Sandals Regency - St. Lucia - Oh Yeah!
May 19th, 2010, 11:41 PM
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Sandals Regency - St. Lucia - Oh Yeah!
We had such a great time at the Sandals Regency. We knew that after planning a wedding day with 500 or so guests, we were going to need a honeymoon that eased us into being able to focus on each other. And Sandals Regency Golf Resort & Spa was the perfect place. It is an all-inclusive resort, where we golfed, learned to dive (and the water was amazing!), dined and spent our afternoons either in the pool or on the beach. The resort was quite luxurious, and after a few days we were refreshed and ready to see the rest of the island.
As part of the honeymoon planning process, I Googled to find a tour-guide to schedule, not realizing that the hotel offered off-site services as well. In the end I was really glad for the decision I made unknowingly. I found out later that although the hotel doesn’t advise to hire anyone not affiliated with the resort, (can't understand why...the locals need to share in the tourism product) we ended up making a great decision hiring photographer Bill Mortley. Bill took us on a four hour tour, and snapped some very professional photos of us as we reached the island’s highlights. He really made our day special, and we the have memories to last our lifetime. Very personable guy, and a good ambassador for St. Lucia. I would wholeheartedly recommend him and it was well worth the reasonable price.
We had an upgraded suite and enjoyed the services of a personal butler, which was extraordinary. He handled everything from making dinner reservations, arranging our transportation, bringing snacks to our room, and reserving chairs at the pool. It was so indulgent.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay, the island and the people. We are already saving and will definitely return.
As part of the honeymoon planning process, I Googled to find a tour-guide to schedule, not realizing that the hotel offered off-site services as well. In the end I was really glad for the decision I made unknowingly. I found out later that although the hotel doesn’t advise to hire anyone not affiliated with the resort, (can't understand why...the locals need to share in the tourism product) we ended up making a great decision hiring photographer Bill Mortley. Bill took us on a four hour tour, and snapped some very professional photos of us as we reached the island’s highlights. He really made our day special, and we the have memories to last our lifetime. Very personable guy, and a good ambassador for St. Lucia. I would wholeheartedly recommend him and it was well worth the reasonable price.
We had an upgraded suite and enjoyed the services of a personal butler, which was extraordinary. He handled everything from making dinner reservations, arranging our transportation, bringing snacks to our room, and reserving chairs at the pool. It was so indulgent.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay, the island and the people. We are already saving and will definitely return.
May 22nd, 2010, 03:35 AM
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If I had to pick the one thing I liked most about the Sandals Grande, it would be the service. Although, I’m sure the company does a great job training its employees, the local hires must have a special disposition on their own as well. Everyone we met that had any input into our stay seemed genuinely concerned with meeting our needs. If they were only doing their jobs, you would never know. After our long flight, our check-in and dinner reservations were so effortless that we already felt like we were rested and ready to enjoy the rest of our stay. Simply outstanding service.
The goal of this trip was to marry my 5 year old partner and afterward enjoy our honeymoon and just to “sit-tight” and relax.Except for a half-day island tour, relax we did. Once our concierge knew what we wanted,he made all the arrangements for us; from spa to beach to dinner reservations, and checked on us regularly to see that our needs, no, our desires, were being met.
Only problem so far are the poor-quality photos taken of our wedding. The photos are all beached out. Problem is that we did not have a choice. We were forced to use the photographer assigned to us and we could not even see the guy's work first and decide if that person could be entrusted with such a responsibility. Didn't want to have any issues that would impact our vacation.
Otherwise,upon our arrival, we were greeted in our room by a chilled bottle of champagne and a food tray. We must have partaken of almost all the services available at the resort, and every one of them was delivered with consistency and hospitality.
We love the beach, so the bulk of our stay was enjoying the beautiful waters of the Caribbean Sea. We enjoyed all of the many pools and hot tubs on the property, and having reserved a cabana, never had to be concerned about getting to the beach early to reserve chairs.
The food was good, well prepared and served with a smile. We ate at all the restaurants, which included taking the shuttle to La Toc at the Regency, as well as the lunch buffet at Bayside, and don’t forget to try Barefoot. When we were at our cabana, whatever we wanted to eat or drink was brought to us with that special hospitality particular to this island.
Overall, we would definitely come back and recommend the Sandals Grande to anyone looking to enjoy being pampered. Definitely worth it for us.
The goal of this trip was to marry my 5 year old partner and afterward enjoy our honeymoon and just to “sit-tight” and relax.Except for a half-day island tour, relax we did. Once our concierge knew what we wanted,he made all the arrangements for us; from spa to beach to dinner reservations, and checked on us regularly to see that our needs, no, our desires, were being met.
