Vacations/StLuciaLaToc/Review

Vacations » StLuciaLaToc

Review.jpg - Room: 9.5 They upgraded us to a suite, so it was probably the most spacious Sandals room we have ever had. There was a separate sitting room with a wet bar, stocked with booze including a decent Cabernet Savignon, a Pinot Grigio, and a bottle of Champagne (the fridge had beer and beverages). We mostly just drank the water, but we did pop the bubbly for Mimosas one afternoon. There was plenty of storage space and a nice little walk out porch. The view was decent. This part of the resort is a bit far from the beach, but it was generally a very quiet area. There was a musician that played Sax right next to our room a few afternoons. The trouble with that was the back-up soundtrack was loud enough to be heard by the entire resort. We called the front desk about the seizure-inducing bass, and we did not hear the music again. The king size bed was decent, but not firm enough for our tastes. Housekeeping did their usual outstanding job of keeping the room clean and well stocked.Water sports/Activities: 8.0 Their web site clearly states that they have water skiing. They do not have water skiing. This was a key factor in the selection of this resort. That's a foolish mistake, because it's very easy to rectify (correct the web page). It sets up customers to be disappointed, which is not how they want their customers to feel. Even though I was able to ski a couple of times at the Grand (via the free shuttle), I would have preferred to go more often and right from the resort. The wind surfing equipment was minimal, but that seems to be the normal state of affairs at most resorts these days. They had 4 functional Hobies (small catamaran sailboats), but there was one time when that was not enough. When we went back later they had closed all water sports due to high surf. The staff was generally not the friendliest bunch of folks either. I guess it's a challenging beach. There is no snorkel boat directly from the resort, but they will bus folks to their nearby marina and launch from there. Snorkeling from the beach can be very good, but it is discouraged by the staff. The surge and current can make the snorkeling very challenging and it should not be attempted by the inexperienced. Those that venture out will be rewarded with above average sights for a resort beach. The occasional moderate surf can also make for some fun body surfing, for those willing to be pounded onto the beach (like us). We should mention that we traveled with friends that enjoyed the golf here. We do not play golf and that activity is not covered in our review.Bars: 8.7 The liquor selection was pretty good. I guess we are getting spoiled though. The included wine was decent, and they always had Piton and Heineken beer. There was absolutely no Baileys to be found anywhere, except when we visited the Grand. There was often Stoli or very good vodka, but no really good rum. That's a shame in a super-inclusive Caribbean resort. The switch to El Dorado rum has been a bit painful. Especially since there seems to be no El Dorado equivalent to Appletons VX, which was delightful. The fruit drinks tasted a bit cheesey -- like the fruit juice was made from powder or some such. The bar tenders were not great in skills or attitude. For example, I ordered 3 frozen fruit punches with banana and the bar tender used one small banana for all 3 drinks. The lack of effort shows, and the taste is noticeable. We don't drink that much, so we expect the few drinks we have to be of high quality. This resort seems more geared for mass production. Our most pleasant bar experience was at the Piano bar -- we should have gone there more often. The one night we went there we had a wonderful bar tender (Burton) that made us excellent B52s using real Grand Marnier and knock offs for the other 2 ingredients.Restaurants: 9.5 We found the food and wait staff to be generally very good. We did not have a single bad meal. As usual, we only had buffet breakfast and lunch. Those were really very good meals with very good selections. We were not thrilled with the Japanese restaurant (Kimono's), but the rest were very good. We wished that the Neptune restaurant was open more often. Reservation were required only at La Toc and Kimono's. We're not saying a lot here, but the food was really very good.Beach / Pool / Grounds: 9.5 / 9 / 9.5 The beach is a bit on the small side, being maybe about a quarter of a mile from end to end. The beach is not private, but there were very few people on the beach that were not from the resort. The small number of vendors did not bother us at all after our initial statement of disinterest in their various services. The sand is a little on the course side, but it's a real and natural beach. It's has great scenic beauty and is kept extremely clean. As mentioned earlier in our review, the water here is generally not placid. The water beyond the shore break can actually be very calm, but there is often a bit of small surf at the shore with some moderate currents and such. For regular ocean swimmers, it's a very safe and fun beach. The beach was never very crowded, and a fairly small number of beach lounge chairs were available. We are not sure if the small number of chairs is a cause or an effect.We found 3 pools during our walks. The main pool is large and fun with interesting places to swim, a fun water fall area, and 2 adjacent hot tubs. All were kept clean and at very good temperatures. The main pool area was a bit loud for our tastes, with music playing for most of the day. Not far from the main pool is a much smaller and much more quiet pool area (adjacent to the Piano bar and the Neptune restaurant). A good walk up the hill there is a mid-sized pool that seemed to favor the butler-service crowd. That was a nice pool area, but too far from the beach for our tastes. The chairs seemed to be mostly reserved by butlers, so very few free chairs were available there. Drink service was available at or very near all 3 pools, and the 2 larger pools had swim-up bars. We tried to do morning laps in the butler pool, but our preferred schedule conflicted with the pool cleaning hours.The grounds were expansive and provide for excellent evening walks, provided that you not averse to steep hills. Shuttles were always available. The grounds were extremely well kept and pleasant in every way.Reception/Front desk: 10.0 This started off really well because they gave us private transportation (instead of a bus) from the airport. The check-in was effortless, and they upgraded our room to a suite. Very very nice. Then a gentleman named Louiston, from the "soon come back" desk, gives us a call to tell us that he took the liberty of making reservations for us at the two restaurants that require reservations. He did so because they fill up fast, and he didn't want us to miss out. Outstanding customer service, Louiston! Also see the ROOM section regarding the handling of a minor noise issue. Another job well done. Check out was breeze, too. Everything was super. We don't give out 10's very often, and this one was well deserved.Overall Service: 9 The bar service was not great, but otherwise we found the service to be consistently very good to excellent. The main pool had someone circling around to take and deliver drink orders, and that's always nice. The wait staff was generally very good. Hosts were pleasant, etc.Overall: 9 As always, you have to ask yourself what you are looking for in a resort. I could see many people being very happy at this resort -- especially casual golf players that would enjoy the convenience of some low-key golf at the resort. If you have mobility issues, this will not be a good resort. If you are looking for water skiing, this is not your resort. The beach was never really very crowded, which leads me to believe that many guests simply enjoy the pools during the day. The rooms and ground are really very nice, and the entire resort is very well kept and elegant. The food choices were good and every meal wonderful.

