Having read all the reviews of this place (for hours) on TripAdvisor, I was extremely nervous about our vacation, which we took from 9/20 - 9/28. I can tell you that this is an extremely fair review because I am pretty picky as far as quality of hotels/food/service, while my husband is pretty laid back. Between the two of us, we amount to an average opinion.

First, I was nervous because I thought if we didn't book a Concierge level room (we had the Honeymoon Deluxe Beachfront Villa), we would not get all the "perks". It's true that if you have a butler, they will make all the reservations for you at restaurants, reserve a special curtained lounge chair on the beach for you, and supply you with drinks/lunches, but we met some people who said they never called upon their butler or even needed them. So, we think we had a pretty nice deal with what we had.

Due to the recommendations of the TripAdvisor people, we did book the helicopter upon our arrival. Since it was just my husband and I, we were able to bring our luggage with us, though I understand if there are other couples, we would not have been able to. The review is exactly as written: book through the resort it is $280 for two people and totally worth it! The ride was only 15 minutes long and he flew so close to shore, it felt like we were in a movie! It was exhilarating.

When we arrived, we were greeted with glasses of champagne as we checked in. We were then walked to our room. Our room was a lot smaller than the pictures on the website, but they were clean, fresh, and convenient.

We NEVER had any problems with service. I wanted to get that down. Our refrigerator was always stocked, we had housekeeping come in twice to give fresh towels. There were only a couple times where we noticed a slower service and that was with food or the bar, but it was nothing. All you have to do is wave the person over. Everyone is super friendly.

The food was not great, but it didn't suck either. It was average, and I didn't mind it. I don't recommend the Italian restaurant for breakfast. You wait almost 45 minutes to get the exact same food that you have at the buffet Bayside place.

The grounds were very clean. Yes, there were vendors on the beach, but always thanked you if you turned them away. We heard about Charlie and booked an excursion with him. We might be the first couple to say, it wasn't worth it. We paid $200 total. We went with four other couples on a small speedboat around the island. They took us to two snorkeling spots, which quite frankly, you get snorkeling and scuba for free through the resort, so we didn't feel this was a perk. Also, they seemed to run out of the beverages on the way back, and I don't think we drank that much. Part of the excursion was on land. By bus they took us to a natural spring water pool and to the volcanoe. To be honest, they stopped for "scenic photographic" overlooks...but it was really to bring us to their vendor friends. Every stop we made, there was someone set up with a vending booth. We did not pay for them to take us to vendors. It was the same stuff too: same necklaces, same soap and food items. They took us to Charlie's Aunt's restaurant for lunch, and the food was not great. Therefore, I would not recommend this tour.

We did book the Zipline tour through the resort. This was a blast! Our tour guide was an absolute blast and kept us quite entertained. There are 7 zip lines, the last one being the tallest at 150 feet. Now, I am a complete scaredy cat, and I never felt so safe! My husband did ziplining in Costa Rica and said this place had quadriple the amount of safety gear on you! Definitely worth it! I felt like Indiana Jones going through the rain forest!

The best experience we had was with the PADI diver facility at the resort. Again, scuba diving is included at the resort. I was only Scuba Diver certified prior to this trip which meant I could only go to 40 feet and always with an Instructor. Well, I got Open Water Certified here at Sandals for $250 and my Instructor, Pamela, was terrific! My first time going under, I actually panicked and started to tear up. The Instructor St. Rose actually took my hand and held it for the first half of the dive. These people were amazing!!!

I must say, I was not impressed with the reefs at St. Lucia. We were warned about this too from a travel agent friend. All the coral reef was brown and looked dead. We dove in Fiji for our honeymoon (a year ago) and the reef was a blaze with rainbow colors. This was just disappointing. My favorite dive was to a ship wreck! It was amazing. My husband did his first night dive and said it was unbelievable and would highly recommend it.

We didn't feel the night life was anything too special. We are used to cruises and resorts that have grand shows every night. There wasn't really anything much here except on Monday nights they put together a beach bbq with fire eaters and limbo dancers. Other than that, they would have muscians come each night to play music, but it wasn't anything much.

I would say there is a nice mixure of things to do during the day whether you are a partier, or a lounger. The main pool had a swim up bar and a huge jacuzzi and there tended to be "heavy drinkers" there all day and night, which if fine if you are into that.

We are more easy going, and there were wonderful places on the beach that you could sit as well as other quiet pools. As I mentioned above, there are about 6 curtained and cushioned louge chairs that resemble a four poster bed on the beach. These are the ones that Conceierge butlers usually reserve for their guests early on. Well, on our last night, we were up at 5:30am and decided to go down there and grab one, which we did successfully. I would say by 6:30am, every single one was grabbed, so go down early if you want to get one.

Oh, I have to mention this: I am a MAJOR spa goer back at home. I LOVE doing spa days with my friends and being pampered. One look at their spa service menu and the prices, my mouth just dropped! I couldn't believe it, but their prices are at least double, if not triple what you would pay in the states! I was so disgusted by it that I did not do ONE spa service while I was there.

