Cheryl's Travel Message Board

[sourir]

Gina & Jay Sandals Regency St Lucia Trip Feb 2006

This was our 4th trip to Sandals since July 2003 when we were married at Sandals Royal Caribbean and honeymooned at Royal Plantation. We returned to SRC in Dec 2004 for New Year’s Eve week and journeyed to Sandals Whitehouse for a week in May 2005.

We left Huntsville, AL on a 6 am flight to Atlanta where we would connect to a direct flight to St Lucia’s Hewonarra airport on the south side of the island. Upon checkin in Huntsville, we were told our bag was 8 pounds overweight and given the option to take stuff out of it. I just said that we’d pay versus repacking. We had 2 roll aboards with clothes in case our bags were lost and a smaller red bag that I was using for a purse. It was only $25. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful.

We arrived in ATL on time and proceeded to the gate. There was no one at the gate so we went to grab a quick bite of breakfast. After some Popeye’s for Jay and Burger King for Gina, we headed back to the gate. Still no personnel but the St Lucia sign was still up. I was skeptical of this being the correct gate but after asking a few Delta personnel, they all assured us we were in the right spot. Eventually, one of these came back and told us to go to another gate all the way down the concourse. When we got there, that gate had the sign for Mexico City instead of St Lucia and no flight schedule monitor indicated that this was the gate to St Lucia. I’m not sure how anyone else found it.

We were able to upgrade our tickets to first class for $150 each. This was not being advertised but we had heard them announcing it for an Aruba flight while we were at the wrong gate. We asked and were granted the chance to purchase the upgrade. Jay and I were assigned to 2A&B. The flight was on time and really smooth. We were served all sorts of drinks and snacks and a lunch of salad, roll, manicotti and grilled chicken with a great brownie cake for dessert. The flight was around 4 hrs long. We watched The Legend of Zorro with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones. It was funny enough and helped to pass the time.

We filled out our customs and immigration forms on the plane and had them ready for arrival at the airport. Be sure to have your papers in your hand as the girl at the door wouldn’t let us proceed without having them out – though plenty of people passed by us without having them out. Even with that delay, we were second in line and got through quickly. We proceeded to the baggage claim carouselle (there is only one!) and amazingly our bag was first off! We were the first couple from our plane through customs. A porter helped us with our bags out the door and over to the Sandals desk. (About 20 feet)

We gave our name to the Sandals rep and were directed to the curb where we first in line for a shuttle to the Regency. I found the restroom and we waited for the shuttle to arrive and for the other couples to show up. We were jammed onto a shuttle with 3 other couples and about 5 sets of golf clubs. Two of the couples knew each other and were constantly talking to the driver and telling him to speed up and requesting to stop for beer. The driver pretty much ignored them and just drove to the resort. I’m not a good passenger on windy roads and tend to get car sick. I took some Dramamine on the plane but was still feeling pretty yucky on the drive. The drive starts out along the east coast and then crosses the mountains going northwest across St Lucia to Castries where Regency is located. The trip took about an hour and a half. We were mortified that the other passengers on our bus didn’t tip the driver – especially after they’d asked if he worked for Sandals and he’d indicated that he did not…

Check in was as chaotic as you’d expect with 4 couples and all of their luggage. One couple was scooted off to the bluffs for concierge checkin. The rest of us got checked in at the main lobby. We were given cool towels and champagne and the amenity bag was explained as well as the lock for the safe. I could see in our bag that we had keycards and no lock and key for the safe so I figured we were safe with our room assignment. We’d been called by Sandals to upgrade our “Premium” room 2 categories to Grande Luxe about a week before the trip for $199. We accepted this upgrade. As it turns out, we were assigned Room 152 which was another 2 category upgrade from Grande Luxe to Honeymoon Grand Luxe Beachfront Room. This room was just steps away from the main pool. We loved the room and the location.

The room was newly remodeled and required the room key to be in a slot near the exit door to work the air conditioner and a few lights. No problem – we were given two keys – one of which always stayed in the slot. We also had a flat panel television hanging on the wall, electronic safe in the closet and a mini-fridge stocked with cokes and water. Of course, there was the standard Sandals 4 poster bed along with a lovely sitting area. We had sliding glass doors out to a patio that overlooked the ocean.

