A “delicious” honeymoon on the Spice Island

Honeymooners Kyle and Keith just returned from a romantic honeymoon at the newest of Sandals’ fifteen couples-only all-inclusive Caribbean resorts — the Sandals LaSource GrenadaThe island is not the easiest to get to, but the resort is well worth the effort, as you can see from their trip report 🙂

Hi Ann –

Words cannot describe how grateful we are for your advice in helping us choose the perfect honeymoon! Grenada was absolutely amazing!!! The resort was beautiful and the service was amazing from start to finish. Upon arrival we were treated like royalty and that feeling never left.

Honeymoon couple arm in arm on the beach at sunset in Grenada

They started by checking us in separately from everyone else on our shuttle, by bringing us to the Club Sandals room for a cocktail and to meet our butlers Hassan and Jaime. Hassan then brought us to our room to complete the check in process, which took maybe 10 minutes. They had champagne, a cheese plate, and fruit waiting for us. We took a look around the room and realized they had upgraded us to a rondaval suite- complete with our own patio, hot tub, and private pool!! The room was absolutely amazing and the perfect retreat for us.

CIG_IMG005 private jacuzzi in a bungalow in Grenada two towels folded to look like swans forming a heart in the honeymoon suite in Grenada a hotel bed with two towles folded like bunnies and bamboo spelling out two hearts of love in Grenada

I will say that Grenada is about as hot as it gets for us. The sun was scorching, so much so that even the natives were saying how unbelievably hot it was for the time of year. The beach was perfect for us, though some said it was small. We thought it was a great size, and never overcrowded. The butlers reserved loungers for us each day with a cooler of water on ice for us. We didn’t go to the pools, as we had our own in the room, and why travel so far to just sit by the pool. We returned to a clean room each day, with a fully restocked bar and fridge, and each day the butlers brought us some kind of afternoon snack. One day they drew us a bubble bath with roses all around, another they had breakfast set up for us on the patio.

a private bath with flowers and flower petals in Grenada a hotel bed with a towl foleded into heart. the words true love in the middle in Grenada

We ate at every single restaurant. The food was simply amazing- the best of any all-inclusive we have ever been to. I would say the French, Hibachi, and Italian were our favorites, but you honestly couldn’t go wrong with any of it. The butlers made all of our reservations for us and gave us our schedule at the beginning of the week, met us at the room each night to escort us to our tables, and made sure our first drinks were at our seats before we went. Everything was as fresh as it gets, and this was the first trip that neither of us ended up with any stomach issues at all. The service was impeccable, and we couldn’t have asked for better.

The resort was fairly quiet, there were things to do each night from trivia to dance parties, to casino night and a chocolate banquet and beach party, but if you chose not to do those things our room seemed to be far away from everything and not noisy at all.

rays of light spilling through rain clouds over the ocean in Grenada a dock leading along the ocean towards a perfect sky with fluffy clouds and the green forest mountains of Grenada

We only left the resort once to go on the sunset cruise- which also happened to be the only time it downpoured. They were great with transporting us, and the cruise was great- though Keith said if it hadn’t been free for us- we would have been disappointed. We spoke to other couples who did some of the other excursions, and one loved the jeep tour, the other thought that the half day shopping and tour excursion was kind of a waste, but loved the driving your own scuba tour.

beautiful deep blue waters and a green cliff next to the beach in Grenada

Honestly, this was a trip that will be hard to top for us, between the service and the resort itself. It was unbelievable and more than what we could have imagined!!

So grateful to you and for you. We never would have taken this trip without you and the memories we made will be with us forever!

Kyle and Keith

Girls’ Weekend in San Juan

Girls’ Weekend in San Juan (January, 2016)

I can’t remember exactly when the tradition started, but for the last 10-15 years my sisters and I have planned an annual “Girls Weekend” where we take our mom on a little getaway so that the four of us can spend some time away from work, kids, husbands, etc. Over the years, it has evolved from a simple road trip to New Hampshire, Newport, or Maine into something a little more elaborate. This year we went to San Juan, Puerto Rico!

