Sandals Grande St. Lucian Spa & Beach Resort - All Inclusive

What People are saying

Great staff and service but just missing some attention to detail

John M Pon 26/06/2017 03:42

We had picked St Lucia for our honeymoon. Overall it was an amazing trip. The island is beautiful, the people are amazing and we were so comfortable the whole time. We ran into so many people that were willing to help us out of predicaments. We picked the Grande because it was the highest end resort out of the Sandals on the island and had the best restaurants and beach. Plus, there was a national park (Pigeon Island) that was walking distance from the resort and we wanted to be able to get off resort property.

The room -
We like staying on the upper floors for privacy reasons. We ended up on the third floor with a view of the Lagoon pool (which was the more relaxing/quiet area and had all the swim up pool rooms). The room was nice but didn't quite make you feel like you were on an island. I would describe it as just a bit nicer hotel room. Wasn't a giant room by any means. King bed with some regular looking furniture and a sitting area with a love seat and coffee table. Also a deck with two chairs and table. The room was the next step up from the cheapest room but is the same as the cheap one but more because it's on an upper floor.
We were greeted in the room with flowers on the bed and champagne ready for us which was a nice touch. Half way through the trip they dressed the room with another bottle of champagne and fruit/cheese and nuts to snack on.
The rooms were very clean but seemed to have some items that were starting to get worn after some use which was a little disappointing. Some items that were used were the toilet roll holder which was loose on the wall, the towel bars were loose as well and kind of falling off. Some of the dresser doors were hard to open and rubbing on the frame. Also, the refrigerator freezer was frozen over and almost unusable.
The fridge was stocked with Coke/Sprite/Diet Coke/ Ginger ale/ Water and some fruit juices.
Some items that were not working in the room were the main entrance door was not self closing correctly. There was one point where I had left the door open because i was expecting the door to close. That is partially my fault but I don't know if it is just not code to having self closing doors? it looked like the hinges were self closers however. The hair dryer was broken but staff ran one up in no time. The biggest issue was the shower.
The shower would just not get up to temperature. First of all it took 5 or so minutes just to get to a luke warm to the point where you could even get in and never got hot. Also, when you went to adjust the temp it would take a minute or so for it to respond. We called about it twice but no remedy was made which was disappointed. Having a hot shower is a necessity for a luxury room.
As for the design of the bathroom it was nice but also did not quiet feel like a luxury bathroom.
The hallways were also very loud with staff working at almost all hours.
If you are from the states, there is only one standard 110 outlet available. Bring a power strip if you have a lot of items to charge.
The bed was very comfortable, a bit noisy but it worked well.

The beach -
The beach was amazing, tons of seating areas and different ones at that. There were swings just into the water, swinging beds, hammocks and plenty of loungers. The water was so still and clear. Apparently, due to the location on the island and being covered by the national park, the waves are very calm.
There was very little seaweed and the sand was incredibly smooth. It is not a huge resort but it is also not heavily packed so there was always somewhere quiet to sit down by the beach.
The only fault about the beach and beachfront is the fact bathrooms were VERY far from the beach. If you are having drinks by the beach and have to go to the bathroom, you will have a walk ahead of you.
If you walked toward the national park there is a little local shopping/ food area just outside of the resort on the public beach.

Staff and grounds -
As said before, the people are amazing on the island and that went for the staff as well. Everyone was there to make sure you had a great time. Everyone spoke English as well and there was no communication issues for anyone from the states.
It is a no tipping resort as well, so no one is expecting anything extra from you.
The grounds were also very well maintained, even at one point they were trimming coconuts and brought a fresh one over to us and opened it up and threw some straws in it!

Food - There was never a wait to be seated and most ever restaurant was no reservation. The only reservation restaurants were Gordon's, Kimonos and Bombay.
Breakfast and dinner was great. Lunch was a a bit mediocre.
There were only a few places that did breakfast and those were Tosconinis, The creperie and Bayside buffet.
The buffet was not our favorite. It seems liked it had a lot of canned items and not as much selection as some other buffets we have had at other resorts.
The lunch buffet was the best option but once again it had a lot of per-prepared items. The rest of the lunch items were almost like being at a school cafeteria.
Dinner on the other hand was pretty darn good everywhere you go. Our favorite was Soy the sushi restaurant.
We also did dinner on the beach. It was $200 which was a bit expensive for already being on an all inclusive resort but the steak was one of the best steaks we ever had. perfectly cooked and the whole course was spectacular with white glove service, so you get your moneys worth.

Entertainment -
There was music every night. Nothing clubby or anything but easy to dance to. The entertainment was not super extravagant though.

Fitness area -
The fitness area was nice but one thing that was lacking was a personal trainer led activities. There were very little and not very interesting. We did the yoga one morning and it was fun but we were expecting a more relaxing yoga, it was more of a workout yoga.

Random stuff -
Stacey at dinner reservations was so interested in making sure we had a great time. She always wanted to know how everything went as well!

The spa staff was incredible as well. The spa prices were a bit pricey though.

A couple of things that bothered us -
We had planned on attending a chocolate and wine event and on the printed schedules that came to the room was a different time and date than when it actually was. So when we showed up the staff said it was another day. Accountability needs to be taken with what is printed and when things actually happened. It happened a few times when we talked to some other couples.

There were photographers snapping pictures of you all over the resort which was nice. We went to look at our pictures and found out that pictures were $9 bucks even and not even printed out nor professionally edited. I was a little peeved how expensive the pictures were when we already spent a ton of money to just be there.

