TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The trip started and ended with a very long and nauseating drive to and from the airport. We arrived at the resort and were greeted by smiling faces and a welcome song. We were immediately taken into a lounge where we all checked in as a group. They offered everyone a signature cocktail and when my husband declined, they tried to talk him into it. He explained that he doesn’t drink alcohol and the employee asked him what was wrong and loudly questioned his decision. We get to our room and the staff helping us with bags lingered for what felt like forever. We couldn’t really enjoy our new accommodations because he was just hanging out in there awkwardly. He then told my husband to try a beer in our bar, my husband again explained he doesn’t drink and was questioned about it and encouraged to drink on this trip. My husband explained he doesn’t drink on any trip, or at all, and the guy continued to try and talk him into trying a beer. We explained to the staff every day that my husband doesn’t drink and we just request that the fridge be stocked with cokes, sprites, and waters. Every day we had an empty fridge and had to call down to get more. Some days we called multiple times because no one ever came by and it had been hours. Eventually my husband got frustrated enough to complain that he doesn’t drink, his wife does, she can access her drinks at anytime and he can’t even get a coke. The manager apologized and assured us this would be taken care of. Later that day, we come back to our room to find they had completely stripped me of the bar items including the champagne I purchased. I had to request bring it back. Not that he has to explain his decision to not drink, but his anxiety doesn’t mix well with alcohol so he hasn’t drank in years. They treated him like an alcoholic and took mine away too. The service was slow and the staff was very unfriendly the first few days. They walked right through us on the sidewalks and said nothing. I often had to move out of their way because they would literally run into you. The spa staff was exhausting!!! We couldn’t get 5 minute to ourselves without them stopping us and begging us to visit the spa and ask for them. No matter what we were doing, a spa lady stopped us or interrupted our conversation asking us to try them out. They stalked us on the beach every single day, multiple times a day, every time we went to dinner, on our way to breakfast, and even while trying to have a romantic walk together. It was nonstop. We had to look for them and take alternate paths to avoid them. We visited La Toc and The Grande St Lucian and the staff was amazing. We were there all day and no one pestered us to go to the spa. Everyone was polite and friendly. On top of all of that, I am gluten free and was assured by the chef that every place would be able to accommodate me, however I found several days where I had to order a salad or fruit plate because nothing at the buffet was gluten free. I ate the same thing every morning and lunch due to lack of options. The other restaurants had one or two things I could have, so I felt like my food choices were very limited. When I visited la Toc and the grande, I had tons of options for food. I finally got to eat and enjoy myself. The last two days were much better. Some people from sandals showed up that appeared to be management of some kind and suddenly all of the staff was friendly and accommodating. Everyone greeted us, smiled at us, offered to create me gluten free options after a week of eating lettuce and eggs. Though we had a lot of bad experiences, we had good ones too, just not as many. Our private dinner for two was fantastic. The server was the best ever and absolutely adorable. He taught us some of the language and went above and beyond. The food that I could eat and everything my husband ate was delicious. Kelly’s had great service and food. The property was clean, well kept, and had beautiful landscaping. The beach was more private than the other two resorts. We could lay there all day and were only bothered by the spa people. There’s a local man, Charlie, who wanders around telling everyone good morning. He was delightful. The servers brought out waters, lemonades, and mixed drinks to the beach. The water sports area had nice equipment and we had plenty of options. Had our week began like it started, we would’ve rated this resort 5 stars. Due to the constant issues, it a lower rating. The other two resorts gave us the experiences and charm we thought we’d get here. We definitely picked the wrong resort.

Saint Lucia was absolutely beautiful. Everyone was wonderful through four our stay. We visited all 3 of the Sandals resorts while there. They were all exceptionally well kept up and incredibly clean. Our room at the Halcyon (Koko Rondoval Villa) was outstanding!! The beach area at the Grande was amazing, and the pool area at La Toc was fantastic! I’d definitely recommend staying at any of the Sandals resorts in Saint Lucia. Having access to all of them is the best feature!

