Sandals Grande St. Lucian
 

Hello and thank you in advance for anyone who has comments or suggestions about Sandals<BR>Grande St. Lucian. We're looking at a week<BR>in January there and would love to hear from<BR>anyone who's visited. We've never been to a<BR>Sandals property, we did &quot;Couples Ocho Rios&quot;<BR>and thoroughly enjoyed it a few years ago. <BR>How are the rooms, food, entertainment, beach? Thanks so much to everyone who could kindly post a reply here.

Check out www.tropictravelonline.com and www.caribbean-on-line.com/forums. There are some pictures and trip reports that you might find helpful. We'll be there Jan 18-24.

Well if you're looking for a great beach, St. Lucia is not the place to go. The island is lush tropical with rainforests, great if you're looking for some place to explore and get away from the resort. <BR><BR>If a great beach is a must, you may want to check out Sandals Antigua. We just returned from there 2 months ago and had a wonderful time. The resort has a great laid back and romantic charm to it and we loved Antigua. Good luck and enjoy your vacation!

We just returned from Sandals Grande St. Lucian. We have visited many islands (Kauai, Maui, Oahu, Bermuda, Virgin Gorda, St. Thomas, St. John, Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, etc.) and our recent trip to St. Lucia was the only poor experience. I would highly recommend staying away from the Sandals Grande and instead go to the Hilton on the other end of the island between the two Pitons. It was absolutely beautiful and the food and service was wonderful. Snorkeling and beach were also much better than Sandals Grande. I have heard very mixed reports on the Grande, it seems to just depend when you go you may be lucky and hit a good week or you may hit a bad week. But I've never heard any negatives about the Hilton, seems to be managed better and more consistency in the service. Good luck and happy travels!

this is the first negative report about the grande i have heard. I am not dismissing your experience, i just find it out of the ordinary. I for one would enjoy the shaded area of the pool. Sounds like you got the staff on a bad week.

Yes, you are probably right it may have just been a bad week. I've never been on a vacation where they had a line in the lobby waiting to see the management like they did at Sandals Grande. 11 couples left the resort during our week and switched to another hotel. One couple who was there on their honeymoon were so upset they tried to fly home early but the airline was going to charge them more than $1,000 to change their flights so they ended up staying. It was such a negative and sad atmosphere, never experienced anything like it before.

Were you at Sandals Grande during the photo shoot? I just returned and thought it was one of the nicest places I have stayed at in the Caribbean. I found the staff to be very accommodating to the point where they gave every guest 3 nts comp because of the photo shoot taking place. I did not find it that disruptive other than one day when we had to move from the main pool to the quiet pool for about 2 hrs.<BR>Sorry to hear about your experience.<BR>

having trusted our travel agent for many years we are also going to sandals grande in jan(19-26). she has never led us astray yet and if you check other sites<BR>you will find this is only negative of sgsl anywhere. sometimes you make your own fun!

WOW! Thank you to everyone who posted<BR>such informative replies. This is a<BR>great forum for honest feedback and I<BR>sincerely appreciate it. I'm a little<BR>nervous now because our trip is already<BR>booked and I'm hearing some very negative responses. Does anyone think it's too late to try to find another resort instead??? Would Sandals do that for us or not?? We have never done the<BR>Sandals vacation but thought we'd take a<BR>chance. If anyone else is kind enough to post a reply, I'd sincerely appreciate it. Thank you so much to all<BR>who are offering help and guidance, it<BR>is greatly appreciated!<BR><BR>Marina

Marina: I'd talk to your travel agent and find out if you can change to another Sandals on the island if you don't like the Grande after you get there. Of course, if you can, it would depend on room availability. There are two other Sandals resorts on the island, not too far away from the Grande. But I think your travel agent is the best person to ask, that is if you went through a travel agent. Otherwise, check with Sandals directly if you can. Maybe you could divide your trip and stay at two different Sandals. That would give you a good comparison too.

