Top 5 Sandals Resorts for Beach Lovers – You’ll Want to Be Here! - Know Before You Go Travel Show

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the No Before You Go travel show show,
where we share all the latest travel tips, tricks and
insights to make your next vacation the best one. Yeah. So,
sit back, relaxed, grab a cocktail and enjoy the show
with Beenyak Travels, George Benyac and our senior travel consultant,
Janet Begnac.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
What is up everybody? Hey everyone, welcome back to another
vision of the No Before Good Travel Show. We've got
a show for you today, and it is June. Summer
is here. Kids are out of school. I think kids wrap.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
School at least here in South Carolina there.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I mean it's different for different parts of the country,
I think, so Yeah, Like I think I'm north. Maybe
they go a little later.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
I think I think they do go a little later.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Maybe interesting, Okay. And then there's also that new thing
where like kids are some kids are like getting two
weeks for summer and they're trying to test the whole
year round learning thing. Is that a thing?

Speaker 3 (00:52):
I mean, yeah, year round school is a thing.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
You know. I saw the craziest thing on the internet
the other day.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
That would be terrible to me though when I was
a kid.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
But I know I'm so glad with.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, I understand why parents want to do that, but yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Probably makes sense from a learning perspective, absolutely right, it
like makes total sense. But get this, So, so I
saw this thing on the internet that day and I listen,
everyone's talking about AI AI, this AI that they did
a test. They actually did a test with like elementary
school kids where they had a group of kids that
went to school normally, like normal school, normal school hours

(01:25):
like whatever, it is, like six hours a day, five
days a week, right, Yeah. Then they did this other
test where they took like a handful of kids, I
think maybe forty or something, and they gave them a
tablet headphones and it was AI enabled, and it was
like the AI. It was like their own personal teacher,
and the AI would communicate with the kid.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
That's pretty cool, display.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Things on the tablet, and the AI would adjusts its
teaching based on the kid's learning style. It would learn
how the kid learns yeah, and communicate with the kid
and then display information, interact with the kid, and it's
almost like getting one on one teaching. And they found
that they did that for two hours a day versus
kids going to school for six hours a day. And

(02:06):
the scores were exactly the same.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Or maybe the AI group was actually a little better.
I can't remember it.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
So I guess if you want to homeschool your kid,
then you could.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Just use that. It's I don't know what kind of
technology they're testing, but it was very interesting. I was like,
good lord, AI is gonna take over everything one day.
They're gonna be teaching one day.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
That is a little scary.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah. I mean there's like these AI doomsdays, and then
there's these AI optimists. I'm more of an AI optimist.
I think, yeah, I use it all the time, and
I think like it will enhance people's ability to create
things and do things. And I mean there's some people
saying it's gonna eliminate all these jobs and all this stuff.
I think it's a little bit of a stretch to

(02:43):
say today. It's just too early to make those kind
of crazy claims, but certainly it's cool technology.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Well the way to get off on a tangent there, But.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
We are real. We are not AI. We are real. Yes,
we've been here. We've been doing this since twenty eighteen.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, very real, which is crazy. Yeah, we're July twenty eighteen,
was when we recorded our first podcast. So seven years
which is wild.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
July fourth will be seven years into this thing. This
is awesome and we have we have like the we
have the best fans to like, the best followers of
the show, the best followers of the podcast. I want
to do this on video one day. I know you
hate the idea of that.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yeah, I'm not all I'm really not all about that.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I know, I know, but I could be on video.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
But just do that, so I will tell you though.
We did get some reviews.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
We did get a review, we got.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Two new reviews.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, okay, now you're tickling my fancy.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yes, okay, so.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
This is a great way to start the show. Okay, yep.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
So five stars from Sarah wf nineteen ninety three best
travel podcast, hands down. I'm writing this on my flight
to Saint Lucia, a trip that I credit this podcast
for helping me plan. The host of the absolute best
in the bus and it comes to knowing the ins
and outs of resorts and what to expect in all destinations,
especially Mexico and the Caribean the Islands. Plus, they're super entertaining,
both easy and fun to listen to during the frigid
winner we had in the Northeast this year. Their comprehensive

(03:56):
reviews of sunny faraway destinations was a fabulous escape. I
love their curbing content, but I'm also excited to hear
their views of the more unique destinations such as Europe
that they're headed to this year. As long as George
can survive the flight, that's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
I survived, go back.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Thank you, George and Janna for this amazing resource for
all our trip planning needs. Keep up the great work.
Thank you so much, Sarah w F nineteen ninety three.
We really appreciate it, Sarah Wf.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
I did make it to the flights. Now we will
we We're gonna have to talk about the one flight
you put me out.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Okay, yeah, hold on, I'm not we have one other review.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
All the flights were good. You put me on one flight.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
I was okay. We can't just like go like ten
minutes into this podcast, even getting in four minutes in. Okay,
all right, So next one is from mc Jazzy Jeff.
Fun and informative. I really enjoy both these podcasts and
our video blogs on YouTube. They're informative and entertaining. They
also remind me of my wife and I. I tend
to stray off topic while my wife keeps us on task.
Keep up the great work. Yes that is uh just

(04:50):
the Steorge to a te string off on topic as
this podcast. You can tell so I stray off topic. Yeah,
just a little bit. Yeah, Well, thank you so much,
MC jazz Jeff and again Sarah, we really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Jazzy Jeff and Sarah, thank you so much. The best
way to support the show. We really appreciate it. Guys.
Five story views they go a long way. It helps out,
like you know, the whole algorithm, Like if you're enjoining
the show, a little five star review and something nice
that you say goes a long ways, then more people
will see the podcast when people search for travel stuff
and they can enjoy me getting off task and Jane
and keeping me on task.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
But it did survive the flight. I did survive the
flights we did. The day flight over wasn't that bad.
It was actually really nice, really comfortable, and I think
it was my easiest, like I was the least jet lagged, Like.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, I love doing that, but yeah, I love doing
that day flight to Europe. It's just if you can
swing it like time wise, because it's going to add
you know, an extra day or so to your trip,
depending on where you're coming from. It's the easiest way
to adjust and not have an overnight flight.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
It really is. Yeah. But we had this one flight
from Barcelona No to Barcelona.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
London to Barcelona.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
London on this low cost care called Viewling.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yes, so it is like the Spirit Airlines of Spain.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And it was fine. It just like I was in
the middle seat on a long flight. Didn't the seat
did not recline And this sounds like the.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Whole first wall problems they had, the whole Wi Fi.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
The guy next to me zero plane etiquette. Yeah, none,
It's like this guy had never flown before, and he's
like he was like a bigger, like bodybuilder dude, and
he had his headphones on.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
I made George sit in the middle seat.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
I was in the of course stand up makes it
mil And then this guy's like dancing.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
He's just even standing belfa. I don't know if he
was on drugs or if he has ADHD.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Yeah, and then he kept adjusting, so he kept using
his right arm to adjust the little airflow thing above
your head.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Putting his armpit right in George space.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
He had like a sleeveless shirt on, and he just
kept doing this over He adjusted the airflow forty times
on a two hour flight. I'm like, and then he's dancing,
and then he's he's working on his little tablet. And
then I was like, Okay, I'm gonna get my laptop
out and try to get work done. So I got
my laptop out, I'm working, and then he immediately fixates
his attention to what is on my screen. Yeah, I
can see him out of my peripheral staring at my screen.

