Sandals Grande St. Lucian

You must visit this resort! From the moment we arrived till we left this vacation was a 10/10! Our favorite part of the entire trip was the Caribbean people, our staff. They made our experience unforgettable. Nestled against the sands of the Caribbean Ocean, Sandals Grande is amazing. From the sunsets, delicious restaurants, poolside fun and evening entertainment, we could not have asked for more. To treat ourselves we chose the Butler package including a room with a walk out swimming pool and private jacuzzi. Little did we know how much our butlers would endear themselves to us by helping to plan out our days to make the most of our stay. Malaika, Mel and Gessler, you deserve our utmost gratitude. Your attention to detail was second to none. Coffee and pastries were brought to our room each morning at the time of our choosing. Dinner reservations were made for us each evening to ensure we experienced each one of their fine restaurants. We even got escorted to dinner. One afternoon my husband and I found our room beautifully decorated with flowers and a sheer aquamarine fabric draped over the canopy of the bed, simply to celebrate our loving marriage. Again thanks to our butlers. There are so many lovely staff to give shout outs to. Malaika, Mel and Gessler, our butler team. Tamara, who changed our linens each day and tidied up the room. Red Lane Spa! Your masseuses are so so skillful, working out those travel knots. Many thanks to Catherine, Barbara and Jacqueline. Nickletta, working hard every morning at the breakfast buffet greet and seat guests. The omelette bar was outstanding. Shawna and Delia were kind enough to engage us in conversation one evening while taking a walk. Their warmth and kindness was heartwarming. To experience the Caribbean culture we had a private driver, Alleyn, who drove us down the west side of the island, educating us along the way and answering 100 questions. Also included was lunch at a farm to table restaurant. Many local families were there having a meal after church. On our last day we met Shante at the reception desk, so sweet and lovely, wanting to know if we’d had a great time. Oh yes! Best of all we enjoyed our staff so so much. Their gentle souls, warmth and love were genuine. We feel blessed by each one of them.

My wife and I decided to spend our honeymoon here together. Sandals made everything so easy, peaceful, and comfortable. We flew to St. Lucia, we were greeted by Sandals employees at the airport where they immediately took our bags once we got through customs so we did not have to lug them around. We then got on the helicopter to make travel to the resort much faster which had amazing views of the island I recommend doing this because the shuttle takes a bit longer. When we got to the resort, we were greeted by several staff with a greeting song that made us feel welcome. Here is where our experience was elevated way above our expectations by 2 individuals. Kyle and Messyah. Kyle took us to our overwater bungalow which was amazing! He gave us the tour showed us how to use everything. He and Messyah switched off on butler duties throughout the trip for us. But words cannot express how good these 2 guys were to us and great they made our trip. They did everything! They set up our dinner reservations, spa treatments, anything we wanted to do! I told Messyah that I wanted to fish off the back of the bungalow and he set me up a ride to town to go buy me a rod and reel so I could do so. He and Kyle throughout the rest of the trip kept bringing me raw shrimp for bait when I needed it. When we needed something, those guys were absolutely on top of it and had the upmost professionalism. They escorted us to dinners, pretty much anywhere we wanted to go and personally took our orders and got us drinks so we did not have to wait. If something was just even a touch slow, they would step in and have it for us immediately. They were a blast to talk to, telling us about the island and all the information we wanted to know. You can tell they loved their jobs and wanted us to have the best time possible. I hope this message/review finds leadership at Sandals so these 2 can be recognized for their dedication and tireless efforts to go above and beyond for Sandals customers. To anyone watching videos on YouTube, go! It’s so much nicer in person.

