We're leaving for Sandals Regency St Lucia on Monday. Any last minute advice? Not too many people discuss St Lucia here.

make dinner reservations at the reservation restaurants as soon as you get there. sign up for watersports a day in advance (snorkeling, sailing, scuba, etc.). . TAKE THE ORIENTATION TOUR YOUR FIRST DAY DOWN. there's usually one at like 10 AM and 5 PM.

Have a wonderful time! Be sure to come back and write a trip review. I haven't been to St.Lucia, but was considering the Grande. (ended up booking the Whitehouse.) A fun thing to do while on vacation is to get a blank page book and "journal" your trip. Write about your airport experiences, people you meet, the sights.. .. .. ..while at the resort, take a moment to write about what you did ( or didn't do! ) each day . .. .. .. .. ..where and what you ate.. .. .. .. .. ..your thoughts of the decor of your room.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..just "stuff". . When you get home, you can read your book and re-live the trip! I have kept journal books on my last 2 trips to SRB, and it's fun to read them again.. .. .. .. .. ..especially the entries and notes I wrote after having more than my share of frozen drinks that day! !! While you're there, it's memories in the making, this is a nice way to remember the trip, long after you are back home! Enjoy!

Went there last September for my Honeymoon.
Had a GREAT TIME!!!!

There is so much to do, don't trouble yourself with trying to get it ALL DONE!!! Be sure to move slow and soak it all in!!!

Book your dinner reservations when you get there! They tend to fill up pretty quick. Kimonos (japanese steakhouse) was my favorite.

Which airport are you flying into? If it is the main airport (south side), the ride is about an hour to the resort.. ..We were packed in a van with a few other couples.. ..but the driver was nice and gave us a verbal tour so to speak.. .. .

We went on a day trip down to the Pintos.. ..nothing too special, but the scenery was nice.. .. .

Be sure to bring sneakers if you plan on going on a hike in the rain forest OR horseback riding. (wife didn't bring any.. .. .)

hi.. ..came back from the Grande on the sixth. It was awesome! We had a great time and it was absolutley beautiful. It is all based on opinion but from what my husband saw (and other people felt as well) we did not like the Regency at all!! We were extremely happy we picked the Grande. It actually looked like the brochure. I would for sure pick the Grande and you won't be dissappointed at all. St. Lucia is simply beautiful. Be sure to do the jeep safari tour and the souffrie cruise.. ..a lot of fun. The only downside of the whole vacation that I could possibly think of was the food. I did not go there with high expectations because you are in the carribean and you can't expect much, however it was a lot worse then I thought. For my husband to feel the same way says a lot because he eats anything. Honestly being from NY does not help either.. ..we do have the greatest food. So if you are from a big city like NY, CH, L.A., or so on unfortunatley don't expect much at all in the food area. We met someone from Maine who joked that the food was fabulous compared to the truck stops. So I really guess it depends on where you come from in regards to enjoying the what they serve. breakfast was good, and honestly thats about it! (and the drinks of course!) There is so much I could go in to detail about, but I need to set aside time to do so. All in all it was fabulous and we enjoyed every minute of it. The Grande was by far the best and we would go back in a heart beat. Any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

mightyb,
we are flying into the airport in castries, about 15 minutes from the resort i was told.

everyone i talk to says to make dinner reservatiosn early. I'll make sure i do. even though we have a very high level room, i think we'll still try to make reservations. The only thing is we dont know what kind of food we might be wishing for until the day of.

We ended up picking this over the grande because of the room we got, with the private pool, didnt really care for the swip up rooms at the grande. We'll probably check out the grande one day though. any restaurants we should hit there?
Thanks everyone for all the feedback!

you didn't like the food. i swear, this complaint just amazes me. and the crazy thing is that you said you LIKED breakfast. gross. i couldn't eat breakfast after the first day because it just sits out in the warm air and the fruit is just.. ..well it looks really nice but it's lukewarm fruit. who wants that? man, but the dinners were just awesome. we're texans (actually, no, we LIVE in texas, but we're definitely NOT texans.. ..point is, we have the best steaks here) and we can both say without a doubt that we had the best steak we've ever had at the caribbean restaurant. my wife LOVES teppanyaki style japanese restaurants and this one was AWESOME! there's just some people that are so used to their cushy lifestyles eatin in the penthouses that they don't have the ability to enjoy a good meal anymore.. ..which is sad.. ..but just know that it is what you make of it.