It depends what you're looking for. We did like the rooms at Sandals Grande, they were modern and nice but overall we preferred Sandals Halcyon because the environment was much nicer. People seemed to be having fun whereas Sandals Grande a lot of people were complaining. It's more difficult to enjoy yourself when so many people are unhappy and complaining.

Fran, were you there also during the photo shoot? Or were people complaining at the Grande about other things?

We've traveled a good bit and are very used to &quot;island time&quot; and don't mind that it takes longer for everything in the islands. We normally enjoy the relaxed laid back pace. But the Sandals Grande St. Lucia was particularly slow. Check in took more than an hour. Then it took another hour to get our first pieces of luggage. Our last piece of luggage didn't arrive for almost four hours. <BR><BR>During our repeat guest dinner they ran out of champagne right after serving my husband half of a glass (he was lucky, three guests at our table didn't get served any) and they didn't get around to bringing more champagne until the meal was almost over. They also ran out of appetizers and several guests at our table didn't receive their appetizers until they were clearing the plates of the guests who had been served first. All of the courses came out that way and eventually they worked out a system by final course where they served all the ladies first and then served the men. It was very odd. lol Not exactly sure why or what was happening behind the scenes. The food itself was excellent and the dessert especially was both delicious and a beautiful presentation. <BR><BR>Our A/C unit stopped working and was not able to be repaired. We had to sleep with the balcony doors open because it was so hot in our room. We went home covered in mosquito bites. <BR><BR>We were in a suite concierge room, the first day the mini bar was fully stocked. That was the only day it was fully stocked. We repeatedly asked them to fill it and we would have a few items added but it was never refilled completely. At least we didn't run out of toilet paper as we heard many guests complaining. lol <BR><BR>The bathroom had double sinks which was a good thing since one of them didn't work. <BR><BR>All-in-all these weren't horrible things by any means but for the price we paid it was a very disappointing overall experience. We probably will not return to Sandals. <BR>

Now I'm worried. My husband and I went to the Sandals Golf Resort and Spa last year and loved it and are looking forward to going to the Grande resort January 18th. They do however say that for every person with a complaint, 10 more were very satisfied (as people with complaints are more likely to voice their opinion louder) - I hope that's the reason. I do know however, that if you were not happy with the grande and there was space at the other resorts, sandals will let you transfer.<BR>

I'm not knocking Sandals Grande or St. Lucia but now that we've been there we would choose another destination. Maybe if they get some more non stop flights we would consider going back but as it is now it takes too long to get to St. Lucia and then it's another hour and forty minutes to the resort from the international airport. From the east coast it took us less time to get to Hawaii than St. Lucia. <BR><BR>We'll go back to St. John, in 4 hours we're on the beach vs. 14 hours to St. Lucia. Plus St. John was better snorkeling.

I am quite suprised by the negative comments on this property. I just had some clients return from a 11 night stay (honeymoon)in November, and they loved the place. They said they were hearing complaints about some of the other Sandals properties. They said they enjoyed having the most in restaurant choices at the Grande. I agree with a previos poster, that said sometimes you make your own fun too. I am a travel agent, so talk to yours about changing hotels if you don't feel comfortable staying there. If you have already paid for your trip, you may be charged for a change fee (depends on the vendor that they used). Good luck with whatever you choose.

My travel agent was surprised too at the number of complaints she's been receiving about the new Sandals in St. Lucia. She's checking into it to see if she can find out what's going on.

To the travel agent with the clients: honeymooners. Most people on their honeymoon think everywhere is fabulous, and many are also young and havent travelled much. I'm not slamming that at all, just pointing out the obvious. I tend to remove a certain amount of exuberance from a honeymooners post. After all, they better think everything was fabulous......they are on their honeymoon. A little of the rose colored glasses syndrome.

Re: the comment that it takes an hour and forty minutes to get to the Sandals from the airport -- if you are staying on the northern part of the island, try to get a flight that lands at Vigie Airport in Castries, instead of Hewanorra Airport. It's only 15 minutes from the Grande St. Lucian. I think that all of the American Eagle flights from San Juan land at Vigie. Hewanorra is a looonnngg ride from the north.