(07:03):
So I did it for I Like, I had stuff
on there and didnt want people to see. So I
was like, you know what, I'm just going to shut
the screen. I just shut it and said I'm just
going to sit here and stare at the back of
the seat cover until we land.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, they had no entertainment or no anything. I mean,
it was no Wi Fi.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Who doesn't know Vueling, Come on, you gotta get Wi Fi.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And they definitely got us hard with the baggage fees.
So you know, initially, I mean, this was still a
lot less expensive than the British Airways flight that I
was looking at that was like around the same time
that we needed. But it you know, just like with
Spirit in Frontier all the low cost carriers here, like
they get you once you, you know, with all the

(07:38):
extra fees like your seat fees, your bag fees, all that.
So and then the most freakish thing happened on our
flight home, which we'll just tell you about really fast.
We were on the tarmac, we have boarded the plane,
and then a person I.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Wasn't done venting, but we can move on.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
I think everybody got the point of that, right.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, okay, I can be done. But I was like, like,
and then just and then the middle seat supposed is
supposed to get both armrests. Oh yeah, that's how Immediately
the guy didn't give me. He just took over my
armrest and then he was man spreading, so means his
legs were crossed over the stitchings into my seat. Yeah
not okay. And then this guy's armpit was in my
face forty plus times on this flight, and I almost

(08:21):
looked at him like can you sit still?

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, like a child child first world problems, like a child.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
That can't sit still. I want to calm down dude,
I don't know what you're on, how much caffeine you've
had this morning, but we're only two and a half
hour flight. I can't even recline my seat and your armpit.
I've smelled your deodorant that's fading by the minute. To stop,
over and over and over again. I'm like, sit still.
He's probably sweating because he was dancing so much.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Probably so I'd never seen.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
A grown man with ADHD yep, people do that was
a little excessive.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
You have to get you some m Yeah, no it was,
but i's.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Probably listening to this podcast, but like he's got a point.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Yes, real quick though, our flight home, someone was injured
under the plane, a worker at the airport fortunately, and
then it like causes ripple effect of all these issues
and like a panel came off of the bottom of
the plane. We had to sit there and wait on
it to be fixed. We were pushing into the cruise hours,

(09:18):
where if we didn't take off, we were they were
going to cancel the whole entire flight. But what was
supposed to have been a ten hour flight, we were
on that plane for thirteen hours from Barcelona to Atlanta,
so that was kind of rough. But whatever. Yeah, yeah,
and then we missed our connection in Atlanta. Thankfully we

(09:40):
only travel with carry ons because it makes it a
lot easier when you have situations like this.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, British Airways though, was the best, the best, the best,
the best leg was going British Airways from was it
JFK Yeah JFKFK to London Heathrow. That was amazing. Anyways,
we are not here to vent about.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Our see now that we're like ten minutes in and.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Then send out, ladies and gentlemen. We are sorry if you
saw the if you saw the title of the podcast,
We're not there yet. Yeah, we're going to get right
to the content right now. What are we here to
talk about? Because I'm excited to talk about this. I
love a beach. Yeah now I'm not a cool guy,
but I do love a good beach.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
Well, I love a good beach when it is like
a beautiful beach, very calm water, and great service on
the beach. So we are going to give you our
top five Sandals resorts with the best beaches. And now
these are our opinions. I think they're pretty accurate, but
these are our opinions.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
And we've been to it, by the way, and if
you're a new listener, we've been to literally been to
every single Sandals and probably dozens, if not hundreds of
other all inclusive resorts, so we you know, we not
trying to not toot ourn horn here, but we've seen
a lot of different resorts and a lot of different beaches.
We're well traveled, including beaches in Europe, so this will
be really good. I'm really excited to talk of this and.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
And that's of June twenty twenty five, just so you know.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, and Sandals is such a good brand. It's so
romantic that you know, kids are out of school right now,
everyone's probably thinking about going on their vacation or planning
next year's vacation, or if you haven't planned, this is
this summer's vacation. It's not too late. You'll be surprised
what kind of last minute deals you might be able
to find out there. And if you work with a
zero fee agency like Pennac Travel, wink wink, nudge nudge

(11:16):
link in the show notes to get ahold of us,
you can work with Jana and help you pick out
the best resort for you. Because although we're going to
give you our top five beaches here. These resorts are
all very different. All these beaches are very different. So
we're going to try to go through give you all
the details. If you're a beach person and you like
a cold drink.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
We gotcha, yes, all right, So first up, where should
we start. Let's let's in no.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Order, right, explain that because it's really hard to rank.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, we had started to rank these, but then we
decided not to. I'll tell you which one I would
probably put at number five, but then the rest of
these I think are all very parable, the pros and
cons to them, and you'll understand why once we get
into it. But let's start on the beautiful island of
Saint Lucia because we actually are headed to Saint Lucia

(12:00):
in about just over four weeks. We're not gonna tell
you where we're saying yet, but we're going there in
four weeks.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
It's gonna be a brand new resort. We haven't been
to brand new vlaw.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Oh I've toward it, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
You've toured it. But it won't be sandals, and so
we're excited. We're gonna we don't want to Yeah, no
spoil alert yet, but we are night, yeah, Lucia. Yeah,
and we probably are going to go to another resort.
Bet I have two more before the end of the year,
maybe one in Mexico. Not gonna say where we're going. Yeah,
and then there's probably gonna be one other one may
or may not be Sandals, we'll see.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
So anyways, a lot to tell the goal. Enough of
a teaser, all right yet? All right?

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, So first up is Sandals Grand Saint Lucian. So
there's three Sandals resorts in Saint Lucia. No matter which
one you stay at, you have access to all three.
There's complimentary shuttles that run between them every two hours.
The first one starts at La Talk at seven am.
So the Grand Saint Lucian I think has the best
beach of all three of them. It's very calm, crystal

(12:54):
clear blue water, great for swimming and relaxing. There's also
some decent snorkeling right off the beach as well, like
we saw some steam rays right there. Yeah. Oh yeah.
So this resort has three hundred and eleven rooms, nineteen
different categories. It's about an hour and a half to
two hours from the airport, depending on the traffic. So
I would recommend there's other ways to get to the resort.

(13:15):
Helicopter and a ferry. You could do either one. I
would highly recommend that at least do.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
The helicopter once. I think the helicopters. If you're gonna
go Saint Lucia, at least got to do it once.
If you like doing it multiple times, that's fine. The
helicopter cuts the commute time down to like fifteen minutes,
which is awesome. Something No, before you go, you cannot
take your luggage, Like if you bring up big luggage,
you can't take the big luggage with you on the helicopter.
They have weight restrictions and the helicopter only holds about

(13:43):
five to six people, so you're not gonna be on
there with a bunch of people. It's not like a
huge helicopter. Its small helicopter. Anyways, I sell it to say,
your luggage will arrive via van and you'll get there
in like fifteen minutes. Your lugge will arrive there ninety
minutes two hours later. But then you get settled, they'll
bring your luggae, they'll already tagg and everything. They'll bring
it to your room. Worry about it. But it's a
lot of fun. It's kind of like an excur kind
of it is an excursion on the way to your resort.

