What an EGO you have uneed, You have GOT to be kidding me! You think you can generalize like that?? I am a very seasoned traveller, and I won't cook a meal on vacation, I cook 3 meals the other 350 days a year, thanks! I know many unseasoned travellers who go to cabins and cook all their meals on all their vacations. Please don't generalize, you sound like a blithering idiot.<BR><BR>You people are saying Sandals is a bad value at $500-700 a night, and Marti is saying it's a good value at $300 a night, so aren't you all really saying the same thing?

I've been to Sandals resorts 8 times. For years we thought they were great & worth the money. However, when we went last time (1996) we felt the entire resort needed modernizing. The plastic furniture in the rooms is way outdated. The food wasn't as good as previous years & overall the Sandals Royal Caribbean was a disappointment. The next year we were at a Riu property & felt it was much nicer & actually cheaper. I feel Sandals is way overpriced & until they revamp their resorts & hopefully come down in cost we won't be going back.

hear hear ramjet! during our trip to jamaica, we spent 1/2 our time at a sandals, and 1/2 at the ritz carlton. guess what? when we got back and did all the accounting, we discovered that the ritz cost the same, even with add-ons for activities. plus, the food, drink, service, rooms and ambience were better at the ritz. i like the idea of all-inclusives and have done about 4 different ones. i guess the key is to find the good ones. i wouldn't return to sandals again however. too much marketing, not enough follow through.

For some of us Sandals is a good value. I am not young adn am well-traveled. Though I still consider 33 young I know most of you don't. Anyway, no Sandlas is not as nice as a four seasons (thogu it can be if you get a Sandals luxury suite). The food may not be top of the line gourmet but you certainly get a lot thus getting value for your money. WhenI am at Sandals I usually eat about 5 times a day with at least one of those being room service. I do breakfast lunch late afternoon appetizeers and snack while relaxing in the room before getting dressed to gou to dinner, dinner and then late night meal as well. I typically drink about 7-8 alholic beverages a day not including soft drinks and my husband drinks more than that starting with morning bloody mary and going right thru until about 2am. If we paid individually for this much food and drink atanother resort the cost would far surpass that of Sandals!!!!! See there is value if you use the plan, if you want to go off the resort and take tours and eat out, then no you don't get your money's worth. It jsut depends on the person. As for the not being able to make reservations and get into the restaurants of your choice, my advice is move up to concierge level, you get first choice and NEVER have problems getting in as long as you make your dinner reservations for each evening at breakfast the morning of.

All right Sandals Lover! I agree, I like to eat a lot and drink a lot, and worry about diet when I get back! It's worth my dime. I also use the activities like water skiing, sailing, snorkeling, exercise classes, and that stuff adds up. These resorts often charge $5-10 for a fancy drink. A few of these a day for my husband and 2-3 for me, and we're much better off at AI.

I think Sandals Resorts are for the "Lazy Traveller". All is included in one hyped up, overglossed, airbrushed price. It seems so easy for many people, it takes all the "guess work" out of a vacation for them. Many people do not realize that it is the same or maybe less money to stay in a "real" luxury resort and pay for their meals and drinks. People feel "safer" paying in full for crappy food and watered down drinks, less than par facilities and service. Many people are sold a bill of goods by a TA or do not want to expend any time or energy into planning or exploring other resorts. Some people are intimidated by a Four Seasons or Little Dix Bay or whatever. Maybe they feel that the other guests are out of their league and they will not fit in or feel uncomfortable. Then again there are many people that enjoy the Carnival Cruise type atmosphere and will pay any price to get it, even if you like being herded like sheep. And boy do you pay, there is no value in a Sandals vacation.<BR><BR>Have I been to a Sandals?<BR>NO! Thank you I have not, I did not have to I visited the Sandals web site and that was enough to make a decision. Maybe I'm a snob but I took one look at the website and said No Way. A few years ago a TA trying to talk us into the RB. Needless to say I did not go and I no longer use him as a travel agent. You can see the cheezy-ness from their website. The "Sandals" logo in the pool is a dead give away. I mean C'omon!<BR><BR>By the way, I went to Biras Creek for the same amount of money as Sandals RB, need I say more?<BR>Ramjet is right on the money Sandals, however is not!

