HONEYMOONING ON ANTIGUA
How many
honeymoons can one couple endure?
You would
think that since Team VFH lingered in Florida for a number of days after our
September wedding we could and should have considered that glorious time as a honeymoon.
I mean, two birds, one stone correct? (sorry PETA)
Ha….. NO…
The wife
had other and MUCH better ideas.
Instead
we honeymooned at the Sandals Grande Resort in Antigua for a costly but lovely
week-long sojourn into decadence. This is not a decadence of debauchery or
depravity though, but one of luxury and pampering. Sandals is an all-inclusive,
ADULTS ONLY, COUPLES ONLY collection of Caribbean resorts. There are 16
scattered across the islands, and what makes this Jamaican-based company so
appealing is its attention to details. Our time at Sandals was relaxed and
romantic. From the manicured grounds to the picturesque sands of Dickenson’s
Bay, perhaps Antigua’s most beautiful beach. to a spacious room with a full bar
replenished daily, this trip had been wonderful way to ease into married life!
VACATIONING NOT TRAVELING
I can
only speak for Sandals Antigua, but I had found the experience unexpectedly delightful.
I had never considered an all-inclusive resort before, and have never traveled
to a foreign land just so I could loll about at the resort, but Janet insisted
on it for this honeymoon. It turned out to be a week-long floating whimsical trip.
Our only concern while at Sandals Grande Antigua had been where to eat or what
to order for room service, and what rum drink to order from the swim-up bar. Yes,
this was a vacation, not a traveling adventure, something I’ve never done
before, but I got used to this new approach to traveling pretty quickly…by the
second drink on the first day.
There are
11 restaurants and 7 bars scattered around Sandals Antigua. Food ranges from
sushi to seafood, Caribbean to French to Italian to Tex Mex…and a British pub. The
only extra cost to any meal was if we wanted something other than the house wine,
but drinks, extra appetizers, even extra entrees are all included.
There are
pools everywhere, two with swim-up bars. There are highly prized chaise lounges
at the pools and on the beach with some folks showing up super early in the day
to “claim” their perch either by the pool or the beach, but we were always able
to get a chaise lounge no matter what time we showed up. The brilliant
turquoise water of Dickenson’s Bay is as picturesque as it is warm and placid.
The sand is a fine soft tan powder. With the tranquil grounds and the catering,
and incessant flow of food and drink there was really no reason to explore the
island, although there were several off-campus tours available to us; things like
4x4 tours of Antigua, zip-line excursions and a visit to a rum distillery; albeit
for an extra cost.
LUXURY, CLUB, BUTLER
Normally
I would love to explore a new place, but with the size and the comfort level of
Sandals, there was really no reason to leave the campus. There are three levels
of accommodations available at all Sandals; Luxury, Club and Butler. All have
their merits. Janet briefly considered a Butler, but the cost was exorbitant.
The allure of someone taking care of our needs for the day, like scoring us a
cabana or a martini, wasn’t that strong. Besides, even at the lowest tier of accommodations,
Luxury, there still is an incessant flow of food and liquor. Yeah, at the
Luxury level you don’t have a personal butler so you get your steps in by having
to pad over to a bar to order yourself a drink. Often times though while we
were lounging on the beach or poolside someone from Sandals would, unsolicited, offer to
fetch us a drink or a new towel.
At the
Luxury level of accommodations wi-fi is at a nominal cost and there’s no hard
liquor available in the room’s refrigerator, just beer and wine.
We got a
Club level room, on the ground floor with a walk out balcony. With no ocean
view the price was a bit lower, but the convenience of being able to walk out
the back way was very pleasant. (We never got the hang of properly locking the patio
door.)
At our Club
level, we had a concierge service which we barely used, and room service, which
we used once. Our mini bar had an array of full bottles of liquors like scotch,
vodka, gin and rum, champagne, red and white wine and beer. I drank some beers,
and had a sip of rum, just to say I tried it, but we never opened the wine or the
champagne which was left for us as part of our honeymoon package. To put a dent
in the liquor in our room, we would have had to stay indoors for the entire
week. Yeah, I know it’s a honeymoon, but we’re old folks. Anyway, we had free
wi-fi, bathrobes and we were invited to a number of Club level events like cocktail parties which we never
attended. The staff would call us every once in a while, to ask us if
everything was okay….
WHY NOT?
Attention
to details is what makes Sandals so appealing. From the champagne greeting on our
arrival to the nightly “misting” that combats mosquitos etc., the incessant job
of sweeping sand off the walkways, the grooming of the beach and even to the
quiet leaf-blowers the staff use on the grounds to the security guards that
understatedly guard the property make the whole experience secure.
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| OUR PATIO VIEW AT SANDALS |
Overall the Sandals experience was overwhelmingly positive for us, so much so, we have decided to try another Sandals, this time in the Bahamas.
SANDALS GRANDE ANTIGUA
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