Where do I even begin?! This vacation was dreamy. There is no better way to describe the Grande in St Lucia. This was the first vacation we took together after the COVID shutdown. This is also the very first Sandals resort we visited. We went to St Lucia in August 2020 for Phil’s birthday and let me tell you, they treated him like a KING! Oh, and me like a Queen 😉
St Lucia is a Caribbean island located in the West Indies and is a 3.5 hour plane ride from Miami. The main tourist attraction in St Lucia are the beautiful Piton Mountains.
Prior to our travel, we were required to test negative for COVID as well as complete a travel authorization online. The Sandals website walks you through all of the steps you need to take prior to your travel. They even send you email reminders as well as call you to make sure you are aware of the requirements.
Our travel day was VERY long. We flew out of Chicago O’Hare at 5am with a layover in Miami and then landing in St Lucia at about 2pm. Prior to our trip I contacted Island Routes (the excursion company for Sandals) and found out they offered a helicopter tour which would get us to the resort in about 30 minutes vs the 1.5 hour drive. Obviously, I couldn’t pass this up! Plus, neither of us had ever ridden in a helicopter.
MIA-UVF 
Piton Mountains 
On the helicopter! 
View from the helicopter 
Our helicopter 🙂
Once we got to the resort we immediately felt like royalty. We were greeted with a cool towel to freshen up with and met out Butler Shervan right upon arrival. Shervan grabbed our bags and told us to come with him. It was time to check out our room for the next 8 nights. As we journeyed to our room Shervan was pointing out the different restaurants around the resort as well as things to do. Once in our room he popped some bubbly for us and gave us a tour. We were also provided with a Butler phone for any requests we had while at the resort. Now the real party can begin!
I promised I would tell you how a nurse and a teacher could afford these vacations so it’s story time! When we originally booked our August 2020 Sandals vacation we were planning to go to Sandals Grenada. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the resort was not going to be open for our travel dates. Sandals helped me switch our reservation to a different resort, Regency La Toc in St Lucia. We upgraded to a Butler suite at La Toc because it was only about a $500 difference, so why not?! Well a few more weeks go by and again we find out our resort will not be open for our dates. I was so disappointed. My disappointment turned into pure joy once I talked to a Sandals representative. We were still going to St Lucia but we were now staying at the Grande. They were able to upgrade us to a Grande Rondoval Butler Suite with Private Pool Sanctuary. We did not have to pay anything additional. We got the room for roughly 55% of its normal cost. Talk about a steal!
Our Private Pool 
Our Private Pool 
Hammock on our “back porch” 
Our Butlers surprised us with a Bath 
Our “backyard” at night
Let’s talk about food! The resort offers 12 different restaurants and you have to make sure you try them all! Our favorite place for breakfast was Toscanini’s. They serve a wonderful Italian dinner and also offer the most breathtaking views and spectacular brunch food. I can not even rate my favorite dinner place, they were all amazing. I would like to point out that you can order as many appetizers, entrees and desserts as you would like!
Dinner at Bayside 
Brunch at Toscaninis 
View from Toscaninis
Dinner at Barefoot By the Sea 
Dinner at Kimonos
The weather was absolutely perfect every day. If it rained, it only lasted about 20 minutes, sometimes not even that long. It was perfect weather to hang by the beach or pool and enjoy some water-sports. The beach had beautiful white sand and crystal clear blue water. The pool was always happening with games and music. Sandals resorts also offer free water-sports. This includes hobie cats, stand up paddle boards, canoes and even waterskiing at some resorts! The Grande is one of the resorts that offers waterskiing and we could not pass it up.
As much as we loved this amazing resort we did want to enjoy the island of St Lucia and do a few shore excursions. In August 2020 when we were at the resort there were quite a few restrictions regarding excursions. They all had to be water based excursions meaning you could not step foot outside of the resort at all. This didn’t bother us in the least. Our absolute favorite excursions are catamaran cruises so it worked out! We did a Sunset Party Cruise as well as a Catamaran to the Piton Mountains. We were able to jump in the water and snorkel by the Pitons but we were not able to go to the beach. No problem, it was still a great time!
Phil’s birthday was towards the end of the trip. Our Piton Catamaran cruise was actually the day before his birthday and the crew sang happy birthday to him! On his birthday our Butler pulled me aside and asked me to keep Phil out of the room during the afternoon, they were planning a surprise for him! Little did I know how awesome of a surprise it was, it felt like my birthday too LOL! They decorated the room for him and even drew us a bath. Of course they left some booze by the bathtub for us to enjoy.
I’ll be completely honest, when I thought about a Butler Suite I was like “OMG is this going to be super awkward?!?” The answer is 100% no. They are there to make sure your vacation is absolutely perfect. If you book a Butler Suite the second you step on the resort your worries are gone, your Butlers take care of everything for you. They set up chairs by the beach or pool with a cooler full of beer, bottled water, champagne, etc. (whatever you drink) for you every day, make your dinner reservations, make spa reservations, make excursion reservations, escort you to dinner, etc. Towards the beginning of our trip I remember Phil going to The Mariner Seaside Bar & Grill to grab us lunch and he actually ran into Shervan. Shervan told him to go enjoy his vacation and he would take care of lunch for us. He set up a nice little area on our “back porch” for lunch and even brought us both a Miami Vise, one of my favorite frozen drinks! We had three Butlers at this resort, Shervan, Mel and Michelle. They took fantastic care of us all week!
The lunch Shervan set up for us 
The daily beach set up
Our Butler Michelle 
Our Butler Mel
All in all, our first visit to a Sandals resort was spectacular! We even booked another one while on the property-another money saving tip! If you book on property you get 12% off if you book a Butler level room. We absolutely loved the gorgeous island of St Lucia and can not wait to return to not only Sandals but the island of St Lucia as well. Cheers to planning may more tropical vacations 🙂
Sunshine and booze with the Dempsey’s 