Updated: Jan 4, 2020

Ever wondered what it is like to stay at an “all inclusive” over the water bungalow? Here is our experience.

Airport

You will fly into Sangster Intl. Airport in Montego Bay. The “I heart Montego Bay” sign makes for a great Instagram picture. If you are looking for it, it’s by the “check in” side of the airport.

Transportation

The hotel will arrange for a small BMW SUV to pick you up from the airport. I felt like Anastasia Steele with Christian Gray when the driver arrived in his black suit and BMW. The Sandals South Coast resort is a 2 hour drive. Make sure you have cash available for tips. (insider tip) A good tip is $100 and bad is $20 for a 2 hour drive.

Money

American Dollars is accepted! Do not get suckered into buying Jamaican Currency at the airport!

Sandals Resorts

There are two Sandals resorts in Jamaica with over-water-bungalows.

A) Sandals Royal Caribbean – Montego Bay (30 minutes from airport)

B) Sandals South Coast- Whitehouse (2 hours from airport) Check prices for both locations. In December, I was able to find Sandals South Coast prices to be half of what Sandals Royal Caribbean was charging. Both Bungalows are identical, so go with the best price. Ebates has 2% cash back on Sandals resorts! Make sure you are logged into Ebates!

Sandals South Coast- Whitehouse

Check-In

Your butler will greet you in the front when you arrive in his fancy suit. He will take care of your check in and will drive you to your room via the golf cart. This is first class treatment. (Insider tip) Check in is at 3pm and we arrived at 10:00am. We were able to check in early for no charge at 10:00 am, because our room was ready. Did I do that on purpose? Heck Ya! We only had the bungalows for 3 days and I wanted to have full 3 days! Also, try to check in early to any hotel if you can.

Butler Service

You will have a butler 24/7. You will share your butler with one other bungalow. They will hand you a cell phone so you can call the butler from anywhere in Jamaica. I felt like the President of the United States because the butler seems to always know where your at and always looking for you if they can’t find you. As you arrive the bungalows, you will notice the butler on his phone sending a cleaning crew running to your room. They work around your schedule. Also, the butler will be eager to take you all over the resort via golf cart. You will never have to walk.

Bungalow

Anniversary Surprise!

Did you see the bed? How sweet was that!

Free Gift

You get two really nice soft long Sandals resort towels to take home.

Day 1

We had the butler sign us up for the FREE Snorkeling at 11:30, which is the last snorkel class that day. You must sign up a day in advance, but our butler has “connections”. The snorkeling is free for everyone at 9:30, 10:30 & 11:30. They take you out to the Reef to snorkel for 30 minutes. They provide all the gear. It was awesome!!!

They have several activities that are free: such as scuba diving, glass-bottom boat rides, tubing, water-skiing, wake-boarding, knee boarding, and paddle boards.

After snorkeling we headed back to our bungalow, because we wanted to enjoy the bungalows.

My husband decided to snorkel around the bungalows, after we snorkeled the reef. He was excited to see all the sea life and was surprised to see several Jellyfish around the bungalow. Our neighbor next to us saw the jellyfish too and was afraid to get in the water. Do not worry we were in and out of the water the entire trip and no problems with the jellyfish. On a cool note, the bungalows are stocked with everything you need such as snorkel gear and a life vest to snorkel around the bungalow.

Dinner

Eleanors- Caribbean Restaurant

This restaurant has a strict dress code and you will need reservations. No shorts, t-shirts, sneakers, flip flops, or slippers. Men must be wearing dress shirts or collard shirts. The food is delicious and worth the dress code. This is an all inclusive restaurant, so order as much as you want. If you want three appetizers then order three.

Day 2

We had breakfast at the buffet at the Bayside restaurant. We loved sitting outside where we enjoyed watching the birds. However, we still had to fight to keep them away from our food.

After breakfast, we headed out to our Jungle Tubing excursion. One small problem with the Sandal’s Resort having so many free activities, is that excursions are hard to get. We had trouble booking excursions, because you have to have another couple in order for that excursion to not be canceled. At this time, the Jungle tubing was the only thing available. The best part about staying in bungalows is our butler, because he was super sweet and packed a cooler with beer for us to take.

The tubing is super slow, but thank goodness the tour guide had Jamaica Punch for us to drink on this excursion. You will be drunk after this excursion. We are Texans so we love to drink and float down rivers. It reminded me of tubing in Texas, but it’s in the jungle.

My husbands favorite part was the rope swing in the middle of the jungle.

Once we returned, we decided not to call the butler for a ride, but decided to walk back to our bungalow.

Here is a video of the main area at Sandals.

We saw these adorable cats that live at the Jerk Stand on the beach. They are living the life.

Of course, my husband had to stop and drink some coconuts!

Once back to the cabin….oh yeah

We have these adorable Tarpons that live under our floor window. We loved watching them.

Dinner

Neptune’s – Seaside Mediterranean Restaurant

This is where you can find all you can eat lobster. Sadly, we were a day late, because they ran out of lobsters when we arrived.

Day 3

I started every morning with coffee on the over water patio.

YS Falls Excursion

You start with zip lining across the jungle and waterfalls.

Can you find my husband in the pictures?

Afterwards you get to hang out in YS Falls. Your tour guide will takes you to some amazing spots, so you can get some awesome pictures. Just FYI the water is FREEZING. If you’re from the South like me, then you will want out of the water immediately after the pictures. BURRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Another rope swing for my husband!

When we returned, our butler had a surprise waiting for us!

After our romantic bubble bath, we headed out to go sailing. The best part about the FREE sailboats, is the staff will jump aboard and sail you around. It’s a lot harder than it seems, so if they offer then accept.

We returned back to our room for another surprise!!!

After our romantic dinner we decided to go see the shows.

We became friends with one of the entertainers. She has the best job, which is to go around and make sure everyone is having a great time. She gives suggestions, hangs out, and is always on the move to the next fun location. Look for Tiffany, because she will become your new BFF. She knows where the fun is at all times.

After staying at the Sandals resort, I have to say it’s my new favorite resort. We need to go back ASAP, because there is so much to do! I feel like we only got a taste of what Sandal’s has to offer. We missed out on 90% of the activities. We missed out on the: fitness classes, water activities, tennis tournaments, karaoke, swimming pool volleyball tournaments, and the Jamaica History Museum. The only way you can do everything, is if you stay a week!

As far as the bungalows, it is first class all the way. I feel like we were so spoiled and it’s hard to ever go back to being normal people. This was a once in lifetime experience and worth every penny. Hopefully, we will get to do this again at another location. (fingers crossed)

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