Sandals Antigua

25 days til our trip American Airlines changes and deletes connecting flights and changes time to fly in at 11 pm, this makes our wedding null and void due to time constraints on the island to be legally married. Called Sandals immediately, after 3 hours and numerous transfers and a supervisor I am informed I can cancel and only receive 50% back. Problem is we didn't cancel. I can not swim to Antigua and flights are not working for our travel to the island. I do not want to even reschedule after this experience and Let's not forget US travel 4 advisory. Then I am informed to wait until the airline department calls me. I am still waiting.... I could cry with frustration. I asked the representative if she would give me $6000 so I may keep half of her money for a trip she has no control over.. Crickets! Exactly it is unethical. Horrible unethical experience so far. TO BE CONTINUED....

I have written to Sandals to complain about their lack of responsiveness and to also complain about their travel insurance company's lack of responsiveness to my filing a claim. It’s been over 30 days since I filed my claim and after several phone attempts to find the status of my claim, I finally reached someone who said they would expedite my claim and “make a decision”. Based on my experience with Sandals’ non-responsive customer service, I’m not holding my breath for any just and equitable resolution. We had been to Beaches in the Turks snd Caicos and had a good stay so decided to try Sandals. After this money for nothing, I’ll never consider Sandals or Beaches for another vacation.

The food was far from being at a five star resort. I had arranged for a special menu because of my seafood allergies but they did not have that arranged for me. I asked to speak to the chefs to talk about my menu but was told that the world class chefs are not working with them any more {except Kimonos Japanese restaurant} and they were in the process of hiring new ones, so needless to say there were many meals I had to skip because I was afraid that I would have a bad medical reaction. I never thought with paying all that money I would be living on chocolate chip cookies and tea. The staff actually were having a better time entertaining themselves!!! Totally boring, depressing, and cheep!!! This resort needs to clean house. Their staff are not very useful and are LAZY!! Our room was never cleaned until the evening hours.

Just to let you know that we made our concerns clear to management which fell on Deaf ears. Do not waste your hard earned money at this resort! They really don't care and have no pride!! I think Sandals and West Jet really need to get their act together. I am considering legal action for false advertising and not giving you the experience you are promised to have. I took pictures and video and pics of all the name tags of the staff for my future reference. I could go on and on about this place. It was that bad. All travel agents should do their job and keep people away from such a bad experience!! It is truly not fair to take peoples money and have them think because they are paying for 5star treatment but only getting 1 star!!! They have not heard the last from me! This needs to stop.

Our trip began in the Mediterranean lobby. When we arrived, starving after 7 hours of traveling with no food, we sat in the lobby for 25+ minutes waiting on our concierge to bring us to our room. They were out of the welcome drinks while we were sitting in the lobby and no one replaced the water for the entire 25 minutes we sat in the lobby. Didn't tell us about honeymoon meet and greet, we were not informed of a orientation, didn't tell us when and where to go for our tours or that we needed to check in at a completely different location for the tours we paid for online, AND when we questioned Nerisa (management who also finally escorted us to our room) she said "you should have read the fine print and brought it up to your representative" (excuse).

When we went to dinner after trying to get over the silly little issues that seemed to plague the first day of our honeymoon, we were turned away by the restaurant hostess because she said I didn't have the proper attire. According to the printout handed to us by the front desk the attire was "resort casual" which stated that swimsuits were acceptable as long as they were covered. I was wearing a cover that was the equivalent of a full length dress and when I told the hostess we were tired and could we please just be seated, she told us "she didn't make the rules". Even after we walked 10 minutes back to our room and 10 minutes back so that I could change, we called the front desk to ask about the confusion and again were reassured that my attire was adequate.

When we were finally seated at the restaurant another hostess came and accosted us telling us that because my swimsuit straps were visible under the new dress, that I did not meet the required dress code. When we told her about the previous incident she told us the other hostess was doing her job and the front desk/management/printout handed to us was wrong. The restaurant was a surf side bar and grill where shoes weren't required but they apparently had an issue with my swimsuit straps showing. My husband said he was about to take my swimsuit top off and I'd go without anything! To top it all off the AC didn't work our first night either.

The next day, when we got to the restaurant we had made reservations at, they had no record of our reservation (also we were not informed by any management that we needed to make reservations at most of the nice restaurants). By the time we found out we needed reservations we had to choose from the "leftover reservation slots"!!! Also, we had reserved a "beach dinner" and requested our dinner be on the point... our dinner was NOT scheduled on the point and we did not find out until the hour of our dinner. Our butler told us it was not an issue and he would take care of it for us but then Management tried to say they never did dinner "on the point" yet the advertisement is clearly of a couple having dinner on the point and we had been told by various other members of staff that THEY DID OFFER DINNERS ON THE POINT.

Management apologized and gave us the dinner for free but there were too many mishaps on this trip for it to cost us 12k! We could have went to Florida for 2 weeks and lived like Kings for this kind of money. Thanks to Marie ** we were able to sign up for all of the tours we had already purchased online prior to getting to the resort. And thanks to Marie ** we found out early on that we needed reservations for all of our dinners. She also told us who we needed to speak to for different circumstances and she always remembered our names when she saw us! She was the best part of our trip to Antigua... that and the beautiful view... our Butlers were great but all of Management was rude, unorganized, and unhelpful!