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We left New York VERY early on a frosty Thursday morning in January, and landed in sunny San Juan about noon. From the airport, it was a quick cab ride to our nearby hotel – the Intercontinental San Juan, in Isla Verde.  Because we had arrived before check-in time, we had some lunch and sat by the pool until we were able to get into our rooms. We had booked two oceanfront rooms, and we had beautiful views over the pool to the Caribbean beyond. The rooms were spacious, though in need of some updating, but we didn’t plan to spend much time indoors, so that wasn’t really a concern. The resort has a nice pool area, plenty of lounge chairs by the pool/beach, and an assortment of dining options, from a casual toes-in-the-sand lunch spot, to a Ruth Chris steakhouse. The location was very convenient to the airport (about 10 minutes away), and the beach was lovely, but I think if we had to do it over again we’d stay in the Condado area, which has more shops/restaurants within walking distance.

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That evening we enjoyed a cocktail at the hotel before hopping in a cab to Condado (about a 15-minute ride) where we had made dinner reservations at Oceano. We sat outside, just steps from the water, and enjoyed sangria and Puerto Rican specialties including fresh seafood and delicious mofongo. It was a perfect start to our weekend!

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On the way back to the hotel, we asked the taxi driver for his favorite breakfast place, and he recommended the Bistro Café, which he said was “just down the street” from our hotel, so we made plans to walk there in the morning. The walk turned out to be a little longer – and sweatier – than we had anticipated, but it was more than worth it! We were the only non-locals in the place, and our friendly, patient waiter took the time to translate and explain every mouth-watering item on the menu (including about a dozen specials). We enjoyed some of the best coffee I’ve ever had, along with waffles, eggs, fruit and more. The owner stopped by our table to chat with us, and they seemed genuinely pleased that we had stumbled in. I would go back there in a minute!

The rest of the day was spent lazing by the pool, reading, swimming, and walking on the beach. There was a lot of seaweed, so we didn’t swim in the ocean, but the beach itself was wide and walkable, and remarkably uncrowded.

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I had made plans to catch up with my college roommate (who is from San Juan) that evening, so we met her for cocktails at our hotel and then she and I headed out to La Placita, which is apparently where all the “cool kids” go on Friday night 🙂 This pedestrian-only area near Condado is an open-air farmers’ market during the day, but on certain nights of the week it morphs into a night spot with carts selling cocktails and cigars. It reminded me of Bourbon Street in New Orleans, with all the people walking around with open containers of alcohol, but everyone was dressed up for a night out (because it’s Puerto Rico) and the music wafting out of the bars and restaurants was Latin, rather than jazz. It was very cool!

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We had a cocktail in the plaza and then headed upstairs to have dinner at Asere Cubano Kitchen and Bar. The restaurant has a really cool “speakeasy” vibe, and we enjoyed Ropa Viejo, tuna tartare, and other small plates, and then ended the evening with one last cuba libre on the second-floor verandah overlooking La Placita.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at our hotel and headed into Old San Juan for the day. It’s about a 25-minute cab ride from Isla Verde. We had the taxi driver drop us off in the main square, and then we just wandered. There are shops, galleries, museums, restaurants, bars and two historic forts — El Morro (Castillo San Felipe del Morro) and San Cristobal (Castillo de San Cristobal).  We explored El Morro (more than worth the small admission charge), and watched families fly kites on the huge grassy field outside the fort. Nearby, we sipped Pina Coladas at (supposedly) the bar where they were invented. We spied on two weddings at a gorgeous old church. We bought souvenirs at a local gallery. And then we ended the day with delicious tapas and wine at El Picoteo restaurant at the gorgeous El Convento hotel. NOTE: If you are headed to San Juan and don’t want/need to be at the beach, I highly recommend El Convento.

