Sandals Jamaica Vacation!

I’m sure while you’re being quarantined, you’re also thinking about your next vacation and when that might be! I’m hoping this helps inspire you to book that dream vacation you’ve been planning. Cam and I went to Sandals South Coast for our honeymoon and fell in love, so we went again this year! Neither one of us had been to an all inclusive resort before the honeymoon, so we really did our research to make sure that it was really all inclusive and not just a couple of things! Cam and I didn’t have to take our wallets anywhere with us! The only thing we purchased on the trip was anything from the gift shop, so we got a couple of souvenirs and lots of sunscreen! It was SO nice not having to worry about prices when ordering steak, seafood, and alcoholic beverages!! They had a couple of high-end wine and champagne options that you could pay for at dinner, but for us it definitely wasn’t necessary for us and house wine or champagne was just fine. We did all of our planning through eztravelpad.com, Scott was so great to work with! His services are free, and he knows the Sandal Resorts really well!

Why We Picked South Coast

Sandals has a ton of options, and I’m positive that they’re all great! When we were first looking into our options, we didn’t want to spend so much time on an airplane and we knew we wanted it to be affordable for us. I was still college and didn’t have a full time job! The closest options are the Bahamas and Jamaica! Bahamas is the closest, but it was a little bit more expensive, and Jamaica seems to be one of the cheaper locations! When we decided on Jamaica we still had a few options to choose from, so here are some of the reasons why we chose South Coast.

Secluded & Romantic

We chose South Coast because it was more secluded and really tailored towards couples and a romantic experience. It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from the airport. It’s not terrible though. I like driving through their cities and seeing how the locals live. The drivers are great! They don’t work for sandals, but they work with sandals. You drive over in a van with about 6 other couples. They have a stop about halfway for you to get a beer or use the restroom. The resort is stretched along the beach, so every room had a nice view! Because it was stretched out, it never felt busy. We went towards the end of June and the end of January and it never felt busy in either month! They have a few different pools lots of seating and so many restaurants. You can’t go wrong!

Drinks & Bars

They have an over the water bar that was new and other resorts didn’t have. We ended up really loving this bar. The way it was set up in the sun was nice because there was always a shady and a sunny spot right next to each other, so I could be in the sun and Cam would be in the shade. They have two pool bars! So convenient! Then, they have more bars scattered around the resort. You will have no problem getting a drink! haha If you enjoy martinis, they have a martini bar that has a cool patio area that overlooks the ocean. They also have karaoke nights at this bar too!

Our favorite drinks to order are Jamaican Smiles (tastes like a strawberry banana smoothie with alcohol) Strawberry Daquiris, Pina Coladas, Dirty Banana (banana smoothie with coffee liquor and rum cream), and Mimosas all day long. Most of their drinks have Appleton rum in them! It’s really good!

Restaurants & All You Can Eat!

Their restaurants are AMAZING. If you stay long enough to eat dinner at each restaurant, I highly recommend trying them all!! The first time we went, we didn’t try the Sushi on the Sand, and it was huge mistake. I didn’t think I liked Sushi, but when we went back we finally tried it and holy cow it was amazing. (I loved the Crab roll. It tasted like fried rice from your favorite hibachi grill with all the good fixin’s inside.) They have a good mix of Chinese, Italian, American, Seafood, Steakhouse, and Sushi! It’s great!

We eat all the time when we’re there! We even ate an earlier dinner, so we could go back for another sushi roll late one night! Another trick we figured out when we wanted to try more than two things on the menu, is we ordered an entree as an appetizer to share then ordered our own meals after that! Our first trip, I was so worried about getting charged extra for random things, but you really won’t! haha

The Amenities & Free Drinks In Every Room & The Outstanding Service

They have a lot of fun sporting activities, water sports, talent shows (performed by the crew members), and other games that the crew members put on each day that you can participate in! We liked playing pool volleyball the most! The water sports included small sailboats that they teach you how to maneuver, Cam did all of that. I mostly freaked out thinking we were going to flip over. haha Those were fun on days where the water is calm! They also have tubing, canoes, kayaks, and scuba diving! We’ve never tried the scuba diving they have a class you have to take with it as well.

