Excellent Vacation Again
May 15, 2024 Jim P York, Pennsylvania, United States
I will preface this review with a disclaimer that this is our 5th trip to this same Sandals. It is our favorite vacation spot and I hopefully relay why in the comments below. Please keep in mind that my wife and I are not incredibly needy or picky. We like nice things, but are very relaxed in our attitudes and understand that we are traveling to…
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I will preface this review with a disclaimer that this is our 5th trip to this same Sandals. It is our favorite vacation spot and I hopefully relay why in the comments below. Please keep in mind that my wife and I are not incredibly needy or picky. We like nice things, but are very relaxed in our attitudes and understand that we are traveling to a second or third world country. Additionally, my wife has MS and uses a motorized scooter to get around the resort. I will capture some of the issues and conveniences of this resort when it comes to working with her issues. She is not wheelchair-bound, so please interpret these comments, not as a handicapped accessibility, but more of a handicap assistance. Bearing this in mind, this is what we think of Sandals South Cost.
Arrival at the airport: Sandals has a waiting area for you to relax in after the flight. Cold beer, snacks, and water or soda. But don’t get comfy. Typically we have waited for 20-30 minutes max for our shuttle to take us to the resort. The shuttles are typically a small bus and are driven by an outside agency. They are not resort employees, merely contractors. The trip from the airport is 1.5 hours long and can be a rough ride. Depending on the day you arrive, the bus can be fairly crowded. We typically try to travel on a Wednesday or Thursday so the busses are not packed. We have arrived on a Saturday and the bus is full. This makes the ride even tougher as it gets warmer with the number of people on the bus. Take Dramamine if you get carsick.
Arrival at the resort: The staff meets you upon arrival with a chilled wet towel which is necessary after the bus ride. Expect to spend about 30 minutes or so checking in depending on the level of reservation you have. Butlers take less time, the others take about 30 minutes. Check in time is typically 3 o’clock, but don’t be surprised if your room isn’t ready until four or so. Depending on how busy the resort is can affect how long it takes to get into your room. Remember, people just checked out that morning and you’re taking over the room that same day. The resort does get that booked, but you would never know it based on the number of people around the resort. I would recommend checking in online before you arrive so all your credit card information and miscellaneous info is already captured. My wife and I typically arrive about 11 AM and we do not bring a change of clothes. Some people will travel with their swimsuit and Sandals has a location where you can change from your travel clothes to your bathing suit and enjoy the pools right away. Your luggage will be tagged and will be taken directly to your room when it is ready. We have never had a problem checking in or have had an issue with luggage.
Resort layout: This resort is huge. There are probably over 300 rooms and the property is at least a quarter to a half mile long from end to end. We have stayed at both ends of the resort, and while the walk is farther to the restaurants, the pathways are very well-kept, and there is no difficulty traveling with the scooter. There are only two locations on resort that the scooter can’t get to, the martini bar and a bar over the water. There are steps that can be taken to get to either, but my wife chooses to stay out of those two locations. The rest of the resort is completely accessible with her scooter. Again, I cannot tell you if a push wheelchair fits through every door and can’t tell you how hard it would be to get up some of the inclines so, if you are wheelchair-bound, I strongly recommend getting a motorized scooter for the week. We have our own, so we’ve never rented one, but I understand that the resort can reserve these for you.
Rooms: There are multiple classifications of rooms. Each comes with its own perks and minor differences but essentially the rooms are a standard hotel room with a small balcony. The bathrooms are quite large and depending on the room will either have a bathtub or a shower, or a soaking tub with a standup shower. We have had both and prefer the stand up showers. You can request a shower seat if needed. My wife and I have used the patio furniture chairs and shower seats from the resort for her to be able to take a sit down shower. This is something the resort could improve on which is to have more teak benches that can be given to the people that need it. Most of the showerheads are not attached to a wand, so be aware you’ll have to direct the showerhead where you need it. With the room classifications you should be aware that marketing people have identified the rooms. Beach front and beach view are two different concepts. There are rooms that face the ocean and there are rooms that are perpendicular to the ocean where you can still see the ocean. You need to be aware because the breeze that your experience on your patio is substantially different, depending on the room orientation. Unfortunately, when you make the reservation, you cannot reserve a specific room. You can reserve a class of room but an actual room number will not be assigned until you arrive. We have been told that you can call the resort a week or two before arrival and they can assist with assigning the room you would like, but we have not been able to accomplish that yet. We’ll keep trying. The height of the bed is relatively high. Probably between 2 foot six and 3 foot above the floor so if you have trouble getting in and out of a bed that high, you may want to request either a step or platform or a lower bed. My wife has no issue with the bed so we’ve never needed to request any assistance. Most of the rooms include a chair, and either a loveseat or couch and table. All are fairly comfortable. The floors are tile and if they get wet can be very slippery. Due to the humidity and the type of room air conditioner, it is not uncommon to have small drips from the air conditioner onto the floor. My wife and I just place a bath towel under the air conditioner until the humidity is gone in the room and the problem goes away. If it continues to drip, we just leave the towel on the floor.