Well I guess I am a "lazy" traveler. I work 60 hours/week and DH works about 70/week not including a commute time. When we are on vacation we don't want to leave the resort and explore or even have to leave the resort to go to dinner. A vacation to us is laying out by the pool or hanging at the swim up bar during the day and dancing the night away at the resort in the evening. In otherwords we want to RELAX! We don't want to have to make any decisions or leave to go anywhere especially renting a car YUCK!!! We don't like carrying money around (how inconvenient to have to carry your purse out to the beach in a string bikini?) And as I said before we usualy have 7-8 if not more alcoholic drinks each day. I didn't say we drink them all but if a a drink is half gone and has gotten warm sitting in the sun, I jsut dump it and get another because I can have as many as I want withouth carrying my purse adn I like that! I am not intimidated by the four seasons, DH and I often take weekends away where we fly to a large city adn stay in a nice hotel, but Sandals even thoguh there is no o gourmet food (BTW quanitity is more important than quality to me for food) is a good VALUE for me!

To some it may seem that I have a "vendetta" with Sandals. I am not employed by anyone for I am retired. And lastly I hope my words aren't construed as "false". A few final words on Sandals value... When you've been truly pampered at Sandy Lane in Barbados, when you have had complete adult serenity and isolation at the Horned Dorset Primavera in Puerto Rico, when you have experienced great golf and beauty at Four Seasons in Nevis, when you have had fun and exercise at Half Moon in Jamaica, and the food, room, and service near impeccable at these places, then yes I believe I know what value represents and quite honestly IMHO Sandals does not deliver.

You just proved my point exactly. If you explored any other options you will find that upscale locations do not require you to carry a purse anywhere it is called a guest tab and it is charged to your room! You pay when you leave. Cap Juluca offers a package with breakfast every day (delivered to your room) and 4 dinners at their excellent restaurants. You can go to Scilly Cay for lunch and charge it to your room at CJ! Biras Creek offers packages with breakfast, lunch and dinner - Outstanding! there are many wonderful resorts with meal plans (even Atlantis has one, no purse required) with excellent food and service with clean rooms with great views. No purse needed no matter what size bikini you're wearing. If you have the time to read the posts on a travel board then you must have time to do a little investigating with your computer and search some teriffic vacation destinations.

Just a note.....<BR>I am not saying Atlantis is a great destination, they just make dining and drinking very convenient.<BR><BR>I'm not opening a can of worms with the "A" word.

Never said I didn't have time to research travel destinations or make my own reservations. What I said was once I get somewhere I want to relax and not have to leave the resort to eat. I have been on vacations I researched. I went to Costa Rica 2 years ago and while it was beautiful I wouldn't call it relaxing because we did sightseeing rather than hangin out by the pool. As for "isolation and adult serenity" that would be no fun for me. Wven thoug I am 33 I like rowdy pool games, volleyball, relays, and beer drinking contests which Sandals has plenty of. I know wha ta guest tab is BTW. I would just hate to see mine at he end of a stay at CapJaluca eating ordering 5 meals a day each for me and DH and total of about 15-20 alcoholic drinks a day. I am sure after a week of that my "guest tab" at CapJaluca would be a lot more than my Sandals price!

Holy Moly Sandals Lover, don't have another drink and you've had enough to eat today for gods sake.

HEE HEE fromt he sound of my post you'd think I was a 200lb lush. Actually I am 5'5'', 110lbs and I rarely have more than 2 glasses of wine except on vacation! ROTFL!!!! Anyway in explanation of the 8 drinks and 5 meals a day, I will say I am a nibbler. I order entire meals and pick at them, trying a couple of bites of each item. 2 hours later I am hungry and ready to order again. I would rather have 3 or 4 bites of 5 different entrees than 1 whole entree. As I said before I don't necessarily drink all the drinks either. If I drink half a drink and it gets hot, I dump it and order another one becasue on an all-inclusive plan I have paid one price to get as much as I want. I'm also the type to get 3 or 4 different desserts at each meal and eat about 3 bites of each, I just liek to nibble and try a little bit of everything which would be very expensive at regular restaurants! I also liek paying up front rather than running a guest tab and being surprised at the end with a total I never expected. BTW even with a guest tab you have to carry money to tip people like the bartender and waiters, not so with Sandals. <BR><BR>Anyway to each his own but I am just pointing out that if you take advantage of the all you can eat and all you drink plan as well as the activties at Sandals it is a good VALUE and less expensive. It jsut depends on wha tkind of person you are and what type of vacation youare looking for ;)

