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Sandals Grenada

10/27/2019

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The World's Most Innovative All-Inclusive Resort! The picture perfect Sandals Grenada Resort is an exotic, unspoiled hideaway that offers a romantic, authentic Caribbean experience while providing the luxury amenities and exceptional service that have come to be associated with the Sandals Resorts experience. From 10 restaurants, 6 bars, Red Lane Spa, Sky pools, and a living room in a pool, are just the starting point of what this luxury all-inclusive resort has to offer! Grenada, also know as "Spice Isle" is a mesmerizing island with some of the most incredible natural wonders in the Caribbean from stunning black sand beaches, waterfalls, lush rainforests, to the Caribbean's first underwater sculpture park.  If you are looking for a high class romantic resort that's not massive in size and want to relax by the beach, I will be telling you why I think Sandals Grenada is the perfect spot, and currently my personal favorite Sandals Resort thus far!
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WELCOME TO GRENADA
So let's begin at the beginning. My wife Katherine and I are travel agents and we were invited to have the amazing opportunity to visit and tour this resort. As Sandals Resorts lovers (having been to five others so far), we couldn't miss this experience. We flew in from North Carolina on a Thursday afternoon to Maurice Bishop International Airport. Going through customs was super easy and quick. Within 30 minutes we were through and waiting for our complimentary shuttle to take us to the resort. (Good thing about Sandals Resorts is they offer a FREE shuttle service to all of their resorts). The first thing we noticed was how close Sandals Grenada was to the airport. It was a three minute shuttle ride (we literally could of walked)! I was actually skeptical to stay that close to the airport, being afraid the noise from the planes would bother us, but it was a non-factor and couldn't be heard. In addition, the past Sandals Resorts we have stayed at have all been a 1.5 to 2 hour drive through the country, which was nice, but it was actually great to get off the plane and be right at the resort within minutes!

