This All-Inclusive's Alright!
Written: Apr 26 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Friendly, attentive personnel. No hidden charges. Better than expected food!
Cons: Limited local atmosphere, need to golf/scuba dive to REALLY get your money's worth.
The Bottom Line: A truly enjoyable vacation that becomes a very good value if you make use of the scuba and golf opportunities.
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| rockhopper46038's Full Review: Sandals St. Lucia Golf Resort and Spa |
I initially resisted the allure of an All-Inclusive vacation package...I have always been the type that preferred to arrive at a destination without set plans and make up my itinerary as I went along, eating, drinking and staying wherever took my fancy.
I still do enjoy that type of travel immensely, but am willing to concede that I have found much to like about All-Inclusive vacations, at least in the version presented by Sandals St Lucia Golf Resort and Spa.
We started our travels from Cincinnati in a snowfall, and landed approximately 12 hours later in St. Lucia...there really is NO great way to get there (We had to travel to Atlanta and Montego Bay prior to arrival) and were immediately greeted by an attendant who arranged our transportation to the resort.
From the International Airport (kind of a strange description, as any flight arriving in St. Lucia is coming from another country) to the resort is a harrowing 1 hour trip through some beautiful scenery, lush plantations and, unfortunately, areas of abject poverty. I enjoyed the trip, as it gave me the opportunity to converse with the driver about the country and it's history, but my companions, who were stuck in the back of the well worn Microbus, were very glad to disembark at the resort.
Sandals unfortunately requires a rather lengthy check-in procedure where you are issued room keys, chargecards, and other things, but the time is made much more palatable by free-flowing drinks in the reception area. After that we were off to explore!
The resort consists of several sections of buildings. There are the main lodging areas situated around the Grand Pavilion pool, where the largest dining and bar areas are located; there are the Suites, which are spread out along the coastline and tie several of the alternative pools and dining areas to the Pavilion, and there is Sunset Bluff, which sits atop a hill overlooking the Ocean and sports its own mini-complex of restaurants, pools and activity areas. Up here is where my lovely wife and I stayed, while our companions stayed in the rooms grouped around the Pavilion.
A person considering this resort can get a very good idea of what it offers from the brochures, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time with minutia about the activities offered...instead I'm going to give general opinions that I hope will help you decide if you would enjoy a vacation here.
First, there are absolutely no kids allowed. This will probably prevent many people from ever going to Sandals, but I think it's a great idea, well executed. The free- flowing alcohol, the more upscale dining arrangements, and the general tone of Sandals is meant to be for adults. (There is another division of Sandals called Beaches for families) Kid's are great, but not here.
Second, the restaurants are generally better than I expected. There are 6 at this resort, and 2 more at the Sandals Halcyon resort about 10 minutes away by shuttle.
There is a French at La Toc, which requires no reservation but is formal dress required (at Sandals that means long pants and collared shirts for men, and mostly dresses for the ladies). I have paid $120 a couple for similar quality elsewhere...not extraordinary, but quite good.
There is Kimono, which is a teppanyaki restaurant (think Benihana) featuring group seating around a large grill. This is always entertaining, and comparable in quality to the national chain mentioned.
There is Piton, named after the landmark feature of St.Lucia, offering Carribean fare (and probably the second best food of restaurants at the Golf and Spa resort after La Toc.)
There is Armando's which was tasty Italian, but probably the least notable; the Arizona grill for Southwestern food and munchies all day, and the Pavilion which serves buffet breakfast and lunch, but offers table service at night.
The only night we ate at the Pavilion was on Bon Voyage night, which is a formal dress night accompanied by a show. (All nights feature dinner music, bands or orchestras in the Pavilion.)
The Halcyon resort nearby (which Golf resort and Spa guests have access to) boasts a very god seafood restaurant, and another Italian restaurant that we did not visit, but heard good things about.
The overall atmosphere ranged from relaxing to very high-energy. We found the staff to be attentive, gracious (in some cases extraordinarily so) and not in the least resentful of the no tipping policy. Yes, some people were more ebullient than others, but no one was rude or otherwise unpleasant during our stay. Drinks were often up on the bar waiting for you before you thought to order them, but we never had to wait more than 30 seconds for a drink order to be responded to.
Activities were ongoing, but no pressure was ever exerted to get guests to do anything other than relax by the pool, or join in if they wished.
The resort provided full watersports, from skiing to sailing, and snorkeling to scuba. The scuba was very good, and the resort allowed 2 tank dives per day, after either resort certification (free) or a quick checkout (20 minutes) for PADI certified divers. We took advantage of the scuba and went on 3 dives; a wall dive, a drift dive and a nice coral dive. Max depth was about 80 ft, and there was lots to see. This is one area where you can really get the most out of your vacation dollar.
Another area that makes this trip a real value is the golf. We played 4 or 5 times, and beside the required caddy fee of $5, we were not pressured to tip additionally, although we typically did tip our caddies above and beyond that for making sure they lugged enough beer along with us for the round!
We took a few excursions outside the resort, with the day sail to Soufrie being highly recommended. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the island of St.Lucia itself, and that's a shame, because what we did see was beautiful. The Pitons are quite imposing, and the Botanical Gardens are stunning.
As I said at the beginning of this review, I still feel that my heart is in unfettered adventure travel (see my review about climbing Mt. Rainier, or the Island of Tortola) but I will no longer dismiss All-Inclusive vacations (at least by Sandals) as a homogenized, prepackaged, tasteless sort of experience.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rockhopper46038
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Member: Erik Saur
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 23 members
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