Sandals St Vincent - We take you to the good stuff | Full Tour, Tips, Review

We had a lot of requests for St. Vincent, the Sandals Resort. Lisa just got back from St. Vincent.

You wouldn't know by my tan, but— or lack thereof.

Yeah, so this video we're going to go through everything you need to know about St. Vincent, uh, which I didn't even know where it was. It's over by Barbados, and Sandals has a brand new resort, their number 18, uh, resort in their Sandals, I guess, brand collection. So I wanted to have Lisa on to tell you all about it. She spent, I think, 6 or 7 days at San Andrés.

Okay, Monday to Saturday. Well, it wasn't even that long because you do need to dedicate a full day to travel on the way there and then a full day on the way back as well because it is quite a trip. There are some non-stop flights through American Airlines, so that is a possibility if you're in the right cities. Otherwise, you're likely going to connect in Miami from anywhere.

Okay, so to— and I was just in Barbados over at Sandals, uh, so watch that video as well. Uh, so it's right next to Barbados, uh, from looking at the map. So Southern Caribbean. Um, and so once you get there, about what's the travel distance from, I guess, the airport down to—

so to the Sandals, when you arrive at the airport, it's called Argyle. Name of the airport is Argyle. So that's where you're going to fly into. And then from there, you will have transportation set up through your Sandals Resort, and they will take you to the resort in probably a minivan as far as the shuttle goes. And it's about a 50-minute trip, uh, depending on what time you arrive. Of course, there aren't many roads, and so there could be some traffic. Rush hour. They do actually have that. And the roads are windy, let me tell you that. Um, it's, it's more windy and curvy than Jamaica, more than St. Lucia, if you have any kind of point of reference. It's windy.

So there are other options?

So there aren't any other options yet. However, if you book— they have 3 different, um, levels of categories, room categories. So you have your entry level, which is Deluxe, and then from there you go to a Concierge level, and then there's Butler level. When you hit the Butler level, you do get another transportation option. So you do start on a bus or a minivan, and then from there they take you to another port, like a, like a little, um, oceanside port and you get on a boat. You get on a Sandals boat, um, and they take you directly via water to the Sandals dock where you will disembark, and you will have your butler waiting for you on the dock. They will get you checked in and escort you to your room.

Okay, that sounds good. So compared to other Sandals Resorts, what do you like about St. Vincent?

So for me, St. Vincent is the epitome of what an all-inclusive Caribbean resort should be. Uh, prior to this, my favorite was South Coast in Jamaica. And there are so many different resorts that you can love for so many different reasons, but for me, this— it's pristine. It is— it's got all the right colors, it puts you in the right mood, it has enough property You're not going to be stumbling over people. You know, 300-ish rooms, that's not a lot. Uh, so because it is Sandals, it's going to be couples only, so you're maxing out at 600 people. It's— I, I don't know how to express how actually luxurious it is. Um, You've got so many options for pools, relaxation. You can have your own private pool. You have, um, water sports. You have entertainment. You have 11 different dining options. There are bars everywhere because don't forget it is an all-inclusive resort including your alcohol.

Yeah, so it's like— I think it's their Sandals kind of 2.0.

That's what they're calling it.

So they're doing these resorts, they're super luxury even more so than their existing resorts. And they're getting their existing resorts up to this 2.0 standard as well. So new dining concepts, modern look and feel, super clean lines. They're kind of getting rid of the dark mahogany furniture, and they're going with like these Caribbean colors and these real light tropical colors. Really cool ideas with swimming pools and over-the-water bungalow type things, and villas and all kinds of cool new stuff. So what was your room like?

My room, and I'm gonna have to read this, was a Lady Palm, um, suite with media room and balcony tranquility soaking tub. So their names are always long. Yeah, but my room, you walked into, and so To make kind of a, a picture for you, when you walk onto resort, you go through the lobby, and then from there you look onto this wonderful long pool. And then on the left you have two buildings, uh, each with two sections and five floors. And so these would be the high-rise section of the property, and this is where my room was. And you walk into the room They do have elevators, which is very important in my opinion.

Mm-hmm.