(14:06):
So if you're going to do a quick stay, that's
a good way to do it.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Absolutely so. This resort has twelve dining options, seven bars,
tons of different activities. Water activities, so scuba diving if
you're certified. If not, you know, you can take a
resort class, windsurfing, wakeboarding, knee boarding, snorkel excursions, every day, kayaking,
paddle boards, hobbycats, and they also have water skiing as well.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
They do, and they do have a guy that rents
jet skis.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
I was just gonna say that, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
It's not part of Sandals, but he's kind of like
a beach vendor that he's literally pretty much on property,
right next to the property, and we run a jet
ski from It was awesome, And you have to signd
like waivers, you do have to pay for that. Not
part of Sandals, but it's nice to have that option there.
We actually did it. We went out pretty far. It
was pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yes, yeah, I was regretting it when we went out
so far at one point because it got a little
rocky out there, I got a little rocky.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
We pushed it pretty and then I was like I
was thinking, I was like, gosh, if this thing actually
like failed, if this is breaking me down. We went
out a little too far, so don't go out too far.
But it is a lot of fun.

Speaker 3 (15:10):
And yeah. So this the beach here, beautiful wide stretch
of sand. So there's tons of chairs. We never have
every time we've been there, we've never had a problem
finding a chair on the beach. It I don't want
to say it's like a public beach, but it's not fully.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Private pretty much is.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah, there's stuff on both sides, so like you do,
like some people you know, do walk down the beach,
like local vendors and stuff.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
But it's minimal.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
It's very minimal at this resort. So, you know, it's
some which we'll talk about. You know, it's it's way worse,
but it's really not bad here. And then the island
of Saint Lucia in my opinion, you know, it's one
of the pretty silents in the Caribbean. It's known as
the Hawaii of the Caribbean. If you're an adventure lover
and you don't want to you want a really nice beach,
but you don't want to lay on it all day
every day. You want a lot of activities to do.

(16:01):
Saint Lucia's perfect for that.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
So yeah, and it's it's it feels like you are
in Hawaii, Like it looks like Hawaii and feels like Hawaii.
And what's really cool if you are an adventurous person,
this resort is also perfect because there's a it's not
it's it's a park and it's not an island, but
they call it Pigeon Island yep. And you can go
once a day if you want to it for a

(16:22):
couple of bucks and go hike to the top of it.
It's a really good workout.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
We can do it on your own. It's like eight
dollars or something.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
And it's a it's an old fort that was built
to protect the island. And I think it was was
it the French and the British that kept fighting over it.
I mean it exchanged Saint Lucia exchanged hands.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Like it was a French British times or something.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
It's crazy, and that fort just kept calling back and
forth between the British and the French. And now Saint
Lucia's obviously its own island, but it's kind of cool
to have that history there and you can like see
some of the old like you know, cannon holes and
things there that. But anyway, so that's there, and then
obviously you can hike the pitons, you can do hilltop.
There's a lot to do in Sant Lujia. Yes, this resort,

(17:03):
and it's grand. The resort of the resort very grand.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
That's why they call the grand it is. Yeah, it's
it's got a large footprint, very flat though, so if
you do have any mobility challenges, this would be a
good resort in my opinion. I mean, it has a
big footprint, but again there's like no hills or anything
like that.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
One of my favorite pubs too.

Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yes, the pub here's awesome. I would say the overall
vibe and atmosphere of the resort gives you a good
mix of both. They have great entertainment and shows going
on every night, so you know, if you want that
and the pub can get kind of lively, you know
you've got it. Or if you just want to sit
in peace and quiet by the fire pit, you know
it's perfect for that too. A lot of the rooms
here have not been renovated in recent years. So I

(17:47):
just want to mention that it's just like your standard
hotel rooms for the most part.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
I wouldn't deterlet I mean no, I wouldn't let that. Yeah,
I still think because there's so much to do out
outside of your room, it's there's definitely a resort where
you don't need to get the best room. In my opinion, Yeah,
like it would be yeah, just like I would get
in at a lower level room and just enjoy the resort. Now,
they do have somewhat they call them overwater bungalows, but
they're kind of like beachfront bungalows, right.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, I mean they're technically over the water, but they're.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Like not they're like on a peninsula ish.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, they're they're not like way out over the water
like at World Caribbean or South Coast. Now. Price wise
and time of year to come, which first of all,
Saint Lucia is good year round. It's very warm, year rare, southern,
very Southern Caribbean. Yeah, rainy seasons technically June to November,
but that's just you know, like thunderstorms can pop up,

(18:39):
you know, ten minute rain storms, that sort of thing,
so I wouldn't let that to tell you. Best time
of year price wise to go is going to be
September through December, not over a holiday. Most expensive time
is going to be January through April. So I did
some quick sample pricing for you for this resort for
just the least expensive room, and is what I did
for all of these. I didn't do club or butler.
So it's starting at eight hundred and seventy dollars per

(19:01):
night for a couple. So all Sandals resorts are adults
only in couples only, So eight hundred and seventy dollars
per night in September and then in March one forty
six dollars per night is the lead.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
In price, So oh okay, interesting.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
But overall I absolutely love this resort. Again, of the
three in Saint Lucia, it's got the best beach, which
is why it is one of the most It is
more expensive than the other two.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
And you can stay at one and play at three.
So if you haven't been to Saint Lucia at all,
you can go go to one of these resorts, one
of the Sandals resorts, and then there's a free transfer
it's like five or ten minutes, and you can actually
go to the other ones and enjoy dinner.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Transfer time between them is not five or ten minutes.
Thought I thought it was, you're thinking montiove.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yeah, no, but I thought it was. They were pretty
They were fairly close, aren't they.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
No, So the Grand sat Lucian Celcaucion.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
That's why I'm the host and you're the Actually, yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
It is about like fifteen ish minutes. I was closed
the Grand Saint Lucian to La talk. A lot depends
on the traffic and cast trees because you have to
go through castores. But if there's no traffic, it's about
thirty minutes. If there is traffic, it's going to be
anywhere from forty five minutes to an hour.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
So okay, all right, vominos onto the next.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Yes, onto the next, so next up. This is probably
our favorite of all of their resorts, Sandals Crnada.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Oh yeah, the whole package is just the island, the resorts,
the beach, the service, the people, the culture. I love
it all.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
So this resorts. If you have you been to a
lot of other Sandals. Some people might not agree with
me on the me putting this in the best beaches.
But here's why I didn't know. I think it would
be number five of the rest of all of these.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Uh, but number five in the whole Sandals portfolio. So
comparing all those just right's pretty good. That's really you're
you're in the top, you know, right.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
But this beach is a private beach, totally private. So
that's one a huge perk that I love to it.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
So now you can walk down to the right of
the resort and you can walk a long way down
the beach. So if you do want a long walkable beach,
you can get that here. The sand here is more
like I mean, it's called pink gin Beach. So they
say the sand has a pink tent. I don't sometimes

(21:16):
I don't really see it.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
But yeah, it's like, I guess the sand to me
seems a little heavier, maybe that's a way to put it.
It's not as like fluffy white.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah, and you have some black sand too.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, you have a little black because this is.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
A volcanic island, which Saint Lucia is also a volcanic island.
But I think it comes out more here in the water,
but the in the beach but the water's very calm.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Snorkeling right off the beach.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Greate snorkling right off the beach. The water's crystal clear blue.
The beach is a pretty big beach, like there's a
lot of options for chairs, So that's another reason why
I put it in the list. So love this resort.
It's two hundred and fifty seven rooms with twenty two
different categories. It is less than five minutes from the airport.