Most flights to St. Lucia arrive at the international airport which is one to two hours drive time from almost all hotels on the island. Keep that in mind when calculating travel time to St. Lucia.

While the drive time is somewhat long, it's a good way to see the island. I actually liked it and didn't think the roads were half as bad as what I'd heard before I left. <BR><BR>Otherwise, you can pay for a helicopter transport which can include a scenic tour of the island from Hewannorra to the north for, what I believe was two years ago, $100 per person. I believe this takes about 30 minutes. I had heard this was an awesome way to see the island and worth the money. (We had this scheduled but it was canceled due to a long flight delay).

Sandals Grande is far nicer than Sandals Halcyon. We were there last week and went to Mario's for dinner but couldn't wait to get back to the Grande. Halcyon seemed so run down and in desperate need of renovating. The rooms and so much nicer at the Grande. We flew into Vigie Airport on AA so we only had a 20 minute drive. We arrived on a Sunday when a group of 80 people were checking out so we did have to wait an hour for our room but they had the Patriots game on in the pub so it was no big deal! Our signature guest dinner went a lot smoother than someone posted earlier - they did not run out of anything and the filet mignon was terrific. My only complaint of the week was that the shuttle bus service that is posted at the bellman's desk was incorrect all week and that created a problem going between the resorts. Otherwise, it was one of the nicest resorts we have stayed at in the Caribbean!!<BR>

I'm not saying the above post is wrong, but in my opinion Sandals Halcyon was nicer. The rooms at Grande were more modern but the overall atmosphere was very negative at the Grande. At Halcyon everybody seemed relaxed and to be having a good time. <BR><BR>Also about the long ride from the international aiport, the drive was very monotonous and because of flight delays it was dark when we were traveling so you couldn't see anything. I probably won't go back to St. Lucia but if I did, I would pay the extra for the helicopter transfers. <BR><BR>When we arrived at the Grande there were only 3 other couples but it took a long time to check in. Maybe because it was evening and they had less staff on duty.

I know how frustrating it can be to see so many conflicting opinions on all of these forums. But since the Sandals Grande is so new i thought i should provide info on my experience.<BR>We have just returned from St Lucia on 12/17 and stayed at both the Sandals Grande &amp; Sandals La Toc (Golf Resort). We were at the Grande during the photo shoot and although we could have cared less, many of the guests where very unhappy and created an overall &quot;negative energy&quot; that hung over the resort.<BR>The Grande had large hotel type rooms with nice new fixtures. The Pool was very nice, but being beach worshippers we were disappointed in the hard packed sand of the narrow beach. The resort property itself was pretty boring, the only interesting feature being the pool area.<BR>The Sandals St lucia (La Toc) had a totally different personality. it was built into the side of a hill and was very lush and tropical, very much a rain forest feel to it. however this resort has two distinct parts to it; the Bluffs (biult 2-3 years ago) and the orginal resort rooms (built 20+ years ago?). The Bluff rooms are fresh, large and wonderful. The older &quot;standard&quot; rooms are cramped, worn and poorly outfitted. so beware of the room location. <BR>The food at both resorts was unremarkable, the breakfast buffet being the weakest leak for both.<BR>We also found the town of Castries (sp?) to be very unappealing.

To Reality check-<BR>I mentioned my clients experience to let people know that some people did like the hotel. Just because they were honeymooners, did not change the fact that they had a great time. They are very experienced travellers, usually staying at very high end resorts. They have travelled world-wide too, not just to the Caribbean. I still have to say that people have some responsibilty as to what kind of time they have. I have found in my 10+ years of experience, that people opinions of things can vary greatly. One person will love something, and another will hate it. It also depends on what your expectations are. I just wanted to clarify that my clients had a wonderful experience, and that they didn't have the &quot;rose colored glasses on&quot;.