We had also pre-booked a candlelight dinner on the beach on the night of our anniversary. Let me just warn you: it is $280 for both of you. You are NOT the only couple on the beach. There are at least half a dozen tables set up on the beach, and sometimes you are right in front of people who are sitting on lounge chairs! Sure, the ambiance was beautiful: there is a table for two, you have candles on the table and they have tiki torches lit all around you with flowers circling your table. They do have white gloved butler service. However, the menu had horrible selections: lamb, hen, pasta, or salmon. When none of those appealed to me and I asked if I could do some sort of steak, they said yes, but for an ADDITIONAL $100!!! Wow! I have never paid $380 for a dinner in my life! We ended up canceling our candlelight dinner.

So, just be forewarned. Everything at the resort is very expensive and overpriced. If we were on our honeymoon, I might have splurged a little bit here and there, but we were there for an anniversary and I had a little more "sense".

Overall, our experience was great. We were there for our one year wedding anniversary and met mostly couples who were there on their honeymoon. Expect some rain showers during the month of September as that is their rain season. We didn't know this, but it would be sunny in the morning, then rainy in the afternoon. Not bad at all and it would pass quickly.

We wanted a beautiful, tropical place to spend our 20th Anniversary. St Lucia was recomended by some friends that had visited the island on a cruise. After a little research we decided on the Sandal's Grande. We made the right choice!!! Everything was great, the food, the bars, the room service, the grounds, the beach, the staff, I could go on all day!!! I would absolutely recomend the "Conceirge Suite" level or higher. Almost all of the feedback from this level I found was very satisfied, and I feel the same way. We never wanted for anything, we asked, they provided, no pressure, no problem!!! Off the resort we took 2 excursions, the Zip-Line tour that we booked at the resort and a boat/taxi tour with Charlie, a local who combs the beach each day looking for clients. The Zip-Line was amazing, we had a fabulous time. 'George of the Jungle" was our guide and did a fantastic job. The ride to & from the Zip-Line is about 1 hr each way and George made the time fly with his sharing of his vast knowledge of the island. "Charles in Charge" took 14 of us on a 6 hr tour of the island. You would have to book several tours at the resort to cover all that we did with Charlie. We went to Anse La Raye, Marigot Bay, Souffierre, the Drive Through Volcano, a mineral hot springs waterfall, lunch at Martha's Tables (the best authentic Caribbean food we had the whole trip) and we finished up by snorkeling between the "Pitons". The charge, $100.00 us, you would pay 3-4 times that to book each one seperately. If you are hanging out on the beach enjoying a refreshing BBC (you must try one) you will no doubt run to Charlie, he's very low pressure, low key, but well worth the money. Overall we had an excellent trip. One piece of advice though, DO NOT WEAR CAMOFLAUGE to the airport, they will not let you through Customs. Fortunately I had other shorts in my carry-on to change into!! Keep in mind that cabs are the best/safest way to get around, but they're not cheap, sometimes a shuttle to another resort first, then catch a cab was a little cheaper. Would we recomend this resort? Absolutely. Would we go back? Absolutely!!

We had a wonderful honeymoon at Sandals Grande St. Lucian! We loved the all-inclusive aspect, as it was never necessary to carry cash. Our valuables were tucked away safely in the room's safe.

The pools there were fantastic and we loved being able to swim up to them to get our drinks on a daily basis. :) The beach there was also wonderful, picturesque and serene. Please note that, even though the beaches are on front of this beautiful private resort, it is considered, I believe, as semi-private. Other people are free to walk the beach there and sometimes, we were approached by very pushy local people trying to sell their goods; necklaces, homemade baskets, tour guides, etc. They were not permitted to go past the fence which led to the resort itself, but if you went to the beach, they were allowed to approach you and please be sure that they did, incessantly. We stayed mostly at the pool.

Sandals has a great system of taking guests to the other Sandals resorts on the island, so, my husband and I went to the Halcyon one evening for dinner at the Pier Restaurant! Wow, are we so glad that we did that. There was a gorgeous sunset when we got there and we had a lovely, romantic dinner on the Pier. We then caught the shuttle back to the Grande.

The restaurants were all great! They served delicious food, but small portions. We sometimes asked for a second appetizer or entrée. The wait staff at every one of the restaurants were friendly and accommodating.

We loved eating breakfast at the Bayside Restaurant since it was near the pool and near the beautiful view of the sea. They served a buffet every day and it was great! LOTS of food!

The water sports dept. was great and we got to kayak one day and snorkel - - all for free. The snorkeling excursion was fantastic and we got to see gorgeous coral and fish! It's a must!

My husband ventured up to Fort Rodney one day which is right near the resort. It cost him $5.00 to visit this old fort which had wonderful views of the island.

We recommend Sandals Grande St. Lucian to any couple, especially honeymooners! It was certainly one of the best vacations we'd ever been on.

