Antigua 2017

Two years ago, our friends, the J's, invited us on a couples cruise. Three couples attended and we traveled to Excellence in Punta Cana. We had a really good time and promised  to so it again the following year.

Fast forward to 2017 -  still three couples. This time our good friends, the S's, joined us and the J's.
Our choice of all-inclusive, all-adult resorts was Sandals Grande Antigua. Ken and I have vacationed at  Sandals Negril. So, we were well aware of the excellent service and beautiful grounds. I must say, as nice as Sandals Negril was (is),  Sandals Grande Antigua was over the top awesome.

We were greeted with champagne and rum punch upon our arrival at the resort. I must say we felt welcome from the minute we stepped onto the resort.  I am a huge researcher of everything. I checked just about every site I could and all of the reviews mentioned the general manager, Mr. G. Guess who was one of the first people to greet us? Yep, Mr. G!  The super cool thing is that he managed the West Baden resort in French Lick, Indiana. How cool is that?

So, once we checked in- which really didn't seem like the typical check in at all - we went to our rooms to freshen up before dinner.  The rooms, the rooms! I love a Sandals resort room. We were all on the Mediterranean side of the resort in Grande Luxe Oceanview Rooms. For a full look at our room, check out my link on Instagram here.  Side note: I have an obsession with pens. These Sandals pens are amazing:

Photo Credit: Tyjuana Hill-Smith Photography

After a full day of travel, we were ready for some dinner. There are at least nine restaurants on the resort. Anxious to get our toes in the sand, we opted for Barefoot. Barefoot is right on the beach with sand underneath your feet. During the day, the menu is jerk chicken, hamburgers  and salads. By night, they serve salmon, mahi mahi, filet, etc. Both menus are delish!  I have to tell you this was the best food on a resort I have had. I mean everything was prepared to perfection.  The cool thing about all-inclusive resorts is that you can order as much as you want. We opted to all order a few different things and were more than eager to share. Believe me, nothing went to waste.

Once we finished dinner, we listened to a local band performing island songs. There are several areas with fire pits that were perfect for relaxing after dinner.  Final stop for the night? The Drunken Duck - an English style pub - with a pool room. Of course, we had to shoot a few - right?

The next day was beach day and boy was I ready! Be sure to follow the blog for more reviews and to detail our couples trip to Sandals. Included is our special sunset photo session with our great friend, Ty and Delmore,  the Sandals photographer.

Here's a glimpse of the beautiful Dickinson Bay until my next post……..

All photos unless noted are from my iPhone 7s.  Thanks to Tyjuana Hill- Smith Photography for taking the pen photo. Be sure to check back for more of her professional photos from our trip.