For years I had seen the Sandals commercials on TV and always was always amazed at how beautiful the resorts included. If you know me than you know I love planning vacations, but usually my vacation planning involves a bunch of destinations and coordinating the in-between. The Sandals brand is known as a true all inclusive destination. It combines luxury with the true sense of all inclusive. The great thing about Sandals is that you can go on their website and ordered their information packet. About a week later we received a bunch of literature with beautiful photos on each of their Sandals locations.
There are about 12 resorts in the Caribbean to choose from. I didn’t really pick by destination but rather by what the resort itself offered. That’s how we came to decide on the Sandals Royal Caribbean resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The reason we loved this resort was because of the extra private island this resort had. It was like we were able to escape our resort and hang out on a quiet island. Each of the Sandals resorts have their own feel. If you aren’t tied to a specific destination, I would recommend just focusing on what each resort has to offer and what resort stands out to you. There are resorts in Jamaica, Bahamas, St. Johns, Barbados and Grenada.
Hotel Room:
The trick to a higher end room without paying the website price: Book a basic room. About three weeks before, you should receive an e-mail with an option to upgrade to a nicer room. We ended up paying about $200 total for the week for a butler room. This saved us thousands of dollars! We ended up being upgraded from a basic room to an ocean front butler room. The location was amazing! The rooms were nice and large and I had no complaints. The mini bar is stocked daily. Our favorite part about having a butler was having our breakfast delivered to our balcony every morning!
Food:
Royal Thai – We ate at this restaurant (located on the private island) one of our first nights there. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was amazing!
The Regency – We ate here twice. Both times there was a different food theme. I ended up eating so much lobster here
The Mariner and Bella Napoli – I think we ate at these two restaurants the most because they are located right on the beach! We loved the jerk pizza!
Bamboo Shack – This is located on the private island. We loved the grilled chicken and how laid back the environment is!
Another luxury of the Sandals resorts was that you could take a free shuttle between the other Sandals resorts that were in near proximity to your own. We ended up visiting the other two and eating at those.
Things to Do:
Another benefit of the Sandals brand were the activities at the resort. Included in your cost are Hobie cats, stand up paddle boards, kayaks, and snorkeling out of a glass bottom boat. We ended up taking advantage of all of these! We also enjoyed just relaxing at the beach and in the water. I recommend letting your butler know the night before where you want to hang out the following day. He would save us premium seats and even give us a cooler filled with beer and water!
We took a day trip to swim with the dolphins and climb Dunns River Falls. These both were a first for us and we really enjoyed them. We traveled with a small group of people from a bunch of resorts in Montego Bay.
Entertainment:
I loved the nightly entertainment. One evening we had a beach luau, there was a steel drum band one night, and there were also game shows like “newlywed, not so newlywed”
Have you ever stayed at a Sandals Resort? Which one? I would love to hear about your experience!
#jamaica #caribbean #sandals #resort #allinclusive #travel #traveltheworld #hmgtravelstheworld