We stayed at the Grande St. Lucian for our honeymoon from September 2nd through September 13th. This review will give you an honest opinion on what to expect.

Overall, our stay was great! We are laid back people, but we also value good service, amenities, and food, largely attributed to the fact that we live in the metropolitan NYC area.

Our stay was smack in the middle of hurricane season (the locals said that they haven't had a hurricane in a long time!)and we quickly found out that the hotel was not filled to capacity. This is good and bad (good - there is no wait to get seated at restaurants and we probably got things done quicker, i.e. concierge. Bad - they closed 1 restaurant a night due to "low occupany" so we didn't have all the dining choices available to us). That being said, we kind of liked the fact that there was less people there - people had mentioned that when the resort is at capacity there are long lines to get into the restaurants, etc.

*Check in: Our check in was really smooth. We took the helicopter from UVF to the smaller airport near the hotel and it was worth every penny. You get to see the entire island and it's just a more pleasant way to arrive at the hotel, as opposed to a 1.5 hour bus ride. Note that you are only allowed to bring your carry on with you on the helicopter (make sure you pack a bathing suit, sandals, etc in this), your other suitcases will be delivered to your room after the last flight, in our case we got our bags around 7:30 PM the same night. Upon arrival we were taken to the concierge lounge and given some champagne, which we enjoyed! We were given our room keys and the concierge assistant led us to our room and showed us the amenities.

*The Room: We had a honeymoon concierge swim up room and this MADE our trip!!!! We loved having our semi-private pool right off our balcony and used it everyday we were there. We also had a concierge level room, which meant we had a stocked bar (filled with liquor, wine, champagne and beer) and room service. I highly recommend getting a concierge (or higher - butler) service room, I feel that service that we got was great and truly made us feel like we were on vacation!! The room was average - it was a regular room with double sinks and a little sitting area. The bathroom was nothing special, and the toilets were filled with very little water, which was a little strange, something we are not used to in the States.

The resort in general was beautiful. It is by far the best one to stay at out of the three Sandals properties on the island. We did go to the other resorts for dinner (will mention later) and were not impressed. Every night at the Grande they have a band and some activities, so there is always something to do! The water sports are great, there are some free ones offered (snorkeling, water skiiing and hobie) and then there is jet skiing and parasailing which you have to pay for. We took the jetskiis out twice and had a blast!!

Food - The restaurants at the Grande and all Sandals resorts are for the most part average. Below you will find a detailed review and rating (out of 5) for the restaurants we dined at.

*Bayside (3) - The buffets for breakfast and lunch are average, but the dinner is a la carte and we had great experiences the 2 time we dined there. The fish is super fresh and the meat is really good also.
*Toscaninis (4) - This is the only formal restaurant on the property. They have breakfast there ( a la carte) which is FANTASTIC! They dinner is good too, lots of choices to choose from - We especially liked the shrimp and the lasagna.
*Barefoot by the Sea (3) - This restaurant is average, they have burgers/wraps for lunch and alacarte for dinner.
*Josephine's (4.5) - This was a great place for snacks. We ate here almost here every day. They have a great variety of pizzas, crepes, and desserts.
*London Pub (2) - Your basic fried bar food. The place is good though to drink at late in the night.
Le Toc (At the Regency) (3.5) - You need reservations so make them upon arrival. Good french food, but not great. They also push very hard for you to buy wine there.
*Kimonos (At the Regency) (2) - You need reservation so make them upon arrival. This maybe because we are from the northeast, but we are very used to hibachi types of restaurants. Kimonos compared to anything we were used to was awful. The view was great but the air conditioning wasn't working and the food quality was mediocore at best.
*Pier (At the Halcyon) (4.5) - By far the best quality of food of all 3 resorts. The only negative is that the service is slow and desert selection is buffet style. Also, do not plan being stuck at this resort outside of your dining experience since there is nothing to do.

Tours
We did the Simon Says tour. You can find Simon on the beach with him wearing a Simons Says tshirt. It cost $200 a couple, paying a deposit of $100 and the other $100 the day of the tour. The tour begins at 9am and you go in one of his vans (depending on how many couples sign up). The vans are stocked with water, soda, and beer. The stops include the bannana planation, piton mountains, volcano, snorkeling, and natural spring bath. Simon brings you to his house where his wife cooks lunch for everyone. We didn't get to his house until 2pm so we would probably ate whatever he gave us. The food at his house was average at best unlike the other reviews we read before we went down. He had mac and cheese (hardly an authentic dish), lo mein, rice, and curry chicken (average). The ride back from his house to the resort was very long and boring. We returned around 4pm. From talking to other people at the resort, they said the one the hotel does and the Charles in Charge do similar things on the tour but you come back to the resort on a catamaran instead of a van in the Simon Says tour. We would recommend maybe trying a different tour than the Simon Says tour for that reason.

Overall, we had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. The drinks were great and we were just glad to be lounging in paradise where we didn't have to do anything!!!