Sandals Grande Antigua Review | 1 - 9 Dec 2023

Our unpaid, un-biased review of our stay at Sandals Grande Antigua from 1-9 Dec 2023. This is the video we wished was available when we were researching our trip, so hopefully, you find this helpful! We're not travel advisors, but if you have questions, please feel free to ask and we'll help the best we can!
We stayed in room 7711 in the Mediterannean Butler Penthouse Suite, and 10/10 would do again! We cover getting to the resort from VC Bird International, the restaurants, the entertainment, SCUBA, the water sports inclusions, and our off-property excursion to Shirley Heights!
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[@TheChuckD]

Thank you for a great, detailed review.

[@davewellen]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@richrichard6520]

Thank you for a your video. We stayed there last summer in the same room type but on the opposite side of the building and a floor lower. We had our first meal at Bayside as well. Overall, we had a pretty good time, but we did find a bit disconcerting that the vendors with their huts setup at the beach access points kept asking us to buy stuff every time coming & going. Like you, we just politely said no and kept on walking. The pot smell coming out of the huts was a bit much sometimes though.... We liked Bayside the best due to the tables outside. We also liked having pizza brought to us for lunch on the beach or by the pool. Marios was good as well. We did Soy and Kimonos which were good but found the TexMex place kinda meh. We're trying the Royal Bahamian next in a month and then probably Grenada next year. Thanks again and be safe -Rich

[@davewellen]

My sincere pleasure, Richard, and thanks for watching! I don't recall a pot smell from the vendor huts, but we do live in Colorado, so we may not notice it as much since that smell is quite a frequent occurance when out and about here. We found a simple acknowledgement of them and a quick conversation of "hey, we're here for the next week...if we want something, we know where to find you" put the vendor issue to bed pretty effectively. You're going to LOVE Royal Bahamian! We've been twice...once before the remodel and once since, and have stayed in both towers. Still have vendors at either end of the beach just off property, and on kayaks if you vendure out on the docks, but the beach there is private. The beach on the "private" island is worth a visit, as well. And, if you SCUBA, the diving there is simply spectacular! There's a reason that ALL of the underwater scenes in ALL of the James Bond films were shot in The Bahamas...the water clarity is unbelievable!

[@richrichard6520]

@@davewellen Thanks for the speedy reply. Would you happen to have a video of your most recent trip to the Bahamian??

[@davewellen]

Unfortunately, no. Our first trip was before I started making travel videos, and our most recent trip, my GoPro ended up lost at sea on a SCUBA dive when the wrist mount I was using failed. I have a handfull of random phone video clips and photos, but not a ton. I'll see if I can cobble something together and post, but it won't be of the same calibur of this video.

[@davewellen]

I do have an older video of out trip to Sandals Monetgo Bay in 2021 that you might enjoy. The production quality shows that my lighting, audio, and editing skills have come a long way, but you might enjoy that in the time being.

[@richrichard6520]

@@davewellen Thanks but please don't put yourself out on my my account. I'll see for myself in 29 days... 😉

[@seancole4104]

Was there snorkeling available and was it via boat or off the beach?

[@davewellen]

We did a free snorkeling outing through Sandals and they used the dive boat. Basically, when we got back from the dive, the divers got off, the snorkelers got on, and we left straight from the beach in the dive boat.

[@tribeverage7268]

What side did you like better? Mediterranean or Caribbean side?

[@davewellen]

I conferred with Deb, and she agrees that based on our observation, the Mediterranian side seemed nicer, and is where we spent most of our time during the day, though many of the restaurants and evening entertainment venues are on the Caribbean side, so we were over there on that side quite a bit, as well. If/when we return, we would choose to stay in the same room on the Mediterranean side again. Keep in mind, however, that we had no direct experience with the accomodations on the Caribbean side, so your mileage may vary, and there is no distinct demarakation between the two sides on the property itself. You can easilly flow from one side to the other via multiple walking paths and there's no "no man's land" between the two halves of the property. It all just flows together.