Honeymoon Review - Sandals Grande St. Lucian (long)

I tried to highlight different locations and attractions in case you only want to read about certain things, feel free to contact me on the Detroit board or email me with questions daccado @ aol.com

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Sandal’s Grande St. Lucian Review
June 12 – 19, 2007

We left Detroit bright and early on TUESDAY June 12th and traveled 2 hours to Atlanta and another 4 ½ to St. Lucia. We arrived in the main airport on the island – Henwanorra - on the south side in Vieux Fort. Once off the plane and reunited with our luggage we walked out to find the Sandals shuttle and several men who acted as if they worked for sandals to take our luggage – but they did not and they were expecting a tip for taking our bags about 50 feet – avoid these people!

The Sandals “shuttle” was a taxi that had been contracted out. There was at least one actual sandals branded bus, but most of the groups were getting into these taxis. We started the trip up to our resort and about 1 hour into it, we stopped at a little roadside bar for our first Piton beer. This stop was initiated by the taxi driver, (who just happened to have grown up in the town we stopped in, Dennery) but it was nice to get out and stretch.



2 hours later, we got to the resort and our bags were taken (this time by actual Sandals employees) and we were whisked up to the Concierge suite where we were given drinks and hot towels to relax. We listened to a short description of the resort and filled out the paperwork then were shown to our suite. Luckily, our travel agent (David Smith) had put in a request for us so that we would get a room in the building we preferred and we had a great location – we were the suite right next door to the William Jefferson Clinton suite (we were room 1407 in the Cap Estate building). Our room was actually a lot nicer than I had expected, we had a really nice flat screen TV, a safe, a mini bar that was re stocked everyday, towel service twice a day, hair dryer, coffee pot, a great balcony with a table and chairs and a suit drying rack, full length mirror, and plenty of water and pop stocked daily. It was very clean and the bed was comfortable. There was even one outlet that was converted to US standards so we didn’t need the adapter we had purchased.

The bathroom was really nice




And the view from our balcony was fantastic

We unpacked and then headed downstairs for some dinner. It was about 6:00 at this point and we had been traveling for 12 hours straight and couldn’t wait to relax. We went to the Bayside restaurant, but they were not open yet so we walked down to the beach and had a drink at the Beach Bar. Back at Bayside, it was an ala carte night (opposed to their buffet nights). I had tomato pasta and Jeremy had fish – both meals were very good. I should point out that I am a very picky eater – I don’t eat any seafood and I have this fear of meat in foreign countries so I don’t eat that either – I know, I’m weird. When we had finished dinner it was already getting dark. Since the island is so far east, the sun sets around 6:30 every night! We decided to hit the hot tub for awhile and met some other couples who were married on the same day as us (most of the HMs there were), they had arrived a day earlier and were complaining about sunburn already!

The next morning, WEDNESDAY, we slept in late! Well, not late, but until 9 which seemed late since it gets light there very early (but it is easy to block light from your room if you want to). Then we went down to Josephine’s Creperie for a late breakfast. I had Banana and Jeremy had Pineapple, both were very good. I love crepes so this restaurant was one of the selling points on the Grande for us. There were hardly any other people in Josephine’s every time we were there though; it is billed as more of a dessert destination. It is also a bakery and they have cookies and cakes and they also have cappuccino, espresso and latte drinks. I had a latte to go and we went to explore a little more of the resort on our own. We also stopped in the Concierge suite to book some excursions. After discussion we decided on the day trip to Martinique and the Soufriere Adventure Cruise (I had heard from a lot of people that the latter is a “must do”)

We changed into our swimsuits and went down to the Barefoot By The Sea restaurant for lunch. This is a great lunch spot, they have a lot of sandwiches and quick meals. There is also an appetizer bar with nachos and popcorn, Jeremy would frequently grab a bag of popcorn to take to the pool with us – it was pretty good. The restaurant is nice, but for some reason it smelled of fish – really strongly, it was not a pleasant experience. I’m not sure if the smell was coming from the kitchen or the ocean, but I never noticed it anywhere else on the property. I wasn’t hungry but we had a few nachos and Jeremy got a BLT and fries – it was good.

