Hi, My hubby and I are starting to plan our 10 yr anniversary vacation. It won't be until May 07 but I like to be well informed.

We are considering Jamaica. All inclusive, adult only, white sand, beautiful blue waters....all of that appeals to us. We want some water activites, some relaxation and a lot of romance.

Is Sandals the place for us? Does anyone have any good/bad experiences they would be willing to share?

Thanks in advance!

~d

My husband and I went to Sandals Negril for our honeymoon in 2001 and loved it. I believe I posted on this resort way back when, however I'm sure there are more recent reviews that would be more helpful that my old memories!

There is a lot of reports and pictures for Sandals and other Jamaican couples only resorts on TROPICTRAVELONLINE.COM
Luda

Thanks, I will check it out. Anyone else?

We enjoyed Sandals in Antiqua and fully expect to return there for another visit when we have finished with all of the other islands we are interested in. Have not been to the one in Jamaica but if the airfare were equivalent, I would think about Antiqua as we were not very happy with the Jamaica experience compared to many of the other islands. I am sure the beach is private but, it seems that everyone has their hand out or has something to sell you - constantly! Good luck

We were at Sandals Whitehouse in Feb of 2005.......absolutely gorgeous!!! The beach was one of the best Jamaican beaches we have been on. We are heading for Sandals Grande Ocho Rios in March of this year. We have also been to Secrets and several other all inclusives as well on multiple islands and Mexico. Our first trip to SAndals was for our 15th anniversary in 1993!!! Our Whitehouse trip was our first return to Sandals, and I am glad we did it!!

We like the AI factor as you know up front what you are spending - anything on top of that, we decide what is worth for us to do. That having been said- we always try to get off site and see the culture of the island we are on.

The crowd is usually a good mix of couples from newlyweds to couples in their 50's and 60's.....there is plenty of activites to choose from - you can be as active or as lazy as you'd like.

Definitely select Sandals in Negril over Montego Bay.

Drove past Whitehouse last week - looked nice, off by itself - couldn't tell how nice the beach/water were.

Kimberly is the resident Sandals expert on this board, but I'm guessing from her lack of response that she is off on yet another Sandals vacation. You can do a search on her name for her input about the various ones. She's been to them all, and as I recall she recommends Whitehouse and one of the St. Lucia ones the most often.

Since you've asked specifically for Sandals fans, you might not get any input in the other direction. I prefer not to travel AI, and for both travel related and politically motivated reasons, I would not choose to spend my money at a Sandals. To keep it travel related, I think the value overall for dollars spent is quite poor compared to other hotels/resorts/inns in a commensurate price range.

Good luck finding the perfect spot. I would recommend reading reviews on Tripadvisor to get a rounded idea of the pros and cons to a Sandals vacation.

itltrot, I do have to agree with ejcrowe, here, and can't stress enough for you to go over as many reports as you can of the various Sandals resort/reviews, on tripadvisor, for all their resorts. It will give you a, more ... rounded idea of the resorts. You will hear a common thread run thru in both the negative and positive reports...

Please be careful of the generic responses.
It was so much fun! It was so worth it!
Don't worry about your room, your not in it much anyway, type thing.
Look at how many people move from room to room before they, are then satisfied, etc.

Many improvements, are being made at many of their resorts. But...lots...of research is needed for many guests, to have a successful Sandals vacation!!!

Good luck to you in your search!

Just as ejcrowe says you will not find a bigger Sandals Lover then me and my hubbie...We have been to almost every Sandals Resort atleast a few times.We will be spending 2 weeks at the Sandals Regency in St.Lucia the end of Feb.We have been to this resort before and loved it! Sandals Whitehouse is a beautiful resort spent 2 weeks there last Feb and would highly recomend this resort.
What specifics are you looking for in a resort? email me andI will try to help you. I will be leaving Sunday Jan 29for Aruba for a week so if you email before then I can get back to you sooner.

We've been to Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau and Sandals Grande St. Lucian with a day trip to the Regency Resort in St. Lucia. As far as resorts go, Sandals Royal Bahmaian was really nice. Nice rooms, 2 huge pools, great beach with an off shore Island, good dining choices on property with tasty food and friendly staff. However, we didn't much care for Nassau.

