Saturday, July 25, 2009

Has any one been to Sandals resorts in Jamaica?

My fiance and I are thinking of honeymooning at one of the sandals resorts in Jamaica. I have never been to any of these "all inclusive" resorts. Are there really unlimited food and alcoholic beverages free? Are there any catches to this. What would you recommend bringing money for? We are especially interested in Sandals Whitehouse, since it seems more secluded, If you have been here can you tell me about your experience? If you have been to any other of there resorts in Jamaica please tell me about that also. Any tips would be appreciated, for I am not an experienced traveler. thanks!

Has any one been to Sandals resorts in Jamaica?
We have stayed at the Royal Caribbean and Montego Bay. And yes there is unlimited food and beverages there. You can eat at almost any time of the day. (There is usually no food served between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.) You can drink alcoholic beverages anytime after 10 a.m. There are no catches. Bring your appetite for good and interesting food and drinks.





You only need to bring money for the extras like souvenirs, exersions and spa treatments. I definately recommend a couples massage. They are great.





I have never visited the Sandals Whitehouse but of the two Jamiacian Sandals I have visited, I would recommend the Royal Caribbean for a honeymoon. It is secluded and they don't have a lot of rooms so there isn't a lot of people around. It also seems to have an older crowd which meant less partying. Montego Bay is catered more for the younger crowd. There is lots of contests and parties to choose from which is why we prefered the other resort better.





Traveling with Sandals is very easy and relaxing. They pick you up and take you to the airport. You don't have to pay for anything including tips. You have very nice people waiting on you all of the time. The rooms are lovely and always clean.





As for staying at a nicer room, if you can afford, then do it. I prefer to stay in a room with a conceirge service because it is nice to have someone to contact about anything special that you want. Also make sure that you get a room with room service. It is nice to eat breakfast on your balcony looking out at the ocean with your new husband. (We actually ate breakfast in more than out).





Congrats on the wedding and have great fun at your honeymoon!!!
Reply:Oh yes I've been. It's really all included. All you can eat that's 24 hour food service. Whitehouse is great cause they have a Bluefield's restaurant that serves authentic Jamacan cuisine - (Have a Steam Conch for me. Also try the cornmeal pudding). The Italian resataurant has made to order pizzas and the french cafe has fresh pastries everyday, plus chocolate dipped strawberries for you and yours. Take cash or credit for the spa and tours. DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DO THE COUPLE'S MASSAGE.
Reply:You are making a great choice! My husband and I honeymooned at Sandals Royal Carribbean just outside of Mo Bay and it was absolutely fabulous!! It really is all inclusive. They don't even want you to tip. Some of the restaurants, you will have to make reservations for, but they explain all that when you get there. There really is such a thing as unlimited food and drink, you just walk up to the bar or restaurant, eat or drink, and leave whe you are done. It feels strange the first time, not leaving a tip or anything, but that is all there is to it! Sandals even includes snorkeling and scuba diving, you can even take a resort scuba course for no charge! The only money that you need to bring is for souveniers. As far as resorts go, we have not gone to the white house resort, but that is supposed to be one of the best ones. Sandals royal carribbean was fabulous, but Sandals Inn in Mo Bay looks kind of crappy, and Sandals Mo Bay resort is right under the airport!! Really!! We saw the other locations on our trip. It is really loud at the Mo Bay resort because the airplanes take off and land right over the resort! Since then we went back to Jamaica again in 2004 and stayed at Hedonism 3 in Runaway Bay. That place was great too, but I would not reccomend it for a honeymoon, it is crazy! Fun, but crazy with lots of naked shenanagins! The Sandals White house resort should be a fabulous place for a honeymoon! best of luck to you both and congrats!
Reply:I just returned from Sandals Negril and Dunnes River from my honeymoon, there is unlimited food and drinks. There's also Sandals resort boats that take you out to the ocean to snorkle and scuba. We only brought money for tours outside of the resort such as canopy tours, river tubing etc. Or shopping everything else is taken car of.
Reply:Just go and enjoy yourself and don't worry about all the little details.


Bring only what you need,don't forget the camera,swimming suit and suntan oil,but if you are on your honeymoon you might not need too much suntan oil ;).


Of course you should bring some cash,but most people carry little cash nowadays,and use credit cards or debit cards.


Just watch your purse,wallet,etc.and where you leave things especially in airports and hotels.


Don't sweat the small stuff and have fun and enjoy! :)
Reply:We went to Sandals Montego Bay for our wedding and honeymoon. We had 5 couples that went down there for our wedding and stayed at Sandals Inn (in Montego Bay).





It's just as it sounds, all the food and drinks are free, as long as you're on your resort. There's no limit on how much food you eat, how many or what kind of drinks you drink. Some of the activities you need to pay for, but that just depends on how much you want to do. My husband smokes, but did not bring any cigarettes with him to try to make getting through the airport easier. We got to our resort and they were $6 a pack!! Just a warning if you or your fiance smoke cigarettes. We heard later that you can bring up to 1 carton with you (I think, not a real reliable source). Most of the activities you can find out the prices ahead of time by calling the resort. We were down there for a week and the only thing we spent money on was his cigarettes, souveniors, and we went on a sunset booze cruise. We went snorkeling, on a glass bottom boat, on a catamaran ride, kayaking, etc.. that were all free. Scuba diving was free also, but you had to take a day long course to go. They had activities all day long on the beach (volleyball, competitions, dance classes, jamaican drinkology, etc..). They had a gym that you could go to for free also. The hair salon/spa you had to pay for.





