If you’re heading to a Sandals resort, get ready for luxury, romance, and adventure—all wrapped up in an all-inclusive Caribbean getaway! After a few trips with my husband Billy, I’ve learned some insider tips that can help make your Sandals vacation absolutely seamless. Here’s a new Sarah Kolis guide to everything you need to know when booking a Sandals resort vacation!

Choosing the Perfect Resort

Billy and I have become Sandals regulars! We’ve stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian (Nassau, Bahamas) twice and Sandals Royal Caribbean (Jamaica), plus visited Sandals Montego Bay for a day.

Sandals Royal Caribbean (Jamaica):

• Small and intimate, which we loved! Everything is a short walk away.
• Slightly older crowd—lots of return guests, not many honeymooners.
• Montego Bay (visited for a day) was HUGE, had a long beachfront, and seemed to attract a younger crowd.

Sandals Royal Bahamian (Nassau, Bahamas):

• A perfect middle-ground resort: not too big, not too small.
• Has a quiet pool and a party pool—so you get both vibes.
• Quickest (and often cheapest) flight from the U.S. The airport is easy, and the resort is just 15 minutes away. We’re eating lunch at Sandals by 1 PM on arrival day!
• If you’re traveling during peak wedding season, expect to be surrounded by honeymooners!

💡 Pro Tip: Have your fiancé create a spreadsheet comparing resort and flight costs. Book the cheapest—it’s Sandals, so you’ll have an amazing time no matter what!

Timing Your Trip

• If you can, honeymoon immediately after your wedding! Flying out Monday after a Saturday wedding is perfect.
• Bahamas tip: It’s cooler in the winter, so consider a later honeymoon if your wedding is in a colder month.
• Spring and summer weddings? Just go ASAP!

Do Room Upgrades Matter?

People say room selection matters… but Billy and I don’t care! We just need a “ticket” to the resort! Base-level rooms include: Plenty of space, Twice-daily cleaning service, Room service, A fully stocked bar. BUT: If location preference is free, check if you’re near the quiet pool or party pool. I love being near the party pool!

Ideal Trip Length

• 5 nights is perfect.
• 4 nights is plenty.
• 3 nights is acceptable ONLY if you’re going to the Bahamas (quick travel).
• DO NOT do a 3-nighter to St. Lucia—travel time makes it not worth it!

Arrival Game Plan

1. Check-in (they might hand you a mimosa—yes, please!).
2. Book your excursions ASAP! Honeymooners, do the catamaran/snorkeling tour!
3. Make dinner reservations for your whole stay. Book the steakhouse first! 6:30 PM is a great time—not too early, not too late. (Didn’t get the reservation you wanted? Show up at 5 PM—sometimes no-shows work in your favor!)
4. Book your spa services. Get the Scents of Love couples massage—best facial of my life too!
5. Grab lunch (or move this up to step 4 if you’re starving!).
6. Your room may not be ready yet. Pack a swimsuit in your carry-on, change in the bathroom, cannonball into the party pool, and order a piña colada on me!

Excursions

💙 Catamaran & Snorkeling Tour (Bahamas)–

Billy and I LOVE this one! We did it at the Royal Bahamaian resort but I am sure others have it too. If you are booking it at this exact resort, make sure you do not book the ‘kids allowed’ one (they go to a different local resort and pick up other people). You will want to wear your swimsuit and cover up. They will most likely give you a water bottle when you get on the boat so you don’t need to bring any food or drink. If you have sensitive skin like me, you WILL get burnt if you do not wear a sun shirt, hat, and/or re-apply sunscreen super often…we know from experience! So they pick you up right at the resort then take you through some wealthy areas of Nassau…might even see Oprah’s vacation home! Then they will stop at a great snorkling spot and give you lifejackets and snorkeling gear. PLEASE leave your wedding rings back in the hotel room, or better yet: back at home!!!

🌟 Luminous Lagoon (Jamaica)–

Hands down one of the coolest experiences of my ENTIRE life! My husband will tell you “it’s cool but Sarah exaggerates”. So take this with a grain of salt but I cannot recommend it enough! Feels a little sketchy getting up to the place (it is an evening excursion by the way), but SOOO worth it! Do it! Wear your swimsuit and coverup! (Maybe bring a little tip money for this one)

🐷 Swimming with Pigs (Bahamas)–

We haven’t done this one but heard from others that it is a little gross but fun, they don’t recommend getting in the water.

🚍 Bus Tour of Nassau–

A cheap and easy little adventure—nothing fancy, but a fun outing!

Packing Tips

While Sandals resorts are casual during the day, many restaurants require evening dress codes. Pack at least one or two “resort evening casual” outfits. Aka I suggest men in khakis and a button down and women in fun summer dresses (this goes for any time of year).

