Honeymoon at Sandals: Sun, Sand, & a Drink in Our Hand

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Dennis & I honeymooned in St Lucia just over 3 months ago. We scrolled through SO many different destinations trying to pick the perfect place. When we pictured what we wanted our honeymoon to look like the words that came to mind were; romantic, relaxing, tropical...and good food was a must. That is how we decided on a Sandals Resort. An all inclusive, worry-free week in paradise? Sign us up!

ALL INCLUSIVE: 

This was our first all-inclusive experience and we went into it a little unsure of what to expect...before we even checked in, we were given champagne & a local beer and we quickly came to the conclusion that this was going to be more than ok. At Sandals, all inclusive means all food & drink are included (*except manager's choice wine list options at some restaurants), recreational activities and sports, tipping, and even airfare. We made the payments ahead of time so once we got to the resort, we were able to lock our wallets away for the week and not have to worry about a thing. Ok...well our biggest worries were which of the 9 restaurants we wanted to eat at or what time the swim up butt bar opened.

SANDALS REGENCY LA TOC:

There was a wide variety of food at Sandals Regency La Toc, from an English Pub, to Oriental Hibachi, to elegant French Cuisine. Our favorite restaurants were Armando's (Italian Cuisine) and La Toc (Classic French Cuisine). I am pretty sure we started with an appetizer, ate a main course, and then indulged in dessert every night at dinner, because why not?? You're on vacation and it's all included! A weekly newspaper is provided with all of the pertinent information such as; dress code for each of the restaurants, hours, weather, and the night life activities. Each day has a different theme--from casino night, to street party, to chocolate lovers night there are full evenings of activities that you can choose to partake in, or not.

Like we said, we were really into relaxing on this trip so one morning we enjoyed a wonderful couple's massage in an outdoor gazebo overlooking the beach (*extra cost from the Red Lane Spa on site). Sandals allows you to create a honeymoon wish list registry through them that you can add spa services, excursions, managers list wine, and many other options for your wedding guests to be able to contribute to your vacation.

Before picking a Sandals destination, be sure to check out all of the different restaurants, bars, and recreational activities specific to that resort to help make your decision. After a year of planning and preparing every detail of our wedding, we wanted nothing more than to sit back, relax, and soak in our newlywed status. Next visit, we definitely plan to check out some of the included activities (e.g., tennis, kayaking, paddle boarding, snorkeling, etc.) and off-site excursions.

Our personal suggestion when booking a room would be to either stay in a basic luxury level villa, or spend the extra money by getting a room with a personal butler. While we loved our room, with a minimal added cost per day we could have had all of the services included with a personal butler (24-hour room service, personal booking for excursions and reservations, drinks and meals served to you at the pool, and basically a personal concierge at all times). OR we could have saved a chunk of money and sacrificed our balcony. In our club level villa, we were not able to order room service and we didn't have a butler to bring food and drink to us, so while our balcony was awesome at sunrise and sunset, we didn't make much use of it.

OUR HONEYMOON:

To start our week, Dennis surprised me with a helicopter ride to our resort. When we landed at the airport and grabbed our luggage the staff asked for our last name and escorted us to "our ride". Little did I know, we were about to go on our first helicopter ride. It was an awesome way to see the island, literally from coast to coast...the island of St Lucia is only 14 miles wide! Men, take note. Awesome surprise and it cut travel time by an hour.

When they say Sandals caters to honeymooners and couples, they're not joking. They have picture perfect areas like this all set up for you plus professional photographers on site.

Still soaking it in that WE'RE MARRIED!

We decided to rent a private cabana one afternoon and it was totally worth it. The view was unreal, we had a private butler to serve us all of the food & drink we could want, and we got some quality us time. It was absolutely serene.

We spent a lot of time at the swim up bars. Never-ending happy hour, yes please!

We definitely recommend checking out Sandal's Resorts for your next couples vacation. We are already talking about booking another getaway through them. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about our experience with Sandals!