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CHECKING IN
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Pictured above is the picturesque open-air lobby, where the shuttle bus dropped us off at. The moment we got off the shuttle we were immediately welcomed by staff and butlers with freshly scented hand towels and a warm welcome. If you booked a luxury level room, this is where you'd check in. The desk is staffed 24 hours a day and can answer all of your questions. To our surprise we actually were given a Club level room. SUPER EXCITING!! When you are booked in a Club level room, you will get escorted to a private room near the lobby called Club Sandals. The concierges in Club Sandals were sooo friendly! They offered us champagne or a signature cocktail. We chose the cocktail, which was a pineapple rum drink. AMAZING! While drinking our cocktails, we filled out some paperwork and then we were off to our room! Our concierge gave us a mini tour while escorting us to our room.
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THE VILLAGES
I want to explain how this resort is set up. The property is broken up into 4 villages:
  • The Pink Gin Village (this is where we stayed) This village houses the original buildings that were on property before the renovations. The Pink Gin Village offers luxury level and club level rooms. Located on the majestic Pink Gin Beach, these rooms offer walkout beachfront rooms, rooms with tranquility soaking tubs for two, and some of the best ocean view rooms you are going to find!
  • The South Seas Village These rooms are located in the lush hillside of the resort. Encompased by beautiful flowers and gardens, these rooms are the perfect spot for that romatic hidaway. There are several room options in this village, but my personal favorites are the Rondoval Butler Suites! These offer your own private pool, how great is that!!
  • The Italian Village These rooms are perched up behind the Pink Gin Village. This village is butler level, meaning every room in the Italian Village comes with your own personal Butler. And trust me, the butlers are well worth it! My favorite rooms in this village (and my favorite from any Sandals Resort) are the Oceanview one bedroom Skypool rooms. These rooms feature an infinity pool on your balcony! Yes you heard that right. See pictures below.
  • The Lovers Hideaway Village This village is luxury level only and situated towards the back end of the property. Tucked away in the tropical gardens, the Lovers Hidaway features two room categories, both include a massive tranquility soaking tub on the patio or balcony.
Pink Gin Village
Lovers Hideaway
Italian Village
SkyPool
Rondoval Private Pool
South Seas Village
Let's talk about FOOD!
My favorite activity to do at any Sandals Resort is eat, why? Because the food is truly amazing! All Sandals Resorts offer 5-Star Global Gourmet Dining. All of their restaurants have a theme, and usually offers a wide mix of cuisines. For example, the Italian restaurant on property, Cucina Romana, they have a Italian head chef. Sandals does an amazing job of having the chef from the country of that restaurant, so it makes it truly authentic. So what restaurants does Sandals Grenada have? Lets look at the 12 dining options they have:
  • Butch's Chophouse* - A world class A La Cart Steakhouse
  • Cucina Romana - Authentic Italian
  • Kimonos* - Japanese Teppanyaki style cooking 
  • Le Jardinier - Classic A La Cart French Cuisine
  • Neptune's - Mediterranean A La Cart located beachside for great views
  • Soy - Some of the freshest Sushi you will ever have
  • Spices - Buffet that changes cuisines daily
  • Café de Paris - French pastry shop & build your own crepes (Amazing!)
  • Dino's Pizzeria - Poolside pizza
  • The Tipsy Turtle - An authentic English pub
    • Hot dog cart - Set up for lunch only
    • Room Service Available - 7am - 10pm with club level rooms or higher
* Notes that reservations are recommended.
DRINKS, DRINKS, & MORE DRINKS
In Addition to these amazing dining options there are also 6 bars on site.
  • Cucina Romana Wine and Coffee Bar
  • Living Room Bar
  • Neptune's Bar
  • Soy Bar
  • The Tipsy Turtle Bar
  • South Seas Pool Bar
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Let's talk activities
At Sandals there is always something to do, with most activities at no additional fee. Sandals Grenada doesn't fall short there either. Here are some things you might find.
  • PADI Certified Scuba Diving - Scuba is FREE if you are already certified. Not certified? No proplem, you can get certified on property and then enjoy the ocean.​
  • Water Sports Included = Featuring kayaks, paddle boards, snorkeling, hobbie cats, wind surfing, pool volleyball.
  • Unlimited Land Activities - Table tennis, shuffleboards, pool tables, tennis courts, bocce ball, beach vollyball, board games.
  • Fitness Center - Featuring daily classes, personal training.
  • Daily & Nightly Entertainment - Talent shows, beach party nights, Caribbean night, lovers night, live bands.
  • Red Lane Spa - A tranquil sanctuary offering spa-treatments, beauty salon.
OUR ROOM
​Alright, so back to our trip. Like I said before we were surprised to find out they put us in a Club level room, much appreciated! We stayed in the Pink Gin Beachfront Walkout Club Level Room with patio tranquility soaking tub. When we entered our room, we had a nice welcome letter and small gift placed on our bed. The little touches are what makes Sandals top notch. We loved our room and loved the little sitting area as well. The beachfront walkout rooms are truly spectacular. We could walk right off our patio and onto the beach in seconds. It really doesn't get any better than that.
CLUB LEVEL
  • Fully Stocked bar - Sandals used to place your liquor and wine bottles in your room before you arrived, now there is a card on the desk for you to fill out. You can choose your favorite brands, and they will deliver them to your room.
  • Club Sandals concierges - You can just call them and they will make your dinner reservations, spa treatments, and are there for any additional questions you may have.
  • Room service - This is available from 7am - 10pm. We actually didn't end up using this feature this time around, but we have at past Sandals resorts and it's a must do. To be able to wake up and have your breakfast ready for you and eat on your patio or balcony over looking the ocean, WOW! Thinking about that now, we should of done that!
LUNCH WITH A VIEW
​Once we got all situated in our room, we headed over to Dino's Pizzeria to grab some lunch. They offer a couple different pizza options, but you're more then welcome to customize it to your liking. I got the margarita pizza and added some ricotta cheese to it. Soooooo good. We took our pizzas and ate down at the beach for a great view.
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DRINKS WITH FRIENDS
Part of this trip was to interact with other travel agents and learn more about the resort and what it has to offer, so I can help YOU make the best decision when picking your Sandals Resort. So that night we had a welcome reception and dinner. The Sandals Grenada staff treated us like royalty and were very friendly. We started at Soy for drinks and appetizers. There were trays and trays of fresh sushi, and Sake Cruise, Soy's signature drink. After mingling for a while, we walked over to Cucina Romana for dinner. The restaurant was a great romantic spot for couples. The chef made us all a amazing lobster appetizer, and it was superb. We had some of the best pasta that I have ever had. Katherine had some dessert to, but I was saving my appetite for Café De Paris afterwards. 
