I am writing this review with complete seriousness: this was the worst resort experience of my entire life. From start to finish, staying at Royalton Antigua was not just disappointing—it was deeply upsetting, unsanitary, and borderline inhumane. I spent the entire week counting down the moments until I could leave.Nothing here functions the way it should. Check-in alone took nearly three and a half hours, with no explanation, no communication, and no apology. Guests were left standing, exhausted, and ignored. That dysfunction never improved—it only got worse.
The staff behavior is appalling. Employees routinely ignore guests on purpose. At bars, you can stand directly in front of staff for 20 minutes or longer while they deliberately avoid eye contact, despite clearly knowing you are waiting. When they finally acknowledge you, they take orders without speaking, without manners, and with visible hostility. This is not slow service—this is intentional neglect.
Dining at this resort is a complete disaster.
• You must wait for everything: to enter the buffet, to secure a reservation, to be seated, and then hours for food to arrive.
• An 8:00 PM reservation means you will not eat until 10:30 or 11:00 PM, consistently. We timed this repeatedly.
• Once seated, there is no drink service, no water refills, and no clearing of dirty plates unless you aggressively flag someone down. Even then, you are treated like a burden.
Food, water, and coffee routinely run out and are not replenished. Guests are left hungry and dehydrated for hours at a time. I was traveling with 12 other people, and it became a running joke that we were all losing weight simply because there was nothing edible available.The elevators were broken and never came, forcing me to walk up to the 7th floor. There was an unpleasant smell throughout the property, and the rooms were freezing with no proper temperature control. Overall, the experience was uncomfortable and frustrating.The sanitation conditions are shocking. Trash is everywhere. The bathrooms are beyond disgusting:
• Toilets are consistently overflowing with human waste.
• Every single time I used a bathroom, I had to urinate on top of someone else’s feces because the toilets were already full.
• Floors, stalls, and fixtures are visibly filthy and never cleaned.
• Bathroom doors do not close—you literally have to hold them shut with your knee while using the toilet.This is not an isolated issue. This is systemic neglect.The resort grounds are severely deteriorated and feel abandoned. Plumbing is broken throughout the property. Our shower leaked continuously. Nothing is maintained. Nothing is repaired. The entire place feels like it is crumbling while guests are expected to pretend this is luxury.The only redeeming aspects of this resort were a friendly group of stray dogs and a gym that was passable. That is it. We also really enjoyed the Italian restaurant and our waitress Nathalia.
I would never recommend this resort to anyone—not families, not couples, not solo travelers, and absolutely not pregnant women. If I see positive reviews online, I genuinely question whether those reviewers stayed at the same property.
I am disturbed that this resort is allowed to operate while charging guests premium prices for conditions that are unacceptable by any standard.
This was hands down the worst resort experience of my life, and I would strongly warn anyone considering Royalton to stay far away.
Beyond the poor service, cleanliness issues, and overall mismanagement, the most alarming part of this trip was the massive outbreak of food poisoning within our group. 10 out of 12 of us became violently ill — vomiting, diarrhea, fevers, chills, and severe dehydration that lasted for days. One person in our group, who is pregnant, became so sick that she required emergency medical treatment back at home home due to dangerously low blood pressure and fluid loss. We are now left with medical bills on top of the emotional stress and physical suffering this place caused.
Seeing nearly everyone you’re traveling with sick at the same time is disturbing and unacceptable. This wasn’t a coincidence — it was a clear failure of food safety and sanitation. I truly do not understand how this resort is allowed to continue operating when guests are leaving severely ill. From reading updated reviews it seems like there was an outbreak of food poisoning or something. What kind of place is this? It has to be a sick joke. Disgusting.
This trip was supposed to be relaxing. Instead, it turned into a nightmare. Disgusting conditions, dangerous health risks, and zero accountability. Do not waste your money or risk your health here.