We just came back and had a great time. We found the place pretty comparable to Royal Hideaway and resorts in Hawaii. The food wasn't the best but we loved St Lucia the people and found it romantic. Also - the daytrip to the Pitons and the Grenadines are a must

I was just wondering what the ocean is like in February. In the archives there are posts that said the water is unswimmable in the winter. I am wondering if this would be true in the south as well.

Cecelia -<BR><BR>The water is fine in February. There seems to be this misconception that any beach on the north end of St. Lucia has rough water, especially in the winter. That is not true. Any beach in St. Lucia (or anywhere in the Caribbean, for that matter) that is EXPOSED to the north can get a little rough in the winter because winter storms in the northeast Atlantic can cause waves to roll in from the north. (This phenomenon usually doesn't last for more than a couple of days at a time.) The beach at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian faces south and is therefore completely protected from any northerly swells. As a result, the water at that beach is almost always pretty calm. <BR>The beach at the Sandals golf resort just south of Castries in St. Lucia faces north, so that beach is sometimes affected by northerly swells. Some people find that the water at that beach gets rough. That might be what people are referring to in other posts when they talk about &quot;unswimmable&quot; water at Sandals St. Lucia in the winter.

Jonno-<BR>Thank you for the reply. It is nice to see an answer to a question rather than resort bashing. Have a happy holiday.

Hello.<BR>We are back from our 14 days att the Grande and we think its a great resort.<BR>The St Lucian people are wonderful and very friendly. They will do anyting to please you. We stayed in an Swim up room. The photo shot was for 6 days and we get a 4 night free Voucher as compensation to use in future traveling to Sandals or Beaches. In april we went to Grand Lido Sans Soci and we think that the Grande was much better than Sans Souci in every part. We will return to the Grande somtime in future. Hope this helps!<BR>Tord<BR>Sweden

We must have been there when you were Tord. We, too, were in a swim up room. It was great.

There have been a lot of mixed reviews on this resort. Has anyone been lately - since the photo shoot? Have things gotten better?

Hi,<BR><BR>Ive just returned from a trip to St Lucia &amp; stayed at the St Lucia Golf resort (in november). Although I didnt visit the Grande (too much to do during the 2 weeks stay at our hotel) we did meet people who visited the hotel several times to take part in their watersports &amp; spend the day / evening at the resort. Eight of us had a reservation ar Marios (Halcyon) one evening &amp; althogu the hotel seemed ok (&amp; I knoe its difficult toguage in the dark) the halcyon seemed to be much quiter than our hotel (even though at the time the golf was only 70% full!) Personally I am glad that we stayed at the golf as the staff were (in the main) really friendly &amp; there was more to do &amp; I did hear of people who transferred from the halcyon to the golf as their original choice was too quiet. If you do arrive at the grand &amp; dislike it so much then you should (subject to availability) be able to transfer - &amp; if yu do need to transfer choose the golf resort - the resort was older that the grande so maybe not up to scratch with decor but spend a couple of days with the playmakers at the golf resort (if you like joining in with the activities) &amp; you'll not want to leave!!<BR><BR>ps the trip from hewanora airport isnt too great (took about 1 hour to our hotel which was about 15 mins from the halcyon &amp; 30 mins from the grande) but you could do the helicopter transfer which I believe only goes to Castries (about 10 mins from halcyon &amp; 20 frm grande)- the only problem with that is its $100 per person for a 12 minute flight. Trying to get a direct flight into vigie airprt at castries woiuld be you best bet - not an option we couldve taken flying directly in from london gatwick but never mind!!!<BR><BR>Anyway have a fab trip - wish it was me going back although we are keping in touch with one of the people who worked at the hotel &amp; at least 4 of us intend going back in 2004!!!<BR><BR>Enjoy!!! - &amp; have a piton on me!!!

Yes, we are aware of the long trip, so decided to fly into <BR>Vigie - even though we have a 20 min layover in Puerto Rico, I felt that was better than the 1 1/2 hour trip and I get sick on helicopters!<BR>You didn't visit Grande? Did you meet people who did or who were staying there? Did you do any day trips that you'd recommend?