And so when you walk into our particular room, you have this large room— I think it's a large room— and it's the media room. And in the media room you have a TV, large flat-screen TV, and shelves with storage because someone could sleep in here. There's a couple of drawers, there's this oversized snuggle couch, and And so you have that, and then off to the right for us, we had our wet bar and our fridge. And don't forget, they're going to stock it with whatever you want to drink, whether it's juices and sodas and waters, or if you have a more adult palate, you're going to have your rums, Tito's. You're going to have name brand, top shelf brands, beers. Um, you're going to have whatever you want, and they're going to restock it daily. So if you do run out of something, you're gonna have that replenished. Oh, and then, uh, the, the Sandals wines, the, um, Twin Oaks. Twin Oaks. And so you've got different varieties of wine, but that is custom to Sandals. Uh, so after that first room, you have a hallway, and then on the left is a very large bathroom. And in typical Sandals style, they overdo the bathrooms. And so you've got a large open area, large walk-in shower, probably 5 by 8, with a bench. So you can use the bench to shave your legs, or if you get exhausted, you can sit down. Uh, 3 shower heads in the shower. So you've got your rain shower above you, and then there are 2 other shower heads, and you can work with those. And some cute little shelves for your toiletries, your shampoos and such. And they do provide you with the Red Lane Spa products. Um, you're gonna get a shampoo, a conditioner, a body wash, and a lotion. Well, and soap. Yes, and soap. But what was nice about this one is they gave you, um, like a scrubby mitt.

Oh, that's nice.

Yeah, one of those rough— yep, loofah types. So we had those as well. You also have a soaking tub in the bathroom, huge, um, with the standalone faucet. So it's, it's— I don't think it's a, um, claw tub, but it is standalone. It's not like built-in.

So you have a soaking tub there and then you have one out on the balcony. Okay. And then the grounds looked really nice.

Immaculate.

So yeah, it looked more open. Like most of the sandals I've been to have like these winding paths and then they're very tropical. And this was tropical, but it seemed like there's a lot more open space.

Um, so Sandals St. Vincent is one of the few resorts, properties in St. Vincent that actually has grass.

Oh, okay.

So they, they brought in a lot of grass, uh, so that it could be more lush, more green, more soft, you know, kind of softens it. Um, so yeah, there's all kinds of greenery. I did pay attention to that, and it was, it was exceptional.

So there's like swimming, a couple swimming pools, 4 swimming pools.

Wow. Yeah. Um, and you know, the one is super long, it's like football field, I swear. But then you also have, uh, there's a heart-shaped one and it's called the heart-shaped pool, the heart pool.

Very apropos.

Apropos. Yes. Yes. Um, And then of course you have the swim-out suites where when you're on the ground level, instead of a patio— I mean, you still have a patio, but you walk out and if you keep walking, you're walking into a pool. Your pool is right there and it is shared. It's like this canal and you're right there, the water. And they give you some floaties and you have some lounge chairs out there. So the patio is nice.

Those are nice.

Um, But yeah, 4 pools and a couple of jacuzzis. Yep, uh, 2, 2 jacuzzis or whirlpools. Um, and then they do have, they do have a 5th pool, but it doesn't really count, um, because that's where you learn scuba. Yes, you can become scuba certified, PADI scuba certified, at a Sandals resort. If you didn't want to do the full-blown PADI certification, you can get like a beginner's— it's shallow dive— and you can do that, and they'll teach you in the pool how to scuba or snorkel or snuba.

Yeah, what's snuba? All included. Snuba? Well, snuba is not included, right? No, you have to pay for this.

No, you do have to pay for that, but they'll train you.

Okay. Um, what about— I'm trying to think— restaurants. So they have some new restaurants. Did you try any of the new restaurants?

I did. So the restaurants are, um, Sandals likes consistency across the brand, and what they did with this is they've got some of the old restaurants and they do have some of the new restaurants. And, um, let me find these because some of the names I'm not familiar with. So we're going to go to restaurants. Okay, so we did have the Jerk Shack. That's one of your favorites. Um, wonderful jerk chicken. Um, and you can get jerk goat.

Wow, can't you?

No, I thought you could.

No, I've never had—

they had a goat something.

Oh, okay, okay, that's interesting. This would be different.

Yeah. Um, so they've got the Jerk Shack, uh, definite reminiscence of Jamaica.

Yep.

