i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

so i've been working with a travel agent and have been pricing sandals resorts in all of their locations.

then i went on tripadvisor.com OH MY GOD!!

i am sick to my stomach with the negative reviews about the resorts!! i'm a pretty seasoned traveler, so i expect things to be nice at a 5 star place, but what i'm reading is HORRIBLE!!!

i don't care about the positive reviews--it's the MASSIVE amount of negative reviews!

i just don't know what to do now. we're saving a lot of money for this honeymoon, and i don't want it ruined by MOSQUITOES, COCKROACHES, NO HOT WATER, etc...

i could cry...

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

i'm not a fan of Sandals either. They make it seem SOOO much nicer than it really is.

Good Luck

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

OMG.. That is so NOT good. Im going to Sandals St. Lucia for my honeymoon

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by SummerBride06

so i've been working with a travel agent and have been pricing sandals resorts in all of their locations.

then i went on tripadvisor.com OH MY GOD!!

i am sick to my stomach with the negative reviews about the resorts!! i'm a pretty seasoned traveler, so i expect things to be nice at a 5 star place, but what i'm reading is HORRIBLE!!!

i don't care about the positive reviews--it's the MASSIVE amount of negative reviews!

i just don't know what to do now. we're saving a lot of money for this honeymoon, and i don't want it ruined by MOSQUITOES, COCKROACHES, NO HOT WATER, etc...

i could cry...

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Which Sandals? We are thinking about going to Sandals St Lucia

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

Maybe try another all inclusive besides Sandals. We are going to Puerta Vallarta and staying at an all inclusive that looks breathtaking called Villa Premier Hotel and Spa and staying in a honeymoon suite. Check it out online. Good luck.

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by SIBride06

OMG.. That is so NOT good. Im going to Sandals St. Lucia for my honeymoon

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so am i, I have spoke to many people who gone there including family and friends. They all loved it!!!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by jilmadison

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Posted by SummerBride06

so i've been working with a travel agent and have been pricing sandals resorts in all of their locations.

then i went on tripadvisor.com OH MY GOD!!

i am sick to my stomach with the negative reviews about the resorts!! i'm a pretty seasoned traveler, so i expect things to be nice at a 5 star place, but what i'm reading is HORRIBLE!!!

i don't care about the positive reviews--it's the MASSIVE amount of negative reviews!

i just don't know what to do now. we're saving a lot of money for this honeymoon, and i don't want it ruined by MOSQUITOES, COCKROACHES, NO HOT WATER, etc...

i could cry...

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Which Sandals? We are thinking about going to Sandals St Lucia

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mainly the antigua one but there are bad reviews about ALL of them!!! (including the 3 in st lucia)

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

if you bought insurance, you should be able to change your destination.

good luck

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

I'm going to Sandals Royal Bahamian. Yes, I saw negative reviews, but there are bad reviews for EVERY PLACE!! There will always be people who love to complain. I was addicted to tripadvisor, and was ruling out every honeymoon possibility, until my FH begged me not to go to the site anymore. You and your new hubby will have an amazing time wherever you go!!!!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

The travel agent we are using told us that with Sandals, you are paying for the name. In other words you are paying a lot more money for something you could get for less at a non-name all inclusive. So basically we could get a lot more for our money somewhere else. She didn't say anything bad about Sandals, only that the prices are overinflated.
Just wanted to give this word of advice that we got.
I am sure your HM will be beautiful at Sandals!!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by Soon2BLIgirls

I'm going to Sandals Royal Bahamian. Yes, I saw negative reviews, but there are bad reviews for EVERY PLACE!! There will always be people who love to complain. I was addicted to tripadvisor, and was ruling out every honeymoon possibility, until my FH begged me not to go to the site anymore. You and your new hubby will have an amazing time wherever you go!!!!