(22:00):
You do not get a lot of airplane noise though,
so don't let that deter you. And yeah, I would
say that every time we've been here, just the service
is just always absolutely outstanding. I think this resort is
one of the most well managed resorts in their chain
because anytime I have sent the general manager an email,
I mean sometimes he responds within like ten fifteen minutes.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Yeah, I mean he's Johnny on the spot. And yeah,
we've like the butler service here especially. I mean we
have had some of our most memorable travel experiences at
Sandels Grenada. Can't say enough about it. And it's not
just the resort, where the people or the beach or
the island, the culture, it's just like everything in a
little package. On the whole thing makes this destination extremely unique. Yeah,

(22:44):
it is not heavily toristed, like you don't see cruise
ships there every day.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Right, I'd say, yeah, you'll a lot of you if
you've listened to the show for a long time, have
heard me say this. But I think because it is
not as TOURISTI of an island, that it still has
a lot of like just old school Caribbean charm to it.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, and we've donated to the Sandals Foundation there. We've
toured the schools. I mean we've we've gone in and
kind of felt the culture, and so it's it's near
and dear to our heart. I mean, we love love
this resort and the beach definitely makes the list love us.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Now, this resort has eleven dining options, five bars. As
far as water sports, they have kayaks, hobbycats, snorkeling excursions, windsurfing,
paddle boarding, they do underwater glass bottom boat tours. And
then they also have snuba which is scuba, yeah, which
is an additional cost for that. Then of course scuba diving.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
I'm a big snuba fan. Yes, scuba diving. I know
the scuba dive enthusiasts probably look at the Snoopa people
like you guys, don't you guys aren't really do anything
your yet whatever. I don't care.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
I am like I don't. Yeah, I just can't get
through those.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
It's probably all like tennis pros and tennis people look
at pickleballers. Yeah, you know that's okay. Snoopa is awesome
and I love it and it's just simple and quick.
Another thing about I like about this island is or
I'm sorry, the resort is in my opinion, it has
one of the best bushes.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Now, I love a good steak and we've aided all
the Butch's Steaks House at every single resort that they have,
and this one just seems the closest to like a
quintessential you know, darkwood American steakhouse, service, food quality, everything.
They nail it there.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yes, yeah, it's very good. Now. In terms of vibes
of this resort, I would say it's very similar to
the Grand Saint Lucian. You know, there's nightly entertainment, they
do great shows, the swim up pool bar. There's one
thing I wish what they had was a little bit
bigger of a swim up pool bar. But you know,
it's still totally fine, but that pool bar can get

(24:45):
you know, pretty lively in the late afternoon, so it
kind of has something for everyone. Overall, it's a little
bit more laid back, but I absolutely love this resort.
It's one of my all time favorites.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Well, I do also want to say this resort has
one of my face if it pretty much is my
favorite room category in all of sandals because they are
the first ones.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Well they were the first ones to do it.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, and the views they have from their skyspool suites
are just absolutely freaking stunning. Yeah, and we've never stayed there.
I've never stayed in one. We've toured it. I've enjoyed it.
We stayed in really nice rooms before.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
I love the last room that we had like a
little smell.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, we had the private.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
In South Seas Infinity Pool suite, and that sweet was awesome.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
So I know, I just want that rooftop pool so
bad or that top level pool off the balcony is
just so cool.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah. Anyways, all right, but this is a great resort
also great year round. We've stayed here in September, in February,
the summer months, and it literally is.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Warm, it's summer year around. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, so September pricing. Oh, one other thing I want
to say is regarding the rooms. So this resort, they
built it and it opened at the end of twenty thirteen,
and that was when they really started doing all of
the outdoor soaking tubs at their resorts, and so pretty
much like all of the room categories at this resort
have one of those soaking tubs. Now, some people don't

(26:14):
use that or care for it, but a lot of
people do like that, And I think it's a huge
pert because even with like your lead and luxury level rooms,
you can get that. So September pricing starting at seven
hundred and sixty three dollars per night. March pricing is
eleven hundred and sixty three dollars per night for a couple.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Interesting Okay, yes.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yep, And so we've got three more to get to.
But we are going to take a quick commercial break
to pay some podcast bills. Stay with us, we'll be
right back.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
You're right back, guess we are back. Thank you for
just ticking through the ad and paying the podcast bills. Right,
What do we got? Where are we going next? What
island you're taking me too. I'm kind of because I
don't know the list.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
You're just well, we like kind of talked about it, but.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
I already forgot So let's go.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
Yeah. So we are going to one of our favorite
islands in the Caribbean, very near and dear to our heart,
the island of Jamaica.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Oh, Jamaica. Yes, and best people love Jamaicans.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yes, I do too, And so I'm on. We are
taking you to Sandals Nogrill.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, love Nogrill, the famous seven Mile Beach,
one of the most famous beaches in the world. Yes,
and the Sandals Resort happens to sit right on it.
H And no grill itself is its own vibe. You
gotta go to experience it.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
It is definitely its own vibe.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
It's definitely its own vibe. And it's a public beach,
but an amazing beach. And one of my favorite things
about Norill, especially Sandals.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
Nogrill, is listen, you know what you're going to say.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
You can have a very authentic meal, not that Sandals
doesn't provide authentic They have actually a really great local
restaurant on side there. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Jamaican, Yeah, they.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Have Jamaican restaurant right on site and sandals grill. But
if you want to get an amazing lobster, you can
just walk on the beach, go down, like go down
like a block a block in a half, not far
down the beach.

Speaker 3 (27:55):
Yeah, just past the resort, just past.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
The resort, and for like twelve bucks or something. I
can't remember. It's a little bit more now, I can't remember.
But they are literally getting lobsters right out of the.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Ocean right there, right off that beach right there.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
And putting them on the grill. And it is some
of the freshest seafood lobster I've ever had. And they
serve it with like the sweet bread.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Yeah, and you're making sweetbread, yes, oh my god.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
And then you can just go down there and just
bring it back with sandals if you want to, or
just like eat it in the restaurant. It's like this
very rustic restaurant with like wood and yeah, the kitchen's
very open to the beach. It is so cool.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
I think it's called lobster Man, Yeah, lobsters.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Or island lobster or something. It's very so we get
the question a lot on our YouTube, and I never
remember the I never remember, by the way, che out
our YouTube if you haven't already guessed, and we have
v logs on all of these resorts.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Actually walk down to the left from Sandals and it's
literally like right there.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, if you're leaving Sandals and you're looking at the
beach going to the beach, take a left and go
down the beach that way. Anyway.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, it's still like a total creeping thing to say,
is like it's just down the beach, just down the beach. Yeah,
So there's a resort I would say kind of has
more of a like boutique feel to it because it's
feels very small. It feels very small, but it does
have more rooms than you think. It's got two hundred
and forty four rooms with nineteen different categories. A lot
of the rooms have been renovated here, there's still a

(29:15):
few that have not, but a lot of them have.
And nine dining options. There's only five options for dinner,
so again, it's kind of another reason why I think
it just feels a little bit smaller. And then just
the proximity to the beach, like you know, right when
you walk in the lobby, like you can see you know,
through to the beach, and it's very close.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's a very thin resort, a thin resort. It's like
that's like if you like, the main street that you
go on to get there, between that and the beach
is not very far. Yeah, we're talking maybe a couple
hundred yards. Yeah, and the resort is a long, thin resort.
So everything's focused around the beach. Not much of a
pool resort. The swim up part, it's okay, it's fine.