Only problem so far are the poor-quality photos taken of our wedding. The photos are all beached out. Problem is that we did not have a choice. We were forced to use the photographer assigned to us and we could not even see the guy's work first and decide if that person could be entrusted with such a responsibility. Didn't want to have any issues that would impact our vacation.
Otherwise,upon our arrival, we were greeted in our room by a chilled bottle of champagne and a food tray. We must have partaken of almost all the services available at the resort, and every one of them was delivered with consistency and hospitality.
We love the beach, so the bulk of our stay was enjoying the beautiful waters of the Caribbean Sea. We enjoyed all of the many pools and hot tubs on the property, and having reserved a cabana, never had to be concerned about getting to the beach early to reserve chairs.
The food was good, well prepared and served with a smile. We ate at all the restaurants, which included taking the shuttle to La Toc at the Regency, as well as the lunch buffet at Bayside, and don’t forget to try Barefoot. When we were at our cabana, whatever we wanted to eat or drink was brought to us with that special hospitality particular to this island.
Overall, we would definitely come back and recommend the Sandals Grande to anyone looking to enjoy being pampered. Definitely worth it for us.
May 27th, 2010, 11:32 AM
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Although we stayed and got married at another hotel, we did use the phototgrapher you speak about. He was very good, and we were quite satisfied with the pictures as well. Very professional and a nice guy.
Feb 2nd, 2011, 07:19 AM
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I am pretty easy going, but I have to blow the whistle on this place. My wife and I have been married for 6 years, both in our early 30's and easy to please. We go to the Caribbean two times per year, for the last 8 years, and have Secrets, Barcelo, Hilton, many more- to compare to. This place was extremely disappointing and so were the other Sandals locations on the island; there is a free shuttle to the other two resorts. We spent $6,000 (most of our great vacations have been around $4,000) for the worst food and only a pool to sit by....you cannot enter the ocean, it is so rough that one woman had to be rescued from almost drowning. My wife had a "garage sale" from a wave while trying to get off a jetskii and lost her glasses and headband and spent the next few hours getting out water and sand, which is a little funny, but none the less-dangerous. It was a scary moment because we are talking about an instant 8 foot break on top of you.
Sandals is a powerful brand with a good marketing campaign in the USA, and I have to say that I was saddened to see all the newlyweds spending the money from wedding gifts at a resort that only has a few kinds of fruit, and labels itself "all inclusive." I eat more fresh fruit in -20F in Northern Wisconsin than this place had to offer. Apparently all inclusive means guests pay for your snacks, most activities, your wine, your Internet, your hygiene products, your beer (in most rooms), and there is no "top shelf as advertised. No Capt'n, no Grey Goose, no Grand M, nothing.
I did complain and one front desk woman laughed in my face, I guess that is because I did not yell and scream like the other guest I saw who were having similar experiences.
I got home today and I have a Sandals vacation booked in Jamaica for May, after this review next on my agenda is to change it to a different resort chain.
Most of the resort patrons were newlyweds, many out of the USA for the first time and spending up to two weeks in this dump, please vote with your wallet, the resorts are nothing like the Ads they place on TV. St Lucia is a beautiful island and if you go a few pages into google there are so many beautiful resorts and sandy beaches (we took a private, local sailboat, nothing to do with Sandals, so I saw what I missed) that if you look around a bit you will get a great deal in paradise. Just not at Sandals.
Sandals is a powerful brand with a good marketing campaign in the USA, and I have to say that I was saddened to see all the newlyweds spending the money from wedding gifts at a resort that only has a few kinds of fruit, and labels itself "all inclusive." I eat more fresh fruit in -20F in Northern Wisconsin than this place had to offer. Apparently all inclusive means guests pay for your snacks, most activities, your wine, your Internet, your hygiene products, your beer (in most rooms), and there is no "top shelf as advertised. No Capt'n, no Grey Goose, no Grand M, nothing.
I did complain and one front desk woman laughed in my face, I guess that is because I did not yell and scream like the other guest I saw who were having similar experiences.
I got home today and I have a Sandals vacation booked in Jamaica for May, after this review next on my agenda is to change it to a different resort chain.
Most of the resort patrons were newlyweds, many out of the USA for the first time and spending up to two weeks in this dump, please vote with your wallet, the resorts are nothing like the Ads they place on TV. St Lucia is a beautiful island and if you go a few pages into google there are so many beautiful resorts and sandy beaches (we took a private, local sailboat, nothing to do with Sandals, so I saw what I missed) that if you look around a bit you will get a great deal in paradise. Just not at Sandals.
