So you’re considering having your all-inclusive beach vacation at Sandals Grande Antigua!... Is this the right place for you? Here’s a breakdown of the resort, what not to miss, and things to keep in mind.
Some disclaimers that might sway your opinion:
- Spotty wifi throughout the resort
- The beach is public meaning patrons from other resorts can come onto the beach adjacent to Sandals. It also means there are quite a few vendors which, in my opinion, took away from the luxury oasis that is the turquoise waters and powdered sugar sand
- It’s not necessarily a “honeymooner’s retreat” as most patrons were celebrating their wedding anniversaries
- There are lots of cats-- you take from that what you will. I, for one, loved them! Being said, they usually leave you alone and on occasion will ask for food
- Antigua has no fresh water sources and the locals rely on the sea, surface water, and groundwater. According to the United Nations, the island is “one of the most water-stressed countries in the Caribbean.” For the resort, this means using single-use plastic water bottles. However, the recycling program in Antigua is not great as the cost for plastic waste exports has decreased so lots of plastic with recycle potential, especially the water bottles, goes to the landfill. You can bring your own water bottle, of course, and fill up at the bar or the occasional water filling jug
The Rooms
Rooms are split into the Mediterranean and Caribbean side with the former being the more recently built add-on to the resort and the latter being the original rooms and buildings. Which should you choose? I stayed in the Mediterranean Oceanview Penthouse One Bedroom Butler Suite (Maya’s recommendation!✅) as well as the Caribbean Honeymoon Butler Rondoval with Private Pool Sanctuary. Let’s look at these two rooms more closely:
Mediterranean Oceanview Penthouse One Bedroom Butler Suite:
- Pros:
- Beautifully open and spacious suite with a lounge area, four poster bedroom, and ensuite bathroom
- The jacuzzi bath, which features a tremendous bubble feature, stayed warm for four hours I kid you not. Can be extremely romantic <3
- Great views of the sunset: every night was a new painting by Nature herself
- The room speaks for itself and there are no hidden disclaimers or oddities about the room and its amenities
- Cons:
- A bit of a distance from the beach and some of the restaurants. It’s not the type of room where you can easily go back to the room to change or grab something so I’d suggest packing a beach bag for the day
- Sometimes the elevators break down so you’ll have to go down the stairs-- not great for accessibility
Caribbean Honeymoon Butler Rondoval with Private Pool Sanctuary:
- Pros:
- Cozy and brilliantly laid out considering the smaller size-- it’s a feat of interior design. It fits a king bed, two bedside tables, two chairs, and a small breakfast table
- Very accessible to the beach, smaller pools, and restaurants
- Includes a private pool and lounge area in the backyard for some privacy
- Cons:
- There is no real shower: there’s a bathtub, a handheld attachment tool, and a 4x4 inch shower “head” on the ceiling. No shower curtain though so it may get the floor wet
- Quite loud throughout the day
- Easy bug access as it’s a round hut on the ground which looks so chic and romantic but won’t be for those with sweet blood
Both these suites come with butlers. We had Marvin, Shavon, and Karen all beautiful, hard-working humans and easily received Maya’s recommendation!✅. It’s a nice addition that comes with the premium rooms.
What they can do for you:
- Streamline the check in and check out process
- Reserve beach and pool space with shade-- this is what really elevated the Sandals experience for me
- Do cute things for your birthday or anything you’re celebrating. My favourite was when Shavon ran a lovely bath with fresh flower petals
- Shavon was known for greeting us with fresh drinks and leaving cute notes; he’s the boyfriend you’ve never had and probably never will
- You can request specific butlers at the different Sandals resorts-- it’s quite extra but I also love that attention to detail and service
What you can do for them:
- Get to know them and their beautifully rich lives
- Karen is everything I want to be: a badass woman who is confident, humble, hardworking, and most of all, genuine
- Tip them: butlers and spa associates are the only employees at the resort that accept tips. It’s recommended to do X, but of course, if they blow all your expectations, it’s better to go higher than lower
The Restaurants: Highs and Lows
Bayside
Lunch: Buffet with a modest selection of Caribbean and American food. DO NOT waste your time or calories on the ‘make your own sandwich station’-- I learned the hard way (Maya’s don’t list❌).