drperfect.. .. .. . do you know if the Whitehouse slated to have a Kimono's? I loved that at SRB. I liked meeting other people and we still email a couple from London that we met by having dinner with them. I also find complaints about the resort food to be . .. ..silly. Compared to Club Med, Sandals's is far superior. I had no complaints about the food.. .. .. .. .. ..and I'm NOT accustomed to eating at truck stops! ( I did have a really crappy meal at Tavern on the Green, in NYC.. .. .. .. .. ..but since John Travolta was eating dinner there at the time, I didn't mind a bit! )

haha, that's funny. yeah, i don't know about the Whitehouse Japanese restaurant. i'm thinking a "no" on that one because according to the web page, it's called "The Asian" and it doesn't say it's teppanyaki-style. all the other resorts that have that call it that, but i think this one will be more like sit-down asian restaurant, like Pei Wei or PF Chang's if you know those chains. which doesn't excite me.

First off FitnessGuru no offense to you what so ever.. ..never said you were accustomed to eating at truck stops.. ..it was a joke that someone from Maine had told us. So if you were offended by that it was not something I said. They had stated that there were not many italian places or japanese style places if any to eat and the food at sandals was great in comparison to the selection they have Maine.. .. .. .. .(aside from the seafood in Maine he said, which I hear is amazing!!! i'm jealous) Anyway Drperfect! Touchtouchy Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. As far as breakfast is concerned we were up at 7:00 every morning so we got the fruit fresh number one, and there are other things to eat besides fruit. So you say gross because we liked it, what do you care. You say that you are from Texas, well the food is a lot different in NY than texas,, i have been there. Not saying its not good, but italian food in Texas haha! Thats nice your wife likes teppanyaki style japenese restuarants, well so do we! And yeah the entertainment was great and there was a lot of food given out but it stunk compared to other places we have tried. Then again thats my opinion just like you have yours and you don't hear me knocking you or your wife. I normally do not write on message boards but I stumbled across this website before our vacation and got some great info from some nice peole and decided I woud add some of my own opinion and answer any questions that someone might have about St. Lucia. You haven't even been to St. Lucia all you talk about is Jamaica. Therefore how would you know if the food at Sandals St. Lucia is the same?? (actually maybe you would being you seem obsessive over everything about sandals) And you stated "there's just some people that are so used to their cushy lifestyles eatin in the penthouses that they don't have the ability to enjoy a good meal anymore.. ..which is sad.. .. ." how the hell do you know where i live or what I am accustomed to.. .. . i think you are sad for such a statement. Thats why I am even replying to you because you have no right to say such a thing! Thats just wrong. When I vacationed in the Bahamas the food was awesome!!! But there is no need for me to go in to detail of why I did not like the food at sandals st. lucia and where I did like it on other vacations. Like you said it is just what you make of it and we made the best of our vacation and enjoyed every second despite whether or not we enjoyed the food. We would go back and tell others to go in a heartbeat. Well enough is enough I could go on but I have better things to do unlike your self who chooses to make ridiculous comments or assumptions on someone elses opinions when that is what people come on this board to see in the first place.

So much better to fly into Castries. Small airport with a GRASS runway.. ..but only a 10 minute after!
You can actually see the planes arrive from the resort.


Also, i did enjoy the food.

Bring lots of swimsuits. This will be your everyday attire. Suits stay wet for a long time in the Caribbean. Sometimes you may get so tired of being in a wet suit that you may change suits in the middle of the day.

