Clients often question whether they would want or need the butler service that comes with the higher-level suites at Sandals resorts, and I explain that it’s not something you “need”….but that once you experience it you will want to bring your butler home with you! Honeymooners Dana and Kevin just returned from a romantic honeymoon at the Sandals Grande Riviera Beach and Villa Golf Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and they did a fantastic job of describing exactly what their butlers did to make their trip so memorable:
Hi Ann
So sorry I’m just now getting back to you! We bought a house right before we left for Jamaica so we’v e been caught up in moving madness. But we had the BEST time! The resort was amazing and so beautiful. And our room [Butler Village Honeymoon Romeo & Juliet Sanctuary One Bedroom Villa With Private Pool] was beyond incredible.
When we got to the resort on the first day, they brought us into the Butler’s Lounge and set us up with some rum punch while our butler took care of checking us in, getting our room key and setting up a charge-to-the-room account. When that was all set, our butler drove us up the hill on her golf cart to our room and gave us the grand tour. It was amazing! When we walked in the door, we were in an open-air courtyard with a private jacuzzi, pool (complete with a waterfall and floats), lounge chairs and an outdoor shower. To the right was our living area with a couch, tv, table and a fully stocked bar with everything we could imagine. The resort also had a bottle of champagne on ice, ready for us to toast. To the left of the courtyard was our room, which had two sets of doors. We could literally open one of the sets and step straight into the jacuzzi if we wanted. The bedroom was so comfortable and the bathroom was beautiful. Our butler gave us all the information we would need to know what was going on, and gave us a cell phone so we could call her at any time. And best of all, when we went out to get some dinner, our butler had our luggage brought up and unpacked everything SO nicely!We had two butlers, Josie and Christa, and they were both wonderful. We are pretty independent people, which I think they picked up on, so they did their best to get us to ask for things. They would call each morning to check in and see what we wanted for breakfast. When we were done lounging (we liked to start the day by having breakfast in the room and floating around our pool with a mimosa) they would drive up and pick us up to take us to whichever part of the resort we wanted. During the day, they would find us and surprise us with specialty cocktails, snacks, coconut shrimp platters – basically everything we wanted without knowing we wanted it. They would also set up surprises for us in our room while we were out and about. Anything from flower petals on the bed and towel animals to special baths, romantic set-ups in the courtyard, and surprise cakes made to celebrate our honeymoon. They also took care of making reservations at any restaurant we wanted for dinner, and always managed to get us set up with whatever table had the best view. They would even take care of errands for us, and always found a way to go above and beyond. One night I bought a watch in the jewelry store for my husband’s birthday and asked our butler if she could pick it up for me while we went to dinner. When we got back to our room, she had it gift-wrapped and presented nicely on the bureau, with receipts tucked away in an envelope next to my purse in the closet.
The resort itself had so much to do. It had two sides – the garden/hill side (which our room was on) and the beach side. The hillside had a GIANT pool with swim-up bar and a couple of restaurants and bars. It also had a basketball court, shuffle board, life-size chess, and ping pong to play whenever we felt like it. There was also a gift shop next to the hotel lobby that had a lot of great stuff (we bought a lot of souvenirs :)) When we wanted to go to the beach side (which is where we spent most of our time during the day), there was a shuttle that ran every few minutes from the lobby on our side. It was only a couple of minutes at most for the shuttle ride – it just took us down the hill and across the street. There was everything you could imagine on the beach side. Two pools with swim-up bars, tons of other smaller pools and jacuzzis, a dozen restaurants and bars, several beach spots and tons of activities. We were able to go snorkeling, kayaking, sailing and aqua triking.
The restaurants had some of the best food I have ever had! We always ordered room service breakfast (I’m still craving those omelets), tried out a casual place for lunch and then dressed up for dinner. The buffet-style lunches were delicious, but my favorite was Bella Napoli pizza next to the Amphitheater swim-up bar. By far the greatest pizza I have ever had. We got the seafood pizza, and the guy who made it made it in the shape of a heart after asking if we were on our honeymoon. And, we were able to enjoy it in the pool at the bar. Awesome! Every dinner we had (aside from the sushi, which put all other sushi I’ve had to shame) was either four or five courses of amazing. No description I could use would do it justice, but I’ve never had fresher seafood or more perfectly cooked steaks.
The bars were a lot of fun and there was always something different to try at night. During the day, we loved soaking up the sun and enjoying the pool bars. The bartenders were all really personable and fun, and everyone had a signature drink. We’d order what we wanted from time to time, but more often than not, we’d end up getting an amazing drink just by telling the bartender to surprise us.
We went on two excursions: the Dunn’s River Falls Catamaran/Party Boat Ride and the Mystic Mountain Ziplining and Bobsledding. Both AMAZING, but the river falls was definitely our favorite. We took a catamaran out and they anchored so we could snorkel. WAY cooler fish than the free trip we took from the resort (even though we still enjoyed that one). Then, they took us to the falls. Climbing it was so much fun and the guides did a great job! Then, on the way back, they cranked the music on the boat and opened up the bar for a full-on party on the hour back to the resort. Such a blast!
Overall, it was amazing and we wish we didn’t have to leave! Everyone we encountered was amazing at their job, wicked friendly and beyond willing to do anything you might need. We couldn’t have had a better time. It was the perfect combination of fun, romantic and relaxing. The only recommendation I would have is for the resort to have a checklist on the website for scuba diving requirements. We knew we would have to get certified, but I am asthmatic and didn’t know I’d need a note from my doctor clearing me to sign up. Completely understandable, but I wish we would have known before we left so we could have (hopefully) gone. They did have a system in place where you could fill out a form to fax to your doctor to get approval, but I don’t have a general practitioner here yet that would be familiar enough with my condition to approve anything without seeing me first. Otherwise, there wasn’t a hiccup!
Sorry for writing a book, but I figured too much detail was better than not enough :). We are thinking of doing a cruise for our anniversary next year, so we will definitely be contacting you for help with that. Thanks so much for making our trip easy on us!
Best,
Dana
