You absolutely cannot go wrong staying at the Sandals Grande in St Lucia. We spent our honeymoon there last week and are already making plans to return to a Sandals resort next year. I really can't think of anything to do to make it better. The only thing bad about the stay is that we had to come home!

The resort and island are absolutely beautiful. We did the land and sea tour of Soufriere, ATV Adventure, Pigeon Island, horseback riding, and the candle light dinner. We would have had fun even if we just stayed on the resort the whole time.

The food and drinks at all the restaurants were excellent and and being it was all inclusive we didn't spend any additional money no matter how much we ate or drank. Sure beats the Carnival cruise we took last year.

Flying into the smaller airport in Castries was definitely the better deal. Although this meant we had to fly from Puerto Rico to St Lucia in a turboprop (not a jet) airplane, the airport is only about 15 mins from the resort. Landing at the bigger airport on the other side of the island means you have a 2 hour bus ride from the airport to the resort.

I did so much reading and reviewing for this resort before we departed, I could not wait to leave my review once we returned. I will give an in-depth review below, but let me start with a comment/observation. I was slightly skeptical before my honeymoon because of some of the horror stories that I read on this site. Granted, most of the reviews are positive, but there are ones scattered throughout with tags like “terrible time”, “overpriced” and “disappointed”. I know that some people will have bad experiences no matter what, but reading some of the complaints, I don’t see how some of the “negatives” stayed at the same resort I did. There is no way that reviews could be so far on both ends of the spectrum for the same, wonderful resort. All I can figure is those folks must be very hard to please. REMEMBER: Relax and enjoy yourself while you are there. For goodness sakes, your on your honeymoon (or other special vacation). Why in the world would you want to spend the week so uptight that you were looking for every little thing you could find wrong? Sure there were a few problems. Maybe the carpet outside the room was slightly worn, maybe the tub had a small crack in it. Would this be enough to ruin my vacation and force me to never return? NO WAY! Pack a “chill pill” with your bathing suit, unwind and have a good time! Also…THANK YOU goes a long way with the employees at the resort. Remember, you are not tipping them, so how does one get good service?? Just say Thank You and be friendly. We never once had an issue with service. We did see some folks who expected to be “waited on hand and foot” and I don’t think they got along as well as we did by being courteous and friendly.


Now for the review:

Arrival:
Our flight down was no problem at all. We landed at the “big” airport (UVF, Hewanorra Intl) which is where most commercial flights enter. I would highly recommend booking a helicopter transfer from UVF to SLU (the smaller airport on the north end of the island). I recommend this for two reasons. First, the views from the air were spectacular and we got an aerial tour of the island. Second, the 10 minute helicopter flight sure beats the 90 minute ride in the van from UVF to the resort. Once you transfer from UVF to SLU by helicopter, you are only a 10-15 minute ride away from the resort and its all city streets. We took the van when we departed from the resort back to UVF (the 90 minute ride) and once you get out of the city, the curvy mountain ride makes for a long trip. I have read stories about how some people “feared for their lives” during the van ride and it was nowhere near that bad, but the helicopter was much better. It is a little pricy ($120 per person, US) but it was worth every penny. You will also have to pay $25 (US) for the cab from SLU (the little airport) to the resort once you get off the helicopter. You can book a flight and get more information at “stluciahelicopters dot com”.


Check-In/Room:
Upon our arrival at the resort, our luggage was gathered and carried for us. We were escorted to a table where a representative checked us in while we relaxed and were offered drinks. Our room was perfect. We had flower petals strewn about and chilled champagne in the room. The bathroom was spacious and the bed was comfortable. We had a small loveseat, a chair and a balcony with a view of the water. An in room refrigerator was stocked daily with sodas, water and juices (all included). We did find out that there are not really any “oceanfront” rooms. The resort is back off the water a bit, so don’t expect to walk out of your room onto the sand (unless you book a rondoval). There was a widescreen TV in the room. I will mention that TV reception was a little fuzzy at times (because your on an island I’m not sure if the signal is satellite or what) but never un-viewable. Really, we did not watch much TV anyway, so who cares?


Food:
Everything we ate was wonderful. Again, I read reviews about “terrible, inedible” food. Whatever! I have very discerning taste and there was nothing sub-standard. Even the plating and presentation was top notch. For the men: Make sure you pack a few collared shirts and a pair or two of slacks because you will need them for certain restaurants. Don’t feel like you need to pack a suit, but you will need a bit more than a t-shirt and bathing suit for the evening. Ladies: It’s easier for you because you have more options with attire.