Um, they've got a pizzeria, and this is Isolo— Isola. Isola, and it's typical resort pizza. Tasty. Uh, some people are going to be eating that every day just because they, you know, they can't get enough of the pizza. It is made to order. It's fresh. What's kind of cool is Isola shares a restaurant, or, um, I guess a storefront with a new restaurant. It's new to me, Aimora. Aimora is salads, and it's custom salads, and they take your order and they ask you what kind of lettuce you want, um, and you check it off, and then, um, your dressing, your proteins— they have lots of protein mix-ins— um, your vegetables. And I have a tip. So the tip is, remember, the salad place and the pizza place are in the same building, like same counter. They are like right here with each other. I wanted bacon bits. I'm a bacon bit girl, and they didn't have it on the salad list. I said, 'Do you ever put bacon on the pizzas?' They said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Can you hop over there and grab some, like take 6 steps, get some bacon bits, put it in my salad?' They're like, 'Yeah, of course.' So I did that with bacon bits, mozzarella cheese, and olives.

So you kind of switched it up? Yeah. Yeah, they have a lot more healthy options, I think. They're going with the newer resorts, they're going with a lot of these restaurants that have healthy options or family style or tapas.

Speaking of family style, there is a restaurant here, um, I'm gonna say this wrong, I think it's Bucan, uh, B-U-C-C-A-N. And Bucan is a family style restaurant. It is outdoor seating, it is 4 tables, and you can get probably 8 to 10 people at each table. So you're with people you don't know typically, and it's very adventurous eating. It's, um, almost like experimental food. So, uh, I was not fortunate enough to get one of those reservations. They book up. So don't forget, when it comes to eating at your favorite restaurants, Boucan and Butch's are going to require reservations. Um, we'll talk about Butch's in just a second, but I heard great things about the family style.

Okay.

And it is a long experience. They have two seatings per night. I think it's 6:30 and 8:30, might be 6 and 8, but something like that. Two opportunities only.

Um, so you did Butch's? I did do Butch's, which is their steakhouse.

Yeah, we had a reservation for that. We went to the steakhouse, I got a ribeye. I love my ribeye and a baked potato, and you can get it with all the fixins. Um, they had shrimp cocktail, they had different appetizers, of course, and dessert. I mean, I got dessert for everything, and I can't keep them all straight in my head. It was so exciting. Um, but the service is spot on. Um, they were very busy, so it was relaxing, a little slower pace. And, um, I ended up getting coffee. Oh, I got, um, flourless chocolate cake. And flourless chocolate cake is funny to call it cake because you take a bite of it and I felt like I was eating fudge from the bottom of a sundae. It's so fudgy. Yeah. Um, and so rich. So be prepared. And, um, and with coffee it was really good. Okay, so that worked. Um, what else? Oh, okay, so in two different locations, one's close to the lobby and one's closer to the beach, they have Bloom, which is— that one is near the— that's near the lobby, but it's coffee slash pastries slash ice cream. And so the coffee, they serve Jamaican blue Mountain Coffee.

Oh, so good.

It was so good. And, and usually I'm not terribly impressed with just generic on-resort cappuccinos and lattes. This was good. This was amazing. Um, I— it was— I went back, let's just say that. Um, and then the other one is Crema. And this is the one down by the beach. Um, it's, it's right by the salad and the pizza and Parasol, which is another restaurant I'm going to tell you about. And this one, still small little setup, and they have the, the pastries, they have the ice cream, and they have the coffee. One tip— well, I mean, they switch things up. So when I went to, um, Bloom, and it's B-L-U-M, Mhm. Okay, so I went to Bloom, got the coffee. They had kind of like a special of the day, and that was cinnamon coffee cake.

Oh, that sounds good too.

Oh my gosh, it was so good. It was moist and had plenty of cinnamon, so that was good. Um, and then they're also known— everyone was raving about these apple muffins. So there's apple muffins, they have little chunks of moist apple in there. Yeah, and it, it moistened up the whole thing. With, um, kind of a crumbly top. Good stuff.

Okay.

Um, the first night we went, we went to Sora. S-O-R-A. Sora is their Italian restaurant, and this is down by the, um, by the beach. And I couldn't decide, so they had a braised beef pasta, braised beef with mushroom pasta. And I thought, I like braised beef, I like pasta, let's give it a go. I don't like mushrooms. And they, um, they brought it out and it looked a little like a stroganoff. Okay. And I tasted it and the sauce that they use was so good. I wanted to like lick the plate. It was so good. Um, picking out— oh my gosh, it was delicious. Um, but I couldn't decide between that and the chicken parmesan, so the lady next to me, she and I split the chicken parmesan because that gets rave reviews as well. And it was good, but mine was better. It was.

