed it very much. Had some trepidation after reading previous reports but overall very good holiday at ridiculously cheap price for a holiday in the Carribean. Brief summary - was 5 star hotel now slipped down to 3 star or so. Grounds excellent, large, pretty and private.
Whole area of hotel with gardens, lagoon and beach very impressive.
Hotel itself pretty ugly but the lobby, terraces and restaurants were nice. The lobby especially gave the impression of 5 star luxury (sadly lost when you got to the rooms). Had a car for 4 days and saw maybe a dozen beaches but none were as nice as the one at the RA and many hotels which had far less impressive gounds. By comparison Dickenson Bay where most of the hotels are situated (including Sandals) seemed very busy and people crammed in. Driving tricky, lots of potholes, people and goats to avoid and very few roadsigns - the standard maps given out are not good and we found ourselves going wrong at almost every turn. Certainly managed to see a lot of the island though which is not very large. Would recommend a 4WD especially if visiting Fig Tree Drive or other out of the way places - the potholes got very tiresome with a standard car. Getting off and onto the penninsula where RA is situated is particularly tricky the first few times and St Johns is difficult to drive in (very busy) - expect to get lost. Never felt anything other than safe all the time we were driving around the island even at the most remote parts. The island and residents for the most part seem to understand that tourism is their gain and they are all friendly and keen to help. Did not go all-inclusive and am glad I did not. Although in retrospect the all-inclusive rates seem pretty reasonable bearing in mind the cost of food and drinks both at the RA (food reasonable/drinks very expensive) and the prices we found when travelling (we did not find a cheap place to eat - maybe we just chose the wrong places) the food in the restaurants seemed limited. Never got into Barringtons (did not try very hard but others said it was a struggle to get a booking but worth it). Andes on the beach was very good, nice location and good food. The main restaurant was not so good, food was ok but fixed price menu and hot buffet all the time - staff seemed very quick to get rid of you (as most people needed to eat here and they needed to get everyone through). We had a standard 'hill view' room. Virgin recommended that none of the balconied rooms were suitable for children as the balconies railings were too small - some did have nets across as well but the nets looked flimsy and I would not have wanted my children on the balcony. The room was a fair size but had clearly seen better days - tatty furniture with drawers that wouldn't close, cracked tiles in the bathroom. That said it was all exceptionally clean and was cleaned each day to a high standard. Aircon was a bit feeble - was late into the night until it got cold enough. We did not have a fridge in the room when we arrived but asked and got one very efficiently (we were not charged although this may have been an oversight). With the fridge and a car we bought a lot of our food in, soft drinks, beers and other food etc which gave variety and reduced the cost of having to eat continually at the RA. We used the Epicurian supermarket on Friars Hill which was excellent (although there is supposedly a closer one in St. Johns). Room service was ok and a little cheaper than the restuarant food. Hawkers on the beach were a bit a problem at first but you just need to say no and they go away and leave you alone from then on. That said many of them are entertaining and the hair braiding, jewelry, clothes etc are good value as are the boat trips - comparible with or cheaper than the tour operator offerings.
The beach is great and is used as a stopping off point for many of the boat trips - the only drawback I found was that the snorkelling was poor with the water too cloudy. I presume this was to do with the cruise ships which pass by to dock at St. James - while we were there there was a least one per day. It may be less cloudy when the ships are less frequent. Weather was fine, seemed very hot although only in the 80's. Some rain and some cloud but always hot enough not to make a difference. Beware that the sun will burn even when there is cloud cover so always use lotion. We took East Carribean $ with us but mostly everything is based around US $ and it seemed pointless to get anything else. The tennis courts look ok - even though I have seen some bad reviews. There must be 10 courts in all (maybe more) and I never saw more than two of them being used. I presume you could hire rackets although never tried. The hotel does have a dress code for the evenings (trousers, shirts, cover-ups) which seems incongrous as it is not 4 or 5 star by any means. However the RA aspires higher and it is nice that it is not all shorts and t-shirts. With young children we did not see much of the entertainment (although I don't think there was much) the Ebonites steel band were brilliant though! If you are not all inclusive go to the Managers cocktail party - you can easily fill up with enough food and drink to last the evening!! Went swimming with the dolphins at Dolphin Fantaseas which was only ok - the children loved it but it was a little disappointing - there will be better places to do this than Antigua. No video taken and some photos at $15 US each seemed a rip-off. Nelsons dockyard and Shirley Hights both worth a visit. In summary - go to the RA for a cheap holiday on an expensive island.
All-inclusive is reasonable value but so is hiring a car for a week and eating out and seeing the island. The hotel does have faults and the rooms need refurbishing, it is a long way from anywhere and taxis are a ridiculous cost, there did not appear to be much choice with the food (although this was ok for the 6/7 time we ate there). However it makes a great base to go exploring the island and the grounds, beach and location are fabulous.