While staying at Sandals Grande St Lucian we went to Halcyon Mario’s Restaurant for dinner and to celebrate our travel partners and friends 50th wedding anniversary. I asked the head chef, Rene at Sandals Grande if he could coordinate a wedding anniversary cake for us and he made it happen. He contacted Francis, head chef at Mario’s, when we arrived the table was set perfectly and decorated for our friends. The staff were over the top attentive to our needs of the evening. Beginning with the host, Priscus. Priscus recognized us as visitors for the evening, he welcomed us, joked with us, and even dashed out in the pouring rain to get boxes for the left over wedding cake. He was soaked but smiling hugely when he returned with them. Such service! Our waiter was Darnel. We found Darnel to have the best personality and his skills were top notch. Francis, the head chef. Francis came to our table to meet us and give his personal congratulations to our friends for their anniversary. He was a joy. His cake creation was gorgeous and amazingly delicious. The salad bar at Mario’s keeps us coming back when we visit St Lucia, it is loaded with a variety of Italian delicacies. Although we did not stay at Sandals Halcyon this trip we totally enjoyed visiting this smaller romantic gem and look forward to seeing our new friends, your humble staff upon our return.

This was our first experience at a Sandals and overall I would say it was a positive one, even with some flaws. We stayed 3 nights at Halcyon before transferring to another hotel on a different part of the island. Once you arrive at the airport and go through the security and immigration, the doors to the Sandals lounge are literally right there so there's really no need to use the baggage handlers unless you have a ton of bags. Keep in mind these guys don't work for Sandals so they expect a tip and will flat out ask for one if you don't offer. The lounge itself is just ok, they have a few prepackaged snacks, some Piton beer and water. Don't expect anything more. We were starved from our flight since there wasn't a meal on board so I was hoping for a bit more but there wasn't much. The shuttle to the hotel is an air-conditioned mini bus and the drive is about 80-90minutes. Be prepared for small, rough roads that wind up and down the hills. I had heard that many people get sick on these rides but we were prepared and I have to say that I never did get motion sick the whole week. A few other passengers didn't seem too keen on the mini bus adventure though. Check in was smooth and we were offered cool towels and a welcome drink, then taken to our room. We stayed in the Crystal Lagoon area in a second floor suite with a balcony. We didn't use the balcony much because it didn't have an umbrella and the sun is unbearable without. We were told upon check in that they would bring us a patio umbrella but one never showed. The room itself was spacious and they did restock our minibar daily. The bathrooms are probably due for an upgrade, they were a bit dated/worn but overall clean. Food: food is average, and service is a little slow but you're on island time so it wasn't that much of an issue. Dinner at Kellys was the best one we had at this resort. We didn't get a chance to try the Asian restaurants before we left but heard the sushi was good. Drinks: freely flowing and staff were happy to bring drinks whenever you asked. In fact I would say there were a number of people quite overserved at times, especially on the way back from the Grande where I was certain one guy was going to be sick on the 15 minute ride. Luckily he held it together but it was a close one. Yuck. Atmosphere: The hotel is a bit quieter and more peaceful than the Grande (which we took the shuttle to twice). We had no trouble getting lounge chairs and towels at Halcyon. There was a mix of people of different age groups, probably leaning more toward the boomer crowd (we are Gen Xers) and quite a lot of Brits, who were very fun to talk to. And of course, newlyweds. The atmosphere at the Grande is definitely noisy and seemed to be more of a cruise ship crowd, IYKYK. It's a much bigger hotel so there are a lot more people and more restaurants. We ate at the Italian place and it was good. The beach there is nicer than Halcyon but tougher to find chairs. Beach: The beach is small and quiet so we didn't go there much. There was some seaweed or sargassum but not terribly bad but there was a yellow flag every day we were there, not sure why because the water seemed calm. There is no snorkeling at this beach, but they will take you to another beach to snorkel and I think they said it was included but you had to sign up in advance, so we didn't get a chance to try it. Ultimately I feel like we got what we expected from Sandals and agreed we might try Sandals again, but on a different island.

We loved our visit to SANDALS in St. Lucia. Our Butlers Princess and Vienna made our stay. They were warm and friendly. They worked so hard to help us relax and enjoy our vacation. They brought us anything we wanted and set up special surprises in our room to help us feel loved. We did the adventure cruise and had the best day ever in the mud bath, the waterfall and snorkeling. Overall we can wait to go back.