We spent the afternoon out on the beach, it wasn’t hard to find a few chairs to lay on, but the covered loungers were all reserved by towels and bags all day long. At first Jeremy went to the Beach Bar to get us some drinks, but after awhile we noticed that there was also a waitress walking the beach and she would bring us whatever we wanted. There were also some random vendors roaming the beach offering jewelry and their services as a tour guide outside of the resort. One even offered us pot, but if you nicely say no they are not that bad and they will go away. We spent some time in the Cascade pool too – it was never crowded at all and it was nice to have the volleyball and basketball nets, they were fun.

After a long day in the sun we went back to the room to clean up and I really wanted to try the Italian restaurant – Toscanini’s. In all the materials we had, it said that the dress code was closed toe shoes for men, but Jeremy didn’t bring any closed toe shoes. It is kind of funny because you see these guys in the restaurants wearing shorts and gym shoes and they look anything but classy and Jeremy put on nice linen pants and a button up shirt but because he was also wearing suede flip-flops we were concerned he wouldn’t get in! Kind of dumb, but we decided just to go for it. The maitre d did glance down at his feet, but he never said anything so we felt better – however I highly recommend your FI/DH bring a pair of closed toe shoes so you don’t have to worry about it – bring collared button up shirts as well, I think that was also in the dress code. Speaking of dress – I was surprised to see that the other women there were really dressed up! I mean, not like black-tie dressed up of course, but I saw some super cute dresses and shoes. I figured it would be more of a beach dressy scene so I felt a little under dressed most of the time – bring your cute dresses and shoes for sure! (Also, we noticed this more at the Grande than at the other 2 resorts, the Regency was not as dressy as the Grande and almost everyone we saw at the Halcyon was from the Grande, so not sure about that. BTW – Grande is pronounced “Grand” not ‘gran-de’ as it looks.)

So, once in Toscanini’s we had a great experience, their servers are really nice and they have a wine menu that is additional cost. We are by no means wine snobs, so we stuck with the house wine which is included (and good wine anyway!) but we saw a few tables that had ordered something special. We had Bruschetta for an appetizer, minestrone soup and Caesar salad, Cheese Ravioli and Spaghetti with Bacon - it was all very good, I loved the ravioli. Jeremy wished his had a little more sauce, but I’m sure if he would have asked they would have brought it out for him. We finished the meal with Tiramisu and that was also very good, Jeremy had flan and he wasn’t very impressed, but it was flan.

After dinner we had a few more glasses of wine at the Beach Bar and walked out to the end of the pier. On our way back to our room we stopped at one of the double lounger beds that are spread around the property in little cabana tents. We just laid there and talked for awhile. These beds are in place of the infamous Sandals hammocks, which I was really looking forward to! But I quickly got over it. We went back up to our room to find a surprise that had been delivered from our travel agent! I won’t give it away for his other customers though :)

THURSDAY was the day we had signed up for the day trip to Martinique. We had to meet down in the lobby pretty early and we took a shuttle (taxi) to the marina in nearby Rodney Bay. We got on one of those big power catamarans and we decided we wanted to get some sun so we sat up on the top deck.




We lathered up the 30 SPF as usual and we were off. It was a beautiful day, but it was pretty windy and the ocean was a little rough. Unfortunately, we didn’t think about wind direction and all that and the spray from the waves was coming up and getting us and everyone else on our side of the deck drenched. After awhile I couldn’t handle it anymore, but the seats on the inside were already taken so we decided to stand near the captain. There was a bar to hold on to there and we really needed it, it was a very rough ride. I’ve been a boater my whole life and I’d like to think I’ve got a decent pair of sea legs, but it was hard even for me to walk across the deck without holding on to something. They also provided breakfast on the boat, but it was very strange sandwiches and fruit – we didn’t eat much.

