Sandals Reviews

We have just arrived home after a ten nigtht stay in the caribbean grove section. When we arrived at the resort our first impressions of the resort were good however this detiorated when we had to wait fifty minutes for our room to be ready which was not what we wanted after long day travelling. When we were shown to our room (a honeymoon grand lux room) we were disappointed, the room was crammed with old furniture, smelt musty, had a view of a side of a building and had abscolutelty no wow factor. Our tv remote control did not work and the following day our tv broke to. We then complained at reception as the room looks nothing like whath they advertise in the brochures, we then got upgraded two days later to a honeymoon ronoval with a plunge pool.

The room finally had wow factor and now had a fully stocked bar, we would never have paid for one of these room ourselves however for the money that we did pay I would of expected all the extras anyway.

The resort itself was fantatstic, the food was delicious and definitely five star. Marios restaurant was my favourite although the Japanese was very good to. We would recommend the treasure island boat trip, free dcrinks all day and great entertainment by by crew and all the drunk Americans on board. I agree that the resort is not five star as advertised, the bedrooms let the resort dxown as we noticed a lot of people comlaining about them. It is a lovely honeymoon resort and sandals impressed us

Having read the reviews we nearly cancelled but we are so glad we didn't as we had a wonderful holiday and feel that the criticism the resort received was unfair. Yes there is building working still going on at the new Meditarian village but we don't feel it effected our holiday in any way and rarely heard any noise, the crickets make far more noise! The new building is at one end of the resort furthest away from most of the facilities although are room was reasonable close. It may be that the builders have now reached the stage where it isn't a problem but even taking this into account we didn't experience any of the other things people had complained about and found the resort justified Sandals reputation of ultra all inclusive and luxury. The staff were friendly, helpful and efficient, our room was comfortable and spacious (we were lucky enough to be upgraded) The food was good with a wide range of choice. The gardens are beautiful and very well maintained and it couldn't be in a nicer location on Dickenson beach.

If you are due to visit please don't worry as we did having read previous reviews.

this place is a dive to say the least. we booked to have a wedding and honeymoon here what mistake!! the furniture in all areas is shabby and stained. this is a classic 5 star hotel more like a 2 or a3 star and thats being kind. building is on going and can be heard from 7am till 6pm so dont expect a lay in. please look at all other hotels before choosing this one.

antigua its self is a lobvely resort.

We arrived in Antigua after a 5 hour delay, consequently this meant we arrived late evening rather than the afternoon. Tired and rather deflated after journey we took to our beds.

We were woken at 7.30am by machinery noise. When opening the front door, we were horrified to discover that we were adjacent to a building site! This continued throughout the week from 7.30am to 5.00pm (not Sunday). We were more than happy to pay for a further upgrade but were apparently in an upgraded apartment already. Having been shown the room we would have had, which were shabby to say the least and were definitely in need of refurbishment, not what we would have expected from the 'Honeymoon grand deluxe suite' that we originally booked.

Customer service were very dismissive and extremely unhelpful.

The Bay View restaurant was incredibly filthy and unhygienic. Constant visitors included Gulls, Lizards, Ants and Black birds! Fair enough, you do expect some animals in such a tropical climate. However, there were droppings that remained on the floor unwashed for the duration of our stay.

In short, we chose Sandals for its reputation for being the ultimate in luxury escapes but we are deeply disappointed in the whole experience.

On the upside. Resort is in a nice location and the beach was beautiful, absolute paradise. Trips worth considering are Shirley Heights experience on Sunday and the Sunset cruises.

We have not long returned from our 2 week honeymoon in Sandals, Antigua.

The resort itself is nice - but most definately not 5 Star. We had booked a Junior Honeymoon Concierge Room and the holiday cost us just under £6,000. On check in, because we had an upgraded room, we were taken to the Piano Bar which has definately seen better days. It was grubby and the smell of stale smoke is quite overwhelming - not a good first impression. Our room was nice enough but to be honest I was expecting much better. It is definately time that money was spent on this resort to hopefully bring it up to the standard it boasts. The beaches were fabulous, but sad to say, it is all Antigua as a whole has to offer. Eating within Sandals was nice enough, although repetitive after 2 weeks. The Japanese restaurant was an experience, but once you have done it once, no need to go back as it is the same every time. The Itallian restaurant was a joke. The OK Coral was limited so in general we found the Bayside Restaurant the best for variety.

The hotel entertainment was ok, but again, nothing great. They did once a week have a beach BBQ with steel band which was most enjoyable. The town of St. John's was nothing more than a ghetto. We were expecting shanty-but-quaint - again very disappointed as it was dirty and the locals tried to rip off the tourists ($10 USD for 2 ice cream cones - I ask you??). The mozzies were extremely bad, almost to the point of coming home so when we appoached the Concierge at the main reception for some advise on repellent, etc, he was not the least bit helpful and huffed and puffed which made him un-approachable after this.

