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Late Honeymoon- St. Lucia...Opinions needed
We did a mini-moon to the East coast and decided to wait until it got colder to do our honeymoon to St. Lucia.
Anyways, his parents are paying for our tickets (first class) so we were planning on splurging and staying at Sandals- Regency which is 1 of 3 Sandals on the Island so you can "eat and play" at all 3. We would still only get a base room, which is about $465/night. BUT then I found another resort called Stonefield which is$220/night but only includes breakfast. That's a $245 difference per night.
The room at Sandals would be like a normal hotel room (king size bed, possibly a balcony with garden views) but they have 7 restaurants and free drinks (hubby is sober, I drink a little) and activities included (scuba and all). The room at Stonefield is a private villa on a mountain with a view of the ocean, private pool, outdoor shower, and hamock overlooking the ocean.
Where should we stay? I know it's our honeymoon but part of me feels like that $245 a day more is a lot to spend on food and activities. Your opinions?
Re: Late Honeymoon- St. Lucia...Opinions needed
We went to St. Lucia and stayed at the Sandals Grande. Not having stayed at the other resort, I will just give you my opinion of Sandals.
We were greeted for check in with a cool towel and champagne. We had fresh flowers on our bed, a bottle of champagne in our room. The first night we got there they had honeymooners night with fun activities starting at 7pm and a chocolate buffet at 10pm. Every night there were activites (movies, live bands, talent show, etc.). During the day they had karoke, volleyball, contests, etc. We went scuba diving one day, had dinner at great restaurants every night, and even went to one of the other resorts to eat one night. The best thing about staying at Sandals is that 90% of the people staying there were on their honeymoons and the other 10% were celebrating an anniversary. I would highly recommend staying at Sandals, but again I've never stayed at the other resort and I totally get you wanting to save money. My last piece of advice is to remember that this is your honeymoon, and you can't redo it.
We stayed at Sandals Regency for our Honeymoon in January and it was worth every penny! It was a little out of my comfort zone paying that much money for a vacation (we booked through a travel agent), but you only get one honeymoon and I'm so glad we splurged on ourselves.
Our room was great, I think we paid a little extra for an ocean view, which was really nice. Some of the rooms overlook the parking lot, which would not be so nice. But we really didn't spend that much time in our room so if you're looking to save money, that might be a good place to trim costs.
The food was amazing. We ate at every restaurant on the resort and took the shuttle to the other two resorts for a meal as well - just to check them out. The one thing you get with Sandals Regency is that you're right on the ocean and you get the wave action, the other two Sandals are in bays and don't have the crashing waves.
It was fun to meet other people and have the variety of the pools to go to. And if you're not big drinkers, you could always ask for drinks without alcohol. A lot of them are fruity concoctions that would taste good without alcohol. My husband is super social, so I don't think we would have liked a secluded resort.
I guess my question for the other resort that you're considering is how close are other eating options? If breakfast is included but not other meals, where do you eat the rest of the day?
I would vote for Sandals. You can't go wrong.
We did an all inclusive for our honeymoon (El Dorado Royale in Mexico) and we weren't big drinkers at the time but still loved it.
The nice thing about AI is that you never have to leave the resort. It provides the ultimate opportunity for relaxation. The other resort described sounded really great as well but will you need to rent a car to get to restaurants? You may get more variety for food and you will get to experience more of the island culture, but sometimes relaxation is better for a honeymoon type vacation. I know when we do a beach vacation we prefer to do it car free.
We also stayed at Sandals Regency for our honeymoon in March 2009 and LOVED it! We stayed in the basic room but it was just great for what we needed. We met another couple who stayed in one of the suites with a butler and said the extra wasn't worth it, because room service will really bring you anything you need!
The food was amazing and there were many restaurants to go to so we never got bored. We didn't leave our Sandals but heard about a great steakhouse at one of the other ones...don't remember now...I loved reading up at one of the quieter adult pools, to get away from the daily pool noise. We also played volleyball and really liked taking the 2-person sailboats out. They let you do it alone after a brief lesson and it was awesome! They have free snorkling tour which was good as well.
We didn't book any extra tours through Sandals but did get stopped by a guy on the beach - "Joe Knows Tours". We were skeptical at first but heard from many others at the resort that they booked him (he's not affiliated with Sandals and they try to kick him off the beach) that he was worth it. We booked an all day tour with him which was the highlight of our trip. He took 8 of us from Sandals in his tour van through all the sights and big stops of St. Lucia, including an authentic lunch place. He was so friendly and really showed us the local life.
Either place you stay, you can't go wrong because St. Lucia is so gorgeous. However, you won't be dissapointed with Sandals! Good luck with your choice!
Price aside, I think the non-Sandals one just sounds cooler and way more honeymoon-ish.
That aside, $245/night is a lot of money. Like really a lot. I'm not a cheapskate when I travel and I'm sure Sandals is awesome, and if it were even an extra $100/night, I would be on board with spending the extra, especially if meals aren't included at the other place. But, there's pretty much no circumstance where I could justify spending the over $500/night it will be when you factor in taxes on just a base hotel room.