(29:56):
It's adequate.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
It's adequate.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
It's more of a beach thing.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yes, it's it's a pretty small pool and a resort.
But you don't go to Nigrill for the pool. You
go for the beach.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Land on the beach. It is a public beach and
it's it's very public. You have a lot of other
resorts in the area, so other resort goers are walking
up and down the beach. Sandals does have like their
own securities, So don't you don't have to worry about like,
you know, street too many street vendors stuff coming around,
sales has security seeing who's coming and going through their beach.
But uh, but man, I just love this resort. It's

(30:25):
such a vibe.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Yeah, So it's about seventy five minutes from the airport.
Sometimes it can take up to ninety minutes. But yet,
and when we say like the vibe so, and I
tell a lot of people this too, because this isn't
just the Sandals resort. This is like any resort that
you go to there. Nigrill is very laid back, relaxed.
They are on island time, so like everything does take

(30:50):
just a little bit longer because that is that's just
negrill in general. We've stayed at other resorts in that
area and that's just how it is. They're just it's
island time and when you're in But I love it,
like it's a part of like their culture.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
So and when you're in a grill, what are you
in a hurry for? Just relax You're in a grill.
You get nothing to worry about.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Right, So in terms of you know, atmosphere of this resort,
I think it's pretty you know, laid back, chill resort overall.
But you know, they do have nightly entertainment and everything,
but overall, I think it's pretty chill resortay.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
You can go to Rick's Cafe, you can jump, and
theyn't have like the snow tape. Things we've jumped in before,
remember that.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
Deep one that was it? They have they have a
blue hole, a blue hole in the area. Yeah, there's
like a few. I think there's two things called like
attractions called the blue hole. To make it, yeah, thirty
foot I did not do it. George did it.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
I did it, and some of our friends did it too.
And then they had locals that were like jumping out
of a tree above the blue hole that made made
it like it made it, made that thirty foot jump
into like a sixty fifty foot jump, right, yeah, and
they were talented. They're doing backflips and stuff.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
I was like, well, I know, it was kind of scary.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
It was kind of making me nervous.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah. So this side of the island has the best sunsets.
So if you are sunset lover, which who is not
sunset like Magrill is absolutely amazing for sunsets. As far
as you know offersord activities to do in the area,
there's still you know, something some adventure type activities like
whyis Falls is nearby the blue hole, like George talked

(32:19):
about Rick's Cafe. But overall, if you are looking, you
know for a lot of adventure type activities to do.
I wouldn't say that Girl is the best place for that.
You're going here for the beach and it is a
fabulous one. So pricing and again Jamaica you can go
to year round. I will say that the ocean water
and the pool water. We've been to this resort actually

(32:41):
a few times in the month of January and the
pool was a little cold. But again you're you're going
for the beach. So September pricing five hundred and eighty
seven dollars a night, So this is going to be
I think of, Yeah, all of these resorts, this is
going to be the best, most affordable option. And then
in March it's coming in at nine forty five per

(33:03):
night starting price.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
Not bad, yes, not bad.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Yeah, So do anything else you want to add to Negrill.
I mean, we just love Jamaica. Oh and you know
what one thing I really I do want to say
Club Mobay if you're going to Negrill or any other
resort in Jamaica, would highly recommend Club Mobay for the
arrivals and departure lounge. It's a VIP service at the
Montico Bay Airport. It does book up in advance, So

(33:28):
you want to book it in advance if you can, but.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
If any travel can book it for you, yes.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, we definitely can't, but I definitely think that it
is worth it, especially if you're arriving into Montigo Bay
like after twelve pm.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, either Janet or one of our fantastic agents can
book that for you that We don't worry about it.
Just work up in that travel. We don't charge you
a dime for our services.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Oh and so this beach here too, on this side
of the island, very calm, great for swimming, Like you
can just sit out there and float in the ocean
and yeah, it's great. One we were doing that when
we went to We weren't at this resort. We were
at another resort and a grill with some friends. And
remember like that huge eagle ray like swam by us.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
Oh yeah crazy.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
But yeah, great, great beach. So next up we are
moving to the Bahamas.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Not last, but not least.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
This is not last as number four.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Oh it's number four. I thought were number five.

Speaker 3 (34:20):
Okay, no, this is number four.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
I another resort. It's almost like the resort with the
best beaches are ranked pretty high overall for me, any Yes, okay.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
So going Sandals were all Bahamian which went north. Yes,
when we used to say Bahamas, it used to be Sandal,
Zimmerel Bay and a Zuma, but that no longer exists.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
They would be on the list. But they are converting
it to a beaches. Yes, so we'll have to do
a whole podcast on that because that's a big deal.
But Emerald Bay would be on it. But for those
that haven't heard, Sandal's Emerald Bay is closed.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
I mean it's been closed now for from us a year.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
So yes, and they're turning it into a beaches which
is exciting. And I'm gonna miss the golf.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
There, and they're the golf was staying.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
Yeah, but I mean unless it's not couples only though.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
So yeah, but I bet you they'll kind of have
like some adult areas.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Like turks that would be cool. Yeah okay, But.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
Anyway, So Worald Behamian so absolutely love this resort for
a variety of reasons. Very easy to get to, especially
if you're yeah on the East Coast. It's a two
hour flight from Charlotte, two hours from Atlanta, or if
you are connecting through Miami, it's like, yeah, I think
you're in the air A total of twenty five minutes

(35:30):
from Miami to Nasau, so very easy to get to
fifteen minutes from the airport once you land. Ten dining
options at this resort, eight for dinner plus two food trucks.
They have four hundred and four rooms with thirty three
different categories. Pretty much all of the rooms have been
renovated over the last five years. Now. The beach at

(35:52):
the on the resort side is stunning, crystal clearboo water,
great for swimming. The water is very calm, but it
is smaller. But why I love this resort so much
and I can just go here over and over is
the private island absolut frequently.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
The private island makes this resort, like it catapults this
resort into high ranking sandal resort for us, because I
love that, Like you know, Royal Behamian can be They
have like the beach party area and it can they
do phone parties. It can get very very very upbeat.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
I was gonna say, yeah, this resort very beat. I
mean you can find the peace and quiet. But definitely
if you want like a fun, lively resort, this is
a good option.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yeah, so this is one of the most upbeat resorts
in the Sands brand for and then but what I
like they have two they have three swim up bars,
one on the private island, two on the mainland. The
mainland has a kind of an upbeat one. Yeah, they
have a quiet one. So if you want to if
you want your room near the quiet one, got to
call nover for called Travel will tell you what that is,

(36:56):
but or we'll tell you here.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Anyways, it doesn't the East Bay.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
Go to the Espay. If you want quiet, if you
want the party side, you go to the West Bay.
And if you want total serenity and peace, you can
go to the Private Island, which has its own restaurant.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
And we've there's not rooms out there, but there's.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Not rooms out there, but it's a short little ferry ride. Yeah,
and you definitely get swim there. But it's I mean,
it's so quiet, it's so peaceful, and you can spend
all day out there. We've we've gone out there and
spent all day. We launch at the restaurant, hang out
the beach, do the sum up bar. You can snorkel
out there. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yes, the island has amazing snorkeling right off the beach
on the backside. You can often see turtles back there.
We've seen stingrays. And they actually do give you snorkel
equipment to snorkel off the beach. You don't have to
go on an excursion, which a lot at a lot
of their resorts they don't do that, pretty much all
of them, they don't do that, but they do let

