| Nothing but praises for the "concierge staff" and "scuba dive team" |
| Hotel Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa |
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BonnieEdmontonAlberta >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Jan, 2009 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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Arrival: January 17 - January 31
No Sandals private reception room with refreshments at the airport. Just a booth outside the airport. We did receive champagne and snack on arrival at the resort at check-in on the Meditteranean side. Check in was great on the Meditteranean side.
Rooms:
As a repeat Sandals Select guest, we were upgraded to "concierge". WOW, I've never stayed in such a BEAUTIFUL room. Balcony with ocean view, big flat screen TV, fully stocked bar, marble bathroom, double sinks, HUGE jetted tub, glass shower, decorated to the "9's". |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
| Definite lack of activities/entertainment compared to other Sandals where they have "play-makers" that get guests involved in the activities and fun. We were told they were in the process of hiring "play-makers" though. Also no large venue to accommodate the large number of guests for nightly entertainment, (which was not the greatest). Didn't bother paying big dollars for the tours. We did hire a cab on our own to go shopping. We also took advantage of the scuba diving, and the dive team was excellent. Was disappontment with the coral reefs. Web site said numerous dive sites 5 minutes from shore. Which shore ?? |
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| Arrival |
| No Sandals private reception room with refreshments at the airport. Just a booth outside the airport. We did receive champagne and snack on arrival at the resort at check-in on the Meditteranean side. Check in was great on the Meditteranean side. |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The main pool and grounds were the most beautiful I've seen. However, no brochure will tell you the beach is public, not private as other Sandals Resorts. Since we prefer the beach, we were entertained by security guards chasing after "non-Sandals guests" that would try and sneak onto the resort for the free food and booze. |
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| Other Comments |
| Overall, the resort itself is beautiful and have nothing but praises for the "concierge staff" and "scuba dive team". However was very disappointed with no private beach, lack of activities, and staff who were not the friendliest. Arguments, swearing and shouting between staff in front of guests was not pleasant. They have a few issues to resolve with the staff there for sure. In addition, the airport really needs to bite the bullet and purchase an xray machine for luggage rather than ran-sack EVERY suitcase to be checked-in. They only have 2 or 3 staff going through every piece of luggage for every tourist, and they un-wrap all the breakables (which you carefully wrap up so they don't break), which in turn, backs-up the tourists trying to check-in at the appropriate air line counters before their flight leaves.... |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
| Food was excellent with a wide variety of restaurants (a la carte and buffet).
I've never eaten so many desserts, and they were all great! Compared to other Sandals Resorts we've been to in Jamaica, staff could have been a bit friendlier by smiling occasionally and maybe even saying good morning ?? In addition, there was supposed to be "dress codes" for the a la carte restaurants which was not adhered to as in other Sandals Resorts. |
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| Rooms |
| As a repeat Sandals Select guest, we were upgraded to "concierge". WOW, I've never stayed in such a BEAUTIFUL room. Balcony with ocean view, big flat screen TV, fully stocked bar, marble bathroom, double sinks, HUGE jetted tub, glass shower, decorated to the "9's". |
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| Resort offers many different day trips at a cost |
| Hotel Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa |
| User Rating:
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PeterCanada >
1 contribution(s) Canada |
| Nov, 2008 | Leisure | With Spouse/Partner
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| Arrival: Nov 29-Dec 13
The airport is small and it takes about 1 hour to get through customs and get your luggage. Shuttles pick you up and take you to the resort which is about 20 minutes away. Departure is another story. They go through all of your luggage at the airport so don't lock it up until they are done! Very little seating so you could be standing for hours before you flight takes off. |
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| Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel |
Spent most of the days going SCUBA Diving as the day dives are included in the price (nights dives are $80.00 US per dive). The dive shop has older equipment you get free (you only rent a wet suit for $10.00). If you have your own I suggest to bring it. The staff at the shop are excellent! Peter, Dean, Angie, Jason, Jason _(Woff - Woff) and Chris where excellent to deal with). Sometimes the tanks on the boat were low so before you put your BCD on hook up your regulator and check first. Keep this in mind that if you answer "no" to any of the questions on the medical form that you should come down with a doctors note as they will not allow you to dive unless you have it.
Resort offers many different day trips at a cost. I suggest take a cat trip around the Island which cost $120.00 and lasted 6 hours. You go to a nice beach and have lunch and drinks on board (basically just a rum runner). |
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| Arrival |
| The airport is small and it takes about 1 hour to get through customs and get your luggage. Shuttles pick you up and take you to the resort which is about 20 minutes away. Departure is another story. They go through all of your luggage at the airport so don't lock it up until they are done! Very little seating so you could be standing for hours before you flight takes off. |
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| Beach/Pools/Grounds |
| The beach is beautiful! The sand is soft (don't need water shoes in or out of the water). There are venders trying to sell you things but they do not hound you. There are a couple stores to buy things at on the beach that the locals take care of with many different things to buy. The pools are well taken care of. Most of the activity through the day takes place at the main big pool. If your not out by 9:00 AM you could have a tough time finding a lawn chair. The grounds were taken care well especially in the Crib side which has all the trees, bushes and lawns. Very clean resort overall. |
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| Other Comments |
I do a lot of traveling in the Caribbean (been to almost every Island) and this one is top notch compared to many I have been to. The people that say they did not like it are the type who usually complain about everything in their daily life. THIS IS A 4.5 TO 5 STAR RESORT!
Side note - still love answering questions for that hand full of Americans who ask those classic questions "do you use dog sleds in Canada", "are your doctors licensed in Canada" "can you get chocolate in Canada" Keep them coming!!! |
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| Restaurants and Bars |
| Eight restaurants over all. I liked the OK Corral the best (excellent ribs). Monday night they host a beach BBQ (don't miss it!) also enjoyed the sushy bar. The only bad place was the British Pub. The food was good but service compared to the other restaurants was terrible (many complaints from the people staying and me included). I counted 12 waitress standing in a corner talking and laughing while people were waiting to get served, many just walked out and when they did finally take your order it was either somehow lost or they forgot to order it or they bring you something totally different. This was the only excepting as the rest of the restaurants were excellent both in food and service. The bar service was good never had to wait very long for a drink. With 95% of the resort being made up of Canadians, Brits and Americans no one tried to just butt in to be served first and many would say "he was here first" which is a really change from what I'm used to when you go to a resort with Europeans who tend to push their way in to bar and food lines. |
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| Rooms |
| I stayed in the Carb side. It is cheaper then the newer side and comes with a big balcony (comes in handy for putting clothes out to dry) much bigger balcony then the newer side. These are set in an area with palm trees and lots of green where the new building is not and each section has it's own pool and lawn chairs. Very glad we did not spend the extra money on the newer side! The one bad thing about the Crib side is that every night around 15:30 they spray this thick smoke/mist into the trees to kill misqutoes (they say it does not affect humans but if I grow a second head I know they were wrong *L*) |
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