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Sunday was our last day, but we had an evening flight, so we checked out and stored our bags at the hotel while we did a guided tour to El Yunque rainforest.  We had booked it spur-of-the-moment through the hotel tour desk, so we did not have a chance to research the different available tour guides and companies. Our guide turned out to be terrible, so I would not make that mistake again (Pro tip: book in advance, and do some research first, LOL) but El Yunque itself was interesting, and I would still recommend it as a nice excursion out of the city. We saw waterfalls and mountains, we climbed a lookout tower for views over the countryside to the ocean beyond, and we stopped for some questionable roadside snacks. Other available tours to El Yunque do some hiking, ziplining, and swimming, so I think I’d try one of those next time.

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view of the lush green mountains of the El Yunque Rainforest in San Juan

When we got back to the hotel, we had some time to sit by the pool before using their hospitality room to get cleaned up and changed. We enjoyed one last cocktail on the terrace, and then took a cab back to the airport for our flight. We were back in New York just after midnight, and are already planning next year’s trip 🙂

Making Memories

Now that my own kids are both in college, and I’m rapidly approaching the point where I can’t call them “kids” any more, I’m acutely aware of the passage of time, and the need to press PAUSE every now and then and just spend time together. Stacey and Brian did just that, with a fun family “escape” to Grand Cayman this summer, and were kind enough to send me their thoughts about the experience.  They played golf, relaxed at the beach, swam with the stingrays, and made some fabulous lasting memories with their kids:

We had a fantastic vacation.  The hotel was perfect for a family or couple.  When we arrived at the Grand Cayman Beach Suites the room that you had originally booked for us was not available, but it all worked out.  They gave us two adjoining suites, with a King Bed, bath, kitchenette and a living room in each suite.  We opened the door in-between the suites which provided us with ample space.  Our rooms were located on the top floor (5th) and we had the middle two rooms overlooking the pool and ocean.

overcash GCBeachSuite

overcash GCBS Beach
I would recommend this hotel to your clientele.  It was perfectly situated in the center of 7 mile beach and away from the more crowed resorts.  The hotel staff was friendly and accommodating.   We felt very safe and we enjoyed every meal that we ate.  Brian and Evan enjoyed their round of golf and we took one excursion to Sting Ray City — which was well worth our time and money.

overcash StingRayCity

overcash Adam Sting Ray

Thanks for all the research that you did for us!

Stacey

Honeymoon in St. Lucia

Is there anything better than hearing from a client who LOVED their honeymoon?  How about one who takes the time to write and share a lengthy, detailed review about the experience?! Thank you Kristen (and Chris). I know my other honeymooners are going to love this:

Overall Impressions
My husband Chris and I had an amazing time on our honeymoon in St. Lucia!!  We stayed at two different Sandals resorts – the Sandals Grande and La Toc.  There are three total Sandals in St. Lucia (the third is  Halcyon Beach), and Sandals provides free shuttles to all the locations so you can go to different restaurants, try out the different beaches, and explore the other resorts.

Overall, I liked the Sandals Grande the best.  Everything was all in the same area – you walked out of the lounge and you had the 3 different pools, beach, and restaurants all close together and easy to walk to.  This resort had a younger, rowdier crowd.  The main pool would get pretty crowded during the day, so we ended up walking about 200 feet to the “quiet” pool which was nice.  Sandals Grande also seemed to have the best beach, with a dock that went out into the ocean so you could sit in lounge chairs overlooking the water.

Chris overall liked La Toc better, he thought the restaurants were nicer.  La Toc is very spread out though – we had a butler service when we stayed there, and they drove us around on golf carts to get to places (really convenient).  We visited Haylcon Beach twice for dinner, and it was very nice, but seemed quieter and smaller than the other two resorts from our brief impression.