(37:47):
you do that here on the island. So that's a
huge perk.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
And we're going to link all the vlogs that we
have in the show notes to all of these resorts.
So if you want to listen to the whole podcasts and
you have something you want to learn more see more of,
go ahead and check out the links and you can
go right to our vlog and I'll link every single resort.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yes, but the island is just so chill. It is
if you literally want to feel like you're on a
private island and just you know, not doing anything, this
is perfect.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
It's a private island off an island. Yes, you can't
beat it.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
Yes, So a couple things other things to note, which
I do wish that. So they closed the island at
five pm. The last shuttle Our last boat from the
island is at four fifty. I wish it was opened
a little bit later. I would they did dinner out there, agree,
But I understand why they don't.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
I've heard rumors. Now this is hearsay. There's nothing official.
Then announced that maybe there's some expansion coming to that island.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
I if they did, it would probably be like it's
going to be tim Here's south.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
But anyway, but it'd be really cool if they could
expand that and maybe put some rooms out there. I
don't know. Maybe I'm okay anyways. But another reason why
I love this island and the destination is there's a
lot to do off the resort. There's good golf. Baja
Mar is like five minutes away.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
I was gonna say, yeah, you can take a taxi
over to Bahamar, which depending on you know when you
get it anywhere from twenty to thirty dollars. You can
also hop on a public bus that's only like a
dollar or two, or you could walk down there, but
I wouldn't walk down there at night. And yeah, if so,
if you it's like a Vegas style casino, So if

(39:26):
it's like that, it's huge it's a can you to
go play blackjack or poker or whatever it's or go
for dinner or go for dinner.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
We would go for We went for dinner. They have
an amazing steakhouse they have they have a huge casino.
We're not big gamblers. We just like to go have
fun and golf and it's it's right there. And that's
another like kind of perk to the Bahamas is very developed.
There's a Starbucks right across the street. So in the
morning sometimes we would walk off the property and just
go get Starbucks. The kids call it. The kids these
days called Starby's.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
I know you say that sometimes.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
And now as soon as I heard that, it is
now forever stuck in my head. I cannot not call
it Starby's. And now every listener, trust me a lot
of it. I'll have you listening to the show right now.
You just heard me call it Starby's, you will end
up calling it Starby's. I don't know why I had
no intentions of ever calling Starbucks Starbies. I'm like, God,

(40:16):
that's crazy. That's what the kids call it these days.
Once I heard it, then, like I think I said
something to you, was I wass go to Starby's.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
I was like what did you say?

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Like what and now you call it Starby's.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah. Sometimes As far as things going on at this resort,
so again, I do think this is one of the
more livelier resorts in their chain. But again, you can
find the peace and quiet and chill if you want that,
they do have that. But the piano bar gets pretty
hobby at night. The bar in Butcher's, that one gets hobbying,

(40:45):
as well as the sports bar in terms of you know,
other activities that they have, so water sports of course,
the scuba diving, snorkeling, hobbycats, kayaks, water trikes, paddle boards
and all of the One thing I want to mention
because this is getting really popular, is pickleballs. Pickleball is
like taking over the world and they are working to

(41:10):
put it. If they don't already have a pickleball court
at every resort, they're looking to at least expand that
and put one or you know, have multiple at all
of the Sandals resorts. So just like I mentioned that.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
This resort also has two of my favorite restaurants in
the chain to they have a Butcher's and they have
the Sushi Spot, and.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Yeah, the sushi is is good.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Check check for me, and so I could eat it,
you get, I could eat dinner there every night at
one of those two spots. So it has my personal
favite restaurants, the lunch the lunch spot on the island.
The Private island is really good.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
Too, So yeah, that restaurant is really good.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Caribbean flair with some American food in there. So it's
really good. And that private island so chill. And we
actually have a whole resort tour of just the private
island and the whole vlog on the resort, so I'll
link both in the showutes.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
Yeah, and so because of how like the beach is
at this resort, it's not a public beach, so that's
a huge perk. Now overall, this is not just a
Sandals World beheming thing. This is a Bahamas thing. Is
the service in the Bahamas is just a little bit slower.
It's kind of like negrillgrill.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
They're a little bit on island time, so I mean
it kind of sometimes it's super fast and then sometimes
a little more island time. But you know, it's honestly
like if you go to the Caribbean, oftentimes just pack
your patients, you're on island time, just relaxed.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
Yeah, I just like to mention it because you know,
it can be different, like when you think of like
you know, Mexico where it's like boom boom.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah. The Mexican culture is different where
everything's like super fast on the spot, which you know,
I like that too. You know, it's just this big
difference in the culture of like you know, Mexican vacations
and the resorts that they have, and then also the
Caribbean vacations. It's a different vibe and you know, in
like the biggest thing that I see when you compare

(42:54):
resorts in Mexico and resorts in the Caribbean is for
the traveler experience, it is a different feel.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
You just feel like when you're in the cribbon on
these small islands, you feel that way. I don't know
if you really can't tangibly measure that or it's hard
to describe, but it's a different feeling, don't you think.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Absolutely, Yeah, Like in Mexico you have these giant mega
resorts that you know, go up tens of stories and
a lot of these you know, a lot of these
resorts in the Caribbean are smaller. It's just right, kind
of like the resort of the island is just small.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
Yes, yep, I would agree, So that kind of sums
up real Behamian love that resort.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
All right, what's the price of this amazing resort?

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Glad you mentioned that almost forgot, so first off time
of year to go to this resort, December, January, and
February can definitely be very hit or miss in terms
of temperature and the pools and the ocean water is
pretty chilly during that time of year. So if you
are from the northeast then that might not bother you

(43:51):
as much. But as Southerners, we like large coals and
ocean to feel like bathwater, and so the water's cold
in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Ring quarters that for at night?

Speaker 3 (44:00):
Yeah sure, and it can yeah, it can be chilliate
Like I even saw I don't remember if it was
this past Christmas or the Christmas of four but one
of the highs one day, which this it can happen.
It's not, it doesn't happen all the time, but it
was like sixty five degrees, which that's pretty cold. So uh,
will I would recommend you know, like late March through

(44:21):
probably October for the best most warmest temperatures, So September pricing,
this is starting at eight hundred and forty eight dollars
per night for the lead end room category, and this
is in the East Bay Village. And then in March
it is starting at one thousand and seventy seven dollars
per night.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Okay, it's kind of always priced at a little bit higher.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
Commas is just some more expensive destination, so that is
part of what you're paying for.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Yeah, the flights can be a little bit better because
they're shorter, so you know, may you got to take
the whole package and consideration, but yes, you have resort
itself is a little more yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
Yeah, and you have more options for flights because you know,
all so many airlines fly into there, so that's going
to drive the price down for tickets. So your airfare
does tend to be better to have.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
They have one of the coolest gyms. Their gym is
like at the rooftop. Oh yeah, and it's just like
it's I'm surprised they haven't changed that, yeah, because it's
such that would be such a good like restaurant or
lounge or something.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah. I like that they've kept it the gym.