You can order breakfast to your room daily for no additional charge but you are limited to continental style items (bagels, muffins and fruit). We did this a few days, but I would recommend finding one of the restaurants unless you don’t like a big breakfast.


I will review each of the restaurants below:

Bayside – Great food. They have a buffet for breakfast and lunch and an ala-carte dinner menu. You can dress casual. The birds will fly in at eat with you (open air style restaurant), but they never became a problem. Just don’t leave food on the table, because they will help themselves.

Toscanini’s – We had dinner here once and breakfast once. Dinner requires “evening attire” which is basically a collared shirt for men with long pants and close-toed shoes. The fare is Italian in nature and the lasagna was wonderful. Breakfast has no dress code and you order ala-carte.

Josephine’s – Ate here a lot. The crepes are wonderful (definitely try the chocolate crepe). You can also order pizza from the brick oven right beside the restaurant. You can dine inside or outside. If you order ice cream on the resort: the vanilla is just like home but the chocolate was a little different. You may like it, but it did not agree with my taste buds.

Barefoot by the Sea – Dining next to the water in the sand. Good food for lunch and dinner. Dress is casual for lunch, but they did make me take my hat off at dinner.

Olde London Pub – Probably by least favorite (only ate here once), but that’s just me. You may find it more enjoyable.


Activities:
The pools were very clean. The large pool (with the swim-up bar) was a little crowded for me, but there were always seats around. If you don’t like the crowds, look for the smaller plunge pools around the resort. We found one we really liked and there were never more than 10 people in it any time.

The beach was nice and clean. The water was clear and the sand was fine and powdery. It was never crowded. I read about bugs in other people’s reviews, but we never saw anything nor did we get bitten by anything. Not sure what they were talking about.

They were filming aerial shots of the resort for a couple days (for advertisements) and because of this they had several of the “tours” offered for free. We choose the “Soufriere Adventure Cruise” (which is normally $112 US per person). After having done this cruise, I would recommend it for anyone and would pay for it if required. It was an all day catamaran cruise down the west coast to a village called Soufriere. Once there, we toured the volcano, a botanical garden and ate at a local restaurant. The boat ride was fun and the music and rum punch was free flowing.

We also went snorkeling which was fun. It is included in the price of the resort and you can do it as much was you want.

There are plenty of pool tables throughout the resort also for the “pool sharks”


Drinks:
They were not watered down! You can have house wine any time (chardonnay, merlot, pinot and cabernet). Some wines cost extra if you order a specialty bottle from one of the restaurants. I did have a few issues with the consistency of mixed drinks between bars and bartenders (taste wise), but no major problems. The Banana Coladas and Dirty Bananas were great as was the signature drink “No pressure, No problem”.


General:
Take advantage of the “resort orientation” offered daily. You will want to do this your first day there. They will show you things like restaurants and activities and give you inside information about the resort that you may miss otherwise.

You will not need much cash. You will need to present a credit card upon check in for all incidentals. You will use a “resort card” while you are there that is linked to your room and credit card. When you check out you can either charge your balance to the credit card on file, or pay with cash. If you travel off the resort, most places will accept the US dollar. Their primary currency is the Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollar, so you may get change back in that currency. Only take smaller bills $5’s and $10’s for shopping because most vendors do not have large bills to make change. Most shops accept credit cards also (like the gift shop at the botanical garden in Soufriere)

The gift shop on the resort has most things you could possibly forget to pack, but be prepared to pay dearly for it. I paid $13.50 (US) for a 4 ounce bottle of contact solution. Sunscreen is also out the roof, so pack plenty.

Phone calls are expensive also. $3.95 per minute (US) for any number you call (including 1-800 numbers for calling cards or direct calls back to the US). The charges are linked to your room and you pay at check-out.

Check out was clearly explained. They will get your luggage and take it to the lobby and you will be put back in a van and taken to the airport.

Overall, we loved this resort and the island. I cannot imagine anyone not liking it. Everything was clean, well manicured and maintained

My husband and I just returned about a week ago from staying at the Sandals Grande. I did a lot of research before we went to get an idea what we should do and get an idea of what the hotel was like. We were really nervous about going after reading all of the bad reveiws about the Grande. I wil give my review in sections...