Also, swimsuits are not always dry over night even if you hang them out to dry.

nope, never been to st. lucia, but i bet i can tell you what a big mac in new york tastes like.. .. ..cuz it's a chain and they're all the same. and oh how right you are about the italian food in texas. it -. . for what that's worth, though, the italian was our least favorite at sandals, too. so who knows, right? obsessive over sandals. heh heh, funny. well you might be right, but everybody's got a vice. however if it's a difference in those who've looked at the website and those who haven't, yeah i've looked at the website. a quick perusal and a little bit of data regurgitation can make anybody sound like a pro. and about the cushy penthouse comment, my sincere apologies if that's not you. but let's face it, all of us are in a certain salary bracket or else we wouldn't be affording these vacations every year. so i say it with a bit of tongue-in-cheek. my point is, the people that generally make those comments are the ones who are used to spending $50 on a plate anywhere they go and so now they can't enjoy something that's just "decent." and don't get me wrong.. ..i got plenty of good friends who this applies to. that being said, the fact that you're from NY is like the least surprising thing i've heard all year. i might just fall over and die right here of a heart attack from lack of surprise. thanks and good night. i'll be here all week folks!

So, If I got this right.. .. . someone gave an opinion.. .. . somebody else gave another opinion, while giving an opinion on that someone's opinion.. ..Then, someone went back to knock somebody's opinion because somebody knocked someone's opinion? I'm confused! But it does Make for Interesting reading.. .. .


Dr. P, my wife and I visited family in Houston, and I must say, the steaks were AWESOME!!!

Oh- I for got in my last post.. .. . We liked the food at Sandals too, were from California (bay area). .. .. .

drperfect, I think one problem you have in your approach with Sandals guests and their opinions, comes from the fact of the decent prices that you have paid for your Sandals or Sandals vacations. I was very happy to see you and others state the cost of your trips. When one pays $2,400 to $2,800 for 6 nights or 7nights with air for there vacation for two, it does for me make a big difference in what ones expectations will be or should be. I now understanding where you are coming from in SOME of your statements and others, that speak so highly of this chain resort. A Sandals vacation can be decent at those prices, and maybe just maybe if you do a lot of research on the various resorts that some of the rooms categories, and I do just say some will warrant a bit higher price.

I think people can get very confused, in one that is speaking soooooo highly of a resort, not knowing that they have paid $2,400 for their week. The next person that mentions maybe some points that are not so great in their experience probably has paid a FEW grand more then you for their week. THEY WILL HAVE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS and should not be shot down for their opinion as just some kind of picky people.

You say the ones that are used to the $50 a dish meal. Well,. .. .. . I say if you were paying $600 plus bucks a day for your stay (land portion only) the room they put you in, on any fairly traded hotel market in $100 a night range, I think you to might think, just maybe that the food quality that Sandals Boasts as gourmet, just might be a little more then just run of the mill chain food. Just maybe??? At those prices a couple $50 p/p dinners should be in store for guests. I think your comparison to a Big Mac and chains in that you know to expect the same from a Sandals in the way that it is also a chain. Some people aren't expecting that!

I surely don't know what this guest paid, or the guest that will be leaving soon has paid for their trip, but, please believe me that there are those going to any of these Sandals resorts and paying BIG bucks for their week. Some acquaintances of ours just returned from the Sandals Halcyon in July (low season) at the low cost of well over $6,000 for 8 nights, LOL. All for a motel room . .

Some people are not going to be coming back with quite the glowing report like you have on your vacations.

Different people, different resorts, different prices, different oppinions!!!



Donna
"St.Lucia Simply Beautiful"

nhfd155,

One thing you will find is that each of the Sandals resorts in St.Lucia has it's lovers and haters. Each one is so different that each one will get extremes in reviews depending on what each guest was looking for.

The Grande does have the nicest beach of the three as far as the beach goes, and the view from the resort is nice of Rodney Bay. It is just the safest bet for most, as all the rooms there were newer and a bit larger then the standard rooms that you would get at the other two resorts. Sandals had taken it over from the Hyatt, two years after it was built. Just a couple years ago.

