First shout out is to the people who made our stay unforgettable!
Emerson, Anya, Simone you are the reason the Royalton Antigua is still running!
For context we stayed in Diamond Club so my review will be based on that for the most part.
Emerson went so above and beyond for us that at one point he almost had us in tears (happy tears of course). To the point where if we go back to Antigua and stay anywhere else we want to treat him to a dinner because he deserves to be waited on the way he waits on people. We joked amongst ourselves after check out that if we come back to this resort we would specifically request Emerson as our butler and if he wasn’t we would consider shortening our trip. Emerson is the PLATINUM standard for how guests should be treated and he should be partnered with all new and upcoming butlers to train them to his standards. We noticed that 98% of other butlers seemed to be socializing with each other a lot, or on their personal cell phones, everytime we saw Emerson he was speed walking to his next task or to get something done for another guest. I think he stopped and spoke with us more throughout our stay than we saw him talk with everyone else combined in the whole week.
While we had very limited personal interactions with another butler named Roderick we saw him working VERY hard for his guests, mirroring Emerson’s work ethic, and he should be acknowledged for his service as well! He was also very friendly and helpful to us even though we were not his guests.
Anya is the reason we rented the cabana. She was our beach butler on our first 2 days and we specifically asked when she would be working the cabanas and we hassled our butlers to get us in a cabana on a day she was working them. She was so good to us that on a day we didn’t make it to the beach early in the morning she called our butler to ask if we had checked out or if we’d be coming down so that she could have drinks ready for us! Anya should be the standard for all bartenders, diamond club and non-diamond club alike and should be the one training all staff.
We had a hiccup at a restaurant and Simone dealt with it professionally and efficiently! We had a baby with us and were over an hour and a half after our scheduled dinner time (baby’s bedtime) and we hadn’t gotten food yet, and she went into the kitchen and got them to send the food to our room which usually isn’t allowed but she felt bad for us and didn’t want the baby to cause any stress on us as he got more tired and more hungry.
Diamond Club Review:
Worth the extra bit of money as you get the butlers, and separate areas at the beach, among other things.
Check in: efficient, and professional. Very welcoming and we were up in our room within 20-25 minutes of arriving on site. Only thing I’d request to change is the bracelet, would have preferred a thin rubber style bracelet (Similar to MSC Cruises) over the thread one as we were paranoid it would come undone.
Check out: very much the same as check in!
However, the pool on the diamond side should be separated from the other side as we had a large group come from the general side onto the diamond side and was disturbing everyone by throwing a football around and being rowdy.
We also went diamond club because we wanted a quieter more relaxed stay, and the speakers from the pool area are right beside the entrance to the diamond club area so it was always playing loud music making it harder to relax.
Had a waitress at the diamond club bar by the pool be very cold and lifeless for our first round of drinks, then she held a tip jar up when my hubby went for his second round then put it on the counter in front of him. We have both worked service, sales or hospitality, and this was incredibly unprofessional in our opinion. We don’t like to tip on first interaction, usually the second or third (back paying for previous visits to the bar) because we want to make sure they are being nice and actually earning the tip vs expecting it just because we are tourists.
Local excursion and sellers are on the diamond side of the beach and we felt as though we were being hustled all day everyday we went to the beach because they wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept coming around. Some of them even ask you to get them food or drinks from the bar and grill, was not expecting that.
We were lucky enough that there was a security guard working the beach while we were there that would clear off lounge chairs on the beach if no one had been there in a while. There are rules about saving these chairs and people go down at 6am and throw towels on them then go back to bed or to breakfast and don’t come back for hours. So he was great in watching for that and removing the towels if no one had been to the chairs in an hour or two (unless he saw them go swimming and knew they were still around)
Cabanas - we rented a cabana for one day and it comes with a bottle of alcohol included in the price. However there were a few days where some of the cabanas were not rented, and sat empty. On these days the resort should do a lottery with diamond club members and offer the cabanas for free or for a very low price and just not include the bottle, this way people who don’t necessarily want to spend the full amount can still have the opportunity to experience the cabanas.
The resort:
Definitely a 5 star at one point, but not anymore. Facilities and grounds make it a 2, staff mentioned above make it a 4-4.5 Truthfully they should shut down for 2-3 weeks straight and do an entire gut and Reno of the rooms.
Room was very musty (a little is to be expected because we are in a very humid environment) but it was excessive.
Bed was extremely comfortable.
Air conditioner was hit or miss
LOVE that they fog at night for mosquitoes (we are pregnant so it made the stress of the risk of zika that much lower)
Gift shop - definitely convenience priced, as the items are almost triple (or more) the price of the items at the duty free shop in town or at the airport. We did learn the gift shop is not specifically part of the Royalton but the Royalton should implement maximum pricing because until we were told that it was owned separately we saw it as a brutal cash grab taking advantage of the convenience of being on location.
Elevators - 2 very small elevators that barely held us (2 adults) our stroller and 2 other adults. Not very effective if you have a larger stroller or group member in a wheelchair.
Accessibility- they do pack the sand down at the beach making it easier for people with strollers to maneuver around to lounge chairs, however I feel as though it was be beneficial to have some sort of sidewalk for people with accessibility issues or with strollers/wagons
Wedding venues- one of the areas for weddings and events was right outside of our room so it was hard to sleep with music bumping until very late hours. Personal preference would be for those types of things to be a bit further from the rooms.
Wildlife- while we acknowledge that there are stray cats and dogs around the beach, we had a few instances where the stray cats approached our table and one actually tried to climb into our baby’s high chair to get at his food. Some staff were very good about telling guests not to feed them, however other staff seemed to let people order fish items specifically to feed to the cats.
Splash pad - severely under-utilized by guests, if our baby was a bit older we would’ve considered spending most of our time there, although it may also be better located closer to the beach.
Nibbles - food here was DELICIOUS. But we went 5 minutes after they opened and were told it was already over an hour wait. They have very limited seating and do not offer a takeout option, they should consider using Caribe for Nibbles during lunch for seating to accommodate more people instead of turning people away.
In summary: resort needs a Reno, Emerson needs a raise
Royalton Antigua we would be happy to come back! Maybe even do a full breakdown of small things that would elevate the resort back to 5 star!!
Sincerely, a previous Sales and Service Manager, and a Tourism Hospitality Management and Event Planning graduate, who both just retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and would love a hobby!
