Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Small Piece of Heaven on Earth.”
My wife and I recently returned from a six night stay at the Sandals Halcyon resort in St. Lucia and were treated to one of our best vacations ever. We chose St. Lucia because of it's hawaian like characteristics. Year round moderate temps, lush green rain forest, and mountainous terrain. and tropical beauty. We were not dissappointed. From the moment we stepped off the airport shuttle at Sandals, and were greeted sincerely with a big “Welcome to Paradise” by Vernon, we were hooked. Sandals is a beautiful resort, full of friendly people eager to satisfy your every wish. The pools were big, clean, and perfectly laid out. There is a quiet pool with a bar for lounging, reading, and just plain resting, and a second, somewhat larger pool with a swim up bar, loud carribean music, and all sorts of water games. We found it a great place to meet new people and begin new friendships. Sandals St. Lucia offers you the stay at one sandals, play at all three, and we did. The free shuttle proved to be very prompt and easy to get to the other two Sandals within fifteen minutes to each. Some fourteen restaraunts means you never get bored with the selection of meals. We enjoyed every meal we had, especially at Marios, and the Pier. Both are at Halcyon and the food and service were top notch. Although all food and drink is included at Sandals, we still managed to spend some six hundred dollars more on spa treatments and side trips, but well worth the cost. We would certainly suggest to any of our friends and family they consider Sandals Halcyon for there next escape to paradise. Please feel free to e-mail Us if you should have any questions. J and K.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “very good value”
My girlfriend and I just got back from spending 6 nights at the Halcyon. It was my first experience at staying at an all-inclusive hotel, all in all not bad for a first time. What makes the Sandal's experience on St. Lucia enjoyable is the fact that you can visit all three resorts instead of being forced to hang out in one place. We felt the Halcyon was the best of the 3 for a couple that just wanted to get away and spend time together. It is the smallest (and oldest) of the three resorts. The landscaping is well kept, mature, and blooming providing a cozy feel to anyone as they are walking around. The food was very good with good service. The only bad thing I would mention is that they tend to over cook seafood (and that's at all the restaurants we visited). Make your reservations a soon as you can. We talked to several people that missed out. Except for breakfast and lunch there is no reason not to hit all the different restaurants for dinner. I Think our favorites we La Toc and Mario's. My girlfriend went diving on two days and felt that both days were ok. I didn't get the feeling the dive sites overwhelmed her. We also spent one afternoon on the beach at the Grand. The Grand (to me) had the better beach experience of the 3 resorts. The Spa experience is good but be warned that they will charge a gratuity for each treatment. The cost for the treatments are the same as you would pay in the US. We took an all day sailing trip that is well worth the money. You'll find plenty of outside the resort activities to choose from, all at a fair price. I think that the only thing I missed was the interaction with the locals in the marketplace, bars and restaurants. Would I go back? Yes but only at the rates they have now, at these rates the value ratio is great! BTW, if your into Vegas you should book at the Grand if your well traveled the Halcyon is the place for you!
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “An Awesome Honeymooon Aug 2003”
My husband and I just came back from this property and loved it! I would recommend getting an ocean front room if you are set on getting a full ocean view. Our room cat. was a grand luxe OV but it was tucked behind a garden with no ocean view. The management immediately moved us to another room where you can see the ocean. The property grounds are beautiful. We really liked the low-rise feel of the place. The other property - Grand St Lucian was enormous and more upscale but we appreciated the private feel of this place. The Pier restaurant was fabulous, beautifully decorated and had an awesome sunset location for pictures. There was always something good to look forward to at the Bayside restaurant, prime rib, grilled lobster, fresh fruit and yummy desserts. Recommend the creole dressing on all your salads too! Staff was so nice and friendly. The ladies at Beach Grill will make the effort to talk to you and remember your name! The beach at this property was the best looking one our of all the Sandals resorts on this island too.! We were happy honeymooners!
