Sandals Halcyon Beach

First time trying the Sandals experience, which we liked- immaculate grounds, very well thought out. Halcyon beach is known as the quiet resort as far as the 3 in St Lucia go. it's still pretty big though, 189 rooms, but all of very good quality. You can't get a sun bed on the beach, so forget that. The pools were good though, got beds ok in either one. The restaurants were a let down though, we felt. The menu in the "Italian' restaurant was limited, and the food average and a bit dry. The layout and vibe of the restaurant was lacking. Lunch in the self serve restaurant was a real let down. the choices were limited. Service there for drinks was hit and miss. the restaurant over the water was ok, but a very limited menu. Breakfast there was good. Overall, for us, the layout, bars, and pools was great, the staff very nice. The grounds really well thought out. The restaurants and the food meant we won't go with Sandals again. There are nicer, less busy places to stay.

Disappointing visit over the Festive week and expected a bit more from a 5 star resort compared to other similar resorts visited elsewhere in the world this year and at best I would only rate this as a higher end 3 star resort in the main, the limited butler suites may attract a higher rating but our stay was in a Club Level Oceanview room especially when considering the cost of staying here. The resort appears to have a 2 or 3 tier guest system in place, those with a butler, those on a repeat visit, and the rest. I have to say they must be doing something right as there appeared to be many at the repeat visitors evening. I expected to have some sort of itinerary in place as it was Christmas week, but nothing was really forthcoming, despite asking each day until Christmas Eve, when the Club Lounge staff found out about what was going on with meal times and what was on offer along with entertainment for the day, especially as the Island was effectively closed down for the holidays. There was nothing in the room as far as information was concerned and despite asking each day around the resort, no one seemed to know what was going on over the 2 main days itself. Food was nothing special and concerned that you had to book for Kelly's, the resorts flagship restaurant, as it appeared to be not even half full on our only visit on Christmas Eve, although not sure how long it would have taken to get our food as despite only being half full at best we were in there for over 2 hours and left directly after finishing our dessert, which was poor, despite being one of the first to order that evening. Needs to have more choice on the menu and not sure I actually saw a vegetarian option on the main course. Mario' again had a limited menu and despite being the Italian styled restaurant did not have a pizza based item on the menu (the pizza van closes before the restaurant opens) and the restaurant looks a bit like a Harvester Restaurant in the UK, only without the extensive menu and service is a lot quicker at the Harvester. Also had to ask twice for drinks that had already been ordered on 2 different occasions. Bayside has a good buffet breakfast and is open earlier than advertised, at 7AM although the lady on the egg station will not start until 7:30AM on the dot, although she seemed to make an exception for a couple of repeat guests that she knew? The best meal we had at the Bayside was probably the lunch buffet on Christmas Day, which was really good, especially the baked Ham along with some other Caribbean style foods. The evening meals in the Bayside were nothing special and to be honest I was more interested in keeping the flying insects and mosquitos away from our table so as not to give them the option of eating either us or our food. As daylight diminishes, each table is given battery operated ambient lighting, but this just acts as an attraction to the insects as the restaurant is open aired. The issue of flying insects and mosquitos needs to be addressed by management at the resort and I did speak to someone about this during our visit. It is not just the restaurant area but accommodation as well and I know from other reviews that this issue has been raised in the past. The most popular form of food seemed to be room service judging by the number of empty trays left outside rooms in the morning as we went to breakfast. Sun beds are fairly easy to come by around the pools although you need to get up early to get one under shade on the beach. Beating the butler is a game in itself as they have wooden signs indicating which beds and sunshades are taken, which they seem to do very early in the morning and other guests have to use towels to reserve their beds, however the towels do not appear to be put out till around 8AM, giving the butlers a head start. The big issue for me was that many of these butler saved beds were not even occupied till very late morning and sometimes I noted even into the afternoon, management need to put some sort of time restraint on this so that if a bed is not occupied by some means by mid morning then it become available to other guests. A tip is to keep a couple of towels back each evening for use in the morning if you are an early riser so as to reserve a bed in a position of your liking and I managed to do this on one occasion on the beach, much to the ire of the butler who was putting out his signs and really wanted the one that I had just put towels down on. Rooms are clean and functionable but again doors are left open during cleaning which allows flying insects into the room without any control and the timing of when the room cleaning had finished was a bit hit and miss with it not being completed till nearly 5PM on one day, although the lady was a very happy and cheerful person who always had a smile and a hello for you. Staff could be a bit hit or miss but in general were polite apart from the chef doing the meat barbeque on the Taste of St Lucia night (which started an hour later than advertised) who seemed a bit grumpy all night, and the menu for that themed night was not really what I would have expected. The barbequed meat was limited and meagre in portion size, and the fish barbeque was almost non existent. I do feel however due to the timing issues in various parts of the resort, that the staffing levels are too low and need to be addressed. The gardens within the resort are immaculate and a credit to all the gardeners and the beach is raked each morning ready for guests and the staff dealing in these areas should all be commended. The staff in the bar areas were a joy to speak too as well, and were all more than happy to assist with informing us about new drinks we were trying out, some of which I intend to try at home. We did not go to either of the other resorts as we felt that the transfer times were a little late on in the day with the first shuttle leaving at 11AM and as early risers we would have preferred to have had the ability to go a few hours earlier and just after breakfast. We did not have chance to use any of the facilities at the water sports centre as it was closed most of the week due to the weather and water conditions, with a red flag flying most of the time. As this was festive week, some tours were not available and other options from the Club Lounge were cancelled also, so a taxi was taken to Castries to do some local shopping and the 3 hours there were absolutely brilliant. Great interaction and banter with all the local stall holders, not just in the crafts market, but also on the vegetable and fish markets and we got to try some authentic St Lucian food while we were there, along with visiting some of the sites in Castries itself including the church. I have already written to Sandals Customer Service with and extensive review and feedback outlining potential solutions to issues we encountered, which was even more extensive than this review, but although that was nearly a week ago, I have not had any form of receipt back from them about the issues and concerns I have raised. This was our first trip to this area, and sorry to say it is unlikely we will be back as it looks like we have been spoiled by the true 5 star resorts of the Far East and Indian Ocean.

Very dissatisfied . The service from staff excellent. The surrounding were dirty and not convenient with someone having a disability

stayed at sandals halcyon! had the best experience playing the photo scavenger hunt with cookie/destiny and even won a prize!!

Had a great experience, from the food, the room and the service. Big shout out to Dong at Kimino/Soy, Ryan and Princess at the bar and Arielle at the gift shop for their exceptional service. Will definitely go back in the future.