The reservation-only restaurants are hard to get into. When we finally made it to Eleanor's at 9PM, my husband was told to go back to the room and change his clothes because he had khaki shorts on instead of pants. There were 4 people in the restaurant. The icing on the cake was opening my wallet to find over $100 missing. We filed a "report" with the manager. Her report consisted of her writing down my name on the back of a sheet of computer paper. We were told "too bad" and that we "should have used the safe". At this point I am in tears. I know $100 compared to the $5000+ we spent on our honeymoon should not make me this upset however this was money given to us at our wedding by our loved ones. We still have yet to even receive a phone call from management. This is truly a horrible resort and I have taken every opportunity I can this far to tell my friends, families and coworkers to stay far away from Sandals.

The Sandals dispatcher holding a clipboard that was responsible for getting taxis was in an ongoing verbal disagreement with some of the drivers that appeared over costs as he repeatedly yelled the word "Kras!" Now most reviews I read for Sandals resorts reported air conditioned waiting lounges with champagne, shoulder massages from their spa employees and a dedicated resort shuttle but this was not to be the case here. This was mayhem. We were finally placed on a taxi by a compassionate taxi driver who saw our plight and told us she would work out the details with the dispatcher (who refused to look at or speak with us) later.

At check in, we were told we were on the second floor when we booked a ground floor walk out. We expressed our disappointment and were reassigned to room 706 on the Caribbean side of the resort. This was a ground floor unit but not a walk out. I was told "There was not a lot of room availability as this was reunion week and this was the best room available." The room was tired and in need of a remodel. The once majestic four posted bed had lost its glory as two of its posts were snapped off. The shower needed grouting as it was black, the toilet rocked when used and the seat would not stay up unless it was held. The two sinks in the room was just decorative as one would not drain for hours. We kept in mind that we were close to the beach and tried to look past these deficiencies and explored the resort and enjoyed the beach.

We were impressed on how lush and tropical the area was outside our room, if we only knew what surprises this would hold for us; we would have taken the second floor room. You see, the windows don't close all the way. They are louvered with screens that don't close completely to let in the soft Caribbean breezes and sounds. Yes, the sounds. At first the sounds of the frogs and insects are delightful but they don't stop. They just increase with such volume the television has a hard time drowning it out. But even the insects and frogs must rest. They do at 4:15 a.m. The exact time as when the morning doves begin their cooing. We did not sleep at all the entire week except on the beach from exhaustion.

We thought about drinking ourselves to sleep but there was no liquor or wine in our room. This is an all inclusive resort with all of our friends and neighbors rooms having liquor in their rooms. When I inquired about this I was told this was not part of my package. This week cost us almost $7000, how could this be? I asked at the front desk if I could purchase a liqueur package for the room but was told no, it's not available for my room type. Just disappointments after disappointments. I have never in my life felt so short changed, so much like a second class citizen as Sandals resort has made me feel.

Concerning the rest of the resort, it's exterior needs to be completely painted floor to roof as the painters only paint as high as they can reach making all the walls two tone with the faded paint above the fresh. The food overall was average with Barefoot on the Beach being the best and most consistent. So vacationers beware. Good money spent and a poor vacation had here. Shame on you Sandals, you should spend less on advertising and more on upkeep and customer service skills.

Let me begin by saying our home was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy last year. We were devastated by the loss. This past year has been the most trying time in either of our lives. And most unfortunately it occurred only a short four months after our wedding. We had just began our lives together and then it was shattered by the storm.

We vowed to rebound and decided to save up for a nice anniversary trip to try to put it all behind us. We had stayed 10 days at the Grande in St Lucia for our honeymoon. At that time, we had wanted a week in a rondoval but only 3 days were available. So we decided what better way to treat ourselves after such a difficult year but at another Sandals and this time, a full week this time in a rondoval. So we called our travel agent at Libert Travel and booked our week in Antigua.

Upon our arrival, we had expected a private car. The same private car we had gotten in St Lucia and was told came with the butler suites here as well. We did not get a private car. We brushed it off as 'no big deal', it was only one simple thing is what we told each other. We would just mention it before leaving to make sure we got the private car on the way out.

Next we enter our room and it is lacking what the same priced rondoval in St Lucia had. There was no hot tub, there was no outdoor shower, there was no indoor shower area like in St Lucia. The only shower was a small shower head in the ceiling that had no curtain or glass wall to keep the heat or water inside the area so showers were very uncomfortable. There were no cushioned chairs, couch, or coffee table. And even at this point, we were disappointed, but still tried to be happy that we were on a nice island and that we should be grateful for the opportunity. I know the travel agent mentioned that these were the original rondovals but such a considerable difference should have been mentioned.