Overall, it was an excellent trip with a great experience but there were some contributing factors that kept it from feeling like a super luxury trip.

Gorgeous sandals halcyon grande lo toc St Lucia 🌴🦎🌴🦎

myra Ton 25/06/2017 09:07

Fab holiday spent 14 nights enjoyed every minute great people great staff 10/10 5 star ⭐️ too 🦎🌴👍just didn't like the mozzie bites
Visited all 3 hotels halcyon was the best were we stayed quiet very clean lovely gardens.
Great food special hi to delton and Chris managers doing a great job as do the cleaners 👍👍👍x

Phenomenal Staff and helpful with my Celiac

MamaKennedyon 24/06/2017 23:05

My husband and I just went to our first Sandals resort at the Grande St. Lucian. The staff at the restaurants and the resort were phenomenal. Everyone constantly asked and made sure you were doing ok. Anything you needed they were there. I have Celiac disease and was very nervous to go. The culinary staff and chefs did their very best to work with me. I was so pleased with how much they cared and accommodated. I had minimal issues and the few times I did feel bad after something, it ended up being a miscommunication of some sort. Don't be afraid to be very specific and repetitive. I feel the times I asked the most questions, were the times I felt the best. Over all we were very pleased. We will definitely be going back to a sandals in the future!

We went to the managers welcoming cocktail and won a free luxury transport to the airport, so make sure you go :) it was short sweet and of course had great drinks and snacks.

Take advantage of the all included activities and water sports, especially the snorkeling trip. We did all the included events and one excursion and had a busy yet relaxed trip. The chocolate lovers buffet is worth staying up for. Our favorite restaurants were Gordon's and Kimonos. Make sure to try a sake cruise from the best bartender, Orion, located at kimonos.

Side note- take more than enough sunscreen as they charge $20-30 depending on what brand for a bottle of sunscreen. Also they have posted on the website that they provide complimentary bug repellent, they do not. They have it in the gift shop for $20 a can! So if you want to be a lil cautious about mosquitoes, bring your own repellent.

Excellent people, accommodations need an update

jamespI5565BQon 24/06/2017 20:59

The grounds are gorgeous and service was exceptional. The food, however, was quite average. We like good wine, craft beer and top shelf spirits, which were all unavailable on the resort - even for pay. The room itself is nothing like the brochure, and there were technical issues with the dated bed and plumbing. The staff did all they could to make it comfortable for us, which we very much appreciated. The people, in fact, may have been the primary reason we enjoyed our honeymoon.

Grande holiday

holidayaddict03on 24/06/2017 15:47

We stayed in a rondoval with butler service (room 7008) which was close to the beach but not beachfront. Mostly secluded and quiet, surrounded by shrubs and the large patio area is fenced off. The fence is around five foot tall with a path the other side so occasionally get staff walking past.
The room is spacious with a big comfy four poster bed, table and two chairs, comfy seating area with large coffee table, large TV, chest of drawers, bedside cabinets, mini fridge and coffee/tea facilities. Large wardrobe with safe, robes and slippers are the other side of the wall from the headboard. The bathroom is well laid out with huge bath, two basins set either side, toilet and shower unit but if someone comes to the door they can see into the shower as there isn't a door. There are plenty of plug sockets.Lovely thick towels but basic bath towels not sheets and the hand towels not big enough to wrap around my head, essential as I have very long hair. The patio has iron table and chairs with parasol, plunge pool and two loungers, hammock, hot tub and an outside shower (private, not overlooked). When we were there they were just finishing off the new over water villas. We were very lucky to have a look around one of them and they look fabulous. The villas are now open.
There are several restaurants, Bayside - French, Toscanini's - Italian, Josephine's - creperie, Barefoot by the sea - seafood, Old London Pub - British, Gordon's - fine dining, meat/fish, Dino's - pizza, Jerk Shack - Caribbean, The Mariner - lunch fish/meat, Bombay - Indian, Kimonos - Oriental, Soy -sushi. Our favourites were Toscanini's, we only ate here once but wished it could have been more and Gordon's. We ate here twice in the week we stayed and came back again the week after as we were staying at Sandals Halcyon. Food was a good quality and well cooked,especially in the two restaurants we preferred. Much better than the Halcyon (I've already done a review of that one). They also do a hot dog cart between the beach and pool at lunch.
There are several bars, main one in the lobby with entertainment, the english pub and the beach/pool bar. We used the pool bar most of the time as it was quieter and cooler but closed around 11pm. The English pub was the last one to close. Cocktails were good and I got the barman to make one up to my recipe which was delicious with a bit of tweaking.There are fire pits dotted around the resort, the largest in the lobby bar. Seems a bit pointless when it's 26 degrees in the evening.
There are plenty of sun loungers available. If you prefer beach but don't want to be hassled by sellers there are sun loungers on sand just inside the property. Some of them will still talk to you but aren't allowed to give the big sell. Bar staff serve drinks to you at your lounger. This hotel has the best beach of the three Sandals in St Lucia.
There is a free shuttle service to take you to the other Sandals resorts. You can go for the day or book a restaurant and spend the evening there.
Butler service was really good. Huge thanks to our butlers, especially Bailey, who was very helpful and couldn't do enough for us, Clynns and Jackie.
Sandals Grande has a vibrant party atmosphere with a good mix of ages, Halcyon is a quieter resort with more mature couples.
We enjoyed our stay here and would recommend it.