VACATIONS FROM HOME: SKIING AT SANDALS GRANDE ST. LUCIAN

ENJOYING LIFE

The Sandals Resorts company is an adult couples only family of all-inclusive high-end resorts scattered throughout the Caribbean. In all there are 17 resorts spread over eight different islands. The company is based on Jamaica and there are 7 Sandals resorts there. We are in St. Lucia, a windward island north of St. Vincent and there are three resorts on this lush island known for the Pitons twin mountains on the south end of the island. We are at Grande St. Lucian in the far north of the island near the town of Gros Islet.

The other two Sandals resorts are La Toc and Halcyon and all three are on the Caribbean Sea or the western side of the island. Sandals offers free shuttles to the other resorts where visitors can enjoy all the amenities there. Visitors from La Toc and Halcyon have said our Grande St. Lucian was the “nicest” resort on St. Lucia.

WELCOME HOME

This is our 7^th trip to a Sandals resort since our honeymoon in Antigua in 2018 and when we travel to St. Vincent’s next year, we will have been on all 8 islands that have a Sandals resort. The other islands that we have visited, in chronological order after Antiqua are: The Bahamas, Jamaica (South Coast), Grenada, Curacao, Barbados and now St. Lucia. So far that’s 52 days in total with Sandals. When we hit 70 days we get a free week. That alone is an incentive to return. Currently we’re at something called “Emerald” status, which means we got to prance up to the dais in front of the returning guest’s dinner to receive a trinket.

Next year we are going to Sandals’ newest resort on St. Vincent’s and two years from now we’re revisiting Sandals South Coast, and we will have earned our free week.

Every Sandals visit leaves us smiling, mirroring the smiles of the staff at every resort. Often workers stop what they are doing, like raking the beach or doing gardening or just passing by us to say hello, greeting us with wide smiles. The beach grooming or the gardening never suffers as the grounds are always impeccable. The beauty of traveling to a Sandals Resort is we know what to expect and their ad tagline of “Welcome Home” is very appropriate and heartfelt. It may all be part of the Sandals experience, but the one-on-one interactions are very welcoming.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Don’t kid yourself, staying at a Sandals is expensive, but with that cost comes the expectation of pampering and service and smiles, and Sandals never fails. The grounds are immaculate, the rooms are comfortable, there is a choice of several restaurants, there are swim up bars and pools everywhere and there is different entertainment each night. Every island is different, but every Sandals is unparalleled.

The main swim up bar
Sandals Grande St Lucian

To save some money though, we opt for the first week of December when the rates drop. When COVID hit our planned December week was pushed to the next May and for three years we continued with May, until 2023 when we went twice. In May of 2023 we went to Curacao, Sandals’ newest resort at the time, and we shifted back to our December time slot with Barbados.

SKIING

Spending the Kids Inheritance is what we’re doing, or SKIING. We aren’t foolish though and we’re trying to squeeze out as much experience for our buck.

Our walk-out room

For example, there are several different tiers of accommodation at a Sandals Resort: Luxury, Club and Butler. We usually go for the cheapest, Luxury. Club gives you some extra liquor in the room and Butler status has someone catering to your whims and getting optimum chairs at the pool and dinner reservations, etc. Each tier costs more money and the prevailing attitude here at VFH Central is to go cheaper and more often, rather than sinking everything into one trip. Remember there is a big world out there. Better to parcel out our monies to see more and more.

Our one concession to cost is opting for a “walk-out” ground level room rather than one with a balcony.

Other rooms with a higher cost are those with a swim-out pool. There are also stand-alone oval huts called Rondoval suites. And, here at St. Lucia there are the nightmarishly expensive “over the water” bungalows. A one night’s stay is $1,888 per person. If we took the cost of our current 8-day trip to Sandals Grande St. Lucian and applied it to a bungalow, our stay would be just 1 ½ days.

That ain’t happening for these traveling cheapskates.

GETTING OUR MONEY’S WORTH

There are plenty of other all-inclusive adults only resorts throughout the Caribbean that are a lot cheaper, and some reviews think they are even nicer than a Sandals Resort, but none have Scuba diving included. Over the years we have become PADI Open Water certified. Normally one would expect to pay $100 pp for gear and dive guide for a two-tank dive day. On this 8-day Sandals trip we managed to go on 9 dives, the most ever for a Sandals stay.

Kenny with Pitons in background

All the dive crews in every Sandals resort, but especially so here in St. Lucia are safety conscious and attentive. (A very special shout-out to our divemaster Kenny Evan.) We’re not “elite” divers, but we are always treated with respect not just here in St. Lucia, but throughout the family of Sandals resorts.

Depending on the diving site locations the sport can be a day long affair. Some dive sites are offshore. Here in St. Lucia, most of the dive sites are 45 minutes to an hour away by dive boat. It’s worth the time. On consecutive dives one day we saw eels, lobsters, crabs, and a Hawksbill Turtle and a stingray, all the while swimming in a pristine colorful fishbowl, with vibrant coral teeming with underwater life.