I know my report sounds very negative. We did have a nice enough time but a week was more than enough. Sandals is pleasant but in our opion only 3*, not 5 and definately NOT worth the money they ask and as for Antigua....sorry, won't be back. Been to much nicer places for a quarter of the cost.

Only being blunt and honest as I would not like any other honeymoon couple paying out so much for what they think is a holiday of a lifetime, only to be disappointed.

A word of advice for anyone expecting a Sandals 5 star resort. Don't !
We were supposed to be getting married here but within 20 minutes of arrival realised that this is a sub standard, 3 star, resort at best. Many of the rooms have the gardens literally growing over their balcony's and patio's.
I won't bore you with our other experience's here but will tell you that we transferred to Sandals Grande St Lucia and this was 5 star. Whilst in St Lucia we also visited Sandals Regency and again this was 5 star. Our wedding took place on the beach and the wedding team and hotel staff were fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble for them. I will say that Cleutus Pancham the hotel manager in Antigua did make our transfer to St Lucia easy and quick.

As far as I am aware Sandals Antigua is due a complete overhaul within the next couple of years so roll on 2008, by which Antigua will again become a 5 star resort.

Sandals Antigua is sold as a luxury resort - well it probably was, about ten years ago! We had a room upgrade(!) on arrival and it was still no better than what I would have expected two star accomodation in Spain to be like. There was no fridge/minibar in the room, the mosquito nets had holes in them, one night we had a cockroach in our room and every morning the washbasin was crawling with ants. The bathroom tiles were cracked and the once 'gold' plated fittings were all pitted and rusting.

The food and drink (do try the sip-sop though!) was OK, nothing special. Service was up to the usual carribean standard although some of the staff especially in the italian restuarant were decidedly off-hand.

The largest pool (and it wasn't that large compared to what they could have done and what I had expected - probably no bigger than your local swimming pool) had music blasting all day and some DJ/entertainment bloke (Kevin from heaven(!)) shouting constantly over the pa and trying to ecourage people to play games that clearly no one wanted to.

We talked to several people that shared a similar view of the hotel as us and no one considered it value for money.
Antigua itself is a nice place, relaxed and relatively unspoilt - I'd go back, but never ever to Sandals.

On arrival at Sandals Antigua we thought we had been taken to the wrong hotel and resort as it is desperte need for refurbishment and is not 5 star as quoted in the brochure but more like 3 star.

We had booked a Junior Honeymoon Conceirge Suite. Our junior suite was just a room with a four poster bed, a fridge, a chair, a table and a tv and it was also in need of a lick of paint. The conceirge was only there to fill up your fridge on a day to day basis which was very dissapointing adn if you had any complaints or wanted anything extra put in your room you had to wait 24 hrs before anyone would try to deal with this.

The beach was very clean with white sands and the sea was very inviting. As we had stayed at 5 star hotels before we expected that with Sandals being 5 star you could lay on the beach and a waiter or waitress would come and ask you if you wanted drinks but you had to go and get them yourself from the bar and the staff and service there left a lot to be desired as the staff did not greet with you a smile bit with a grunt.

There was 4 resturants in the resort, The Bayside - the menu never changed and it was below average, Il Palio - Italian it is not, OK Coral - just average and Kimonos - Japanese the food was the best food of them all and the cook George made it a very entertaining night. There was also a grill and the food in there was of a better standard than in the 3 others. Everytime we asked for a bottle of the wine that was include in the all inclusive price was always out of stock and they only served Tia Maria in 1 of the six bars which was bery dissapointing.

There is not much to do in the resort at night and the entertainment was very poor and we stayed in 3 nights out of the 7. The staff are very unfriendly to you unless you are American and the service is below average. The town centre St. Johns is not set our very well and you could easily get lost or take the wrong turning and the shops are not any cheaper than in this country.

The only thing Antigua has going for it is the beahces, overall the resort, the rooms, the staff, the service, the food and the entertainment are never 5 star are well below average. It was our first and last time on the island because of the standard of the resort and the service from the staff, we will never recommend Sandals to anyone. The brochure makes this resort look and sound great but we would leave this message for anyone thinking of going - it is like a microwave dinner it looks better on the cover than in real life.

Sandals seem to command a premium over similar all-inclusive resorts and one wonders whether it is really justified. Sandals Antigua sits on Dickinson Bay which is sandy with a lovely calm Caribbean and gently shelving sea. The resort throws in all water-sports which is I guess not that usual when you consider they will show you how to Water-ski, Snorkel, Scuba and sail their small little vessels.

The food is good and certainly the British will have no problems with it, it is served in a choice of Italian, Japanese, wild west and Bayside restaurants. All drinks are included and they do serve premium brands although I noticed that this was only if you asked for them by name, otherwise you got the local brew. The grounds are truly magnificent and superbly maintained

with some lovely settings if you are getting married. We did though find the resort noisy and this could start as early as 5am in some rooms. The rooms themselves are nice but nothing special if you are paying this amount of money, pretty small too.