Sandals Grande Antigua: Great place to visit and relax

The staff were all very friendly. The pool bar tender remembered us from 18 months earlier, The gift shop girl came over to talk to us on her way to work, the management was visible and accessible and the gardeners spoke to us as we passed. My wife in a wheelchair got extra attention an even the OK Corral made special arrangements for us to enjoy their menu as we couldn't get up the stairs. We enjoyed it so much we booked to go back to Sandals in April 2015.

St James Club and Villas: St. James Club Dissappointment

St. James Club is advertised as a four plus star hotel. Unfortunately, it should be a 2.5 star hotel. The food, beach, condition of the hotel, service and lack of entertainment were all disappointing.

St James Club and Villas: Best Island Vaca Yet!

The food, hotel team, and beaches were AMAZING! We requested Antigen food and it was fantastic. The hotel team was so excited that we wanted it! We did upgrade to a beach front room because the club room looked like a scrubbed down third world crime scene - totally worth it! :)

Sandals Grande Antigua: Our favourite Sandals Resort --Grande Antigua

We recently returned from a 2 week vacation at Sandals Grande Antigua, a great vacation at a fabulous resort and we would recommend Sandals Grande Antigua to anyone – it was a perfect vacation for us. Grande Antigua is now our favourite resort – We were at Sandals Grande Antigua for 2 weeks in late April, a great vacation at a fabulous resort and we would recommend Sandals Grande Antigua to anyone – it was a perfect vacation for us. Grande Antigua is now our favourite resort – closely fo [... read more]llowed by Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica. Once we landed we were pleasantly surprised as we quickly made it through the airport lines and then 25 minutes later arrived at Sandals where the check in was very quick and well done by the ever smiling Orena. The resort itself was beautiful, the gardens and grounds are amazing, very lush with lots of plants, shrubs, and trees and the gardeners were very busy keeping things looking great. The beach is one of the nicest we have ever seen – and yes there are vendors on the beach but just say “you’re not interested” and they leave you alone. You can walk along the beach for quite a distance on both sides on the “Sandals property” -- making a nice picturesque beach walk a daily must for us. There are at least 5 pools at the resort – the main pool is very large but enjoyable with servers taking drink orders while you relax there. We could always find a chair around the pool, even after lunch. The Caribbean Pool and the other 2 “quiet” pools were frequented by us as well, especially if we just wanted to read, relax, or float around the pool. We found all the restaurants to be good. We had no trouble booking a reservation at either Eleanors or Kimonos and the resort was full the first week we were there. The birds were a nuisance at Bayside at both breakfast and lunch, and we found the service “hit and miss” at Bayside as well during these meals, so we decided to dine elsewhere for most breakfasts and lunches. Bayside has an excellent menu in the evening and we met our favourite waitress the 1st time we dined there – Kellyn is exceptional and we requested her the other times we dined at Bayside. The meals at Eleanors were good but the service was slow, especially the second night. Kimonos was good, OK Corral was very good, Barefoot’s food was excellent at night. We ate at the Drunken Duck both Sundays at noon for their buffet – it’s excellent. Mario’s was our favourite restaurant – breakfast is excellent there with omelets and smoothies made in front of you. The evening meals at Marios were excellent as well, be careful not to fill up on the anti pasta bar as it is amazing and you want to try everything but you have to leave room for the delicious entrees and the famous lava cake – which really is as good as all the reviews say. Ken, one of the managers at Marios, is always helping out and talking to everyone, making your dining experience even better. Soy, the sushi bar is lots of fun with a nice variety of sushi made right in front of you. The sushi chefs are great and very helpful – they made a sushi fan of me – we ate there 3 times. The pizzas at Bella Napoli are very delicious and convenient to take to the pool. A nice surprise was the Courtyard Grab and Go -- the food there was great and it’s very convenient, you could eat in the Courtyard or take it back to the pool, or anywhere else. And don’t forget the Café de Paris – the lattes and other drinks are great and the cookies and other treats really are delicious. It’s a great place to visit any time of the day and all the staff at the café are great. We found the entertainment very good – there was something going on every night at both the Caribbean Courtyard and the bandstand outside of the Drunken Duck. The fire eating / limbo dancer was fun to watch, and one of the highlights was the chocolate buffet – delicious. We were at Sandals for reunion week and the excursion to the beach was lots of fun. One of our highlights was the trip to the school, where we planted shrubs in the school yard while other guests helped the students with their school work. Interacting with these smart young Antiguan children was an experience we will never forget. The one thing that really stood out to us at Sandals Grande Antigua is the staff. Just some of very special staff we met there include Andrea, the environmental manager, we met her at the reunion week dinner and saw her many times around the grounds afterwards – she was always so friendly and helpful and was fun to be with at reunion week excursion and the “tree planting” at the school. Kellyn at Bayside—a great waitress who was always looking out for my wife’s allergy, Gerda in housekeeping – she wasn’t our housekeeper but we saw her many times including the reunion week excursion and the school tree planting, she asked our names after the 2nd day and would say hi and talk to us every time she saw us. Ken at Marios was a great host and always had an interesting story to tell you as you dined. Orena (our colgate girl) at concierge was very friendly and always smiling, and Cecellia at the “Soon Come Back” desk helped us out on many occasions – we called her “the girl who knows everything”. The ever busy manager, Mr G, can be seen helping out everywhere – we first saw him gathering up empty glasses by the main pool, and then saw him every day after, he would always stop to speak and make us feel at home. It’s easy to see he loves his job and passes his enthusiasm on to all his employees. We’re not sure where we are going next year, but we will definitely be back to Sandals Grande Antigua in the future.