Dinner: Be sure to try their Cocktail de Crevettes (poached shrimp, lime, Marie-Rose sauce) which has Maya’s recommendation!✅. It’s extremely fresh and perhaps will be some of the freshest tasting shrimp you’ve ever had! You might have to wrestle with the resort cats for these!
I do not recommend the Roulade Vegetalienne (Hungry Planet Meat, spinach, lentils, broccoli, tomato chutney) as it’s a bit heavy and could use something to brighten the plate (Maya’s don’t list❌).
Barefoot by the Sea
Lunch: The fish (tilapia) sandwich is really good quality-- so much so that the fillet doesn’t need to be deep fried (TIP: ask for the fish to be grilled instead for a lighter alternative). Maya’s recommendation! ✅.
Dinner: Featured on their menu is a create your own fish dish aka “Fish Your Way”-- I love that idea! You get to choose the type of fish, sides, and sauce. I chose mahi with mashed potatoes and vegetables and creole sauce.
Drink of the day: watermelon margarita with scotch bonnet: perfectly balanced and perfectly delectable (Maya’s recommendation!✅).
Server recommendation: Sammy.
Mario’s
Dinner: Well thought out portion sizes, especially if you opt for the 3 course meal.
Server recommendation: Serena.
Bella Napoli: Maya’s don’t list❌
I didn’t particularly enjoy this lunch place as the “pizza” was a bit lacking. The pizzas seemed thrown together carelessly as you can see with the toppings.
Eleanor’s
The service here isn’t always good and can be quite inconsistent and unattentive. Staff weren’t always visible and when they were, they weren’t paying attention to us. It took quite a while for the dishes to be cleared. An example of this is when the crows were able to eat the leftover food to their heart’s desire.
Breakfast: Classic Eggs Benedict: Maya’s recommendation!✅
TIP: you can also get salmon benedict if you don’t eat meat or want to switch it up!
Dinner: So romantic at night with moody candlelight and petals on the table. It takes the lead if you want this restaurant vibe.
TIP: try to book a reservation here when they have live music in the courtyard.
Server recommendation: Ashaki.
Drunken Duck
This place is the only semblance of night life on the resort. What you have is planned dance and karaoke nights starting promptly at 10pm. From word of mouth, I heard there were very few people attending these “events”: around 30 people present with only a third participating.
It offers a bar setting for billiards (as opposed to the lobby on the Caribbean side which has 2 billiard tables) and offers 1 snooker and 2 billiard tables and 1 incredibly worn darts board.
Kimono’s
A hibachi grill experience depends on the chef and the other patrons: it can make or break your dining. It’s a roll of the dice!
Ronel the chef, however, was great! He compensated for my pescatarian diet by giving me more seafood (mahi mahi and shrimp) rather than giving me the same amount as everyone else but without the steak and chicken. This is the definition of equity over equality. I’d definitely request him when making your reservation if you choose to come here
Soy: Maya’s recommendation!✅
All the dishes I had here were marvelous… and I had quite the number of them. You cannot go wrong with any of the choices here!
They have really interesting cocktails here and an extensive sake list. I’d recommend the pina colada with merlot and sake as it’s not too sweet-- really interesting flavour combination.
There are no “server recommendations” here as the sushi chefs (shout out to the beautiful Jessica, the pop star Jouen, and head chef George!) and FOH staff were the best on the resort (special thank yous to Ashanti, Stacey, and Annike (sp?)). You’ll feel treated here and cared for.
The only downside is that they’re only open for dinner (this just means you need to go here more!
Ok Corral
We had a later reservation, 8:30, but this isn’t a great time because it looked as if there were only one server in the entire area making the service slow.
It seemed like lots of food wasn’t made to order as seen in the open kitchen in the main part of the restaurant and rather put into trays and doled out later.