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Honeymooned there in April 2003”
My husband and I honeymooned at Sandals Halcyon in April this year.Overall it was a fantastic holiday but we did not think it was worth the money we paid (�5k for one week).We upgraded on the Virgin flights both ways - that was well worth the extra money. It was fab having all that extra legroom.The trip from the airport to the hotel was a squash in a small people carrier with four other guests - the driver struggled to get all our cases in... not a good first impression. We were expecting luxury!At the hotel, our Beachfront Concierge room wasn't as luxurious as we'd expected and the bathroom was quite grotty. Whilst we could see the sea from our room, I'd expected our room to lead onto the beach which it didn't.That said, the staff were fantastic. Teddy the Playmaker had us in stitches, and Estelle in the Beach Grill was so sweet, remembering everyone's names.We ate one night in Mario's - the food and service was fantastic. You have to book in advance and unfortunatley we only managed to get in once during our stay.The Pier at night is stunning...We also visted the other two hotels - the newer of the two, the Grande, was stunning. It's set on a beautiful beach. We ate in the Italian resturant there overlooking the bay - that was the highlight of our stay... it was soooo romantic!Just a few tips if you're planning to go:- Don't upgrade to Beachfront suite - it's not worth the extra money - Take plenty of mosquito repellent with you - my legs were bitten to bits - Make the most of the 'stay at 1, play at 3' - the resturants at the other two hotels are out of this world - Don't expect special treatment because you're on honeymoon. Most people there are either getting married or also on honeymoon!Cathy
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Our Honeymoon was Awesome!!”
My new wife and I just got back from our honeymoon last week, and boy did we have the time of our lives. The Halcyon was the perfect laid back, "No Pressure, No Problems" atmosphere we were looking for. We are defintely hooked on All-Inclusive as well! We sampled food at all three Sanadals Resorts in St. Lucia, and one was just better than the other. Kimonos was great, the Peir was ok, La TOC was very good, and Marios was out of this world! Best Italian food my wife and I have ever eaten!! Buffets are plentiful, and we HIGHLY recommend a SPA experience. We went to the SPA @ Grande, and it was worth every d***penny. I was massged in places that I didn't realize muscles existed!! :) The resort workers were always smiling, and friendly. Estelle at the Beach Grill in particular. Speaking of the Beach Grill, the food is very, very good, with a wide selection, and available till 3:00am!! The only downfall I can think of is the nightlife. Halcyon needs to be more creative than bingo and fake money casino night. My wife and I did go on, and highly recommend, taking tours off of the resort. We seen the island from North to south, visited the Rian Forest, seen the Volcano Sulfer Springs, and even went on the ATV Excursion. The ATVs were awesome! We were on trails throughout the mountains, and rode down he beach, really awesome experience...Watch if you fly out of the smaller airport on the north end of the island. We had to stand in this airport the size roughly 50' X 50', with no air cond., wall to wall people! It was very, very difficult, and then we laid over in Puerto Rico, very, very difficult. Fly NON-STOP if available!! The hour plus ride from the larger airport is probably worth it!All in all. It was beyond our expectations, we highly recomend, but would like to see other islands, so probably wouldn't return anytime soon. Maybe the ten year anniversery?? :)HAVE FUN!
— Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “WOW!”
Do NOT listen to the bad reviews. This place is great! My husband and I went for our anniversary July 4-9. We are in our early 30's and consider this to be the best trip we have ever taken! Upon arrival we were greeted with cool towels and champagne. The grounds were beautiful and well maintained. The beach was a decent size and very clean. There was no seaweed on the beach as I read in one review. Every morning the grounds keepers were on the beach raking and cleaning it up for the day. The pool was also very clean. Our room was clean and perfect. We only booked the deluxe room, but had a nice second floor with vaulted ceilings, a balcony with a pretty view of the gardens and quiet pool, a king sized comfortable four poster bed, vanity area, a good sized bathroom with plenty of hot water, closet, etc. We had no complaints there. We were also very worried about the weather. Don't be. We were on Yahoo everyday for a week watching the weather. Rain was predicted everyday of our trip. We were so worried that we nearly cancelled. I'm soooo glad we didn't. It did rain each day, but it was short lived. It would rain for about 20 minutes, and then the sun would shine for 2 hours before the next shower. It never rained long enough to ruin any activities or our tan! We had also read reviews about the bar service being a little slow at times. This was only true at the bar by the pool tables at night and only because it was often crowded and they could have used one more bartender. But this would be the case even back home in a crowded bar. We certainly had plenty to drink. The drinks were great! Not watered down like I had also read. Ours had plenty of alcohol in them. And if they don't have enough to suit your taste, just ask them to put more in. They are very friendly and accomodating. We never walked past anyone without a friendly greeting. As far as the food goes, we enjoyed all of the restaurants at Halcyon. We also ate at Tuscanini's at the Grande and Kimono's at Sandals St. Lucia. Make your reservations for the restaurants that require them as soon as you check into your room. They fill up VERY quickly. We made reservations for Kimono's, Mario's, and tried to get into La Toc, but it was already booked for the nights we were going to be there. So we ate at Tuscanini's instead. It was wonderful! As far as the Beach Grill goes...... it's open late