Restaurants: There are multiple restaurants throughout the resort and two food trucks on the walking paths between the buildings and the beach. The majority of the food is excellent. There is a buffet for breakfast and lunch at Bayside. The food is adequate for both. The breakfast buffet is standard fare including omelettes, pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, yogurt, etc. The lunch buffet menu varies, and to be honest my wife and I have only eaten at the lunch buffet maybe two times. We tend to go to other restaurants for lunch. All of the restaurants are accessible with my wife’s scooter. She either transfers to the seat at the table, or will just pull the scooter in, depending on how comfortable the chair is. For dinner, the resort closes one or two restaurants a night to allow them to restock, clean, whatever. The Sandals app does not identify which restaurants are closed, so talk to the front desk or the concierge to find out what restaurants might be open. There are only a few restaurants that require reservations, and if you visit these restaurants be prepared to wear long pants as a gentleman. Shorts are not allowed. My wife and I can honestly say we have never had a bad meal at any of the restaurants. Breakfast, lunch or dinner have all been above average at worst and excellent at best. We have our favorites that we visit more often than others, but I would suggest you try all of the restaurants and determine your own favorites.
Activities: The resort has any number of activities throughout the day. The majority of these take place at the main pool so if you like thumping music and a party atmosphere, the main pool is for you. My wife and I tend to be a little quieter and like to visit the other two pools on resort. One of the best things about Sandals is that scuba diving is included in your price. If you are not certified scuba diver, they will train you to be “resort” certified allowing you to go to a depth of 40’. I received both my open water and advanced open water while at the resort and love going. All water sports are included so sailing a Hobie Cat, water skiing, kayak, paddle boards, etc. can all be found on the beach and enjoyed whenever. There are shows and other events you can attend if you like and generally speaking, they are OK. Don’t expect to see Broadway caliber productions but the entertainment staff do an excellent job of doing just that, entertaining. There are outside contractor shows that are also performed, like a “circus” act (aerial gymnastics), singers, fire shows, etc. All are generally pretty good and enjoyable.
Complaints: My wife and I really don’t have any but here are some I’ve read on line and want to address from our point of view. Room cleaning is one. I’ve heard complaints about rooms not being cleaned on a daily basis and taking too long to get towels, etc. In my opinion, you are asking a lot to have that service anywhere you go. I don’t clean my house daily and use the same towel for more than a day at a time at home, so I expect to do the same here. If there is a need and we make a reasonable request, the resort has made reasonable efforts to meet that request. We’ve never run out of bath towels (beach towels are different) or needed emergency cleaning so I can’t tell you how the resort would respond. Remember you’re on island time and everything you would normally expect takes longer here, but then again, what’s your hurry?
Pool and beach chairs: At this resort, there are plenty of chaise lounge chairs throughout the resort. If you want a specific location under a specific umbrella, expect to get up at 6:00 am to reserve it. If you wait till after breakfast, you’ll be able to find a lounge chair, but it might be in the sun or on a part of the beach farther away from a pool.
Pool towels: Towels are delivered in the morning starting around 7:00. If you want a towel before that, grab one the night before and take it to your room. During the day, the towels get used up and the staff collects the wet and dirty towels and washes them. Around 3:00 or so, they redistribute the clean towels and those are generally gone by dinner time. Again, the staff collects the wet and used towels later afternoon, washes them, and redistributes them around 7:00 am the next morning. I typically grab a towel and take it to my room. I hang it out on the balcony to dry and then use it again the next morning.
Sandals water rafts: This is one of the biggest issues we’ve seen. There are blue rafts to lay on when you’re in the pool. The people with swim out rooms take these and place them on their lounge chairs by their rooms and others can’t use them. Every day there are rafts that are not being used that should be available for others to use. The resorts stance on this is no one has the express privilege of having a raft when they pay for their room. If they aren’t being used, they are fair game to take and use. While I don’t suggest going to someone’s patio and taking the raft, it would be nice if the staff collected them in the evening and put them by the pool for the next day. It would also be nice if, when people are done using them, they return them to the pool to share with others. We all paid a great deal of money to vacation here so be considerate of others.
Final thoughts: My wife and I have been going to all inclusive resorts for over 30 years. We’ve been to Jamaica 8 times (our favorite island), Mexico, Dominican, and others. We’ve seen 2 star through 4 star resorts, and have paid the money respective of what the rating is. I have not been to what I would consider a 5 star resort. Many call themselves that but the standards for a 5 star hotel in the US are different and I haven’t seen one outside the US yet. I haven’t been everywhere and I’m sure they’re out there, just haven’t experienced one yet. With my wife’s MS, we have had to look for places that are accessible for her. South Coast is that place for us. We love coming here, have never had a bad experience, and truly appreciate the effort the staff makes to give us a great vacation. We also do not expect to be catered to every moment of the day and expect things to happen. When they have, the resort has done what I expected them to do to make it better. I cannot speak to the Sandals brand as we’ve only been to 2 of their resorts, South Coast and Negril. Both were similar but Negril is too small and cramped for us. We will return to South Coast every time we come to Jamaica because we have come to know the people, love the resort layout and rooms, and always have an excellent vacation.
For this vacation, we’d like to give a shout out to a few people who made our vacation special for us:
Water sports: Shamoa, Omar, String Bean, and Richard really made my dive experiences wonderful.
Housekeeping: Navarro took excellent care of us and kept my wife in coffee packets (thank you).
Restaurants: Kimberly at Neptunes and Jeffrey at Sushi on the Sand were excellent.
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