Tranquility Bay: Great resort!

Stay was everything we expected. We like to have our own Kitchen so we have the option to stay in, go out off of the resort or dine at one of the locations on the resort. This resort provided everything we needed. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Royalton CHIC Antigua: Beautiful and relaxing!

The beach with the beautiful cliff was an incredible view to wake up to every day. The colour of the ocean incredible! Hotel was clean, staff always friendly and helpful and food pretty good. Would come back here over and over!

Royalton CHIC Antigua: good value for money

lovely beach, same water as a posh 5-star next door. good variety in the food. room quality varies, apparently, but we got a gfreat one with water view. staff very helpful. we took no options and did not leave the resort but just lay on the beach all week

Pineapple Beach Club: Excellent resort

The hotel is not fancy. However it offers great food and hospitality. The aerobics instructors, servers, maid service were amazing. This is our second time at this resort and I would return. It is very relaxing and fun.

St James Club and Villas: 2nd Visit to St.James's Club Antigua

This was our second visit to this resort and of course this provides a opportunity to compare with the previous visit.It is still our best Caribbean experience! I dont think we can say we have ever had a perfect experience, and I am sure by strict definition we never will.However this is very close.The grounds are maintained extremely well and remember this is a 110 acre resort, so no small feat! We have stayed in the Royal Suites on both occasions and as always are cleaned to high standard and  [... read more]are very comfortable and spacious. Even though it is just our second visit, it was so nice to be remembered by numerous staff members and welcomed back.The staff of St.James Club are the special asset of this resort ! We have always had good experiences with our interactions with the staff. Last year I rated St.James Club a 5, however this year we noticed a drop in the quality of food and it also appears they are limiting the number of seatings in the Rainbow Garden and Piccolo Mondo. This appears to be a effort to steer people to the buffet at the Docksider . The Docksider does provide a quite good buffet , however with the increased volume of guests it does feel as though you are being rushed. We are all on holiday and we feel enough of that at home. The Rainbow Garden is a much more relaxed atmosphere and the meal options and quality is noticable superior. Hopefully these comments are read by the management team. Profit margins are certainly important, however first time guests may not be enchanted with St.James club as we were and repeat guests may investigate other options in the Caribbean.

Jolly Beach Antigua: Courteous and great service

Hotel rooms needs to be updated but it was clean. The grounds were well taking care of. Pool need to be repainted. Beautiful beach. Need more choices for food. Great service, well greeted with a smile.

Jolly Beach Antigua: Amazing resort and people and island

It was a beautiful place we loved it. There was six of us girls that went and we had a blast. We have gone to Jamacia for the last four year but we came to Antigua just to try something different in April and we are coming back in dec we lovvvvvve it