Hotel Room- We booked the honeymoon grand lux beachfront. The room was VERY nice and the bed was very comfortable. However we were disappointed because the room was not beachfront, and we couldnt even see the beach from our room. However our veiw was amazing, so not complaining just saying wish we wouldnt have spent $500 more for the "beachfront". Also the fridge in the room is warm. All of our drinks were warm and it made the drinks not refreshing. Our room was cleaned like twice a day and they did a great job cleaning it. Also, we were suppose to have a Jacuzzi tub, but the tub was smaller then our small tub at our house so we could hardly both fit in it.

Food- The food was amazing at all of the restraunts. I was very impressed since alot of reveiws say the food is bad. I would definatly suggest going to Armondos (s.p.) at the Regency because that was really good. Also we ate at the Arizona on night at the Regency and there is a guy who plays there everynight but Thursdays. He plays country music and is AMAZING. Sounds just like the real singers.

Pool/Beach- The pools were really nice and there are plenty of places for you to sit. Howvere if you want to sit at the pool with the swim-up bar then go down and save a seat by 10am. The beach was nice however not many people sat by it, because there is some kinda mosquito or something that bits. You can't see the bugs but u can feel the bite and they hurt and itch like crazy. I had them allll over and was only on the beach for 10 minutes. About everyone I met had the bites especially on their legs.

Activities- We booked the land and sea tour and the 4 hour horseback riding with Serenity (it was about $70 cheaper through Serenity than Sandals) The land and sea tour was nice however if I had to do it over again I would have taken the Catamaran the entire time, because we were stuck in the car for like 4 hours when we could have been on the boat getting drinks. But definatly do an all day tour.

We did the 4 hour horsebackriding as well. DONT DO THIS EXCURSION. We horseback rode for 20 minutes and then stopped at a beach for THREE HOURS. Then we took our horses back down the same trail for 20 minutes. I was soo disappointed as were many of the poeple with us since they were very experienced riders. We called Serenity and complained to John and he said well I have heard a lot of complaints about the tour. This really upset my husbad and I since John didnt bother telling us that he heard some problems with the tour before we booked. I do not recommend booking with Serenity.

The Value- The hotel was really nice, but I have traveled to the bahamas, punta cana, hawaii and this was the most expensive vacation. I don't think that it was worth the money at all. It was really nice but soo were all of the other all-inclusives I have stayed at (bahamas and punta cana) It was cheaper to go to Hawaii then St. Lucia. I would say hands down if u are debating to go to Hawaii or St. Lucia pick Hawaii the water, beaches and senery are all better. I enjoyed my honeymoon and thought st. lucia was beautiful just not worth the $7000

So we stayed at the Grande June 16th till June 22 and loved every second. We were a little worried about it looking as nice as the pictures and also if paying as much as we did would be worth it and it was worth every penny. We ate, drank and partied like royalty.

The food was good- no complaints except for small menus but every restaurant was perfect; loved barefoot by the sea the best. Maybe it was because the wine was always flowing but we were always happy with our meals.

The entertainment (which was what I was worried about sense most of the reviews say was lacking) It was GREAT! every night there is a band in the lobby with dancing. Our nightly routine was: Get dressed up, drink at the piano bar (this beautiful red room with seating around a piano) then go to dinner, after dinner we would walk the beach till the band began, then at 9:00 we would dance till 10:30 or so and head back down to the beach to relax by the water in these awesome huts by the water (where by the way I saw a shooting star). SO ROMANTIC.

We did the snorkeling which was OK-not like Hawaii or even Mexico but still fun sense the water is so warm. We did the excursion with John and Captain Vincent where they took us by boat to the botanical gardens, to see the volcano, and snorkeling between the pitons. It was fun but what really made it was the delicious fruit and snacks that they offered to us towards the end. Fresh mango, coconut, pineapple locally made bread..etc we went sailing with the resort- fun but a little scary. We loved doing the sunset boat cruise the best. It was beautiful.

Our room was the average room but was very nice and comfortable- room service came twice a day to clean and refill our fridge.

MUST do do the helicopter transfer to the resort from the airport (we arrived 2 hours earlier while enjoying a once in a lifetime experience). Book it through sandals- just call them and they will set it up for you. It is like $140 per person but the best thing we did by far.
MUST hike up the mountains by the resort-great opportunity for pictures.

We were probably one of the youngest couples- both being 22 and this being our first sandals experience but loved every minute. This was the most romantic week we have ever shared together and will forever have magical memories!