hey guys. as my other post says, we want to book a trip in june '05. Is there a "special" spot you guys know about, or should I just book with Sandals directly? Also, if nobody saw my last post, if anybody has been to this resort and stayed in the 2 story 1 bedroom villa's with plunge pool on the bluff, please share any info you have on how you liked it. thnx.

Get a quote from Sandals and check a few places on the Internet to see if there are any savings to be had. If you find a good deal get on a message board like this one and ask if anyone has had a bad experisnce with the travel agency. You will have no problems with the big ones Expedia, etc. Its the deep discount unkowns you have to be aware of.

why do you have to beware of the deep discount TA's?

I said "unknown" deep discount TA's. As one gets older and hoodwinked a few times they realize that if a deal, travel or otherwise, sounds too good to be true, its probably a sham.

i use new horizons vacations john books tons of sandals trips at great prices 1 866 438 3400 good luck

We are also going to Regency in June '05. At least I hope so. We in a very similar predicament.
This is the first total vacation I have ever planned so the idea of an all inclusive sounds fabulous. So detail/worries-free oriented. We are looking at the Penthouse Regency room. can't afford the plungepool butler level room.
I, too, am interested in how to find the best price, or determine if I could coordinate a similar vacation myself and not pay as much. Do they have wine at the resort? All I see is notations about premium liquors. Is the butler service worth it? Being our honeymoon, I want to spend a little extra for the worry free, but what is it that makes Sandals so fabulous. The advertixemnets sound great, but from an insider's view. What are everyone's favorite parts of Sandals Regency?

I'm leaving for Sandals Grande in St Lucia on the 26th of this month. I started out looking at how much it would cost if I arranged everything myself online. Then I got a quote from a travel agent locally. The quote from the travel agent was less expensive. Travel agents may be able to get better pricing on rooms, but they also got me a better price on airfare which is a pretty fair chunk of change when traveling to St Lucia. So my advice would be to look at this both ways. You have time. Get a couple of quotes and compare them to doing it yourself. Using a travel agent adds to that worry-free part since they do a lot for you. Also.. .. .. . by all means.. .. .. . pay the few extra dollars for trip insurance. You're going to sink so much money into this trip that you want to be sure that if for any reason you had to cancel, you'll get your money back (or most of it)

This is my first Sandals trip. Why Sandals? Well in the case of St Lucia, it gave me more options for places to eat, swim, play, etc. Because there are 3 Sandals resorts on St Lucia. All-inclusive meant that once the trip was paid for I could go down and relax and not worry about running out of food money. There are other all-inclusives on St Lucia, but your restaurant choices are very limited. We chose the Grande after first looking at the Regency because the Regency is huge, spread out, and on hilly terrain. I have mobility issues and so does my wife. Regency is gorgeous and those rooms on the bluffs with private plunge pools looked so inviting, but . .. .. .. . this was a personal preference. We also heard the beach is better at the Grande. Again.. .. . personal choice.

Here's another piece of advice. Go into this with your eyes wide open. Read all the reviews, good and bad. KNOW what you're getting into. The service may be slower than what you're used to (depending on where you live). . I have read reviews where the person's entire vacation was destroyed because they were upset over a spot on the carpet in their room. [b]YOU[/b] are the one that determines whether this will be a vacation in paradise or National Lampoon's St Lucia Vacation from hell.