Our Trip
Monday

We left Boston very early Monday, took a flight to JFK, and then to St. Lucia.  When on the flight to St. Lucia you will have to fill out a form to bring to customs – bring a pen on the plane with you!!  They don’t give you a pen on the plane.

When you get to the small St. Lucia airport, you wait a little to go through customs, and then you go toward the “Sandals Lounge”.  This part was a little hectic – someone came up to me and told me to wait in line with the other women who had just arrived, and they told Chris to follow him with the luggage.  Turns out the women waited in line to check in while the men took the luggage and waited in the lounge to board the shuttles to go to the various resorts, but without any explanation it was a bit confusing.

There is an option to take a 15-20 minute helicopter ride to the resort instead of the hour and a half ride.  We had thought of doing this for the trip home, but it was going to be an extra $35 taxi ride on top of the $165 per person cost.  We didn’t look into it because we put our money towards another excursion instead.
The shuttle ride itself I had read about online from other travelers.  It wasn’t as bad as everyone said it was, but it was bumpy.  There are no real speed limits in St. Lucia and the roads are very narrow and windy, and people pass each other erratically and at any time.  So it wasn’t the best hour and a half of our lives, but they did have air conditioning.

Prior to arrival, we had e-mailed a copy of our wedding invite in order to get the “honeymoon” deals (aka a bottle of champagne in your room).  When we got to the resort our room wasn’t ready yet, so they brought us to the Sandals Lounge where they offered us drinks and snacks.  The room was normal sized, not really big or small, but only had 2 USA power outlets for phones, etc.

Advice: They have an orientation the next day where you can go over booking everything, but if you don’t want to wait in the long lines while everyone else books, come back and book your restaurants and excursions that first night.  If you don’t have a butler you need to make all the reservations yourself.  Some restaurants require reservations (Tuscanini’s at the Grande, Kimono’s at the Haylcon and at La Toc, Kelly’s at Haylcon Beach) so you might as well make them the first night you’re there to beat the rush and make sure you get reservations.

You can also book your excursions at the Lounge, too.  But for the water sports and snorkeling you have to make reservations at the area on the beach.  I’d recommend trying to book snorkeling early – there was about a 1 day wait time.

After we booked a few things (including a couples massage since we had free credit when we booked), we hung out at the pool, grabbed food, and took in the beautiful St. Lucia views 🙂

three photos of a honeymoon couple in the resort swimming pool in St. Lucia

Tuesday
We woke up early Tuesday and went to orientation to learn more about the resort.  Then we went to the beach.  It’s so nice that you just walk out and the beach is there!  One annoying thing is that there are plenty of people trying to sell you tours and souvenirs on the beach.  One tip is to not walk on the beach if you do not want to get nagged about tours from people outside Sandals.  It was the worst at the Grande.  We preferred going to the pool over the beach for this reason.

a view of the sandals resort in St. Lucia

My husband and I knew we wanted to do a tour of the island, and had looked at a few different tours online.  There are TONS – Joe Know St. Lucia, Charlie’s Tours/Ocean Angels, Spencer Tours, Exxodos Tours, etc.  Charlie from Charlie’s Tours/Ocean Angels (two names for the same company) ended up stopping us on the beach, and was selling his tour which included a boat tour, visit to the mineral springs, mud baths, lunch at a local place, snorkeling, and other sightseeing.  We also asked if we could do zip lining, and he added that in.  If you want to zipline, definitely bring it up.

The cost originally was $200 a person, but we were able to haggle.  MAKE SURE YOU HAGGLE!!  Also bring cash.  Charlie took cash or credit cards, but we felt more comfortable giving cash.  We paid a $100 deposit, and then were told to bring the rest of the money tomorrow.

The rest of the day we spent hanging out at the pools.  We grabbed lunch at the creperie/pizza place.  If you go there, make sure to get a milkshake (not listed on the menu)!  And ask for ice cream with your crepe 🙂

black and white photo of a woman with a plate of food in St. Lucia

There was a cocktail night in the Sandals Lounge, so we went to that which was fun.  The Sandals lounge has a few events going on during the week, so be sure to take advantage of them.