Great food, beautiful beaches, and amazing staff! We booked our trip through Dream Makers Vacation services so everything was flawless 😊

Our stay at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian was the second half of a split-stay. We stayed 5 nights at Halcyon and 5 nights at the Grande. This was a great way to see both places. The move from Halcyon to the Grande was seamless. Our club concierge at Halcyon made sure everything was easy. We literally came from the pool, went to the club and they called one of their transport folks to take us to the Grande where we were greeted warmly and efficiently. Very easy! The staff working the Club Lounge were great, just like at Halcyon. Helpful, courteous, professional. We booked the Swim Up Lover's Lagoon Honeymoon Club Level room. Great! The room was much nicer than the photos on the website! It faced the Lagoon Pool. A very quiet, peaceful location. I did a lap early in the am and again at the end of the day and was the only person in the pool. Very tranquil and beautiful. This area of the resort is very quiet. It would be nice if the patio light wasn't a motion light so you can read at night, but people would forget to turn them off, I guess. The layout of the pool and beach is really nice. Easy to go back and forth between the two. Like Halcyon, if you want a prime chair by the Main pool, you need to get up early or have a butler. Although not reflected on the website map, there are two quiet pools adjacent to the main pool. They weren't very crowded which was nice. The beach is beautiful and the view of the pitons and Pigeon Island enhancing the location even more. The landscaping, like all Sandals, was exemplary. I thought the food quality was very high. Standouts were the sushi and the crepes! A suggestion I would make is for the British pub to have a couple of British beers on tap! C'mon man! The overall atmosphere of the resort is lively, but it's large enough that you can find lots of peaceful spots. Finally, the staff. Kind, thoughtful, helpful, engaging. You don't mind spending money when the service is at a high level and it certainly is at this resort.

Before you decide to stay at the Grande, you need to think about whether you will be able to cope with the transfer! After a 9 hour flight, spending another two and a half hours in a minibus was not great. The transfer times will vary according to the time of day, but once you hit Castries, the traffic slows right down. The minibus wasn’t uncomfortable, and the air-con did its job, but after a long flight, it certainly wasn’t fun! The roads were not horrendous, but there can be some pretty spirited driving all round. Whilst there are options of helicopter and boat transfers, be aware that waiting times could mean you still arrive at the resort later than those who went by road. Once we actually got to the resort, the welcome was great and check in went pretty smoothly, but we had done the online check in before arriving. We were shown to our room, which was a Caribbean Honeymoon Walkout - just 20 paces from our door to the quiet pool, and only another 30 or so to the beach. The room smelt very musty - as if it had suffered from a water leak. There was plenty of storage and it was nice and clean. We asked for a mattress topper, which was taken care of in less than an hour. We had no issues at all getting sun beds by the quiet pool, which was only a 30 second walk away from the bar - there were often beds that did not get used all day. There were also cabanas that were available on a first come, first served basis and for no extra charge. Because we arrived in the evening, we missed the returners dinner, so ate in the English pub, where the food was ok. There were several pool tables and a snooker table, although there were no markings on the snooker table. The food on the whole, was not what we have been used to at other Sandals resorts. We had cold food at the Italian, and undercooked chicken at Bombay - a problem that we noticed at least two other couples had. We brought it to the server’s attention and she apologised and said she would check it, then promptly tipped it all onto a plate with all the other left overs! The dive team were excellent, and took us to some spectacular dive sites. Although Sandals will always err on the side of safety and use very conservative dive profiles, our group regularly had dive times in excess of 40-45 minutes. The watersorts team were also great and helped us try our hand at waterskiing and Hobie sailing. We found the staff to be very engaging and polite, and the pianist in the piano bar was absolutely great. The entertainment team put on some great shows and daytime entertainment. Where we did have an issue though, was cockroaches. The resort was clean, but the climate does lend itself to pests and insects, so it is inevitable that some will turn up. Seeing one in the bar area of the Italian restaurant was bad enough, but on the last night at the beach party, they were crawling all over the bar and seating. We were told that Sandals no longer fog to control insects, so it could be that there had been a big increase in numbers because of that. Overall, I’m not sure we would return - not because of any particular issues, but we have stayed at nicer Sandals resorts that we would rather go back to. As is normal with Sandals resorts, there were many cats around. Unlike other resorts though, the Grande doesn’t appear to take care of them, so we didn’t feel bad about feeding them!