It was too late to go swimming so we unpacked our suitcases and got settled. There was a lack of drawers in this room. We used a nightstand to store some things and then we each stacked things overhead in the closet after hanging up all of our night-time clothes. We were able to slide our suitcases underneath the bed in order to save space and keep our room looking uncluttered. Eventually we got ready to head out to dinner and to explore the resort. We found the menus and decided to try the Pitons restaurant. We went to the main lobby and got directions on how to walk to it. We arrived at around 8pm and there was a 20 minute wait for a table. The hostess invited us to wait in the Piano Bar. It was too early for the piano player but we made ourselves at home with a Cosmo for me and Jay’s new favorite drink – Courvousier straight up. Jay got hooked on Hennessy at Whitehouse but there was no Hennessy at Regency. The bartender suggested Courvousier and it was a hit with Jay. We had fun chatting with some of the other guests while we waited.

For dinner, we had an appetizer called Jazzing which was a fish cake something like a conch fritter but with fish not conch. We had Jerk Pork Caesar Salad which was spicy hot. I had the shrimp kebob and Jay had a lamb curry dish. Both excellent. For dessert, I had the key lime tart and Jay had cheesecake. The desserts were not bad but nothing special for sure. We walked to Jamie’s sports bar which was advertised to have Name that Tune but they were having Karaoke night. No problem… We had many drinks and had a super time with the karaoke. Jay sang his usual Friends in Low Places. I sang Margaritaville with Roddy, one of the playmakers. Jay also sang Purple Rain. There were many fun couples who were singing and having a great time with this. We stayed through the end of the karaoke night and made the most of our first day at Regency.

Friday morning we slept late after a late night out. We found loungers near the pool edge at the main pool and got towels. Regency doesn’t have the towel card program like at SRC. Each couple could get two towels at a time (4 if you each went up separately!) from the towel shack at the main pool. We lounged around in the sun til around lunch time. We headed down to Arizona’s for lunch. Jay had a beef dip and I had chicken quesadillas. They had the best curly fries…

After lunch we went to watersports to try the Aquatrikes. We signed up for them and also a snorkeling trip for Sunday afternoon. Jay grabbed our life preservers as I signed up. I put mine on and felt like I was being suffocated. I almost had a panic attack trying to get it off. Jay had gotten me an Adult XS by accident. He had been trying to get an Adult L on. I found 2 Adult XLs and we were set with more than enough room to move in them. The aquatrike was a lot of fun and also got a good leg workout as well as some cardio trying to keep us going in the right direction. We brought it back to the shore and lounged around the main pool some more. I did aquacize at the main pool around 3pm. It was great…

After napping from 4-6pm and getting ready for dinner, we took the shuttle up to the bluffs to eat at Armando’s – the Italian restaurant. We were seated inside right away. They had a nice antipasto bar with lots of goodies on it. I had a Caesar salad and Jay had a mozzarella tomato salad. Jay had veal on linguine noodles and I had cheese ravioli with a neopolitan red sauce (marinara). I had tiramisu and Jay had cheesecake. My tiramisu was good and Jay’s cheesecake was better than the night before’s but still not cheesecake like he was looking for…

We hit Jamie’s after dinner and wound up participating in a newlywed game. It was fun but we didn’t win. We had a few drinks and then walked to Herbie’s Piano bar for the singalong. We had a great time… and another late night.

Saturday we slept late again and then got a quick bite at the Pavilion for breakfast buffet. We staked out a good spot at the Main Pool. We were at the pool bar waiting for 11 am aquacize aerobics when they pulled Jay into the class too. It was a great workout in the water and the instructor was good too. Once again, we headed to Arizona’s for lunch where I had grilled cheese and Jay had a cheeseburger. We missed Pictionary at the main pool while we were at lunch. We hung out at the main pool til around 4pm.

We had decided to go to Halcyon to the Pier restaurant for Saturday night dinner. We had a short nap and then got dressed quickly to make the 6pm shuttle. It was a 15 minute drive through Castries to get to Halcyon. We arrived prior to the Pier opening at 6:30 so we got a drink. While we got a drink, a few people queued up ahead of us in line. We still got a table easily. I had a crab cake as an appetizer while Jay had a shrimp spring roll and we shared the conch fritters appetizer. Jay had a market salad and I had a fresh fruit salad. We both had pan fried Tilapia filets. Jay had another cheesecake which was different than either of the two previous nights and still not as expected but not bad either. I had a few bites of a chocolate banana bake that was way too rich for me. It was a great dinner.

We took the 8:30 shuttle back to Regency and headed to the Piano Bar for after dinner drinks and to singalong with the Piano Player. Tonite we met Tasha who was bartending at the piano bar. She was so great as a bartender and was also a lot of fun. She got me going on BBC’s – Bailey’s Bananas and Cream. TASTY! We closed them down with another late night!