That's just what we did. As soon as we left Cucina Romana, we headed right to Café De Paris for some ice cream. No lie, probably the best ice cream I have had. Café de Paris also offers pastries galore. 
CHOCOLATE BUFFET
​Thursday night was the Resorts "White Night" party. This is were everyone is encourage to wear white and dance the night away while enjoying live music and a chocolate buffet. By the way, the buffet was so good. Yes, I ate the chocolate buffet after the ice cream! The party was set up by the beach and second pool. This is where the living room in a pool comes from. In the middle of the pool, there is a fire pit and seating. It makes for a great chill out spot in the evening.
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SPICES
​The next morning we had a class about the resort at 9am, so we were on our own for breakfast. We chose to eat at Spices buffet. We sat outside on their balcony, as the temperature was perfect. The buffet had so many options and tasted great!
After a great presentation and tour of the property from the sales team, we were on our own for the remainder of the trip. We decided to try out Neptune's for lunch. It's an open air restaurant that overlooks the beach. Katherine had the Mahi Mahi, and I had a quesadilla. Both were delicious. Did I mention that ALL food is included! You can eat as much or as little as you want. Another great feature of the all-inclusive. We also were greeted by some little crabs in the sand below us.
POOLS
We finally got an opportunity to use the pool. After we ate, we got changed and headed to the South Seas Pool. This is also the "party pool". The pool bar is located here, and all of the pool games and activities happen here. There was a DJ playing music each day as well. Now if you want a quiet, relaxing pool, the pool closer to the beach with the fire pit in it, is the quiet pool. It is located by the Pink Gin Village and beach. We started right off at the pool bar and got frozen margaritas. I really wanted a mango daiquiri, but mangos were not in season, but hey, drinks are drinks! The great thing about Sandals is that all drinks are included, even premium liquors! Another thing you have to get used to is not tipping. At Sandals, employees can't except tips, and it is frowned upon to try and do so. The only people that can except tips are Butlers, Spa personal, and the excursion guides. 
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STEAK NIGHT
That night we had a reservation at the signature restaurant, Butch's Chophouse. I was looking forward to this all day! The food was AMAZING!! We had shrimp cocktail as an appetizer, I had Filet and lobster tail, Katherine had the Wagyu Boston Cut Strip loin, and we had some lobster mac n cheese as well. So much food, but all so good. I really wanted to order another Filet, but there's no way I could of finished it. For dessert, we had Crème Brulee and Oreo cheesecake. 
BREAKFAST ON THE BEACH
Saturday we decided to just play it lazy. We woke up and went to Café de Paris to get a waffle and crepes to take and eat at the beach. We enjoyed a nice, quiet view with the sound of the waves crashing in. It couldn't be more relaxing.
KAYAKS!
We decided to head to the party pool again, and hang out there for the day. We got our chairs and a drink and actually took a little nap. Between all the Sandals that we have been to, we never kayaked. That is something that I really wanted to do, so we headed over to the water sports area to rent one. The staff at the water sports area was very friendly and happy to assist us. Our instructor gave us some advice and directions and sent us on our way. The water sports are a great way to see the resort and island from a different point of view. The ocean was clear and warm. There was even a school of stingrays swimming under us. It was a spectacular thing to see.
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CARIBBEAN VIBES
​As we were walking back to the pool, there was a band outside the lobby playing some Caribbean music and steel drums. We sat and watched for a while. I just love the sound of the steel drums. 
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POOL SHENANIGANS
​The pool was starting to get busy and hopping as we got back. The DJ was playing, pool volleyball was happening, and even a foam party broke out! Just another thing this amazing resort has to offer.
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I'M THE COOK
Saturday night we ended up meeting some of our fellow travel agents for dinner at Kimonos. The Japanese teppanyaki style cooking is one of my favorite meals, so I was excited. I was able to get some sushi before as well. Our cook Gasper was incredible. He made the meal that much better. One of the most memorable things I will never forget, is he actually had me get behind the grill and spin the egg and flip the egg up with the spatula. I had never seen this happen anywhere. These types of moments are another reason why I love the Sandals brand. I failed miserable however, breaking the egg on my wife's plate, whoops! As far as the food went, again amazing. Be prepared, you get ALOT of food. It's called the emperors feast, where you get EVERYTHING on the menu. It's nice because it takes the hard decision of what to order out of the equation. Our server ended the night by drawing a thank you picture upside down with salt. AMAZING!
As Sunday came, we were sad to leave. Our flight wasn't until 3pm, so we were able to have a nice breakfast at Le Jardinier while planning our next trip back. We decided to chill out in the quiet pool for a hour or so before we left. It was a nice change from the party pool. After checking out and grabbing a quick lunch, we took one last walk around the property to soak it all in.
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SO LONG FOR NOW
​At time of departure the GM had come out to say his goodbye's. We cannot say enough great things about the staff here, everyone was truly incredible. The level of service at this Resort was remarkable, and thus making it my favorite Sandals so far! Our goal is to eventually visit every Sandals property, but it will be hard not to come back here first. Want to see more even more pictures of the Resort? Click HERE. Are your looking for an intimate, luxurious, 5-star service Sandals? Do you want a pool on your balcony? Do you want a variety of great restaurants and perfect beach? If you answered yes to any of those, then Sandals Grenada is for you! If you have stayed here before let us know what you thought! If you haven't been here yet and want to, I would love to make that happen. If this one isn't for you, I can help you pick out the best Sandals for you! For more information email me today at agranza@extravagranzatravel.com or Click HERE to fill out our FREE quote form! I will help make your vacation one you will not forget! Don't forget to subscribe to our email so you can stay up-to-date with all that's going on! Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram! 

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    Alan is a travel consultant who specializes in Disney and Sandals Resorts. He loves to travel all over and can give you the best advice!

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