We just got back for our trip (7/5-7/12) and had a great time on our St. Lucia vacation! We booked this trip with friends of our as a 1st Anniversary type thing for the both of us. They had gone on their honeymoon to the Ochos Rios Sandals in Jamaica and had a great time, so we decided to check out another island, but stay with the comfort of sandals since they enjoyed it so much. I have to start out by saying that I am somewhat hard to impress. Don't get me wrong, I can easily have a great time, but to say something was wonderful doesn't come very easily. So, I think my review will be useful to the more critical and the laid back alike. I also want to say that our motto for our vacation was "Pack your chill" inspired by one of the reviews I read and I would suggest it to everyone :) You're on vacation, so enjoy it!!!

In order for you to get the most out of this review I am going to provide my experience and recommendations for the follow categories: flight, transportation to resort, arrival at the hotel, room, food, service, and overall hotel accommodations.

Flight:
We flew direct from Charlotte, NC to St. Lucia which was very nice! A little over 4 hours and we were there! You exit the plan via a portable stairwell onto the runway which was cool. I had never done that before. Getting into the country was easy. Just a stamp of the passport and a quick visit to customs and you are on your way! One thing I MUST warn you about is that right behind the customs line there will be several guys with carts asking if you are going to sandals or wherever and they want to help you with your bags. DO NOT bother. They roll you 10 feet through the doors and the van is literally right there and then you have to tip them. I read this on trip advisor before we went and wouldn't let them take my bags, but they are persistent. Our friends didn't listen to us because the guys make it sound like they are from sandals and are there to help, but they just work at the airport. You'll see the sandals desk once through the double doors where you will get you room tags and someone from the van will take your luggage.


Transportation from airport to resort:
Overall I had no problems with the car ride. It took about an hour to get to the resort from the airport, but I thought it was nice to see the island and some of the culture before getting to the resort. The van driver pointed out some interesting landmarks and we got to see some great views. Something to recommend: take motion sickness medicine if you get car sick before getting into the vans. The roads are winding. My friend doesn't usually get car sick and it got to her a time or 2.

Arrival at Sandals Regency:
We were escorted off the bus into a room upstairs from the front desk. They had rum punch and a few snacks... cookies were pretty good. They took our vouchers (be sure to print those before you go) and basically we sat there until our luggage was delivered to our rooms. We were all anxious to see the hotel and get to the beach, so the 20-30 minutes we were there kind of felt like forever, but it definitely wasn't bad. They gave us our room keys and we had been upgraded to an ocean view room, so that was great! We had booked the la toc premium and the upgrade was the la toc room with an ocean view.

Room:
I thought the room was nice. It had a flat screen tv, king bed, a little sitting area, nice tile on the floors, and a french balcony which is a sliding door with no porch just a railing immediately outside. The room looked clean, bed was comfy and I had no complaints. Bar was stocked with soda and water, so that was good too. We meant up with our friends who were 5 doors down from us. They had the same room and were disappointed because their room in Jamaica had been bigger, with a stocked liquor bar, and pool for less money, BUT we weren't on our honeymoons and had no intentions of spending lots of time in the room (at least us girls didn't) so we moved on to the pool!

Hotel:
The Regency has some beautiful landscaping and the grounds are in great condition. We were very impressed with the up keep. The resort itself is getting older. You can tell that when it was new it was absolutely lovely. Really though it's nothing that a fresh coat of paint and a little bit of sprucing couldn't help. Furniture in the lobby was looking kind of warn and they were doing roof repair on different part of the resort. GREAT view though. The Regency is on a nice piece of property and the view of the cliffs and the ocean are wondeful. (A lot better than the computer screen I look at all day!) The pool is really nice. We never had a problem getting 4 pool chairs together. The crowd there during our stay was mostly younger people. We are all in our mid 20's so we actually met a lot of cool people from all over the US and had a great time just laying out. The water was never that crowded and felt great in that St. Lucia heat! The beach was beautiful and the ocean was really nice. We had yellow flags all week except for 2 days during Bertha we had red flags. There was no beach those days. The waves were sometimes large enough that they would splash the pool deck. We had never seen waves like that before, so it was cool and it didn't last the whole vacation so that was nice too. One of the great things about the all inclusive is some of the watersports that you can do for free. My husband and I went sailing on the hobie cats a couple of time and both of the guys went out almost every day. You can also ride that big bike and get snorkle gear or wind surf. At the Grande you can water ski and go tubing (which weren't offered at the Regency I think because the water is a little more rough). There is a lot to do for free and you can always take the tours as well.