You could try a little bit of both.

Yeah. And don't forget, everything is included when you go to a Sandals resort.

Yep.

So if I didn't like the, uh, braised beef pasta, I could have said, no, I'd like to try the chicken parmesan, or get this, or the lasagna, whatever the case may be. You can get something different and it's no big deal. They just bring it to you and it's fine.

Okay.

Yeah, if you want another burger, get another burger. If you— it's, it's anything. Get what you want. So you had mentioned, um, some unique restaurants, and one that I hadn't seen before is Scrimshaw. And Scrimshaw, it, it's a lot of seafood. I am not a fan of seafood. But, you know, I'm with some other people and we went and, um, it was actually good. I ended up getting another ribeye and it was on horseradish and it had some roasted carrots over it. Um, oh, and then they have an appetizer that I really enjoyed. It was the roasted cauliflower. And the roasted cauliflower, yeah, that's good stuff. So we had that, um, and then a gal that was with me had, um, snapper. And snapper on the menu, it says serves 2. And yeah, so she said, do you think I'll be okay if I, you know, I really want the snapper? And they said yeah. And I think they brought her a small one, but they do the whole snapper fried, the whole snapper. And so it comes and they prop it on the plate and it's looking at you. So you have to be warned that it is a whole snapper. But she said it was delicious, so give it a try.

Okay.

Um, did I hit everything?

I think that's most of it.

Oh, Gatsu Gatsu is, is their new version of sushi.

Okay.

And we did go there as well, and I don't do sushi, so I'm so sorry. So Gatsu Gatsu is their new version of sushi. Um, some of you know, what is it, Soi?

Soi, yeah, sushi.

And so this is It's sushi again. Um, I managed to find— they have skewers, and so I got the tenderloin beef skewers, uh, teriyaki, and then I got a side of rice, and I kind of made my own dish. And so I pushed them off the skewer into the rice, mixed it up. It was better than anything else anyone else had. Um, it was delicious, and But it's not to say the other people didn't enjoy their food as well. So they did. They had miso soup. They had— they just had so much. I don't have the menu in front of me, um, and of course when you're there it's overwhelming, but they had lots of different sections and they had different things that you could make. They had cold ramen dishes. Okay, um, so a variety. This had actually a lot of variety compared to some of the other menus. Um, I think the last one that I need to hit is Parasol, and this is kind of the beachside restaurant where you can run in. It's open air, they have a bar, but they also have seating. And, um, it's silly, but I was told the burgers are really good, and so I got a burger. Okay, burger and fries, and it was really good. Um, also got some raw vegetables peppers and carrots and celery with some hummus dip. That was nice and refreshing, be able to— you know, I hate cutting up vegetables, and so to have someone else cut up vegetables for you, it's pretty nice. Okay. Oh, and I did neglect to say, um, I mentioned that we went to the Italian place for dinner. Well, we also went there every day for breakfast because that's where the buffet was.

So if you want a breakfast buffet in the morning, okay, so you have that.

And don't forget, you get free room service as well. So that's always an option. Don't be afraid to, to order the room service, but get your order in with plenty of time.

Now I saw on some of your videos the wedding pavilion over the water looks amazing. So like for a wedding, I think St. Vincent's going to be super popular for weddings or honeymoon because they have a lot of really cool places.

Yeah, um, and that's true of any Sandals Resort. It's not just one location where you can have a wedding. They have several to choose from. You can have a garden wedding, you can have a beach wedding, you can have a pavilion wedding. Um, but this particular one had a beautiful over-the-water wedding chapel. Uh, it seats up to 40 people comfortably, so you don't have to worry about that. And usually when you have an off-site destination wedding, 40 is a normal number to have. It can be anywhere from an elopement of 10 people up to 140 people. Um, you could go a little bit more than that, but typically it doesn't happen. Um, so that's a great place to have your actual ceremony, and then you would get to have your reception afterwards as well. And you know, there are so many wedding options. It's amazing to me that people spend so much money stateside for the cost of for half the cost of a wedding venue, you can have a wedding at Sandals.