St. Lucia is a beautiful Island with plenty to see and do. The Grande was nice, but we liked the over all atmosphere of the Royal Bahamain. We were disappointed in the food selections and over all taste of the food at the Grande and the Regency. We've been to several AI's in the Caribbean and Mexico and had better food elsewhere.

We are going to Jamaica in Nov. and have looked at Sandals Negril and Sandals Whitehouse. (We want to stay in Negril and not Montego Bay or Ocho Rios) The looks of Sandals Negril fell flat compared to the Royal Bahamian, the Grande and the Regency since we really like those huge pools. The Whitehouse seemed so secluded and too far from everything. So we've decided on Couples Negril instead. The over all price of Couples was less expensive than Sandals and they offered more inclusions.

We would like to stay at Sandals Antigua once they have completed their renovations in 2007.

We have pics of the 3 Sandals Resorts we visited if interested:

http://community.webshots.com/user/kvrlvn

I love Jamaica and have stayed at Sandals. It is quite nice. But I have to say, not close to Couples. We prefer Couples Negril. It's just so perfect. The beach, food, and is truly all inclusive.

Alright, I'm rat-tailing on this thread ... for those of you sports fanatics out there ... but here's the scenario.

I've read some of the message threads here, and it appears Kimberly is the Sandals expert, but I don't have her e-mail address, nor do I want to leave anyone else's opinion out that may be helpful.

We are celebrating our 10th anniversary this June and were going to return to Sandals Antigua (as we were there on our honeymoon), however, we have looked at St. Lucia too. We are early 40's, not necessarily looking for a place with non-stop activity (but enjoy the occasional fun) ... really just looking for that "falling off the earth" kind of vacation with sun, warm weather, a few nice dinners, pool bar and cocktails!

Questions/concerns:
1. Some said Sandals Antigua is undergoing construction? True? How bothersome is it? We loved it there, and of course, it holds fond memories.
2. If St. Lucia is your recommendation, which one and why? I've heard and read good and bad about all 3 here, and other sites too. This was a location we had looked at as a possibility anyway, maybe now moving to #1? But again ... which one and why?
3. Should we rule out a Jamacia location? I've had friends who have been at Sandals Jamica and have hated it (although how one could hate Sandals anything is really beyond me ... I guess I'm like Kimberly in that respect!)
4. Is there some other resort/location that we should consider? We like the AI plans, we like a bit of spoiling and pampering ourselves, but we don't want something stuffy, or anything remotely like a continuous party atmosphere. Nor do we want to be hounded by the locals for their beach wares. We enjoy the local fare, but like to do it at our pleasure.
5. Anyone know anything about Secrets Punta Cana? It looks great on all the forums I've looked at.

OK, enough ...... any advice from anyone here is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance. I don't know how we all survived before we had forums like this!!

Kim & Jay
Ohio

We've been to Secrets Punta Cana....it is very nice. It is about an hour or so from the airport, so don't say you weren't warned!!! That being said, the rooms were very nice - I believe there is a whirlpool tub in each room. If you are water activity enthusiasts, the water is rougher on this part of Punta Cana... there was a red or yellow flag almost daily while we were there. The restaurants were varied with good food. There is NO buffet restaurant in the evening. It is rather remote, so anything you choose to do off-site is minimum 1 hour plus drive.

Last year, we were at Sandals Whitehouse....very nice!!! This is also in a rather remote location, but that worked just fine for us. The food was very good as was the atmosphere. You can choose to be as active or laid backas you want! The beach is huge - and much quieter than the pool area.

You willnot find a bigger Sandals Lover then Me.We have been to pretty many all of there propertys some a few times. Any info you need just email me and I will be more then happy to help you if I can. [email protected]

Just returned from Sandals Ochos Rios Grand. I think the 2 1/2 hour bus ride certainly was a dissapointment. The villas were nice, we did not use our pool - always at the beach or the big pool, both were awesome. Water craft were plentiful and lots of fun. Unfortunately on this side of the island I guess the water and weather are a little rougher so we had some red flag days that prevented us from being out as much as we would have liked. Beach was small but never felt crowded. Everyone who works there we re terrific. We would check out a different Sandals and not likely to go back to this one. Very nice but hoping for maybe a little more.