My Letter to Sandals
Many of you know that Martha and I went to Antigua on our honeymoon. We stayed at a Sandals resort while we were there... Well, it was not what we expected at all, and I've tried to get some sort of response from Sandals, but to no avail. So, my recommendation to everyone from now on will be: don't go to Sandals.
Take a look at the letter I wrote to their guest liason...
Guest Liason,
I'm writing in reference to our recent honeymoon at Sandals Grande Antigua from May 14-21, 2007. Needless to say, we were highly disappointed in the resort. While I doubt that this email will effectively change anything, I feel that you should know about our experience. Having been told Sandals was a World-Class All-Inclusive resort, we expected a very nice honeymoon. It turns out that most other hotels we could have stayed at would have been nicer, and we not pay the $5000+ dollars to stay at a Sandals resort again.
To begin with, we were upgraded rooms from a Honeymoon Grande Luxe Room to a Honeymoon Luxury Concierge Room, which we though would be nice. It turns out that the upgrade moved us closer to the construction of the new building and further from the ocean. We mentioned this, and said we'd prefer to move away from the construction, but were told all of the lower category rooms were full and they could not move us. We could have pursued this further, but gave up and went to our room. In our room, the air conditioning was not working, so we had to call maintenance - who did arrive and fix that problem. However, in our room there were other problems. First, the furniture was broken - the entertainment center and a chair, specifically. Not only that, there were two big mold spots on the wall of the room. Additionally, one of the two robes provided had dark brown stains all over the back - what I imagine was likely blood. We were appreciative of the fact that our upgrade had a stocked refrigerator, though we found it somewhat disgusting that the liquor was all in bottles that had obviously been refilled ( i.e. they were very old and nasty looking).
During out stay we found ourselves highly disappointed in the quality of food served and the service as well. First, for an All-Inclusive resort, the restaurants were extremely sub-par. Kimonos waiting room was filled with fruit flies, to the point where we didn't want to eat there. The chef simply cooked the food, which compared to a Japanese restaurant in the US is unbelievable - there were no tricks done, and little to no atmosphere to speak of. Not only that, we felt as though we were rushed through the meal as fast as they could get us through. The OK Corral was much of the same in that we felt as if we were rushed to finish our meal (even though we had the latest reservation there). Il Patio was the only restaurant we actually enjoyed, as the food was good and our servers were very attentive - Samantha and Vanessa (we ate their twice, as it was the only one where we didn't feel rushed). One major problem all of these restaurants had, however, was that there were stray cats in the restaurants at all times. The only restaurant we didn't see cats at was OK Corral, probably because it is upstairs. We normally don't mind, as we have pets of our own, but while we're eating we'd prefer not to have them around (especially as they likely carried fleas). Watching other diners hit the cats with napkins and menus also was a downpoint of our visit. Lastly, there was an hour long period between 5:30-6:30pm where you could not get anything to eat, as everything was closed. The other All-Inclusive resorts I have been to had snacks (potato chips, pretzels, cookies, etc) for people to eat if they did not want a meal. Sandals did not have these.
The bars were typically very slow and the drinks were watered down. On two separate occassions at the pool-side bar, my wife and I waited for nearly 30 minutes before being served. This was despite the fact that there were only a few other people at the bar - the service was just that poor. At the main bar by the Bayside Restaurant it wasn't much better, though the wait was never more than 15 minutes for a drink there. Sandals should invest in larger cups than they currently use - as it often meant we would have to make 5-6 trips to get something to drink while we ate. Additionally, the soda machine was broken several times during our stay, leading to even longer lines at the bar. The one good thing about the bar service was the bartender Russell - who worked quickly and made the drinks strong. It was too bad he wasn't there every day.
Some other bad points we feel we should mention: 1) Ants in the food containers in Courtyard Bistro (every day), 2) Two consecutive days that the water sports hut did not have beach towels, 3) Our snorkeling trip was was 45 minutes late to start, and we got back to the hotel 45 minutes before we were supposed to return, 4) We paid for dinner on the beach, and specifically requested that we not have seafood-based soup because my wife is allergic to shellfish. That night, we were served seafood soup, 5) On one occassion, one of the workers was walking through the property with a machine that was filling the air with smoke. This went on for a good 15 minutes.
Finally, I am somewhat upset that Sandals doesn't make more of an effort to tell you that they do not have a private beach. After being hassled by vendors every 5 minutes while laying on the beach, we were fed up and moved to the pools. Amazingly, one of the vendors who sat in the Sandals beach chairs next to the Sandals walkway was selling marijuana - essentially giving Sandals it's own dealer on the complex.
What we had hoped would be a truly World-Class honeymoon (for the $5500 I paid for the stay), was extremely disappointing. After being so disappointed on what was supposed to be the best vacation we have as a married couple, we will not stay at a Sandals again. Maybe Sandals Antigua is the exception, but I could not justify spending that kind of money for a third-class all-inclusive resort again. There are much better options out there.
I have attached pictures corresponding to some of the things I mentioned above.
Thank you for your time,
Jeremy Sarnovsky
Pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jersar/513987598/in/set-72157600266468009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jersar/514013963/in/set-72157600266468009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jersar/513954228/in/set-72157600266468009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jersar/514015277/in/set-72157600266468009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jersar/513959187/in/set-72157600266468009/