The trip was about 90 minutes long and we arrived to Martinique and stopped in a port where the captain needed to clear the boat through customs, while he was doing that we had 20 minutes to check out the duty free shops. They were nothing too impressive – I got a Martinique magnet and some postcards. Some people were stocking up on liquor and perfume, but we knew that we could get all that in the airport. After we were all back on board they took us to the town of Fort-du-France where we were let off the boat to roam around or follow the tour that the staff were providing. We started on the tour but quickly got bored and went off on our own.

Martinique is a French country so that is the language spoke there, it was a little bit hard to communicate, but as in most foreign countries, you find a way to work it out. We were hungry and even though the boat staff told us not to eat because we would have lunch on the boat, we couldn’t wait - especially after the sub-par breakfast that we didn’t eat we figured lunch would be hit or miss. I found a Patisserie, because when in France you have to get baked goods! I ordered Jeremy a ham sandwich (but he got egg) and a few croissants and pain du chocolat for myself. We found a small bench to sit on, but there were not many places to sit in the city. The city itself was very crowded and pretty dirty. No one was rude, but there were a lot of people and the sidewalks and streets are very skinny! After eating we wandered around to waste time and I bought a pair of shoes. Luckily everywhere we went took US dollars, though I’m pretty sure I got ripped off at the bakery by getting change in Euro.

After a few hours we were back on the boat and speeding towards our next destination. The captain slowed as we passed by a cave full of hundreds of bats, it was weird, but cool to see. One of the staff started throwing bread at the bats, luckily it only made them fly into the cave, not towards us! As soon as we got there – a little cove off the shore of Martinique – they uncovered the hot trays that they had put out while we were in the city to serve us lunch. It smelled pretty gross and looked worse so I passed on lunch, luckily I had a croissant left over and a banana that I had thrown in my bag that morning. Jeremy ate some of the food, but even he wasn’t brave enough to try everything, he said it was just OK. Then they let us go snorkeling or take a dinghy to the shore to lay on the beach. We decided to snorkel, Jeremy had never done it before. We got in the water and the equipment provided was decent, what you would expect. Unfortunately there was not much action below the surface and we hardly saw any fish or coral, but it was nice and relaxing and a good initiation for Jeremy.

After getting back on the boat we were headed back to St. Lucia and we were seated inside on the lower level this time. They were playing a lot of fun music, but it was very loud, still we got a few drinks and relaxed a little. We saw at least a dozen dolphins playing in the boat wake – it was really cool. The captain said they know the boat and they like to show off. About halfway back we noticed one older lady looking a little green and once others saw that it was a chain reaction. They have little plastic bags hanging all around on the inside just in case someone gets sick and they went through a lot of them! Luckily we were OK, but through the trip we discovered that the best seat on that boat would be on the lower level, in the front, and in the middle. The people sitting there didn’t get wet, had an awning over their heads and didn’t get sick because the front is the best place to be.

Once back in the marina we took a Sandals sanctioned taxi back to the resort and went back up to the room, we were so tired from being on the water all day that I think we just took a nap for awhile and decided to take advantage of the fact that our room category included room service! We ordered and the delivery was fast and the server was really nice – it is a great option if it is included with your room. I had a vegetable strudel and Jeremy has a garden salad and a hamburger – both were really good.

FRIDAY, is the day we had signed up for the Soufriere Adventure Cruise so it was another early morning, but this one allowed us time to stop at Bayside for the buffet breakfast first. The breakfast food was great, there were a lot of options and we both found more than enough to eat. I took some Banana’s along just in case again! We once again took a taxi to a Marina that was not too far away and we got on another catamaran but this one was nicer, more open and used it’s sail power more than the engine. We got seats inside but quickly regretted it – out in front near the nets is the place to be. We slathered on the sunscreen and found a spot up front to sit.



