Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa

We’ve recently returned from a fantastic 14-night stay at Sandals Grande Antigua, which was our first experience at a Sandals resort. Overall, we had a brilliant time. The resort grounds were clean, beautifully maintained and pristine, but without a doubt, the biggest highlight was the staff.

ARRIVAL AND OUR ROOM On arrival, we were greeted with a welcome drink and a cold towel and asked to wait briefly while someone came to assist us. We were then met by two of our eventual five butlers, who took us to our room. We stayed in a Rondoval with a private pool (RP), which was fabulous. These little round, cottage-style buildings are really cute and are apparently the first Rondovals to be built within the Sandals portfolio. The room was a little dated compared with more modern accommodation, but we actually felt this added to its charm and character. Everything worked perfectly during our stay. The shower is positioned over the bath with no screen, which seemed a little strange at first, but we soon got used to it. We had a choice of top-shelf drinks in the room, with full-size bottles provided, along with a bottle of champagne on ice delivered daily. The king-size bed was extremely comfortable, the air conditioning was lovely and cold, and the private pool was fantastic. We used it most days, particularly when returning to the room after spending time around the resort.

OUR BUTLERS We had five butlers during our stay due to staff leave. Dionne and Shawn (aka Shawny Boy) were our main butlers, with Ken, Darren and Matara providing cover. Dionne was simply first class. She was incredibly attentive and always seemed to be arranging little surprises for us. Shawny Boy was solid, dependable and always there when needed. Our butlers also reserved our preferred spots around the pool or on the beach and took care of restaurant bookings, which made the whole experience very easy and relaxing.

THE BEACH The beach was beautiful, with powder-white sand and warm, clear water. There were plenty of sunbeds available, and there was a good selection of both motorised and non-motorised water activities. You could also book snorkelling trips twice a day, which was a nice addition. As the beach is public, there are vendors selling various goods. However, we never found this to be a problem. If you weren't interested, you simply said so and they moved on — no hassle or pressure at all.

MAIN POOL AND ENTERTAINMENT We spent most of our days around the large main pool. The entertainment team worked hard to get guests involved in the various activities, and there was generally a good atmosphere. One criticism, though, was the choice of music on some days. While most guests appeared to be from North America, I would imagine many people visiting Antigua want to feel like they're actually in the Caribbean. On some days, the rock and other non-Caribbean genres being played around the pool really killed the Caribbean vibe. More reggae, soca and other Caribbean music would have made a big difference.

FOOD & RESTAURANTS Overall, we thought the food was good, and we managed to try all of the restaurants during our stay. Eleanor's and Mario's were probably our favourites, while the sushi at Soy was excellent. We particularly enjoyed breakfast, with the Bayside buffet offering a good selection, while Eleanor's à la carte breakfast also had plenty of choice, including some local dishes, which was great to see. There was generally a good variety of food throughout the resort and plenty of opportunities to try different things.

COCKTAILS Unfortunately, this was one of the weaker areas of the resort for us. We were really looking forward to enjoying some good cocktails, but wherever we went, they were consistently far too sweet. Even when we specifically asked for them to be made less sweet, there wasn't much difference.

We also found that you couldn't really taste much alcohol in many of the drinks. To make matters worse, some of the bar staff seemed to have very different ideas about how to make the same cocktail, meaning the quality could vary considerably from one bar to another. For a resort of this standard, we expected much better cocktails.

WI-FI For those wanting to stay connected, Sandals offers free basic Wi-Fi, but unfortunately, we found it wasn't particularly good and there were a number of dead spots around the resort.

There is an option to pay extra for a stronger, premium Wi-Fi signal. Personally, after paying a considerable amount to stay at Sandals, I would have expected decent Wi-Fi to be included as standard.

I've stayed at other large resorts where this hasn't been an issue, so I think Sandals should seriously reconsider charging guests extra for a reliable Wi-Fi connection.

THE STAFF The biggest strength of Sandals Grande Antigua is undoubtedly its staff. The vast majority were incredibly friendly, polite and welcoming, and they genuinely helped make our holiday such a memorable experience.

A special shout-out to Akilah, Terriqua and Shanake at Eleanor's, Kema at Mario's, Ericka at Café de Paris, and Dillon from the Insiders Club Lounge. And, of course, a huge thank you to our butlers Dionne, Shawny Boy, Ken, Darren and Matara. You all played a big part in making our stay so enjoyable.

OVERALL Overall, we had a brilliant 14-night stay at Sandals Grande Antigua and would definitely recommend the resort. There are certainly areas that could be improved, particularly the cocktails, the choice of music around the main pool, and Wi-Fi, but the fantastic staff, beautiful grounds, gorgeous beach and our wonderful Rondoval made this a very memorable first Sandals experience.

We actually enjoyed it enough to book our next Sandals holiday at The Grande St. Lucian while we were still at the resort, taking advantage of the substantial discount available for booking on-site.

For our first Sandals experience, Grande Antigua certainly left us wanting more — and we're already looking forward to seeing what St. Lucia has to offer!

My husband and I loved this beautiful resort! The beach and pools were amazing! We went out on the Hobie sailboats twice and snorkeled once. Lots of beautiful fish to see at the coral reef we were taken to. We saw a couple of great shows in the evening. Don't miss the water spectacular at the main pool! Our room in the Frangipani bldg had been recently redone, but not the bathroom for some unknown reason, because it needed it too. All areas of the resort were very clean. Walking around at night and sitting by the fire pit was so pleasant, with the sounds of the night frogs. Service in all areas was great! Our only disappointment was in the food. Restaurants were frequently closed or their food was being served elsewhere. The breakfast buffet at BaySide was good, but I wished for some variety, like quiche, frittatas, breakfast burritos, etc. Sit-down, served breakfast was available only at one location, and it kept moving around. Chicken dishes were very good: coq au vin at BaySide, quesadillas at Barefoot. Pizza was really good. The only beef that was not full of gristle was beef bordelaise at BaySide. Even the steak and eggs beef, Kimonos (who gives no knives and it was too tough to cut with a fork), and the OK Corral had poor quality beef, and I never ordered it to be cooked over medium. Vegetables are almost nonexistent. Asparagus came with one meal, but it was ONE spear. Another meal I got came with ONE broccoli floret. Desserts were nothing special. We've been to several Sandals, and this one is the only one where the food was unimpressive.

Awesome experience juju and Lynn We’re great fun all day in the pool and at night, views were great and rooms were nice