Now with you booking the pool suite, I think you will enjoy the Regency for this reason. Were is yours located? The ones down in the main part of the resort or on the bluffs? These should be a nicer room in general (compared to the rooms at the Grande) but I do say should be. The rooms and pool suites on the bluff aren't as old as the rooms in the main area of the resort at the Regency.
The Regency to me had more St.Lucia feel (lush) to me and the bluff area is nice. The biggest downfall for many at the Regency is the beach that more then not gets red flagged. Some love the Regency for the action, that the Main pool offered, but others dislike it for that same reason. One way or another you will have two spots to hang out in. If you like the busy crowded action, you have the main pool, if you want the more quit, lush spot you have the bluffs area to spend your time.

You really do need to make your reservations pretty soon after you arrive, even if you have concierge. The most popular restaurants will book up quickly for the week. This can be a big disappointment to many when they can't get into the al a cart restaurants. Many of there restaurants don't take any reservations, they work on a first come first served basis.

Have fun!

Donna
"St.Lucia Simply Beautiful"

Now that we are though with all of the bickering , thanks for the "good" info that was mixed in. Dr. P, I'm sorry to inform you, I am one of those paying "BIG" bucks for this place and i DO expect a better than average vacation. I dont make a lot of money and I'm not accustomed to spending this much but you only have one honeymoon, right? I splurged and you can see from the room we got (Flowers, it was the bluff suites with the plunge pool) for 8 nights, we are forking over a big chunk of change. I know that a lot of this money goes to the room and the special amenities of the room class, cause I can stay at a "motel-type" room at the Regency for a fifth of what I am paying.

As far as the food goes, I too am from the NY area, and I'd have to say out of all the places I have travelled, I still like NY food the best. However I do have an open mind and can eat almost anything as long as its meant to be edible. So I assume I will like some food and I'll probably dislike some food. And I sincerely doubt that all Sandals food tastes the same. I may be wrong, but I assume that the food is made by chefs from ingredients.. .. .. ..not taken out of a box or bag and heated up. If it is made from real ingredients by real people, there is no way it can taste exactly the same everywhere. I have heard Sandals has some lower end food, and some upper end food, so if I get a bad meal I just wont go back. We are at St Lucia, there are 11 restaurants to choose from I think between the 3 resorts.

As far as the beach goes and red flags, I like to sit on the beach but swim in the pools. If I get an urge to swim at the beach, I'll hop a bus to one of the other two resorts if ours is red flagged.

I'll make sure I come back and give a trip report just to let everyone know what I found out. Of course, they will only be my opinions and they may differ from everyone else here. But thats what this board is about.. .. ..post opinions to those who ask for them, and let them make up their own mind based on that. Thanks again everyone.

I have not been to St. Lucia but, I have been to many Sandals. Please remember that you are paying for more than just food and a room. You are paying for watersports, entertainment, many daily activities on the beach, your drinks, your tips, etc.
I love to snorkel and when I am at a Sandals, I snorkel every day from their boat. At non AI resorts or resorts that are called AI but, don't have watersports, I have paid as much as $95US per person to snorkel and the least I have paid was $50US per person. So when you add this into the cost of seven days, you can see that you pay for a lot more than a room and food.
I am fairly confident, even though I have not been to this Sandals, that it has as much to offer as the other Sandals.
Your honeymoon will be great. It is once in a life time so, don't worry about the cost. I'm sure that you did your research and picked the best resort for you.

. .. .. .

Well, I was going to let it go when nhfd posted his reply the first time about how he was paying "big bucks" and when Donna wrote about the differences in my price and others' price. I was going to let it go because I'd already gone off my piece and I wasn't going to continue the conversation, and I won't "go off" this time, but since we're thinking I'm rash, my $2400 vacation that was quoted was for 5 days at an affordable resort (SDR) in a Deluxe room category. nhfd's vacation is for 8 days for one of the most expensive of all twelve resorts (besides the Grande and maybe the Whitehouse once all the sales are off) and is booked in the bluff suites. If you weren't paying "big bucks" you'd probably be buying off the black market. So if you want to compare apples and apples, find somebody to compare with me who hasn't gone looking for the most expensive possible Sandals vacation. Like somebody who booked SDR, SOR, or Negril. I'm not responsible for the ones who don't shop around. Besides comparing like vacations, let's go back to the fact that we are all paying for the same food regardless which room category we're in. So the fact that nhfd paid ridiculous money for their vacation, doesn't mean they should expect better food than what I should. We're going to the same resort. Ya wanna keep this going, bring it. I love controversy; I feast upon it. Otter, this post is dedicated to your enjoyment!