There was a Sandals Grande photo shop employee on board and he was taking pictures of everyone from our resort on the boat which was nice. It was a very relaxing boat ride, especially after the one we had the day before. It was calm and perfect weather. We sailed alongside the pirate ship that was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (the first one) the whole way to the south side of the island

We arrived in the city of Soufriere with great views of the Piton mountains on the way in and we were taken to a convoy of taxis. The taxis took us through the town into the drive-in volcano which was basically a few sulfur springs. It wasn’t quite what I had expected the “drive-in volcano” to be, and if you’ve ever been to Yellowstone the sulfur springs greatly pale in comparison, but it was interesting and something different. We had a tour guide walk us around and explain various plants and facts about the volcano. After he was done he of course expected a tip, unfortunately we had not had to spend much money yet and we still only had large US bills so we couldn’t do anything for him.

We got back on the taxis and they took us to the Botanical Gardens and Diamond Waterfall where we met up with another tour guide who made no secret that she was expecting a tip at the end, and she really did deserve it, we just couldn’t do it! She explained all the different plant life and all the beautiful flowers. The waterfall was really cool and the Sandals photo guy was there to capture all of the couples in front of it, but almost everyone took their own picture as well. The taxis then took us tot a local restaurant that was set up in a buffet for our lunch. It was a much better selection than the Martinique boat and we had a few beers (not included in the lunch). Jeremy was finally able to break some bills at the restaurant when he bought the beer, but it was too late for our tour guides!

The taxis took us back to the boat and the boat took us back to the North side of the island where the resorts are. On the way we stopped at Anse Chastanet for some snorkeling which was much better than the day before, we saw quite a few fish and some good coral, but they were blowing the horn for us to come back in shortly after we had gotten out there which was disappointing.

Back at the resort a little earlier than the day before we headed for the pool. We were in the main pool and I was able to grab a float because a lot of people were heading up to get ready for dinner. We had a late(r) dinner at the Olde London Pub and were seated right away (as we were with nearly every restaurant we went to). We started with Cheese sticks, then potato leek soup and I had a Guinness pot pie that had steak in it and I ate some of the beef because it was good, Jeremy had a steak and he liked that too. The dessert tray wasn’t very appealing, but by that time we were ready to go, the service there was a little bit slower than it had been other places.

We walked next door to the billiards room and played a few games, I was getting pretty tipsy on wine and we heard some loud reggae music so we went to find out what was going on. We went into the Palladium Night Club and there was a band playing, however there were not that many people inside watching them. They were a decent band and the club was nice, there were a lot of seating options, there just were not that many people there. In fact, when the band stopped they had their Sandals award night where people who won different competitions on the beach during the week got some award and there was only one winner who attended! I felt a little bad for the staff, but they must be used to it. Then they were going to have some sort of talent show so we decided to get out of there and we went down to the beach for awhile and back to our room.

SATURDAY we could finally sleep in again, so we did! We went to Toscanini’s for breakfast and it was really good. We decided to do a little shopping and we took a taxi to the Rodney Bay Mall. Our TA had said we could just take the Sandals shuttle and get dropped off, but they wouldn’t let us do that. It was $10 each way in the taxi so it wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I was hoping to find local crafts and things but the mall was more of a mall that we have here. I was able to buy some make-up (I forgot to pack mine) and we got some artwork and some hot sauce to take home then went back to the resort. I guess we should have gone to Castries for more local shopping, but we never made it there.

Back at the pool to cool off, we hung out at the swim up bar and I think I tried just about every drink they make with Blue Curacao! I got pretty tipsy (again) and we went back to the room to take a quick nap. Woke up and got ready for dinner, we decided we would try one of the other resorts. We had a book in our room that described the other restaurants so we picked Arizona in the Regency because Southwest sounded good.

The shuttle was right on time and it was about a 30 minute drive to the Regency La Toc with a stop at the Halcyon along the way. Once we got there we got a map and walked around a little, the pool there was bigger and looked very nice. We were seated right away at Arizona, but the service for the rest of the meal was terrible, very slow. We were there within an hour of the closing time but there were not very many other people there eating. The entertainment was great – this St Lucian guy singing like George Strait or something, he was really good. They love country music in St Lucia! Food was decent, but the service kind of ruined the meal. We had heard from others that the service at both other resorts was not as good as it is at the Grande because the Grande is a “Signature’ location so we believe that from our experience.