The Ranch Style Chili Bowl was surprisingly good; I doubt lots of people order it so maybe the chefs got excited and went full-out in making it. Either way, I was impressed!
Courtyard Bistro
Reliable lunch place with a selection of Western sandwiches. You can eat in the courtyard or take it to go.
Room Service
I was so happy to learn that there was 24 hour room service until I realized the quality, especially their late night menu, isn’t great.
If you are to order, I’d get one of the pastas, especially the baked mac and cheese which had the nice addition of cooked peppers to add texture to the dish.
The veggie wrap: a wrap doesn’t mean you can throw whatever you want into a tortilla and wrap it up. At least… it shouldn’t be like this (Maya’s don’t list❌).
Bruschetta: similar to the veggie wrap, bruschetta can’t just be stale toasted bread with tomatoes and raw garlic. Just because there’s huge chunks of garlic, doesn’t mean this tastes good :(. If anything, raw garlic in such quantities numbs your taste buds and prevents the ability to taste because it’s so overpowering (Maya’s don’t list❌).
Excursions & Extras
Taste of Antiga: Maya’s don’t list❌ but check out the individual spots!
Why I don’t recommend the tour:
It’s $185 USD pp for three hours and 7 stops. I don’t think it’s worth the price. This is offhandedly sponsored by Sandals which I find disappointing; it seems like more of a money grab than a taste of Antigua tour. This is what you get: a small breakfast, 3 oz of smoothie, half a roti, 1 rum punch, ¼ cheese bread, ½ a patty, 1 veggie ball. Don’t get me wrong, the food was amazing, which is why I recommend checking out the individual restaurants but I don’t recommend taking the tour as the food was not to miss.
Annettes: a must! Maya’s recommendation!✅
She started with a cooler, umbrella, and a food cart, and ended with a successful shop. She’s a beautiful woman who worked her way up and overcame the competition of nearby restaurants.
On the menu: Salted cod fish, lettuce, fried dough, avocado, hard-boiled egg, sauteed leafy vegetables I don’t know the name of.
Eddie’s Smoothie Palace: Maya’s recommendation!✅
I can’t tell which was better: the smoothie or the conversation I had with Eddie-- he’s a wonderful and friendly human. Dubbed the “Smoothie Dr.”, he has 6 years of experience in the business, with a strong foundational history in bartending and thus mixing flavours. Hensources produce from his backyard garden and some local farms.
Smoothie was pineapple, cucumber, and orange.
Roti King: Maya’s recommendation!✅
30 years in the business. Started at home, popularity grew, opened a restaurant. Time heavy.
Classic chicken and potato roti. Food tastes ‘real’.
Quin Farara Rum store
One of the oldest family businesses in Antigua; 1932 open. Took an educational class on how to create a traditional rum punch.
Brownie’s Bakery (one of the outlet stores on St John Parrish)
Home cook start. Items come from the main bakery in the Quay which is open 24/7. There’s one location in every parrish.
Brown butter and cheese bread, a local delight.
Patty Delight
n/a as the tour came with the beef patty.
One Stone
Revolutionized vegetarian food on the Island.
Veggie ball which was creamy and starchy.
Laviscount and Hell’s Gate
The trip there: multiple resorts so it’s not a full four hours as that includes pickups. 10:30 start not 10 as Sandals was the last stop before the tour officially began. The trip there had swells up to 5’: it was sooo rocky and everyone got soaked and some got super pissed! I legitimately thought it would erupt in blows.
Laviscount: nesting tortoises to ones up to 200 years old. They’re so cute and old-looking but make sure you don’t get swarmed because that can be scary as they’re surprisingly fast. Watch your step because there are some stray turtles and hermit crabs around the island. They recommend walking shoes but most people had sandals or even flip flops (guilty!); it’s not a treacherous walk, the steepest part was maybe 30 degrees. 100% worth it to see so many Giant Aldabra Tortoises (and the baby ones too).
