Review - Sandals Grenada

[jmark18]

For T&C, I will make the following recommendations:

1. Club Med Turquise was awesome – and significantly cheaper than Beaches and kid free!! Drinks were great and made to order. I admit, I had to re-educate the bartenders on how to make a GREAT margarita, but I also saw every guest ordering it my way after that.
2. Flamingo Divers for your scuba. They will even pick you up @ the hotel and drop you off. Mickey and Jayne are AWESOME. I had to dive with another operator the final day and it was not good (I’ll leave it at that).
3. All inclusive will be cheaper than not. If anyone thinks Grand Cayman is expensive, wait till you go to an offsite restaurant in Provo and 4 drinks and 2 appetizers runs you $95 – not joking. It was the best $8 Corona of my life - Haha

Sandals has great food, and I detest buffets… Negril’s Samdals is amazing. Great food, great scuba operation, and they even include waterskiing, although free skiing on the ocean with inferior equipment is not for me - I did it to say I did it.

Sandals class cost was also reasonable. Yes it was more expensive by about ($50 at home) BUT….

1. You’re on vacation with no distractions
2. No murky cold Texas lake diving
3. No lugging of gear for a shore dive

I agree with everything. Sticker shock especially when I compare it to how it was in the early90's. I would only add that if Micky and Jane are booked( which they usually are since there are so many repeat guests) try AquaTCI. A like minded small operation

 

[Reefterp]

You can freely store any/all of your equipment in the dive shop. Where it's a private beach there is zero traffic from outside the resort, so it appeared quite safe and secure. Once we got to know the staff after the first or second day, they offered to rinse/hang the equipment as well. Some days that was with mixed results as it seemed our bags weren't unpacked to e.g. rinse the boots/fins/etc. But the days I took care of it myself (aside from the ribbing of 'you're on vacation...enjoy yourself...we'll do this!') nobody cared if I dropped our stuff in the dunk tanks quickly myself.

Also note that there is no 'rent' either - anything you could need is included in the price of the room.

Ok another follow up question having never been to a Sandals resort (or any resort as large as this one)-

Did you find it was difficult to get a lounge chair at the pool or beach, or have to eat at odd times because restaurants were full? I was looking at the different price points and can't see us wanting or needing the Butler level but the beachfront rooms I'd like are at club level. There are of course even cheaper options that are neither and I'm wondering how much it really matters.

 

[BalekFekete]

Did you find it was difficult to get a lounge chair at the pool or beach, or have to eat at odd times because restaurants were full? I was looking at the different price points and can't see us wanting or needing the Butler level but the beachfront rooms I'd like are at club level. There are of course even cheaper options that are neither and I'm wondering how much it really matters.

Short answer: It depends.

Long answer: I can only base the feedback on the single trip, however, getting a pair of lounge chairs was never a problem IF you don't have a burning need to be on the front row on the patios around the pools. Those are largely grabbed by the butlers early (i.e. before 6am) and holding chairs throughout the day is not something that is policed nor - based on what I saw - even frowned upon. We stayed to the pool down by the ocean, which was quieter and far less frequented. There we were able to get a good pair of chairs with an umbrella just by showing up around 8:30ish before breakfast. On the days we dove, the chairs down at the beach were apleanty.

Restaurant-wise, two options required reservations. Butches Steakhouse fills up fast, so make sure you stop by the reservation desk as soon as you check in. We were able to go twice over the course of the time we were there. Those restaurants that didn't have reservations were always walk in and sit down for us without waiting.

 

[Reefterp]

Thank you this is really helpful feedback. We would plan to be down by the quiet pool near the beach or on the beach anyway for some peace and quiet. No need to party with the honeymooners . My husband needs more shade than I do though which is why I wondered about the ability to get a lounge chair anywhere near some shade. But totally fine not being front row.

 

[BalekFekete]

My husband needs more shade than I do though which is why I wondered about the ability to get a lounge chair anywhere near some shade. But totally fine not being front row.

You’d have zero problems. My wife liked to get some sun, whereas I can take it or leave it. We never had a problem finding a pair of chairs with an umbrella or near some of the palm trees on the beach.

 

[RJMETZ]

I realize this subject has been quiet for a while but we just returned from Sandals Grenada so I thought I would weigh in. Tourism is a large part of the economy here so the folks are really happy to be back at work. We always like the dive crew here but they are really hustling now to make the guest experience extraordinary. The diving as always was very good. May be due to the fact that the critters haven’t seen any divers for a while but we saw a lot of sea life, nurse sharks, seahorses, lobsters, lots of rays.....the cuisine seems to get better every time we are here. The accommodations are very nice. The resort was maybe at 40% capacity when we arrived 10/10/20. They were very diligent about their Covid protocols. We are heading back!