St James Club and Villas: Pleasant family holiday - 2 bedroom villa on the h

We are a family of 4 with 2 teenaged boys and just returned from SJC, staying March 16th to 23rd, 2013. Our room was a 2 bedroom villa on the hill, which some would say was a bit far from things but we enjoyed the walk to and from the main building and the extra exercise helped (somewhat) with all the treats and drinks we enjoyed a bit too much :). The villa was fairly well appointed with a kitchen stocked with enough plates, cutlery, glasses, pots and pans etc for 6 people. 2 bedrooms downstair [... read more]s - 1 with king bed and a bathroom with a soaker tub, and 1 with twin beds with a 3 piece bathroom (large shower, beware not putting the curtain completely in the shower - my son caused a smal flood into the hall). There is also a sofa bed upstairs in the living room so the villa will technically hold 6 people. Lots of room for all and it was lovely having a separate sitting area with a dining table to play cards at night. Our only complaint is that the twin beds are not large and 2 teenagers being 5' 9'' each found them a tad bit short (they suffered through it bravely). My youngest enjoyed the kayaks, peddle boats and paddle boards and there were also hobi cats and sailboards available at the watersports. The bay is calm and a great place to try these water activities out if you aren't sure of your abilities. We tracked down the pool tables (2) mentioned in another post - they are in a "shelter" down by the bayside beach along with a ping pong table. We spent every day playing pool, though be warned the tables are NOT level which makes for an interesting game when the ball curves when not expected. Mosquito repellent is also a suggestion for the "shelter" as they seem to hang around the pool tables. We didn't encounter mosquitos anywhere else in those numbers (apparently there is fogging going on but we didn't see any trucks). There are actually 6 pools on the property, however 1 is reserved for Royal Suites guests and 2 are adult only pools. The pools are smaller, not like the big ones that you will find in Mexico but they do the trick when it is hot and you want a dip. Shade is at a premium around the pools however. It was lovely to have 2 different beaches to choose from - the bay, HOT beach, and the ocean, WINDY beach. We noticed as it got hotter and calmer as the week went on that more people migrated to the windy beach. Lots of palm trees and several palapas for shade - no need to save loungers at 6:30 in the morning at this resort. The staff was excellent, smiling and pleasant and always wanting to ensure you are having a good time. There was the odd "grumpy Gus" but that is to be expected. Now for the food. I have yet to find a resort that has fabulous food (or else I'm not willing to pay enough money to go to said resort) but SJC food was good overall. Lots of food available, and the wait staff would make changes to the dish you ordered if you didn't like certain ingredients. Coco's was an airy restaurant by the windy beach that served a breakfast buffet, and what I called a "pub grub" menu all day from 11 to 11, some specials at dinner. Salads, Hamburgers, Ribs, Steak etc. Rainbow Garden served breakfast buffet along with a la carte (oatmeal, eggs benny etc), a lunch buffet with lots of choice and a la carte (hamburgers, BLTs, sandwiches etc), and a la carte dinner that you had to reserve the day before. Docksiders was only open for dinner and was buffet only, with themes every evening. Piccolo Mondo was open for dinner only with reservations, and there is a surcharge of $35 per person to eat there if you are on AI. I kept track of the dinner options that we encountered - they might change but here they are: Docksiders Rainbow Garden Saturday - TexMex Sunday - Asian/Chinese Monday - Italian Tuesday - International Wednesday - Seafood Thai Thursday - BBQ night Friday - French Japanese/Chinese We enjoyed tea time every afternoon at 4pm - scones (the go quick so get there early), sandwiches and cake along with tea, iced tea and coffee. For those who enjoy casual clothing on holidays you will be happy to hear that slacks/trousers/pants were NOT required for dinner anywhere except Piccolo Mondo but collared shirts (polos work fine) and decent shorts (no swim trunks) with sandals (not flip flops) were required. We once again went home with 2 suitcases full of clean clothing as we didn't need all the dress up options. Would we return - absolutely! Will we - not sure, there might be a different location calling to us the next time we are looking to escape the snow and cold.

St James Club and Villas: Fantastic Holiday

The ST James Club was fantastic, The dining was great lots of good food and the service was excellent. All staff were very friendly and when you needed a lift anywhere it only took a few minutes. Resort was very clean. No hesitation to go again.

Royalton CHIC Antigua: ok resort

this hotel needs updating the staff was great the food good but if you have late flight you only have use of hotel food and drinks till 3 after that if you want anything you have to pay for it. The grounds were well kept need more places to eat

St James Club and Villas: Best yet, I'll be back!

Awesome rooms, food, and staff. 4th resort we've been at in the the last 4 years, this was definitely the best. I had to pinch myself every morning just to be sure I wasn't dreaming. Hi to Wane (sic), Sean, and Alfred!

Jolly Beach Antigua: Jolly beach

Beautiful resort, and the most amazing beach I have ever seen, and I have seen lots! The staff was friendly and the food was good. Although this is a older resort It is well kept and clean. And again the beach, WOW!

The Verandah Antigua: Wonderful Vacation!

The Verandah Resort is beautifully kept and well laid out with everything in walking distance. Our room had an ocean view and was clean and modern. They served a variety of food that we found delicious and the staff were always there to help. For this trip we rented a moped and the hotel gladly accommodated us parking it at the main entrance. It was a great vacation!