Food:
The food was a little bit disappointing. I wasn't expecting the best, but I normally do cruises for vacation and this was nothing like cruise food. My husband told me I was a food snob, but he'll eat anything, so I guess you will have to make your own opinion, but I will let you know at least what I enjoyed and didn't:

Armando's: Ate there twice. The first time was good, the second time it was ok. The first time we went they were out of the calamari app. so they had mussels instead which were great. We had the antipasta bar which was good. The second time we went they had the calamari which I didn't like. I like it fried only I guess :) The alfredo pasta was good, but the chicken was boiled not grilled so it was a little bland, but overall good. The ravioli was good. The shrimp was really good (both times), the veal was good and the chicken parm. was ok-- a little tough but tasty. We went there twice and our husbands ordered 2 entrees each time so we had a wide variety. Overall Armando's was good.

La Toc: Ate hear once. You need reservations. Dinner was good. One of the better meals we had. Escargot was excellent we thought. Hearts of palm salad was really good. The shrimp soup we all enjoyed and the filet was good. Can't complain about this meal.... taste wise.... there were roaches in the corner we were sitting that we didn't notice til after we ate (Thank God!) so I was a little turned off by that afterward. You're in the carribbean and everything is open so we have to expect bugs and rodents so I "packed my chill" and moved on with dessert. Apple turnover was good, creme bru le was apparently ok and the mousse was good.

The Piton: Ate hear once. Appetizer was horrible.... we got some chicken thing that was like a cold chicken spam/meatloaf thing. The salads were good and we got some shrimp dish that was really good. The mahi I heard was good too. Service was slow though and it's outdoors so it was hot.

Arizona: Ok. Fijitas were ok and the quesadilla was ok.

The Pavilion: Ate hear for breakfast every morning. Eggs to order, fresh fruit, bagel... all I need!

The London Pub (Grande): Good. Typically bar/pub food. The fish and chips were good. Not complaints here.

Touscini's (Grande): Good. The antipasta bar at armando's was better. The FRIED calamari here was good :) Filet was good.


Service:
Service was good. There were some people more friendly than others, but anyone is willing to help. Bartenders were good and Lucas at the bar in the pavilion makes this awesome drink called a grasshopper. If you like andes mints you will love this! The Miami vices are good at the pool bar. All of the drink were good. And they are not stingy with the liquor, portion are a moderate size, but I am sure they waste a lot in a day, so that is understandable. The Island's beer is the Piton... AWESOME. Great beer. Wish we got it here.

Tours:
The shopping tour was a waste. We paid $40 (a couple) to get dropped off by a taxi and left for a couple of hours. They had some cool stuff but the time limit was too long because most of the booths are selling the same things. The zipline was great! We had a blast in the rainforest on the lines. Get the bake and cheese at the consession stand. Only $1.50 and so yummy! We did Joe Knows Tours.... had a great time. Went with about 8 other couples and had a blast. Got to really see the island and experience the people and the culture. Joe is a hoot! I would recommend finding him or the locals can call him for you hahah! They all know him well!

Overall we had a great time on our St. Lucia vacation! Sandals was a good experience. I have no problems recommending it. I think all inclusives are the way to go now days. Hope this review was helpful and enjoy your stay!