lol.. .. .. ..You know after reading everything and everyone's input.. .. ..I find DR's statements so hilarious. IS HE the concierge of SANDALS??? If so, then please find a better job! IS he the spoke person for Sandals??? IS he being PAID???????? LOL
YOU are on EVERY (or just about.. ..AGAIN, find a better DAY JOB!) thread about SANDALS.. ..and have something so enlightening to say about Sandals, even if you haven't been to the resort talked about.. .. ..too hilarious! How about this dr???????: try giving input ONLY about the Sandals you have stayed at!??????? hmmm?? can he do this??? (think not!)
I am not going to advocate for something that I have little knowledge of.. .. ..only say that as a fellow consumer: IF you paid for ANY services (food,drinks,excursions,whatever!) than you should expect what you paid for.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..REGARDLESS of where you are from!

As a TEXAN, if your palate is only accustomed to COW, then go for it!!! If not, then please do not negate those who have taste beyond the Texas Heffer!

heh heh heh. oh man, guest, whoever you are, you make me laugh. i am sitting here smiling and laughing right now as i write this. i'm replying to all four of your posts in this thread and the last with this one here because i just read four posts from you that had not one educated statement in the lot of them. what are you arguing with me about? you didn't say ONE thing in there that you disagreed with me about. you just went off about how i didn't know what i was talking about. what, do tell, did i get wrong? my general sum-up of the resorts i suppose is what you have against me. i'll put words in your mouth since obviously you have none of your own. well, what that post of mine was, as are all my posts, are general sum-ups. i haven't been to all the resorts, but what i'm telling people here is just general info, it's not opinion. anyone who knows two craps about the resorts can tell you what i know. negril -- that's a BEACH resort. it's on the most famous beach of Jamaica. i don't have to be there to know that.. ..it's just fact. it's a fitness place cuz it's got a sports club which is not at all the resorts and a calorie counter restaurant. read the website and it will give you the feel of the resort. a big complaint of MoBay is the planes. again, not opinion as i didn't say "hey, the planes really annoyed me." i just said, "hey, people complain about the planes." go back and read it. what i said was FACT, not OPINION. antigua, which i admited i don't know much about, has received the most romantic resort in the world award for the past several years and it's on a gambling island, making it more expensive like the royal bahamian. maybe you'd like to tell me the part in there that is wrong. because last i checked, say it with me guest, that was all FACT. i could go on and on about this, but here's my advice for you. find something you DISAGREE with me about, and come back to me. nothing i say is disputable, because it's not opinion. i don't know, maybe you're just mad because i post a lot, but.. ..i really don't think that's a criticism. is it? if it is, it's.. ..again.. ..pretty baseless.

as far as my last post that was to nhfd, that was absolute FACT and nothing that needs to be disputed. Regency is probably in the top 3 most expensive resorts of the Sandals properties. SDR is probably in the bottom 3, depending on your agent and their prices. my beef with people most recently comparing my deluxe 5 night stay at SDR to someone's 8 night regency stay in the bluff suites is nothing i need to be there to talk about.. .. ..it's just FACT. compare apples and apples or don't bring it to my door. start working with facts, guest, and you too will learn how to use them. in the meantime, start putting a name to your posts like the rest of us instead of being a pansy and signing in to spit at me under the alias of "guest". . as i said before, bring the heat cuz i back up my game. otter should have a great morning tomorrow reading this. between the message board and Paul Hamm, this evening has been a fun night for controversy lovers. sorry to all i offended. i love all you guys, just don't bring it to my doorstep if you ain't ready for my defense.

Dr I personally enjoy you. This is starting to remind me of another board where all of a sudden someone popped up just to be argumentative. Hope it doesn't continue because that would REALLY be lame.

Shelby