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I agree. Honestly, wherever you go there will be negative reviews about no matter how wonderful a place is. Unfortunately, places like that cannot offer individualized service because they cater to hordes of people and its just a matter of weighing whats more important to you. For me, we wanted our honeymoon where we didn't have to worry about a single thing, we didn't have to pay for anything and we could just relax with each other the whole time (without screaming kids ) I expect some of the drinks to be watered down adn I expect some of the food to not be a five star restaurant because it is an all-inclusive place. If I go there and I'm wrong, well I will just be pleasantly surprised. It really is up to you and how you want to spend your honeymoon. For us, it was more important to not have to use a single brain cell than receiving 1:1 attention. But I know for others, its a once in a lifetime vacation and thats what they want to spend the money on. My advice though over all, don't read those reviews. They're painful. You have no idea who is writing them and it'll only stress you out more. I completely got sucked into myself and then had to jsut give up

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

thanks everyone. we haven't actually booked yet-we're doing our research!

the thought of cockroaches and hordes of mosquitoes (apparently sandals doesn't spray) makes me ill!

so what other all inclusive resorts are there? anyone know anything about secrets? any others??? we're pretty flexible on location.

oh...and i was so ecxcited about the possibility of my own 'personal' plunge pool...until i found out you share them with 4 other couples. ugh!!! and ewwww!!!!

other all inclusive ideas would be greatly appreciated

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

We stayed at the El Dorado Royale in Mexico and it was pretty nice

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by SummerBride06
so what other all inclusive resorts are there? anyone know anything about secrets? any others??? we're pretty flexible on location.
other all inclusive ideas would be greatly appreciated

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Besides Secrets...which have a great one in Cancun (Excellence) and Punta Cana; there's Karisma (company owns El Dorado Royale) and Palace Resorts.

However, Royal Hideaway (my review is posted on the Bride's Review board) was better than we imagined. 5*, great reviews, all-inclusive, adults only, gourmet and top shelf drinks. It was amazing!

Also...check here:

It depends on your budget, where you want to go and what kind of trip you want. You can pretty much do the Caribbean, Mexico and some hotels in Europe as AI.

The below should help you (hopefully!).

Royal Hideaway in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is All-Inclusive and 5*. It's one of only a handful of All-Inclusive Leading Hotels of the World

Elite Island Resorts has amazing All-Inclusive information on their site for Antigua (a co-worker went to Galley Bay and loved it; Jumby Bay is also supposed to rock), St. Kitts, St. Lucia, The Grenadines, Tortola

Peter Island in the BVI consistently gets raves as a great All-Inclusive

We also wanted beautiful and All-Inclusive without having to compromise service. We went to Royal Hideaway and I can't say enough great things about it.

Secrets Excellence Riviera Cancun is also supposed to be luxurious and it's more affordable than Royal Hideaway.

Thanks to halfpintny, you can search worlwide for AI at Master List of All-Inclusives

Wherever you decide to go, I always suggest reading reviews on TripAdvisor.com

Good luck!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

we're staying at Couples, Negril. if you look it up on tripadvisor.com, there are hardly any negatives. I also know someone at work who went there in May and said it was nothing short of spectacular!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

We just came back from the El Dorado Royale for our anniversary trip. It was absolutely phenomenal. The food, rooms, service, pretty much everything was unbelievable. We cannot wait to go back! I would definitely look into it! We paid a lot less than people I know who've gone to Sandals. This is the website: www.karismahotels.com

Good luck!

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

these ideas are great! thanks! i'm looking them all up.

i should add---we're on a budget of $5000-6000 so some of these places are a little pricey for us. also, we don't want any kids to be around!!!! we'd like adults only.

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

We just got back from couples ocho rios. It was really nice there! The only problems we had was hurricane dennis, but that only extended our trip for 4 days.

ETS: We stayed at sandals royal carribean for our HM last year! We loved it! Sandals did a great job, but I feel we got so much more at couples.

Re: i am sick to my stomach re:sandals honeymoon

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Posted by SummerBride06

these ideas are great! thanks! i'm looking them all up.

i should add---we're on a budget of $5000-6000 so some of these places are a little pricey for us. also, we don't want any kids to be around!!!! we'd like adults only.

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You are MORE than definitely in the budget for El Dorado Royale in the summer!!