Yeah, the prices are pretty amazing on some of the Sandals wedding packages. Um, and then I saw, oh, the wedding chapel at night or sunset.

Yeah, because it's right over the water, they've got it perfect. Yeah, they do have another area, uh, that is more toward the lobby, the front end of the resort, where you could have a covered wedding Um, there's like a pavilion for kind of any event. Yeah, it could be for anything, like a reception, or you do yoga there.

You do kind of anything you want there.

Speaking of that, let's talk about the fitness center. They do have a fitness center, and it's pretty big. It has a lot of equipment. It, uh, I had some pictures. I think we've got about 3 bikes. You have about 5 treadmills, you've got the free weights, you have yoga mats, you have a stair stepper. You don't see those much anymore where the stairs kind of go. But they also had a climber with the bars.

Okay.

And they had a rowing machine. They had all kinds of things, things that I didn't even know what to do with them.

Did you go to the spa?

I did. I went to the spa. And for Sandals and Beaches, they use Red Lane Spa. And its consistency across the brand. Recurring theme. And I, I love checking out the spa because it's always so serene and calming. So you walk into the lobby and off to the left you have a room that is for nails, and that could be pedicures or manicures. And then off to the right you have hair and makeup. So this is great for your brides, your bridal parties, or just if you have a special dinner. It could be for engagement, you never know, um, anniversary, anything that's special. They'll do you up, so that's pretty nice. Then when you go past the lobby, they have an outdoor, uh, it's a square corridor. Yep, um, kind of a courtyard, and in the middle of the courtyard is a soaking tub— a pool, I should say. But it has some of that pressurized water where it, it doesn't just ball out, it pushes. So you can get, you know, some muscle tension relieved and things like that. Um, but the walls are lined with different treatment rooms, probably a dozen or so, and you get your different facials, your massages, your body scrubs all done in these rooms. They also have— so if you keep going back, they have a river that's flowing down from the mountain and then off down to the ocean. And along this, they've set up little cabanas, about 4 or 5 cabanas for couples massages, outdoor couples massages. And then you hear the rushing water or the trickling water, um, that's coming down the mountain.

That's cool. Yeah, it looks like an amazing resort. It's kind of enclosed in its own little cove area right there by the beach.

Yes. Um, well, it— I think I mentioned that it is in a valley and you are surrounded by mountains to the left, mountains to the right, and mountains literally behind you.

Yeah, so it's a really pretty setting. Um, I'm trying to think if there's anything else. I know they have these two-story kind of villas that are kind of— instead of over-the-water bungalows, they have these two-story buildings that were almost finished.

Yeah, those are over-the-water two-story villas.

Okay.

And, um, The— like you said, they're not done yet, but based on what we could tell with the construction stage, uh, the bottom is going to be your bedroom because it does have privacy doors, and then the top is more open air with glass balcony, and that's more of a sitting area, lounging, TV type area.

Okay.

And then they have, um, a hammock out front. You get that. So it's, it's going to be very cozy.

Okay. And then if you're looking at booking, so any Sandals or any Beaches, uh, we have travel consultants that can help you put them together. We have Pixies. Pixies. Yeah, so we have Pixies that'll help you. It's complimentary, uh, when booking with us, so there's no extra charge. They've been to the resorts. We know the general managers of the resorts. We've won awards for— from the different resorts, and we work hand in hand, uh, with Sandals and Beaches all the time. Uh, so there's no extra cost to you. We're happy to help you do it. So any questions on any of the resorts, uh, so in the description of the video I'll put links to Sandals so you can check out all the different offers, as well as a link to us so you can do a quick quote form and get a little bit more information. Uh, and then we can go ahead and get you a quote. So we do weddings, honeymoons, or just a couple's getaway.

You know what else you could do? We saw this once at Beaches, Turks and Caicos. There was a professional convention. It was chiropractors. So if you are in charge of any kind of company retreat, you may as well make it a good one.

Okay, anything else to wrap up Sandals St. Vincent?

Um, we talked about the different things that you can do to play. We talked about the, the boat transfer for the Butler guests. Um, tennis, pickleball.

Oh yeah, pickleball is big now.

So pickleball is big.

They have pickleball at— in St. Vincent.

Um, I think that covers it.

Okay.

All right, well, thank you.

All right, we'll see you on the next video.

Okay.