We review the key aspects of the resort on a scale from one to ten -- one being horrendously bad, and ten being perfection.

Room: 9.5 They upgraded us to a suite, so it was probably the most spacious Sandals room we have ever had. There was a separate sitting room with a wet bar, stocked with booze including a decent Cabernet Savignon, a Pinot Grigio, and a bottle of Champagne (the fridge had beer and beverages). We mostly just drank the water, but we did pop the bubbly for Mimosas one afternoon. There was plenty of storage space and a nice little walk out porch. The view was decent. This part of the resort is a bit far from the beach, but it was generally a very quiet area. There was a musician that played Sax right next to our room a few afternoons. The trouble with that was the back-up soundtrack was loud enough to be heard by the entire resort. We called the front desk about the seizure-inducing bass, and we did not hear the music again. The king size bed was decent, but not firm enough for our tastes. Housekeeping did their usual outstanding job of keeping the room clean and well stocked.

Water sports/Activities: 8.0 Their web site clearly states that they have water skiing. They do not have water skiing. This was a key factor in the selection of this resort. That's a foolish mistake, because it's very easy to rectify (correct the web page). It sets up customers to be disappointed, which is not how they want their customers to feel. Even though I was able to ski a couple of times at the Grand (via the free shuttle), I would have preferred to go more often and right from the resort. The wind surfing equipment was minimal, but that seems to be the normal state of affairs at most resorts these days. They had 4 functional Hobies (small catamaran sailboats), but there was one time when that was not enough. When we went back later they had closed all water sports due to high surf. The staff was generally not the friendliest bunch of folks either. I guess it's a challenging beach. There is no snorkel boat directly from the resort, but they will bus folks to their nearby marina and launch from there. Snorkeling from the beach can be very good, but it is discouraged by the staff. The surge and current can make the snorkeling very challenging and it should not be attempted by the inexperienced. Those that venture out will be rewarded with above average sights for a resort beach. The occasional moderate surf can also make for some fun body surfing, for those willing to be pounded onto the beach (like us). We should mention that we traveled with friends that enjoyed the golf here. We do not play golf and that activity is not covered in our review.