Sunday we slept late again and then headed to the gym to workout. The gym was open-air but nice. It got quite warm down there but we made it through our 30 minutes elliptical and 20 minute treadmill workout. They also had stairsteppers and the typical weight machines. This is near the beauty shop and the ampitheatre. Plenty of folks walked by on their way to water sports.

After a shower, we headed up to the main pool where we camped out for the rest of the day. We participated in Fish a Prize and the Ping Pong tournament as well as plenty of Pool Bar activities. Tasha was working the main pool bar and kept us in drinks. We headed inside around 4pm for a nap to get ready for another fun evening.

We caught the 7pm shuttle over to the Grande for dinner at Barefoot by the Sea. There was a short line to get on the list to eat there so we got drinks at their beach bar and had a short wait for dinner. I was particularly amused by the dress code – which was casual but demanded “no bare feet” at Barefoot by the Sea. Seemed contradictory to me… haha We were seated and told to help ourselves to the appetizer bar. It was all good though I’m not sure of the specific appetizers that we had. Jay and I each ordered the surf and turf which was a filet with grilled shrimp. It was the best steak either of us had at a Sandals – including Royal Plantation. Jay also got a great piece of real cheesecake for dessert! I can’t recall what I had for dessert but I’m sure it was good.

After dinner, we wandered back up the main lobby. We stopped for drinks at the martini bar and I had an Absolut Mandarin Cosmo. YUM. We found out our shuttle didn’t leave for about 30 minutes so we had a few more drinks while waiting. The Grande lobby is huge and very fancy. We were told that area was meant to be a casino gaming floor when it was built for the Hyatt prior to Sandals purchasing it after the Hyatt wasn’t granted a gambling license. It is just at 30 minutes from Grande to Regency including a stop at the Halcyon to drop off and take on more passengers.

We had one drink at Jamies to see what was going on and then headed to the Piano Bar where there was more going on. The bartender there wouldn’t tell us his real name but told us it was Butros Butros Gali. Somehow we weren’t convinced. We had a super time just chatting with the other folks in the bar and having drinks. We stopped by Arizona’s for a late night snack (pizza for Jay – nachos for Gina) to take back to the room.

We got another late start on Monday – just getting out to the pool in time for the bar to open and us have a couple of drinks prior to Aquacize aerobics. We did the Treasure Hunt and only found a couple of items (we didn’t look too hard) and then headed to Arizona’s again for lunch. We wound up cutting lunch short and heading back to the room for a nap. We had reservations for Kimono’s at 8:30. Kimono’s was a lot of fun and a lot of food. We were at the table with 4 other couples. Our chef did a great job preparing our food but not a big show or anything. I’ve been to this sort of restaurant many times before so it wasn’t a disappointment to me but I think the guests from England who were not familiar with this type of dining experience would have enjoyed more of a show.

We headed down to the Piano Bar for a few drinks after Kimono’s and then called it an early evening (11 pm!). We watched the end of the first night of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show which we’d forgotten to tape at home.

Tuesday we once again hit the main pool for a fun day at Sandals. Jay got us a plate of breakfast foods from the Pavilion restaurant while we laid out. We did a lot this day in terms of activities. We did aquacize, lover’s knot, balloon toss, and the Adam and Eve game. Jay picked up some food at Arizona’s to bring back to the main pool for us to have as a small snack. It started raining for about half hour around 3:30 pm. We headed to the room for a nap to get ready for our big Valentine’s dinner date at La Toc.

We went to the Pavilion bar for some pre-dinner drinks as we waited for our reservation at La Toc. We were offered “sparkling” aka champagne at La Toc and were given the bottle to chill tableside. We had warm appetizers of Crab Cakes and cold appetizers of Shrimp Cocktail. Jay had a shrimp bisque for the soup course and we both had garden salads. For the main course, I had duck and Jay had veal. They were excellent entrees. We had another bottle of champagne and were even given one to take with us. I had a great crème brulee while Jay had the special dessert of Raspberry Chocolate cheesecake. Jay reports that this cheesecake was better than other places except for Barefoot by the Sea.

We took our extra bottle of champagne back to the room to chill and went back to the Pavilion to hear the entertainment. They had a great band that we danced to for a bit before heading back to the room to enjoy the remainder of Valentine’s Day and our bottle of champagne. We also got to watch the end of the Westminster Dog Show and see the winner selected.

