TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

This was our first visit to Sandals. We stayed in a Caribbean Honeymoon Seaside Butler Suite and accidentally booked the Garden View. We didn't realize it until we got to the room, which felt dark and gloomy. Be careful of the room description versus the picture of the room when booking; the website can be a bit misleading. The room bar was well stocked with our favorite liquors, and ice was refreshed daily. The Butlers added some very nice, romantic set-ups each evening in our rooms. However, some basic amenities needed to be added to the room, such as suitcase racks, towel racks, wet bathing suit racks, and umbrellas. The room's lack of amenities and gloomyness made it feel more like a bargain all-inclusive resort than a Sandals. The beach was beautiful, with clear water and plenty of watersport activities right on the beach, including excursion pickups. The beach vendors can be a bit much but are very polite and will engage in conversation or leave you alone, depending on your engagement with them. The food in the different restaurants was excellent and better than any other all-inclusive we've stayed in. The vibe and decor were beautiful, with many beachfront dining options. The restaurant hostesses and staff could have been more engaging and seemed uninterested, and often didn't look up or make eye contact with us when greeting or taking orders, which was a bit surprising. When resort staff did randomly engage us, we were delighted, only to realize later in the conversation that they were trying to sell us something like a spa experience or a photography session, which felt a little disappointing. The Butlers were the saving grace for getting a feel for Antiguan hospitality and easily saved our opinion of the experience. Without them, we'd not know how wonderful the people of the island are. The nightly entertainment was fun and relaxing, and the karaoke at The Drunken Duck Pub was a lot of fun, with staff interaction. Overall, we had a nice, romantic, relaxing trip and enjoyed our Sandals experience enough to book another at a different location next year. We gave our recommendation rating an "eight" because, while we would recommend staying here to our friends, we would have to provide them with a few "buts."

My wife and I were on our Honeymoon and decided to upgrade the last half of our trip to the Butler service in the Mediterranean hotel on the resort. We stayed in the Caribbean side, which is very outdated and needs to be updated badly. To be fair, our Caribbean room was in an awesome location, right near a pool and spa. We honestly had a great time up until the room shift (beach and water were beautiful). Our new room was also beautiful (and relatively updated), with a great view, but from the beginning it felt as if we had to make extra steps to work with our butler, not vice versa. IMO we spent more hours than we wanted, to make the room shift and we weren't able to meet with the Butler until mid-afternoon. When we finally met the Butler, we were immediately shut down on most of our requests or stated "we can't do that". For example- "we don't have reservations tonight, any chance to get us in at Eleanor's?" or "we'd like to stay in the pool as long as we can, any chance to bring us sushi from Soy as a snack prior to dinner? We know exactly what we want." Only help was from Tanya-Lee who went above and beyond. She was able to save our chair poolside with a cooler and bring us lunch but everything else we could have done ourselves via room service and didn't need the service. It seemed like a hassle to have the WhatsApp phone, especially because they don't answer texts. Everything revolving dinner during our Butler service was a disaster. Soy wait time was ridiculous both nights. Our butler never walked us to dinner to make sure we were set, nor did they ask for our first drinks as what we heard they did from other guests. I have seen this before at other locations (Jamaica South Coast) and even saw other Butler's do this at Grande Antigua. This is clearly not a consistent approach with training by Sandals nor from the Grande Antigua staff. At the resort, they have 3 locations that requires a reservation for dinners. We only were able to get into one. (Another reason as to WHY do the butlers exist if they can't get you into places or help you out) Our last night, we told our Butler what our plans were as we did the night before. We were really excited for our Kimono Restaurant reservation which was one of the 3 that you had to have a reservation. Our reservation was at 8pm. At 8:05 we still weren't seated, and all of a sudden the power went out. We were told after 15 minutes sitting in the dark that there was nothing they can do but to turn back on the power and that we will need to find another source for food that night. We raced to Mario's just to get in and get something to eat before everything shut down. Once again, we were on our own to try to make a wrong, right. There was no check-in by our butler, there was no assistance, no help, again what is the use of a butler if they aren't there to help. It's just a way for Sandals to make more money. Needless to say we were highly disappointed to end our stay this way. Before writing this, I wrote an email over to Sandals Customer Support with the hope of nothing else but acknowledgement to a service that needs to be fixed. I waited for a response in a reasonable time, all I got were marketing emails for our next stay. For a company that prides itself on hospitality this was far from a 5-star stay or 5 Star hotel. This is expensive and you promise a lot, do better.

First, a little late getting there but this worked out as the airport was virtually deserted and clearing entry might have been 10 minutes in total. Antigua was not overly hot. It was warm and pleasant not humid. We waited only minutes for transport to the property and were fortunate to have private. Check in was smooth and the new side of the resort is amazing. Our room was spectacular, 7th floor (top) ocean view. In fairness we spent so little time there that the upcharge for this room probably was not worth it. First impressions: 1) Tons and tons of staff 2) Friendly and efficient staff everywhere always saying hello 3) Resort was spotless 4) Pool was huge, great and easy bar service, always towels available 5) Beach was long and clean 6) Ocean swimming was excellent and a nice change from the pool The food was excellent. Again, lots of options, lots of staff, very little waiting time. Would probably rank this as the best food we have had. Most of the trip was uneventful and relaxing. We did not go off property. Check out was at 11 am but they have an amazing departure lounge (sofas, tv, lockers, showers. So we spent most of the morning and early afternoon before leaving poolside then changed for the airport. Overall, this was easily our best experience in a sun destination. It was also the most expensive. That being said, I do not begrudge the money spent and can honestly say I feel we received value.

We booked the Butler level and had the best butlers ever Shavon, Geoffrey and Marlyn too excellent care of us. We started out with a leak in our bathroom saturday when we arrived someone knew about nit because a towel was left on the floor. We carried on but the next morning the towel was soaked and the wall was wet and water was going into the closet. Geoffrey came and had someone go up and address the issue. The next morning wet again ceiling dripping in more than one place. Shavon got right on it. He talked to his manager and we were moved to the top floor of another building where we had a beautiful ocean view. I gelt like I should have been in that room all along... while we were there the showered us with food, flowers, the tub with rose petals. More towel art with petals, champagne balloons. Bed turn down service. They setbus daily at the pool with cooler filled with ice and drinks. They brought us lunch and drinks from the bar while we sunbathe. The staff was great here are the names of those we interacted with. Natalia, Wettney from Mario's, Nerissa, Simone gave the best massage, Michelle, Tajah, Dillon,Shallon Andy our son we met in St. Lucia, LaTisha, Marsha Marsha, Ken, Joshua, Chenay best omelet at Mario's, Chad, Deweyca, jumaare, Nicholas, John I. Everyone was friendly and make our 33nd anniversary special. We will be back..love you guys??

We stayed at the Sandals Grande Antigua and has the butler suite. It was a fantastic stay made perfect by our butlers, Marilyn, Jeffrey and Shivon. They really looked after our needs - booked our restaurants, our sun beds and even decorated our room as they knew that we were there to celebrate my wife's special birthday. Great weather, service and a fantastic hotel stay.