We walked around the resort – there were people being shuttle to their rooms because some of them are so far away and a lot of the room we did see looked more like motel rooms than resort rooms. The whole place just looked dated compared to the Grande and there were even a lot of rooms that didn’t have a balcony or even a water view! The Regency also seemed really close to the ocean and the ocean was a lot rougher in that area – the waves were pretty strong there whereas at the Grande it was always calm. We never saw the La Toc restaurant, which is the fine dining one that requires reservations well in advance, we never made a reservation and we were nervous they would have an issue with Jeremy’s bare toes, but we heard from others that it was really good.

I did finally see some hammocks which made me excited! We laid in one for awhile and then decided to go back to the Grande, unfortunately we missed the shuttle by like 2 minutes so we had an hour to kill. We found a sports bar to hang out it, but there was no one there. There was one bartender and one other couple in the whole bar so we were a little unsure, but didn’t know where else to go so we got some drinks. The bartender was not very friendly and even though there was no one else there it took him awhile to get to us. The only other couple in the bar was also waiting for the shuttle to the Grande. Which finally came and we were back home.

SUNDAY I slept in again. Jeremy was up early and went down to the Sunset (main) pool to reserve us some lounge chairs. You have to save your chair early on with a towel or else they are all gone by 11:00. He also pulled up a float, those are pretty hard to come by and I was always complaining about not having one so he laid one by the chair for me to use when we came back down. He also stopped by the Bayside restaurant and made us some breakfast plates and brought them back up to the room. We ate in our room and headed down to the pool. After a few hours we went into Josephine’s again for some lunch crepes – they were so good. I had chocolate, it was pretty rich, but so yummy.

The Beach Bar had a DJ every afternoon, he was slightly annoying but it is much better than the easy listening that is played around the resort the rest of the time. Unfortunately when we came back from lunch someone had stolen my float. People are kind of mean about the float situation, I don’t know why they just don’t have more of them. So I was mad but we still had a good time relaxing by the pool all day. We went back up to the room around 4 and took another nap :) Then we cleaned up and got on the shuttle to the Halcyon for dinner. There was a big group of people waiting for the 7:00 shuttle, but after the first one filled up there was another right behind it so they must plan for that.

We arrived at the Halcyon with a big group of other people from the Grande and luckily we were near the front of the bus because everyone was going to the same place – The Pier restaurant. We got there and had to put our name on a list, it was the only time we had to wait to be seated the entire week. We walked around the resort in the meantime, it was smaller but looked pretty nice. It wasn’t as updated as the Grande, but the rooms looked pretty big and they all had a cottage feel with a walk out porch. We did hear the pulsing bass of music and wondered where it was coming from, we walked towards it and got to the East edge of the resort without ever discovering what it was so we assume there was a nightclub nearby, unfortunately you could hear that through at least half of the resort so I’m not sure if that is an every night occurrence or not. We noticed that the Ocean was pretty rough on the beach here too.

We got seated at The Pier and service was good there. The food was good, I had vegetable lasagna that was decent and Jeremy really liked the Grey Snapper he ordered. After dinner there wasn’t much else to do there so we headed back to the Grande and hung out in our room on the balcony for the rest of the night.

MONDAY was our last full day so we really tired to enjoy it. We went to Bayside for breakfast because Josephine’s wasn’t open yet (yes, I’m obsessed with crepes) and threw towels on some chairs and grabbed a float on our way. After breakfast we went to change into swim suits and by the time we got back someone had stolen my float again. I was really pissed about the float situation, Jeremy didn’t really understand, but once it is gone, it is really hard to get another one unless it is really early or really late – everyone saves theirs and I didn’t have the guts to steal someone else’s while they were gone so it made me mad that someone would do it to me.