In your room you will have a refrigerator filled with drinks. Soda, beer, water, all the things! If you have a club level room, then you will have liquor too and have access to the concierge desk and room service! On our honeymoon we got a club level room, but for the next vacation, we just did the regular room service. I don’t think this is totally necessary. It was really nice to have the amazing service they went so far out of our way for us it was incredible. I wanted to take a bath, and I wanted bubble bath (it was our honeymoon, I felt I could be as extra as necessary. haha!) We looked in the gift shop and didn’t see any. So we called the concierge desk because it was so inviting and they kept telling us anything you need let us know! So we asked and she said let me call around and see if I can get you some. She didn’t want to keep me on hold and waste any of my time, so it took her maybe 30 minutes and to find some and she brought it all the way up to the room for me. I have no idea where she got it from, but it was in a water bottle. haha! She really didn’t have to do that for me, but she did! Things like this make me love sandals so much! They’re such an amazing company. On our honeymoon, they restocked our champagne everyday if it was gone, and I wanted to make my own mimosas in the room. They don’t normally stock the fridges with orange juice, so I left a note asking if we could get orange juice and the next time they restocked them they gave me orange juice for the rest of our stay. Such incredible service. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point!

Price & How To Save Money

Now that I’ve shared our experiences and how amazing Sandals is, I’m sure you’re thinking this is going to cost a fortune! There are some ways to make it affordable!

Use their last minute deals!

If you’re planning a last minute vacation check out this page to save some money! Right now there are no deals due to the COVID-19, but afterwards there will be more! (:

Go during their “off season”.

Their resorts are in the Caribbean, so their off season is usually after Easter through December! Avoid the holidays. Play around with dates and plan ahead of time or snag a last minute deal when the price and timing is right!

Shorten your trip!

Our honeymoon was a full week and our trip back was Wednesday-Sunday! Flying out on a Wednesday was so much more affordable than on a weekend! We missed staying for the whole week, but honestly, I was just so happy to go back!

Stick with the cheapest room.

We didn’t spend that much time in the room! Only to get ready for dinner and sleep really! You can take drinks from the bar or the restaurant and bring them to your room. It definitely is more luxurious if you do the club level, but if you’re on a tight budget, you won’t be missing out with a cheaper room! (:

Get a Southwest credit card!

Cam and I got their credit card at the beginning of this year and we could not be more satisfied! Please note. I am not telling you to get a credit card to pay for your trip and go into debt! I’m saying to get a credit card to use their points! Cam and I pay off any credit cards that we use each month. I do not recommend spending more than you’re able to pay each month. Their app is great to use and easy to see your points and how much you owe. For every dollar you spend outside of Southwest, you get 1 point. For every dollar you spend with Southwest you get 2 points. Then, those points goes towards flights or gift cards. I hate paying for flights because they can be so pricey, but when you’re just using a credit card to make purchases that you already make, it’s so much more affordable when you can put those points towards a flight! Just don’t forget to pay your card each month! Also, they have this really cool program where if you get 125,000 points in a year, you can get something called a companion pass. The card is in my name, so I would get this companion pass meaning, someone can fly for free with me for the whole next year! Obviously for me, it would be Cam, but you can also switch out this person throughout the year. There’s a minimum of how many times you can switch it, I think it’s only once or twice, but still really nice to have that option! Before you think that’s impossible, I’m not spending 125,000, it’s a little bit easier than that! When you first sign up for the card, you get a bonus. If you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months you will automatically get 40,000 points! Also, due to COVID-19, most places are allowing you to make payments online using a credit card instead of directly from your bank account like normal. For example, when I pay on my student loans through Sallie Mae, they’re allowing me to pay with a credit card for no additional fees, so I’m getting those Southwest points!

By the way, this is not sponsored in any way! I just wanted to share our experience!