Sandals Montego Bay is beautiful! There is constantly something going on if you're looking for something to do and the staff is wonderful! The beaches are gorgeous if you want a lazy day on the beach. We had the choice of oriental, italian, jamaican, barbeque, or American restaurants. We didn't have the oriental food at all. The italian, we had on our wedding night, was great. We had to make a reservation as to what time we wanted to eat, but it was still free. The American food was at a little beach bar, and served burgers, fries, nachos, etc... They stayed open until 2:00 in the morning serving food. The restaurant that served breakfast was open until 6, so between then, you couldn't get anything to eat. But the beach bar had a fountain soda machine outside, that you could always get a soda. The workers in there were amazing. They would dance, perform, and sing the whole time they worked. They had a main bar in the very open and spacious lobby and a piano bar. We loved the piano bar. It was surrounded by a pool on the outside, that you could swim up to the windows and sit on under-water "bar-stools". Inside, they had tables or the piano that you could sit around, and also a regular bar to sit at. The whole resort was very picturous. It didn't matter where you went, it would make a very beautiful background for pictures.





We went over to Sandals Inn the day every one else arrived, and their resort wasn't as I had expected after seeing ours. It had a very small beach across the road (so it wasn't private) and you got hounded by people wanting to sell you things the whole time you were there. It was clean and very quaint, but nothing like Sandals Montego Bay. They only had 1 pool in the middle of the rooms. I think they only had 1-2 restaurants.





Some of our friends went to Sandals Whitehouse right after it opened, and they say it is VERY secluded. If you want to take any of the tours while you're down there, look forward to a 3-4 hour drive getting there. When they were down there, the resort wasn't finished yet, but had already opened. They said even like the bars didn't have tops on them or anything. One couple got a free trip back for the amount of their stay, and the other couple got their money refunded. 2 of the people got food poisoning from one of the restaurants too. I'm sure things have changed by now though too.





I was also well worth the 5 minutes to fill out the paperwork to become a Sandals Signature Guest. You need to have the paperwork validated while you are done there. But they keep track of the days you spend there and give you so many points. After getting so many points, you get free days. We loved it there, and we will be repeat customers at Sandals and Beaches, so it was well worth our time.





One thing we did do, is we packed way, way too much clothes. Almost every day there, we spent on the beach. Most of the restaurants you could come as you were, so I spent the majority of my time in swim suits and little skirt coverups. My husband mainly just wore his swimming trunks and t-shirts.





And as a warning too, it was worse in the airports getting from Jamaica back into the US, compared to the other way around. We left early in the morning, leaving the US, so the airports weren't very crowded. When we arrived in Jamaica, there were Sandals representatives holding signs to show us where the Sandals shuttle service was located. They dropped us off right in front of our resort. For the way back, the Sandals shuttle dropped us off back at the airport, but then we were kind of on our own to find where we had to go. It wasn't bad, but no nearly the service and direction we received going down there.





I can email you some pictures of our resort if you'd like. I think I have some of Sandals Inn also (and if not, I'm sure someone took some). And I can try to get some pictures from the 2 couples that went to Sandals Whitehouse, but again, it wasn't finished yet when they were there.
Reply:no ,i have not been to sandals resorts , but yes i have been to Jamaica , Ocho Rios ; great !!!!!!!!!!!!!


if you can ? get the all inclusive package , it includes , all foods and beverages , all day ...and until a certain hour in the night , you may also eat between meals if you wish , it will save you money , for if you eat out ? it is very expensive ....so are the drinks , besides , everything is at your fingertips ))


alot of place have entertainment that you may wish to participate .........


http://www.changes.com/resorts/sandals-w...


this is the place you are talking about .....you may look at it if you wish ?


as far as money ? i had a hard time spending some , besides a couples of souvenirs .........


if you have an all inclusive , you will get picked up from the airport and back ........


do go there , you will love it ..........


enjoy yourselves and have a great honeymoon ........


type # Jamaica # in your search link .you will get an idea of what it is all about ...............
Reply:I, too, honeymooned at Sandals Royal Caribbean and highly recommend it. If you can afford it at all, you should splurge on a honeymoon concierge room. The deluxe are ok, but nothing special. We loved our concierge because we had breakfast in bed each morning, great service and they made reservations for us, and we had a beautiful view of the pool and the ocean.





It really is all inclusive, as others have said. You don't need money for tips, food, or drinks and you can have as much as you want. You can also shuttle to Inn or Montego Bay and try their restaurants as well. I would definitely bring some cash to do at least one "excursion." We went to Dunn's River Falls for a half day and it was so much fun. Bring a few ones to tip the chauffeur from the airport, but you shouldn't need cash for anything else! I also recommend the couples' massage if you like that sort of thing.



insurance

No comments:

Post a Comment