Bars: 8.7 The liquor selection was pretty good. I guess we are getting spoiled though. The included wine was decent, and they always had Piton and Heineken beer. There was absolutely no Baileys to be found anywhere, except when we visited the Grand. There was often Stoli or very good vodka, but no really good rum. That's a shame in a super-inclusive Caribbean resort. The switch to El Dorado rum has been a bit painful. Especially since there seems to be no El Dorado equivalent to Appletons VX, which was delightful. The fruit drinks tasted a bit cheesey -- like the fruit juice was made from powder or some such. The bar tenders were not great in skills or attitude. For example, I ordered 3 frozen fruit punches with banana and the bar tender used one small banana for all 3 drinks. The lack of effort shows, and the taste is noticeable. We don't drink that much, so we expect the few drinks we have to be of high quality. This resort seems more geared for mass production. Our most pleasant bar experience was at the Piano bar -- we should have gone there more often. The one night we went there we had a wonderful bar tender (Burton) that made us excellent B52s using real Grand Marnier and knock offs for the other 2 ingredients.

Restaurants: 9.5 We found the food and wait staff to be generally very good. We did not have a single bad meal. As usual, we only had buffet breakfast and lunch. Those were really very good meals with very good selections. We were not thrilled with the Japanese restaurant (Kimono's), but the rest were very good. We wished that the Neptune restaurant was open more often. Reservation were required only at La Toc and Kimono's. We're not saying a lot here, but the food was really very good.

Beach / Pool / Grounds: 9.5 / 9 / 9.5 The beach is a bit on the small side, being maybe about a quarter of a mile from end to end. The beach is not private, but there were very few people on the beach that were not from the resort. The small number of vendors did not bother us at all after our initial statement of disinterest in their various services. The sand is a little on the course side, but it's a real and natural beach. It's has great scenic beauty and is kept extremely clean. As mentioned earlier in our review, the water here is generally not placid. The water beyond the shore break can actually be very calm, but there is often a bit of small surf at the shore with some moderate currents and such. For regular ocean swimmers, it's a very safe and fun beach. The beach was never very crowded, and a fairly small number of beach lounge chairs were available. We are not sure if the small number of chairs is a cause or an effect.We found 3 pools during our walks. The main pool is large and fun with interesting places to swim, a fun water fall area, and 2 adjacent hot tubs. All were kept clean and at very good temperatures. The main pool area was a bit loud for our tastes, with music playing for most of the day. Not far from the main pool is a much smaller and much more quiet pool area (adjacent to the Piano bar and the Neptune restaurant). A good walk up the hill there is a mid-sized pool that seemed to favor the butler-service crowd. That was a nice pool area, but too far from the beach for our tastes. The chairs seemed to be mostly reserved by butlers, so very few free chairs were available there. Drink service was available at or very near all 3 pools, and the 2 larger pools had swim-up bars. We tried to do morning laps in the butler pool, but our preferred schedule conflicted with the pool cleaning hours.The grounds were expansive and provide for excellent evening walks, provided that you not averse to steep hills. Shuttles were always available. The grounds were extremely well kept and pleasant in every way.

Reception/Front desk: 10.0 This started off really well because they gave us private transportation (instead of a bus) from the airport. The check-in was effortless, and they upgraded our room to a suite. Very very nice. Then a gentleman named Louiston, from the "soon come back" desk, gives us a call to tell us that he took the liberty of making reservations for us at the two restaurants that require reservations. He did so because they fill up fast, and he didn't want us to miss out. Outstanding customer service, Louiston! Also see the ROOM section regarding the handling of a minor noise issue. Another job well done. Check out was breeze, too. Everything was super. We don't give out 10's very often, and this one was well deserved.

Overall Service: 9 The bar service was not great, but otherwise we found the service to be consistently very good to excellent. The main pool had someone circling around to take and deliver drink orders, and that's always nice. The wait staff was generally very good. Hosts were pleasant, etc.

Overall: 9 As always, you have to ask yourself what you are looking for in a resort. I could see many people being very happy at this resort -- especially casual golf players that would enjoy the convenience of some low-key golf at the resort. If you have mobility issues, this will not be a good resort. If you are looking for water skiing, this is not your resort. The beach was never really very crowded, which leads me to believe that many guests simply enjoy the pools during the day. The rooms and ground are really very nice, and the entire resort is very well kept and elegant. The food choices were good and every meal wonderful.

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