Speaker 2 (45:14):
But it's the gym and you're at the time, you're
at the highest part of the resort. Yeah, and it's
glass walls and you look over at the private island
and the beach and it's like kind of demotivating though
a little bits, and you're like, God, I just want
to go.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
I know, it's like I just want to be out
there on the water.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
I just want to go play. I want to be
in airlifting weights or running. But you know, we get
our kudos to us. We try to get our gym
time in. Yes, yeah, the gym on Virgin voyages though
I was a little disappointed by yes.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
But we're not doing Virgin voyages right now. We will
get to that probably on the next podcast.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
We've got a lot to say.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yes. Okay, So last but not least is the beautiful
Island of Antigua.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
So I knew it was going to make the list.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
Yeah, so this resort, I would say, this beach here
is I mean, it's hard to rank them, but it's
definitely one of the prettiest. And Antigua is known for
their beaches. They say they have three hundred and sixty
five beaches, one for every day of the year. The
beach here a lot of space, so there's a lot

(46:15):
of chairs and that's not usually an issue to find
a chair. Water is crystal, cleary water, white sand, very calm.
You know, relax. You can just float in. The beach
is public and you do tend to get some vendors,
but with a no thank you, they will leave you alone.
But just want to mention that this resort is about

(46:39):
twenty minutes from the airport, three hundred and seventy three
rooms with twenty one different categories. A lot of the
resort has not been renovated, but I do know that
they it is on the list to go through and
do some renovations too, which is good. Then we saw
like a few years ago that they had actually applied
for a permit for We saw an article of like

(46:59):
in the c be in journal or something, a permit
to do overwater bungalows here because there is another resort
on this island that has them, so that'll remain to
be seen. If that happens, that would be special.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
If they could do that, Yeah, that would be pretty cool.
A couple of things I love about this resort. The
dining concepts are a little unique. Yes, a couple of
them that that you can only find at this resort.
They have like a tex mex One. Yeah, and that
was really cool. Another thing I really love about this resort,
you know, is all of these resorts have really good
off property things to do. One of my favorite off

(47:31):
property things to do here is they have that little
that little floating like if you go.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
We talked about this recently, we didn't eat it.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
It's like a couple hundred yards down the beach to
the left of the resort and there's like a floating
tiki bar, tiki bar, and just some guy that moved
from Europe runs it. Yeah, and he just lives.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
There and he moved from Holland.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Moved from Holland and he used to own the restaurant
on the beach close that down and then said I
don't want to he didn't want to pay his rent.

Speaker 3 (47:58):
Well, yeah, any I think he said he could pay
less taxes with the with the tiki bar.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Well he pays no, yeah, something about tax but he
also has no rent. Yeah, it's a free thing. He
just anchors it on the beach and he goes I
told him what I was doing in the island. Didn't
know what to do. Yeah, they were like, you're just
floating on the water.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
We can call it Kaniki.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Is it Kantiki or is that is Kantiki the place
on Isla?

Speaker 3 (48:22):
No, this was also I thought this was called Kaniki.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Kaniki was the place we loved in Isla. I think
I know that was is Iti.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
I'm pretty sure it's Kaniki.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
Okay, it's one of well we'll follow off on the
next episode. But it was really cool. And it's like
just like a floating barge and it's got room for
mabe twenty people on it and the guy's just sitting
there making drinks. Yeah, and it's just a vibe. It's
cool and like if you want to, and if you don't,
you can swim out there if you want to. It's
like maybe one hundred yards out.

Speaker 3 (48:49):
There, but they'll you can just wave and they'll bring
a boat for you.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
Yeah, they'll bring a little boat for you.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Yeah. So nine dining concepts at this resort, like George said,
they have a couple of unique ones. Specifically, they have
a Southwestern one and they don't have that at any
of their other resorts, so that's nice. Seven bars and lounges.
Water sports they have hobbycats, kayaks, windsurfing, paddle boards, and
then of course your snorkel excursions and then scuba diving

(49:13):
if you're certified. This resort has two large swim up bars,
which is also very nice, and one of them has
a lot of chairs around it, so between that and
the beaches, you know, I've never had an issue in
getting a chair here. The resort has a big footprint,
so it is pretty spread out.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Some big resort, yeah, yep.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
The you have like kind of two main areas, but
like the one big village is the Mediterranean Village. So
as far as like you know, speaking on the rooms
and you need to be renovated, hopefully they'll get to it.
I know, like I said, it's on the list. Hopefully
they'll get to that in the next year. I thought
I saw where it looked like maybe they might be
starting on the Mediterranean because of I saw a bunch

(49:57):
of months blocked out online space. So I don't know,
we'll see. But I love the vibe of this resort.
It is, you know, overall pretty laid back. They do
again have nightly entertainment like all of the other resorts.
But I mean the last time we were there, you know,
a lot depends on the crowd, but it was just
it was a pretty chill resort.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
So yeah, when we were there, it was pretty chill.
The little floating tigge bar and get pretty happened.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
So yeah, I want to get back to that, and yeah,
that place was pretty happened.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
But yeah, and the you know, the rum punch goes
down a little too smooth.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
Over there, It definitely does. So. But again, this beach
is absolutely amazing, and I would say of all of these,
it's probably one of the best. Now I get often
asked like I want a nice, really long beach, you know,
to walk on. Of all of these, I would say

(50:51):
the best for that is going to be a nit.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Girl, So agreed. Yeah, it's definitely the longest you can
go for jogs and runs. Yea.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Yeah, but that kind of sums it up. Oh. Pricing,
so so Sandal's antiqua pricing. This island is also great
for year round travel to. So in September it is
starting at so they have a triple seven sale right now,
which I'll I'll kind of go through that what that
means in a second. So the least expensive option right

(51:19):
now is six sixty nine per night, but that's not
their the standard lowest price. It would be seven to
twenty eight per night, and then in March it is
coming in at one thousand and four dollars per night. Now,
some ways that you can save on sandals, So every
Wednesday they have a triple seven sale where they take

(51:39):
seven rooms at seven different resorts, they make them an
extra seven percent off and you can just check that
every Wednesday right on their website and it usually ends
up being a pretty substantial savings. And if you are
celebrating an anniversary, some of resorts they'll have the seventh
night free. And why I say some resorts is actually

(52:01):
all of their resorts they do, but some of the
room categories if they already have a seventh nineth free
promo on there, then the anniversary promo is not going
to apply to that. You can't double it. But if
you're traveling around your anniversary and you want to stay
for seven nights, that's also something to consider. And then
they do do discounts for military, police, firefighter and FEMA workers.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
So yeah, great tips to try to save a little money.
And then you know, I think another way to save
if you're looking at some resorts is if you can
be flexible in the time of the year you go.
You can kind of play around with the dates, and
you know, work with a great travel agent. We're actually
pan Travel is actually top ten in the world with sandals,
so we book There's not many resorts, not many travel

(52:42):
agents that book more sandals than us, so we can
help you navigate the pricing situation as well as which
resort is the best for you. Because these resorts, after
going to all of them, I mean, they are so
unique and so different. They all got their own little personality.
They all offer some things and don't offer certain things.
You know, there's there's pros and cons to everything here.
So I think it's good to, like, if you're going

(53:03):
to like really spend your money and your time. If
you're only in travel once a year, once every other year, however,
off on your traveling. If you're gonna do it, make
sure you do it right and pick the best resort
out for you, and we can give you the best
information and kind of like you you always ask a
lot of good questions of your clients. On to really
probe and understand what do they like, what's their travel style,

(53:24):
what do they want out of this trip? To really
align their desires with the resort.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
Right, yes, yeah, absolutely, I have a full list of questions.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Yeah, so, and then how can people get a hold
of us? Then we're gonna get to a question of
the day right after that.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Yes, so you can go to our website pinac travel
dot com quicker quest a quote it comes directly to me,
which we are going to be updoting our website soon.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Right, Yes, I'm on that. Yes, that's it is.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Also on his honeydo list.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Honey do list.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
But you can give us a call. You can also
give us called one one hundred and six seven four
three two seven eight. You can also shoot me over
an email or slide into our DMS. I think George
is going to put all that information in the show notes,
or if you do want to book on your own.
I understand some people love to just be in control
of every you know, aspect of their trip, and that's okay.

