We recently stayed at the Royalton Antigua and came away with mixed feelings. There are definitely some positives, but there are also several areas where the resort falls short of what we'd expect from this level of property.
The biggest positive was one of our butlers, Zo, who was outstanding throughout our stay. Denver, the butler manager, was also excellent and clearly cares about the guest experience. Sarah in the café and Hezeldeen at Grazie breakfast were consistently friendly and provided great service. We also had the opportunity to meet Surinder, the new General Manager, who had only been in the role for about two weeks. He seemed genuinely interested in addressing many of the resort's issues.
Unfortunately, the overall service across the resort was mediocre at best. Friendly service seemed to be the exception rather than the rule. One bartender(Indiana) at the lobby bar was consistently unfriendly, and the Diamond Club beverage attendant (Casford) rarely checked on guests or offered much assistance. Marlon, the Food & Beverage Manager, was also not particularly helpful when concerns were raised.
The food was probably the biggest disappointment. The selection is much more limited than we expected, and the buffet offerings were consistently underwhelming. Grazie had decent osso buco, but the pasta lacked flavor. More frustrating than the quality was the number of times restaurants simply ran out of menu items. During our stay, the ice cream shop frequently ran out of cones and even ice cream. Grazie "ran out of pancakes" at breakfast one morning. The Diamond Club grill ran out of food around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday and never replenished it. A vegan burger remained on the menu throughout our stay, but we were never able to order one because it was never available. On Friday afternoon, the resort had already run out of piña coladas by 4:00 p.m., which was surprising for an all-inclusive resort. The room Service food was decent. Chicken tenders were good when they had them, also the turkey wrap was very good. The burger was average. Jalapeño poppers were good when they had them. Room service could take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to get to your room though so you had to plan ahead.
On the positive side, the beach is beautiful, clean, and one of the highlights of the property. The pools are nice, and because the resort never felt overcrowded, there were always plenty of beach towels and available chairs at both the beach and pools. We also appreciated that there were no high-pressure vacation club or timeshare sales pitches during our stay.
The rooms are a good size overall, although the bathrooms feel somewhat cramped.
Overall, Royalton Antigua has the foundation to be a great resort, but inconsistent service, frequent food shortages, and limited dining options kept it from meeting our expectations. There are certainly some outstanding employees who deserve recognition, but the resort as a whole needs to improve consistency and better manage its food and beverage operations. If those issues are addressed under the new management team, this could become a much stronger destination.
