Sue

We're splitting our week in Nov. between Ladera and Sandals Halcyon. We wanted to try an all-inclusive, but not a huge one like SSL. I'm concerned about the dining options at Halcyon (we're foodies!). Will we be able to go to SSL for a late dinner, and get a ride back? We tend to enjoy late evening dining. How late do the shuttles run? Please send any advice about restaurants, day trips, tours, etc. Thanks so much!!

Laurie

The Pier restaurant at Halcyon has good food, Bayside has lots to choose from for breakfast. The beach grill serves burgers ,pizza,wings etc. Estelle the cook is fabulous, she will call you by name after the first day! SSL has more good restaurants, the shuttle runs pretty late but I can't remember exactly the time. We hired a driver from Sandals, Anthony, he was great he took us all over the island for the day(9:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m.). We had lunch at Ladera, the views of the pitons are breathtaking. Dashnees has wonderful food but if we had to pay the steep prices for a week we would be broke(ice tea was 15.00 US).The tour prices at Sandals are high so this way we saw what we wanted to and stayed as long as we wanted without being on a tour. Sunday Night at Shirley Heights was lots of fun if you like to dance but if you don't like crowds stay away!.Have fun!

Laurie

I meant to say the Sunday night Jump Up. We just got back from Sandals Antigua and Shirley Heights was there.

Sue

Thanks. That sounds like a great idea. Do you remember how much you paid him for the day? What a great way to see the island without the formal tours. Did you do any boat tours? Is the jump-up on Sunday night? I had heard it was on Friday. We'll be at Sandals from Saturday til Wednesday, so if it's on Sunday we could go more easily, since Sandals would be closer to it than Ladera. ($15 for tea?? WOW)Any highlights of your sightseeing you would recommend?

Laurie

When we went sightseeing (there was six people) with Anthony each couple gave him $40.00 U.S. and paid for his lunch at Ladera. We wanted to give him more but he wouldn't take any, we used him as our driver to the Friday Night Jump Up also and the Jazz Festival. We went to the botanical gardens, they were very nice, the drive in volcano smells so bad like sulphur I would skip it, we also went to some baths I can't remember the name and smeared lava soap all over our bodies let it dry and then rinsed it off(we got some good laughs here and it was fun). We went to where Dr. Doolittle was filmed (sorry I can;t remember the names but its been a year) very nice. We also went to the Hummingbird for a drink, cute little place to stay. We drove all over the island to tell you the truth I don;t think we missed much. Our friends took a catamarin boat ride to the Pitons and loved it, but you will be staying at Ladera and will have beautiful views.The bar staff at Halcyon hooked us up with drinks for the whole day of touring, we used empty water bottles and they filled it up with rum and coke and whatever else we wanted. They even gave us coke for Anthony and a bottle of wine. The bar was closed when they did this and they were more than happy to do so for us.