(54:14):
But if you are loving the content and you want
to do that, there is also a referral link that
is going to be in the show notes. And that
helps us out and also keeps this podcast going as well.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Love it, love it all right. That leads us to
question of the day, Question the day. All right, this
is kind of like just a fantasy life question here. Oh, okay,
very fictitious, I can put it. Or fictitious that's yeah,
that's yeah, fictitious here.

Speaker 3 (54:43):
I don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
So if you had a billion dollars a billion dollars
a billion with a B. Now many people have that
kind of money. What are some of the things you
would spend it on?

Speaker 3 (54:56):
So after being in the fight, you raviera there.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
I mean charitable things I would do, but also everyone
would do that. Let's talk about the fun things.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Yes, oh the charitable I would, you know, donate a
lot of money to animal rescues. I would build very dear.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
I would build the biggest animal rescue and tie a
wine bar to it. And then it would be like
every time you drink.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
Wine at the wine bar, it goes to help some part.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
You're supporting the dogs. We take every maybe a dollar
from every glass.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Of wine we sell our something are we just open
up like a cat cafe, you know, like where all
the cats are adoptable, but there's one here in Charleston.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
Yeah, but I want I want the dogs attached to
it too. Well yeah, I don't know. We'll figure it out,
but what are.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
Yeah, so the fun stuff. So after being in the
French Riviera and Spain last week or two weeks ago, now,
I would say seeing all of the yachts, they're unbelievable,
truly unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
And I'm talking about the F one race was about
to happen in Monaco, and that's that's a very popular
race for F one where all these billionaires they have
their yachts that line the streets on the water. Yeah,
and people on these watch parties and everyone was there.
There were some you know, because I have this app
on my phone. It's a free app. I think it's
called Marine Time or something. But anyways, no matter where

(56:14):
you are in the world, you can look at these
boats that are in the water and you can click
on it on your iPhone or at your Android and
you'll give you all the details of the boat. You
can see what kind of boat it is, sometimes who
owns it, pictures of it, where it's going, where it's
been pretty cool app. Yeah, so we're clicking on it
to get the name of the boat and would google it.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
We would google, yeah, who owned it, and like what
they did and looks quite interesting. All the people that
we come up with, like time, I mean, there's just
so much money in Europe, you.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
Know, I mean a lot of those American stuff that
made it like there was like a Google co founder
I think.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
Yeah, there was a lot of boat just like European
business people. There were, yeah, Russian oligarchs. There was one.
We were right in front of this yacht that uh
was owned by someone really close to Putin and the
EU seized it in twenty twenty three because of you know,
all the issues with.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Russia, and they liquidated.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
It and they liquidated they sold it in Cans and
this was when we were in Cans and for like
thirty six million dollars and it was a seventy eight
million dollar yacht that the guy had bought, so and
that we like, we saw that that was pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
But I mean, just seeing how big these yachts are,
like when you're that close to them, it's un It's
like they look like mini cruise ships.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Yeah, I don't need Jeff Bezos yat but you know
if we had yeah, or zucks. But if we had
a billion dollars.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I would you'd get some sort of boat I would get.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
Like, you know, some sort of nice shot or yeah,
actually I would just get it you charter boating girl. Yeah,
and then you can like a lot of Yeah, then
it's charter. But I told George if we ever make
it big, that I at least the one thing I
want to do is charter a yacht for a week,
just for a week around the Mediterranean. Yes, like I

(57:58):
just think that would be so cool. But yeah, so
that that would be like the I guess the one
dream that I would do. What about you?

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Yeah, I mean the yachts looked so cool, Like when
you're that close to them, it's like that just seems
like you just feel poor next to these things. You're
just like, oh my god, I mean, it's.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
Just a whole another level of well.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
I mean, and you know a lot of them other
than these like you know, kind of corrupt country government
employees that have these things.

Speaker 3 (58:32):
But yeah, we saw a couple of those.

Speaker 2 (58:33):
Yeah, we saw a couple like.

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Ones that we're owned by the.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
Number two guy in Qatar, Connor.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
However, you pronounce that place, so chance.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Like they hold elections. I'm like, I don't think they
have legitimated.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
Did supposedly hold one within the last four years, but yeah,
it wasn't legitimate.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
So I don't know anyways, But like the ones that
were owned by entrepreneurs and people like these are people
and those people, yeah, business people that have really come
up with like world changing technology. So it's pretty cool
to look back at the stores, but just seeing him
is pretty neat. And you know, I think Jeff Bezos,
his yacht was somewhere and we saw the helicopter going
back and forth when we were on the Scarlet Lady. Yeah,

(59:11):
his yacht, and I think it mighted that might have
been Bezos, yeah, flying.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
In the helicopter. They were out in Cans every night,
so that.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
Whole week some Almo was going back and forth on
a black helicopter from Cans to their yacht. Yeah, and
there's not many I mean those huge shots. We saw
none of the met hilicopter bats. Yeah, I think Bezos
is kind of far away from the rest of them.
Yea for security reason. That may have been him flying
in the helicopter. That's ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
Yeah, maybe that's insane.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
Yeah, so I love your Amazon packages, dude.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
We were talking about it. We're like, you know, when
you think about it, because Jeff Bezos was there when
we were there with his yacht, and we're like, think
about all the stuff that we got that we traveled
here with that is from Amazon. Like over half my
clothes I buy off the Azon.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
I've always said that Amazon it's slow death of retail
shopping in person. Yeah, like Bezos and Amazon is just
killing retail, like the like malls, Like no one goes
to malls anymore. I think malls are unless it's like
Christmas season. Yeah, remember like when we were kids. I
actually I thought about a question of the day, Like
there was a question to I saw like on the

(01:00:19):
internet that I thought about asking you was like, what
are something that like like it was on Reddit. I
was actually I want to ask Reddit. It was like,
what are something that older is said older redditors? What
are something that you had as a kid that kids
don't have these days? And I thought about the mall experience.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
There's still malls, like in Charlotte, there's you know, still
like one really good mall, but it's.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
A different experience, like you would go to the mall
to socialize. You would still shop, you would eat, hang out.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
CD stores in the mall.

Speaker 2 (01:00:48):
Oh yeah they were.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
That's definitely like expired, but that doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Yeah, and the CD stores are gone, but yeah they
just have like racks and racks of CDs and yeah, yeah,
like so much has changed since we were I.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Remember I went in to buy the it was either
an Eminem CD or fifty cent CD, and it had
like the parental advisory sticker on there, and like I
peeled it off and put it on someone else and
then like hopefully the cashier just didn't because that you
had to take a certain age at least it this one.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Look at this questionable behavior out to you as a kid.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
Well, yeah, I'm like, it's just music, you know, like,
let me just buy the CD.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
They didn't want you hear in the F word.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Yeah, So I put it on the the others in
the hopes that they wouldn't like catch that, you know,
when I was checking out, and then they didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
They didn't smooth move there. Yeah, because my mom know
you could remove those stickers.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Yeah, my mom wasn't gonna buy it for me, so just.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Take care of business yourself.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Yeah, there you go. All right guys, Well, I think
that sums up the show again. If you want any
more information, please feel free to slide into our DMS.
Go to pinnac travel dot com. Quick quest quote comes
directly to me or give us a call twenty one
hundred sixty seven four three two seven eight. Thank you
for listening and we will catch you next time.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
See you next time.

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Top 5 Sandals Resorts for Beach Lovers – You’ll Want to Be Here!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Top 5 Sandals Resorts for Beach Lovers – You’ll Want to Be Here!