Wednesday we slept late before beginning our final day at Regency. We layed out at the main pool until Aquacize. We had a great lunch at Arizona’s and then soaked up some more sun. Around 3pm, we headed to the gym to work out. I did a thighs and butts class with Richard (who also taught aquacize) while Jay did cardio on the elliptical. I was the only one to show up for the class so once again I got a personal class at Sandals. It was a great workout and I hurt for days afterwards. After this great workout, we headed back to the room to pack and nap before the SSG cocktail party and dinner.

There were great hors d’oervres at the cocktail party. We headed into the Pavilion restaurant where they had set tables of 9 for dinner. We sat with Catherine who was the executive housekeeper. I was sure to let her know that we’d had the best housekeeping of any Sandals we’ve been to. It was head and shoulders ahead of Whitehouse housekeeping. She made a note of this and told us she’d let our housekeeper know this. The other couples at our table hadn’t been to the same Sandals as us so it was fun to swap stories and hear about other resorts.

One thing that was interesting was that the menu was Salmon for dinner. Neither Jay nor I care for Salmon so I’d planned to order something else discreetly. The gal beside me was asking her husband what to do since they didn’t want salmon either. As it turned out, no one at our table wanted Salmon. I asked for shrimp and was told they didn’t have it. Others ordered steak and I wound up with chicken. I thought it was odd that they would have such a unique dish on the menu for a big group. St Lucia isn’t exactly Salmon territory. I also couldn’t believe that they didn’t have shrimp since I’d had it at practically every other meal in some shape form or fashion.

The dinner dragged on and it took forever to serve everyone. We did have a wonderful dessert of Baked Alaska. YUM! An interesting feature was that the Sandals staff did a congo line throughout the tables and sang a neat song to the tune of When the Saints Go Marching In with the lyrics similar to When the guests come home to Sandals. This was really neat.

After the SSG dinner was the charity casino night at the Pavilion area. We played blackjack with the playmaker John. He was a real card sharp. We wound up with a lot of play money and were able to get two coffee cups and a shot glass with money to spare. It was around midnight so we headed back to the room to get some sleep. We had decided to get up early and catch those last few rays of sun before leaving for the airport. Our eviction notice had arrived while we were out and our bus time was 12:45pm with checkout at 11 am. I asked for and received a late checkout of noon. I think this was possible due to the few departures on a Thursday as well as many people arriving on those late flights that we came in on.

We got up around 8:30 and we were laying out by 9 am. We got a little more than an hour of sun before coming in to get ready to leave paradise. After our bags were packed up, we called for our bags to be picked up. We’ve not had great luck with the bags being picked up at Sandals so after about 20 minutes, we called again. Finally the bags were retrieved and we just lounged around the room and took some last minute pix. Checkout was a breeze since we only had a few charges. Jay and I then browsed around the jewelry store and then played some pool.

I saw a shuttle bus pull up out front around 12:20. I checked with the bellman who told us it wasn’t our shuttle. I asked could we go on this one and he agreed. As it turns out, this shuttle was meant for one of the couples we rode in with but they wanted to wait for our shuttle to ride with their friends. We had a private shuttle to the airport. Our driver was great and pulled over a couple of times for us to get pictures from some scenic vistas. I did a little bit better with the motion sickness on the way back. I hadn’t taken a Dramamine but did have a big bottle of water. I was able to stay cooler since the shuttle wasn’t crowded. We made it in about 1 hr and 15 minutes and gave the driver a great tip for the wonderful service.

Check in took awhile since once again, our big bag was overweight. This time by 11 pounds – although I’d specifically tried to put less into it since we were checking an additional bag that we’d carried on board the way down. There was a $21 departure tax per person in US funds. The security hand checked both of our check in bags very thoroughly. We then went through security where one of our carry on bags was hand checked after the xray. We looked through the liquor store but were confused with the currency. Somehow I thought that St Lucia used Euros whereas they really use Eastern Caribbean Dollars. The exchange rate is about 1 US dollar to 2.4 EC Dollars. I wish I’d known that there.

We didn’t upgrade our flight on the way back though we could have for the same $150 each. We had exit row seats and our flight wasn’t that crowded. About 40% full maybe. We saw Elizabethtown for the movie and I read a lot of my book and listened to the Ipod. The flight was about 4 ½ hours long. We arrived in Atlanta just ahead of schedule and got through customs/immigrations easily. We rechecked our luggage and made our way to our gate. After a stop at Chili’s Too for dinner, we were off to our gate to go home. Our flight was on time and our baggage came out quickly.

