After visiting Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals Whitehouse Jamaica resorts within the last 18 months, I was intrigued to see how Sandals Grande Antigua would compare.
As Antigua is famed for its 365 beaches that was the first thing we wanted to check out. Now the Beach at Whitehouse takes some beating, but this one certainly gets high marks. In the room we received a letter from the GM saying Sandals Grande Antigua had been voted as the 4th best beach in the world, however it made no reference to where this award came from. Maybe it was Sandals themselves or someone connected to Antigua that gave this prestigious rating. I don’t know, but I would say it is a very nice beach, although 4th best in the world I doubt. Certainly the colour of the Caribbean Sea here is very vivid and the beach is extremely white. I’m always interested to know if the brochure images truly represent a resorts setting. At Sandals Grande Antigua the beach is certainly very white and the ocean colour is striking on the eye, but as you would imagine it’s far busier than the pictures show. The beach is a real asset for this property and I doubt anyone could be disappointed with the beachfront setting; so I would certainly rate it highly for its beach location.
So to the room… once again we booked in to a Butler Suite so the comparison was fair and we stayed five nights in a Grande Amalfi Sunset Luxury Penthouse One Bedroom Oceanview Suite on the top floor of the Cypress Tower in the Med Village. It was certainly on a par with the Butler Suites at the two other resorts, but having the Swim-Out feature at Royal Caribbean I would say that was the winner. From the top floor the views were a major plus point, but the disadvantage was the distance to the resort. Being right up on the top floor in the Med Village also made for a very peaceful location. The majority of entertainment was over on the Caribbean Grove side of the resort making it a walk at night, but again you were able to enjoy the balcony in peace. The room was spacious and the bed was comfortable; the bathroom was the highlight.
As you would expect at Sandals there was plenty of restaurant options. The breakfast buffet in Mario’s was a bit sparse; breakfast on the balcony was delivered rapidly, but the highlight was a la carte in the OK Corral. Really nice setting with lovely views, pleasant staff and cooked to order breakfast. During the day the dining options were substantial for longer stays. Excellent range of grill specialities at the Barefoot including tasty local fish dishes. The Pizza was very fresh and we enjoyed the outdoor seating area, although plenty of guests were ordering and wandering off with their takeout boxes. The buffet in Bayside was substantial and a great place to enjoy a salad with great views and feel the breeze from the ocean. We also enjoyed fish & chips in the Cricketer’s English Pub whilst watching Sky Sports News and followed up with a game of pool. In the Evening Kimono’s was entertaining, Mario’s we had hoped would be the highlight, but in general we didn’t find a signature restaurant to get dressed up and enjoy in style. OK Corral was the one we expected the least from being a Tex Mex, but the staff were fabulous and we enjoyed the upstairs setting, also the food was excellent.
We are pool lovers so it was great to have two comfortable sun-loungers reserved for us each day with a sun shade parasol. We also like plenty of bottled water so the cooler with 8 bottles was used daily. The Med Village pool is what you expect from Sandals, good size, plenty of Floaties and a swim up bar. Some guests were saying they found the birds an irritation around the pool; we are animal lovers so they didn’t cause any issues to us. However there were a considerable number of birds, but it’s a very eco-friendly resort so the staff just keep wafting at them if they come too close to dining areas. Afternoons you get the usual gathering of Floaties in the pool and the guests happily exchanging stories while going through the cocktail list.
So how did it compare? Well… it’s Sandals; they obviously all have the same theme, but each one is subtlety different. The highlights are obviously the beach, ocean and views.
I normally offer tips for selecting rooms, but this resort has a wealth of different room styles and locations, and caters for a range of budgets. It’s clearly suitable for lots of couples so I would say decide on what’s important to you about your room before making your enquiry.