at night until 3 a.m. We didn't really care for it sober, but I guess it would be pretty good if you were drunk and hungry at 3 in the morning. The entertainment at Halcyon is a little slow, so if your looking for a wild party every night, you might want to check into one of the other Sandals, or simply take the shuttle to one of the other resorts on the nights you want to stay up late partying. We had a great time one night at Sandals St. Lucia. They had a steel band and were getting people out of the audience and up on the stage to dance. It had more of a party type atmosphere than Halcyon, but it was so big that you had to take a shuttle to get from one end to another. The nice thing about Halcyon being smaller is that you could walk to everything and it never took more than 5 minutes. There was never a wait for water sports, and if you were on the beach and forgot something in your room, you could just run back and get it. Oh, don't be fooled by the guys at the small airport yelling out, "Sandals!" We thought they worked for the resort. (as they want you to think) So we let him carry our bags literally 10 feet to the Sandals Shuttle Bus, where upon he demanded a tip. When my husband questioned him about it (since everything is supposed to be included) only then did he inform us that he worked for the airport, not Sandals. Not that it's that big of a deal, but we resented being misled. All in all we had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back. We only stayed 5 nights, and at one point we were seriously considering calling our travel agent from St. Lucia to see what we needed to do in order to stay 2 more nights. When we booked this trip, I had the idea that we'd get this type of relaxing, adults only, free alcohol flowing trip out of our system, and then we could start thinking about having kids. WRONG! It just made me want to go back next spring or summer! I hope you have as great a time as we did!
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “wondeful time”
My husband I stayed at Sandals Halcyon two years ago and had a wonderful time. The staff, food, drinks, entertainment, and room location was excellent. We did day tours and went to Sandals St. Lucia Golf Resort one evening for dinner. We are looking forward to our trip next year and looking forward to relaxing on the beach and around the pools.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “bed bugs”
My girlfriend and I went down to what we thought was going to be our greatest vacation ever because of the great reputation that Sandals has advertised. Second night stay we found red spots on our legs....we spoke with other couples and they too found the same problem...bed bugs. The one couple we spoke to we lucky enough to pull back the bed sheets to find little black critters @ the foot of the bed. The deluxe rooms were also dissapointing, small and mildew in the bathrooms. Food was o.k., nothing to rave about same with their drinks. Some staff could be friendlier.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Dont expect 5* Luxury”
My husband and I stayed at Halcyon in May 2003, we expected 5* Ultra luxury as advertised in the Sandals brochures, its not!!. Our bathroom was grubby,rooms very small, the food was adequate,best restaurant was Marios. It was a pleasant holiday not special and although I saw a lot of weddings if only those couples knew they could get a better package cheaper and at a prettier hotel at Couples in Jamaica....that's where we got married and very pleased that we did rather than at Sandals!! The staff made up for the average surroundings, they were amazing always friendly and always seemed to be on duty!! The following staff were particularly wonderful and deserve a mention - Glenda,Benia (Bayside), Sophia (Marios) Vanessa (Concierge Rooms) all deserve a big pat on the back. We would not return to this hotel and would not book another Sandals holiday as we did not find it at all worth the thousands of pounds we paid for our 2 weeks there.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Closest to Paradise”
We went to Sandals Halcyon for last 2 weeks in March this year and even after 8 weeks being back in UK I (and my hubby) still have wonderfull memories from the place, like we came back yesterday... If you are after piece and quite, don't like big hotels and too many people, and you enjoy good food and personal aproach, Halcyon is the place to go. It's big enough to find quite corners or be by the main pool where all the actions are going on, the gardens are bueatifull, it has gorgeous beach about a mile long with gold sand, food and drink available 23 hours and all the employes are ever so nice to you. Some of them know you by your name in a few days and you'll get to know some of them as well. We enjoyed the water sports as well as you never had to que for anything, could take hobie cat out for as long as you wanted, my husband tried water skiing first time and after 15 min of lecture he got up first time! and stayed up for a whole go! We also went on snorkling trips and must say, the gear for snorkling and diving + boats are very good equipet. As there are 3 resorts on the island, we had 14 restaurants to choose from! And must say, the Japanese rest. - Kimono is must try! Also French one - both in Golf resort and don't give a miss to Italian and The Pier in Halcyon. Ohh, and BBQ nights in Halcyon - is must go (they are on Monday nights). Also we were a bit disapointed from organized trip to Peatons, I'd rather rent a car next time...as people on island are ever so friendly and we never feel unsafe, especially when we went to the local 'Jump Up' as they call it. It happens on Frd night, they just shut a whole street, put massive speakers out and everybody dance together, eat and drink. Truly authentic! Weather is just amazing too! So definetly it was experience of my lifetime, closest to the paradise I could imagine. We went and had a peak to the other 2 resort, but one of them was so big you had to take a bus arround...and the other one was far too modern and clinical with no natural shade aroun Halcyon and we will returne one day.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “nice….but…….”