Wednesday
Wednesday morning we went to the dock to go on our Charlie’s Tour.  Make sure you pack plenty of sunscreen – it’s over $20 a bottle at the resort if you forget.

The tour was AMAZING!  I’d highly recommend it.  Charlie had told us there would be 2-3 couples max, but when we got there that morning there was about 6 couples on the boat, 12 people total.  However we ended up seeing a Joe Knows tour while we were out, and there were about 30 people crammed onto a really tiny boat.  We heard from other people that that tour gets really crowded, so we were happy to be in a smaller group.  Our tour guide was Garth (like Garth Brooks) and he was great.

The day started off with a boat ride and sightseeing on the water.  Then us and another couple got off the boat to go ziplining which was awesome.  I had never ziplined before and it was scary at first but then once you did the first one it was fine.  After that we met back up with the rest of the group and went to the mineral springs, the volcano for a mud bath, lunch, and finished the tour with snorkeling.  It was beautiful and well worth the money.  We got to do everything we wanted on the island in one tour instead of paying through Sandals to do several excursions.

One thing to note is when you go to the mud baths, they make you get into this water first which is SO HOT!!  It must have been over 100 degrees since it’s coming right from the volcano.  Then after you put mud on, you have to go back into the water to wash it off.  I recommend not putting too much mud on your face since you have to wash it back off in the really hot water 🙂

two photos of a honeymoon couple sailing and ziplining in St. Lucia

two photos of a honeymoon couple at the mud pools of St. Lucia

They had a “honeymooners” event on the beach that night with appetizers and drinks.  There are a lot of events going on during the day and evening (volleyball, pool tournaments, etc.) which was fun.  Then we went to check out Haylcon beach for dinner.  We couldn’t get into Kelly’s dockside (you need to get there right at 6 to get in) so we went to another place.

Thursday
This was our last night at the Grande, so we spent the day at the pool and tried kayaking.  We had a couples massage done which was so relaxing.  The only annoying thing is at the end of the massage they try to sell you a bunch of lotions and other stuff.  Overall that was the most annoying part of the trip – all of the pushing for selling – additional trips in the future, photos from dinner (a guy takes a photo of you and they have a shop to see the photos), scuba diving, zip lining, horseback riding, etc.

A few people we met walked up a mountain trail near the Grande for $7 each, but neither of us are big hikers so we opted to hang out in the pool.  At night there was another cocktail night in the lounge, which was fun.  Then we had reservations at Toscanini’s which was yummy Italian food.

Friday

We checked out and transferred to La Toc.  At La Toc we had the butler service, so we met our butler and he went through everything he had already booked for us.  Advice: Ask for menus to all the restaurants!  Then you can order take out at any time and know exactly what you want.  The room was nice but was set up awkwardly – bed post was blocking TV, full size mirror in front of bed, bathroom was small but had more US power outlets then the other resort!

two photos of the private pool and bed of the St. Lucia resort

the beach at the Sandals Le Toc resort in St. Lucia

We went to the water sports area and booked snorkeling for the next day.  That night there was a Friday Night Street party where they had a bunch of local food.

Saturday
We hung out at the pool, grabbed lunch, and then went snorkeling.  The water is so beautiful and clear!

a honeymoon couple with snorkel masks on in St. Lucia

That night we took the shuttle to our reservations at Kelly’s Dockside at Halcyon Beach.  The reservation was at 6:30 when the restaurant opens, but you need to get there by like 6:15 to get a seat.  It didn’t even seem to matter that we had reservations, they just seated everyone who had been waiting.  So if you want to go there, make sure to get there early.  Also be sure to review the restaurant dress codes – Kelly’s was a fancier restaurant with a specific dress code.  All the dress codes are listed online.

indside the dining room of the St. Lucia Sandals resort

Sunday

We had another excursion/spa credit at La Toc, so we spent it on a horseback riding excursion.  This was my favorite part of the trip.  We set it up the day we got to La Toc because they only do certain excursions on specific days, so if there is something you want to do, sign up early so you are able to do it!  We went through a few trails, and then stopped to go in the water with the horses.  It was so cool.  If you are not an experienced rider, make sure you make that clear with the employees so they can pair you up with a horse that’s less challenging.