• Sunscreen…a lot. (pack in your CHECKED luggage….Billy made that mistake on our honeymoon!!! And we were flat broke and didn’t want to buy a ton of the tiny little $20 tubes at the Sandals gift shop…biggest regret ever!)
• Sunglasses
• A book to read
• Your go-pro if you have one and waterproof case
• A good beach bag
• A gunky beach bag (like a reusable grocery store bag or something you don’t mind just throwing out if it gets all ruined…good for the excursions)
• 3-5 nice dresses (I give you permission to outfit-repeat ladies!)
• Flip flops, nice flat sandals that can be dresses up or down, wear your tennies to the airport, and MAYBE pack a pair of heels…maybe.
• A decent purse that can go with every outfit (I wore a pale yellow one on my last trip and I was shocked it did look good with every outfit…just saying you can use color!)
• A sunshirt (fyi Sandals has the BEST sunshirts in the gift shop! Look for one with baggy armpit areas! Trust me, I know my sunshirts!)
• A hat with a strap (so you can wear it on a boat too)
• A versatile sweater
• 3 swimsuits is plenty, pack one of those in your carryon!
• Binoculars (I brought some last time but didn’t use them TBH)
• Phone charger
• Travel Journal (write in it everyday bc it is easy to forget)

Random but Useful Tips

🏋🏻‍♀️ Check out the gym—not to work out, but for the best resort views!

🎭 Want a good seat at nighttime entertainment? Get there an hour early.

🙋🏼‍♂️ Have an issue? The staff is SO nice—just ask and they’ll fix it!

💰 Tipping: There is no tipping at the resort, however it is not unusual to add on some tips at the very end when you are checking out for extra special staff that helped your during your stay. I do still recommend bringing a little tip money though just in case you need it for any non-Sandals-hosted excursions. You don’t have to tip, but it is nice to just have some ready in case you want to. For example, Billy and I wanted to tip our driver from the airport to the Jamaica resort as the Sandals staff put us in a regular taxi (that Sandals paid for), but we just wanted to tip the guy and felt so bad when we didn’t have anything).

🚌 Visit multiple Sandals resorts! If you are staying at a resort that is within short driving distance to another Sandals resort, there is often a shuttle that goes back and forth all day and we highly recommend doing that for a couple hours one day, just to see another resort option and it’s just something to do!

🍽️ Ordering at restaurants: Yes, you can order multiple appetizers and entrees!Yes, you can go to more than one restaurant per dinner! (We did it once—10/10 recommend!)

📸 Get the professional photos! If you are on your honeymoon especially, get those professional photos! We found that if you are not in peak wedding season, the photographer people do not walk around and snap action shots, you have to book a photo session which is ‘free’ but we much preferred those action shots over the cheesy formal ones. On our honeymoon, after the wedding, we spent our last $300 on photos (not literally, but felt like it) and I never regretted it! Then, I turned them into a photobook on Mixbook and it still sits on our coffee table and I love it. I gave it to him for Christmas that first year we were married. We did not desire getting any photos on our Sandals vaca’s after the honeymoon for reference.

Why the Caribbean? Our story

Doing the stereotypical beach and margarita vacation for our honeymoon was not something I ever wanted while wedding planning. I always wanted something different like Iceland or anywhere in Europe. I wanted the big traveling tip that I always dreamed of…then the wedding budget got tight and reality smacked me on the head. So, I announced that we were no longer doing a honeymoon and we would save up for some other trip at some distant future time and stay focused on wedding planning. My stance was: we will only have one wedding in our lifetime but can vacation several times. So, honeymoon was out. Then Mr. Bill Bell, Billy’s father, raised his hand and said that with all his Delta travel miles from all his work Germany trips, he racked up enough points to send us on an all-inclusive Sandals vacation completely free! (Sandals had a little partnership with Delta). Wow were we excited! And so lucky! Sign me up!

So, after our first trip on our honeymoon, I changed my stance on “stereotypical beach and margarita honeymoons” and decided they are the BEST vacation after a wedding! Because guess what, there is NO planning! Just what a bride wants to hear! Years after our wedding, Billy and I did the big 10-day Paris and Amsterdam trip and it was a lot of pre-planning, a lot of further planning when you get there, your feet hurt, you are exhausted, you are having SO MUCH fun but I realized this is absolutely not something I would have wanted to do after an exhausting wedding planning experience. All you want after all that commotion is sand, sunshine, and a margarita, and your wedding experience is complete!

Moral of the story? Honeymoon at Sandals. You won’t regret it!

—Sarah Kolis