This is a great island with great locals. The Sandals idea is also great...stay at 1 play at 3....but, the food is decent (salty, but, we didn't get sick). The drinks are OK...Heineken...Popov vodka? Bacardi and I know that juice isnt made from real oranges is it? The Halcyon has great employees who do try. The place is small, cute and comfortable. Dont pay the extra for the suite concierge, it just isnt worth it. The beaches are nice and the activities are enough to keep you busy for up to 10 days. Overall we rate it a 6 or 7 out of 10....bottom line ....would we go back?? maybe.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “More than we hoped for!”
My husband and I and another couple just returned from a glorious week at Sandals Halcyon. We had one of the best vacations ever and we have traveled quite a bit. This was our first Sandals visit and we have to say it was a class act all the way. The property is absolutely beautiful, the rooms are small (we booked a deluxe and got a one class upgrade to a Premium), same room but maybe better location) but very clean and updated. If you want to feel like you have more room ask for a second floor, they have cathedral ceilings and makes it seem bigger. The maid service was prompt and efficient. Most of the bartenders are great, a few could use a little help but they were in the minority. The beach is not the greatest I have been to but we spent little time there so we didn't care. You can go to the other two Sandals on the Island and they are both much larger and more crowded but still beautiful hotels. They will take you by bus and all hotels offer courtesy rooms to shower and change if you want to stay for dinner. Kimonos restaurant at La Toc is great, Toscanini's at the Grande is great. We tried the Pier at Halcyon twice. We didn't like it the first time but the second made up for it. Take the Land and Sea tour it is great fun and you really do learn a lot about the island and the people. Estelle at the Grille is a trip she learns your name when she meets you and never forgets the whole time you're there. She calls you by name every time you see her. Tell her Lou & Eileen said hello. The food was very good and although the service could be a little slow we didn't mind waiting as most of the restaurants are beautiful and that is how the islanders operate. Slow down and relax. No Pressure, No Problem is the motto and they mean it. Beach vendors will try to sell you every time they see you but you just have to be firm and say NO thank you. They get the message. If you visit the mall across the road, be careful if you walk it's scary with the traffic, take your passport and the Castries Market on Sat. morning if you can, it's a trip. All in all we had the best trip ever and would go back in a minute. One more tip, bring lots of small bills for shopping at the market and for buying from the locals. Have a great time and remember, No problem, No pressure!!
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Simply Wonderful”
We just returned from a wonderful week at Sandals Halcyon. I can't think of one negative thing to say. The food was absolutely wonderful!!! The staff was bette than the best. The rooms were very clean as were the grounds. It was worth every penny. Truly a fabulous vacation. I can' wait to go back.
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “our wedding at halycon”
sept 12,2002 my husband and i went to sandals halycon for a week. we got married there in a gaziebo, right on the beach front. it was just like they said it would be. very professional and beautiful. they even through in more surprises. we brag about how perfect and stress free our wedding was. the people from st.lucia loved their island and were happy. that made me happy. the resort was clean, and the food was great. especailly the buffet resturant. i would highly recommend halycon. you could walk around the whole resort, teh golf resort was a bit too big to walk around. halycon was more (at home). plan your wedding there. francine and chris, massachusetts
Castries: Sandals Halcyon Beach: “Food lacking”
We just returned from spending Christmas and my husband's 40th Birthday at the Halycon resort. We both were very pleased with the staff and the room. The property was very nice and well maintained. The only negative thing was the quality of food. My husband is a chef and we are both in the resturant business and therefore maybe expecting more.... During the Holidays the turkey and ham were terrible. Mario's was a total disappointment. We did enjoy the two days spent at the spa at the new Spa resort. Overall, it was not worth the money and mostly due to the "food".