Day 2 ended terribly. We went to the Reggae Fest in town. When we got back to Sandals, we had dinner at the Drunken Duck with some friends we had met at the resort. After dinner, my wife left her purse at the table and we went dancing. We returned to find the tables separated and her purse missing! Inside her purse was our camera with pictures of our house from the storm, my wallet that was a gift from my mother who is deceased, our RayBan sunglasses that were our wedding gift to each other, and my wife's wallet with over $600 in cash. We looked all over for the purse. My wife went to Lost and Found to see if anyone had dropped it off but no one had. We both were extremely upset and distraught that this would happen. We were supposed to feel safe. We spent a lot of money to be there and we wouldn't have if we knew how little security there was.

The next day we spoke to the front desk. We told them what happened and disclosed that we were so upset that we didn't even want to be there anymore. Shelly brought us to her office and we told her the whole story. She informed us that there are no cameras in the Drunken Duck. I could not believe there were no cameras in the place they should most be. How are people to feel safe from fights and thefts in a bar?! She also informed us that the staff is searched prior to entrance as well as departure. A policy that I hardly feel is rock solid in confirming that it was not one of the staff. And I truly don't believe a guest who paid a considerable amount of cash to stay at Sandals would have the need to steal a purse, but that is just my opinion.

Shelly let us attempt to reach our banks by phone to cancel the cards. Next a female security officer came in to take our statement. I had to repeat myself multiple times which was not only frustrating but lower my expectations of the report being done correctly or of anyone finding the purse. She would ask a question like, what time? I would reply, 7pm at the Drunken Duck. Then she would ask me where? And I would repeat, the Drunken Duck. We had pretty much given up on finding it at this point but Shelly said to not lose hope.

Things just never got better. The next day we returned to our room, after a day at the pool, to change for dinner. For the second day in a row our bed was not made. There was a cheese platter still there from the night before, a towel still thrown over a chair, and the shower had no hot water. For the money we paid for a room. It better have hot water. That was the final straw.

In St Lucia, the butlers left nice love notes, towel animals, and flower petals. We noticed this wasn't happening in Antingua. Another annoyance but we thought we could let it go. The first day the bed wasn't made and my wife called down to tell someone, their response was "so?" So?! My wife immediately said, 'Well let me speak to someone who actually cares then.' We paid A LOT of money for that room. The last response we expected would be 'so'.

So back to the final straw with the room a mess again and no hot water. We had put up with minor incidents for long enough for how much money we paid. A call went out again and Sandeep came to the room. My wife was in tears at this point. I discussed the issues with him, showed him the hard cheese plate, the towel, the cold water, the unmade bed, etc. I discussed our expectations from our previous stay including the butler messages, the little desserts that we weren't getting either, etc. He was very nice and also concerned.

I will admit that the next day we saw a major turn around in the housekeeping and butler treats. However our trip had already been soiled. We kept hearing that security would talk to us about the missing purse. I got a phone call at 830am late in the week asking if we had travel insurance. That was it. I had expected more. I was anticipating a conversation would happen the absolute latest at check out, but that didn't happen. In fact, insulting enough, I had asked our butler, Cecil, if he had heard anything new about the purse. He said he didn't know anything about it in the first place. Shouldn't our butler know our things were robbed? And this was as he was wheeling our luggage out to depart.

As the trip went on after the final straw, we heard other things from guests that really irked us. One guest had said they were picked up in a private Cadillac because they had written an email about the roads. One guest showed us there room that they had been upgraded to and the room had separate shower and a tub with jets, two sinks, and a cushioned couch/chair. I would almost say their room was nicer than ours and we paid A LOT more for ours!

It was just one thing on top of the next of disappointment and upsetting news and events. Even our last night, for our last dinner we ate at the OK Corral. A cockroach ran down the wall and onto our table, the slipped in the cracks of the table, to which I had to try to attack him through. I finally got a piece of him enough to knock him down and he scurried away. After a long, miserable week we just didn't even get phased at that point. It just seemed common for Antigua's Sandals.

At departure I asked Cecil if we had a private car. He looked surprised I would ask that and I told him about St Lucia. He informed me that it was a courtesy of other Sandals but the Antigua one doesn't really do that. He did get us one, which was nice. But all in all our trip was so miserable. My wife and I actually discussed last night not even bothering going on another trip anywhere because our experience here was do miserable. Even on our last full day, we had wanted to eat at the Barefoot Grill. Well wouldn't you know it was shut down for a private function. A private function for travel agents who didn't pay to be there. We had PAID to be there and we didn't get to eat there. My wife had wanted to get two massages and do some excursions. We couldn't do any of that because we had no money and no cards.

I am absolutely appalled that this trip went this way. We had planned it as a well deserved reprieve from the pain of our loss, but in turn it became a misery journey. We even saw a couple who said Rachel Ray paid for their trip because of Sandy. This wasn't our case. We PAID for our own trip. Which is why this experience is that much more hurtful to us. We saved up over a year to end up getting robbed and terrible service. I would NEVER let anyone tell me they are planning to go to Sandals without talking them out of it. In fact anytime someone mentions travel, this story is going to come out to them about Sandals.