I got over it and we decided to walk over to the smaller Lover’s Pool, there was one other couple there but after they left we were the only ones in that pool for at least an hour. The pool was pretty small, but it was nice that it was secluded and private. And there were 2 floats there! So we laid around in the water for awhile and then it was time for lunch, so I dragged the float from the small pool back to our chairs and this time I put my towel and bag on top of it so no one would take it.

We went to the Bayside restaurant again for lunch and had the buffet, it was really good and there were a ton of options. I had a Panini sandwich made on the spot. Then we went to the water sports center and signed up to take out a Hobie Cat. I’ve been a boater all my life, but I have never sailed and neither has Jeremy so we were excited to try. We got a quick lesson from the staff and we were off! We had to stay in the bay that the resort was on, but that seemed huge in our little boat! We went all the way across to the Halcyon resort and back, there was a decent wind so we really moved across the water. We took turns driving and had a lot of fun.

After the sailing we hung out at the pool a little then went back to the room to clean up, we came down around 6:15 to have the Sandals photographer take our picture on the beach during sunset – they have them out there every night from 6 – 6:30. There was also a bunch of local vendors set up on the beach so we browsed a little. We went back to Toscanini’s for our last meal and it was great.

After dinner there was a show being put on on the pool deck – there were these dancers who were doing tricks with fire and they had a limbo show. There was also a steel drum band, they were great! I think this happens every Monday night since that is when most HMers arrive. The vendors were still on the beach so I bought some jewelry then we went back up to the room and hung out there for the night.

TUESDAY we had to pack up and leave – we had decided to take the helicopter transport back to the main airport from the smaller Vigies airport that was near our resort. Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter before and the two hour cab ride back to the airport wasn’t very appealing so it seemed like a fun idea. Unfortunately, it was raining that day, we had beautiful weather the entire week, but that day was just gray and dreary.

They took our luggage from our room to put on a taxi to the airport so we wouldn’t have to take it on the helicopter with us and we had breakfast. The weather wasn’t clearing so I kept checking back in with the tour desk but they said it was still on so we went to look at the professional pictures Sandals had taken throughout the week and we got a package of those, I also bought some more souvenirs from the gift shops and we finally were ready to go.

The helicopter pilot told us that the weather was supposed to be even worse on the south side of the island so he wasn’t sure how choppy the ride would be, that was a little unsettling! We were with one other couple, they sat in the back seat and Jeremy and I sat up from, I was right next to the pilot and all the controls! It was a great view, especially because of the weather – there was a lot of low hanging fog in the rain forest that looked cool

We made it to the airport OK and were taken to our luggage and then to check in. We had a slight issue with our connection in Atlanta, we had to get our luggage and re check it there because it was an international flight but the hot sauce I had purchased at the St Lucia duty free was still in my carry on and I didn’t think about it, but they stopped me at security and I had to go back, wait in a long line, find some sort of bag to put it in, check it and hope that it didn’t break open! That was a huge pain, so remember to put all liquids in checked luggage – even stuff you buy in the airport if you have to check again.

We were back home and felt like it was too short of a trip, of course, but we had a great time and we really loved the Sandals concept and plan to return in a few years to another resort, but we will probably try to stick with the ‘signature’ resorts from the differences in service levels that we observed.

Things we saw but didn’t do – lagoon pool, fitness center, tennis courts and spa all looked great. We also wished we would have walked over to the Pigeon Island park that was right next to our resort – but we never did. I brought bug spray because I had heard the insects are bad there, but we never even had to open it. I heard a few people that complained of bites, but we were totally fine. I would still bring it just in case though!




MY HM ADVICE
-Bring plenty of 30 spf or higher sunscreen (and use it every few hours, more often if you are swimming – sunburn ruins the trip!)
-Don’t worry about packing a beach towel, they are provided
-bring a beach tote bag
-make sure your DH brings closed toe shoes and button up collared shirts
-have small bills when you leave the resort property for tipping
-book excursions and restaurant reservations right away, they fill up fast
-you don’t need a power adapter, there is a US current plug. There is a hair dryer also.