Lunch was on the Laviscount island: the ‘feast’ consisted of buttered noodles, barbeque jerk chicken, plantains, and a mixed salad. Just enough for everyone with perhaps one more portion left over.
Hell’s Gate: beautiful from a distance but terrifying and I legit wanted to die when I went on the ‘hike’. Let me get one thing perfectly clear: this was not a hike. It was a perilous climb with angles as steep as 70 degrees and limestone as sharp as razor blades. You could easily die and bleed out. But then, if you cut yourself, you can’t get back on the boat because you have to swim out in the open sea where some creatures are drawn to blood. I thought it would be a nice if somewhat strenuous hike through a lush tropical rainforest but it was literally my version of hell: bugs, claustrophobia (you have to crouch through this one part), heights. It was rocky to get to shore so you have to be careful when walking there due to the rocks-- I hit my knee and it hurt like Hell(‘s Gate). The only good thing was that they provided water shoes to wear for free. I didn’t have to spend $70 for water shoes thereby contributing to my turmoil and distress.
Snorkeling: snorkel trip was short, ~30 minutes; divided into two groups: the distance swimmers and those near the boat. I stayed close to the boat and the snorkeling wasn’t great. The fish and sea creatures weren’t diverse. I did swim with a barracuda though … I didn’t realize that until it was too late.
Red Lane Spa: Maya’s recommendation!✅
There are representatives throughout the resort that do hard sells. I love the hustle but it takes away from your experience of luxury.
The first time I went to the Red Lane Spa, at Beaches Turks and Caicos, was the bar in which I set my expectations and standards for spas. The RLS is what a luxury spa should be like. Like the title suggests, you’re setting into an oasis of relaxation; in short, it’s a retreat from the real world to a world of pampering and utmost bliss. You’re first greeted with the beautiful smile of the manager, Kzuri, and you quickly fill out your consultation form letting your therapist know of any concerns you may have you want worked on in your service. You’re quickly whisked away into the heart of the spa, the relaxation room which branches off to the change rooms equipped with showers and a sauna (though unfortunately, this was closed). It’s a space with no distractions. The minimalist and ergonomic layout transports you from a world devoid of the stressors of a 5-star luxury resort on the beautiful islands of the Caribbean. You undress and become decked out in your spa wear: a robe and simple rubber slippers. You’re beautiful in your naturalness; you’re stripped of your outwear and turn into this beautiful spa goddess (or god). You are now ready for your treatment. I went on two separate occasions for research purposes alone and to help you on this journey.
Tropical Glow Facial with Andrea $156 USD. My face felt like the morning dew, completely hydrated and elevated. However, the treatment had a couple drawbacks. 1) The treatment rooms have poor soundproofing so you can hear everything happening in the hallways. 2) The sound system is broken so the relaxing spa music continuously cuts out. I’d rather there have been no music or music that worked. It takes away from the experience, the spa fantasy, if you will. 3) While your face gets steamed, you get to choose between a scalp, hand or foot massage. This lasts around five minutes. Later on in your facial treatment when the mask is applied and doing its job, which takes 15 minutes, there’s no massage. So you’re just lying there with a bit of what seems like wasted time. I’m confused as to why they can fit in a five minute massage when getting steamed but not a fifteen minute one while the mask is on.
In Good Spirits Massage with Giftare $189 USD for 90 minutes. I’ve never had a massage like this as there was a mixture of hot and cold oils but I loved it. This time will go by very fast so definitely add on the extra 30 minutes because you’re just getting relaxed within the hour so to stop it short would be cheating yourself.
Community Programs supported by Sandals Grande Antigua
- Swaling Soccer Program: a scholarship program for 15 boys
- Sea Turtle Project: provides funding for their conservation
- Camp Grow: a 10-day summer camp educating children on sustainability, especially environmentalism
- Floating Classrooms: educational opportunity for children to learn about their coastal environment
- Hands Across the Sea: a program to help children develop a love of reading
- Cedar Grove Primary: helps with the school’s development
- Willikies School: helps with the school’s development