We had hibachi dinner that night at Kimono’s.  The food was delicious.

Monday
We got some pool time in in the morning, then it started downpouring.  June – November is the rainy season, but most days there’s just a quick shower that clears up.  We went to dinner at the Pitons restaurant, and the service was extremely slow.  It took over an hour to get our food.

Tuesday:

We checked out and left early.  The ride back felt a little worse than the ride there since we were leaving the beautiful St. Lucia!

Other Comments

  • The sun sets really early in St. Lucia.  It had set by 6:30 pm every day.

  • The wifi is awful in the rooms, not like it is slow awful, like you are using DSL modem back in 1995 awful and spotty, but you get very decent service by the pools and in the lobby areas

  • We brought $460 cash on us, and spent exactly that in cash.  You can charge anything extra you buy at Sandals (we just bought some souvenirs and also paid a slight different for our massage because our credit wasn’t enough).  We didn’t realize we’d be buying a tour in cash, so that’s where the majority of our money went to.  Then we bought a few souvenirs when on our excursions.  But while Sandals does not accept tips, everyone else pretty much looks for them (ex: external excursions) so bring a few singles with you.  For example, when we arrived at the airport to leave, someone rushed over, grabbed our bags and rolled them the 50 or so feet inside the airport (something we easily would have done ourselves), and then stood there with their hand out asking for a tip.  Also at Sandals if you have the butler service, you can tip them on your credit card when you check out.  We read online that most people tip each butler (we had 2) about $20 a day depending on the service.

  • La Toc has golf, but it’s extremely expensive if you don’t bring your own clubs.

  • There are stray cats everywhere, but they are very friendly.

  • My husband liked to time all the restaurants, so here are some expectations on time to get foodBayside Dinner @ Halycon -27 min

    • Pizza and Crepe @ Grande – 10-15 min
    • Bayside Dinner @ Grande – 25 min
      • French food – get the onion soup – yum!
  • Tuscanini Dinner @ Grande – 20 min

  • Regency @ La Toc – 9 min app and 20 min meal

  • Armandos @ La Toc – 25 min

  • Kelly’s Dockside @ Halycn – 27 min

  • Pitons @ La Toc – 23 min app, 55 min meal

  • Make sure you get your credit for staying at the resorts and don’t forget you can use it for massages and other activities (we had $160 credit at both places and used it for the massages and horseback riding).

  • Ladies – definitely bring a cover up for your bathing suit!  I bought one at Target before going to St. Lucia and ended up wearing it every day.  You can just throw it on after lounging by the pool and then go to the restaurants which is nice. 

  • Enjoy your time together!! St. Lucia is beautiful and full of lots of honeymooners, so you will have a great time.  And make sure to put on your sunscreen – the sun is strong there!

You provided excellent guidance for us. I appreciated that you really had us think about what was most important to us when we were selecting the right cruise – and not to totally focus on what other people had to say. THANK YOU for helping to make this a memorable trip for our family! It really was a trip of a lifetime!

Clare and Mark (family cruise to Alaska)

The level of service we experienced was out of this world (and we did NOT make it easy on Ann). We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, when we would be able to go, or what “vibe” we were going for. After asking us some key questions (what we liked, didn’t like, why, etc.) Ann helped us narrow down our trip details and planned the honeymoon of our dreams. She helped book some of our excursions, answered some emergency questions while abroad and was always available/willing to help. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be using anyone else for future travel planning – Ann is a rockstar!

Carli (Italy and Spain)