Concluding Thoughts

We loved Regency but not sure we’d rush back there if Jamaica had similar or lower pricing. You lose half a day of being in the sun by having the longer flight time to St Lucia vs Jamaica. And Jamaica typically prices out better.

The playmakers were great at Regency – better than Whitehouse but not as good as Royal Caribbean. This was something commented on at the SSG dinner that the couple liked the playmakers at Dunn’s River better than Regency or the Bahamas. While there was something going on every hour or so, there wasn’t constant activity. Usually people don’t like all of the activities so several hours could pass by without having something you wanted to participate in. There were usually multiple things going on at once at SRC.

No Chocolate Buffet or Seafood Buffets at Regency. We were up late every night and didn’t see or hear about them. They weren’t on the schedule of activities that you were given at check in nor were they on the activities board. I was looking forward to getting to see a chocolate buffet since we missed the one at Whitehouse by 10 minutes and the whole thing was gone.

Food was better and more variety than at Whitehouse and a little better quality than at SRC. We enjoyed having Halcyon and the Grande to go to for dinner a couple of nights like we did while at SRC.

No restaurant at Regency required long pants except for La Toc. This was a big plus for Jay who wore dress shorts and polo shirts most every night. At Whitehouse 3 of the 5 restaurants required pants.

We loved the St Lucians but found them to be much more subtle than the Jamaicans. This takes a bit to get used to. Usually they respond to you with just a nod vs a a big Ya Mon and a smile and conversation. They warm up slowly but are wonderful once they do get warmed up.

We had an issue with the air conditioner breaking and they fixed it relatively quickly. We didn’t have to keep calling to get things taken care of. You could tell that they were very service oriented at the Regency.

With the suites on the bluff with a swim up pool bar up there, Regency seemed like a smaller resort than it actually is. Seems like the bluffs folks stayed at the bluffs and the main hotel folks stayed at the main pool. The hotel never seemed crowded at all while we were there even with high occupancy levels.
_________________
Gina & Jay





SRB 1/10
SRC 7/03, 12/04, 7/08, 12/08, 7/09,12/10,12/11
SN 5/11
SWH 5/05, 12/06, 12/08
SRSL 2/06
SDR 5/07
SAT 1/08, 5/09
SERC 5/06
RP 8/03

[lurker1210]

Thanks for the great and very detailed review! We loved The Regency and would love to return, but the long flights are what keep us away, too (well, that and the long curvy ride to the resort - I get really car sick, too).

It sounds like you had a wonderful vacation and like the resort is as great as it was when we were there.
_________________


BT&C '05, SWH '05, SRC '00/'02/'03/'04/'06 (x2)/'07(x2)/'08 (x2)/'09(x2), SAT '03/'04/'07, SRSL '02/'08/'09, SRB '01/'06, SOR '99

[Jamaicagirl]

Great review Gina! So glad you had a great time!
_________________
Jamaicagirl
Kristine

[av8rbama]

Gotta check into that first-class upgrade.

Thanks for the great review!
_________________


Feel free to write that down and put my name underneath it ... and put a dash in front of it. I just want to be dashed.
-- Mitch Hedberg 1968-2005

[abctate]

Great review Gina! So if you did return to St Lucia, would you choose Regency again? What time did you arrive at the airport? Would the helicopter been an option or was it too late?
_________________
Micky and Jason
(abctate)

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."
~ Henny Youngman

Jan 2010: SGSL
Jan 2009: DisneyWorld
Jan 2008: SWH
Jan 2007: Breckenridge, CO ** BRRR!!!
Jan 2006: SWH
Jan 2005: Breckenridge, CO ** BRRR!!!
Jan 2004: SMB
Jan 2003: Disney World

[sourir]

[sourir]

PS this time of year - St Lucia is 1 hr later than East Coast time in the us (and thus 2 hrs ahead of Central). When the time changes for us in the spring, it will be the same as East Coast and 1 hr ahead of Central where I live.
_________________
Gina & Jay





SRB 1/10
SRC 7/03, 12/04, 7/08, 12/08, 7/09,12/10,12/11
SN 5/11
SWH 5/05, 12/06, 12/08
SRSL 2/06
SDR 5/07
SAT 1/08, 5/09
SERC 5/06
RP 8/03

[Otter]

great review!!
_________________
Otter
Get Healthy... Be Happy

[Gschall]

Loved the review just wondering if you took and pictures we could see
Please
_________________








Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention
of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other,
body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO, what a ride!'

[Red]

Thanks for the review! Glad you guys had a great time