For anyone who wonders what type of person would be willing to stay at Sandals and pay the exhorbitant prices for subpar accommodations/food/service, I've excerpted a few lines from "Sandals Lover's" posts. <BR><BR>"The food may not be top of the line gourmet but you certainly get a lot thus getting value for your money. WhenI am at Sandals I usually eat about 5 times a day"<BR>"I typically drink about 7-8 alholic beverages a day not including soft drinks and my husband drinks more than that starting with morning bloody mary and going right thru until about 2am."<BR>"When we are on vacation we don't want to leave the resort and explore or even have to leave the resort to go to dinner."<BR>"We don't want to have to make any decisions or leave to go anywhere especially renting a car YUCK!!!"<BR>"I didn't say we drink them all but if a a drink is half gone and has gotten warm sitting in the sun, I jsut dump it and get another because I can have as many as I want withouth carrying my purse adn I like that!"<BR>"(BTW quanitity is more important than quality to me for food)"<BR>"I order entire meals and pick at them, trying a couple of bites of each item. 2 hours later I am hungry and ready to order again. I would rather have 3 or 4 bites of 5 different entrees than 1 whole entree."<BR>"Wven thoug I am 33 I like rowdy pool games, volleyball, relays, and beer drinking contests which Sandals has plenty of."<BR>"I'm also the type to get 3 or 4 different desserts at each meal and eat about 3 bites of each"<BR><BR>Sandals Lover, on second thought, PLEASE keep going to Sandals, and don't leave the resort. <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

I think Nancy has done a good job of pointing out the Sandals phenomenon. If you identify with Sandals lover, then I suppose you are the kind of person who would be happy there.<BR><BR>On the other hand, if you find Sandals Lover's concept of what consitutes a good vacation experience repulsive, then it would not be the place for you.<BR><BR>Problem solved. Different strokes for different folks. There is a resort for all types of people, and hopefully we can all figure out which is the right one for us.<BR><BR>I appreciate all the info on Sandals, this way I know it's not my type of vacation without wasting my money and going there first.

You are right, different people like different things. You seem to indicate I am low class becasue I liek this type of vacation. Actually, I am a pediatrician and my husband is an attorney. We are just not snobs! We enjoy cutting loose and having fun at least once a year. BTW we usualy take 2 big vacations a year: one to a beach location (ie Sandals or an A/I in Mexico) and another week to Europe. We also taek several weekend trips a year as well either to interesting cities staying at the Ritz Carlton/FOur Seasons or we cut loose on a weekend to Gatlinburg/Branson. We are very diverse people and are not snobby about anything. I like McDonalds and Taco Bell just as much as Charlie Trotters (more even because of the value factor). If you don't liek Sandals, that is fine. I just don't agree with someone who doesn't liek Sandals going around saying its not a good value for your money when it can be depending on what you do there!

Sandals Lover, I'll meet you by the pool with my Pina Colada, and we'll laugh at the other guys wringing their hands about weather or not to order the $8.95 dessert at the Four Seasons!

Well Sandals Lover, perhaps it's not just the affinity for Sandals that is a class indicator. It's a combination of the affinity for Sandals coupled with the inability to spell or construct a sentence that's a dead giveaway.<BR><BR>For a pediatrician you certainly seem to have a lot of time on your hands to banter on Fodors.

If Sandals Lover is a pediatrician, than I'm a nuclear physicist. My son'S pediatrician knows how to spell L-I-K-E and T-A-K-E.

EVERYONE! I just figured out who this is!!! It's KIM!<BR>Kim, NO WAY are you and hubby who you claim to be. Last time she said she was a veterinarian.<BR>I liked you better when you didn't bother to apologize for your trashiness and lie about the other places you'd been.<BR>You have never stayed at a Four Seasons or a Ritz Carlton in your life. Do you really think we're so STUPID as to believe that you go to resorts like that but prefer Sandals??? Puh-leeze!<BR>You're the WORST example of Ugly Americans to be found.<BR>Eating and drinking all day while you lie around the pool no doubt snapping your fingers for the "help" to come get you another drink when one gets too WARM for you. I feel so sorry for anyone who has to wait on you at a resort and then throw away all the food you've wasted.<BR>You are disgusting, and a prime reason I will NEVER stay at a Sandals.<BR>