By: Tracey ManailescuOn March 30-April 5th, 2009 and April 24th-30th, 2009, WPIC certified the onsite Wedding Coordinators from each Sandals, Grand Pineapple, and Beaches luxury resorts in Jamaica.
We were able to bring 50 WPIC graduates from across Canada with us (25 each time) to stay and view the properties.
*A HUGE thank you to the amazing Gina Tsirmpas, Senior Business Development & Promotions Manager for arranging and pulling strings to make all of this happen. J
A gigantic thank you to the General Managers, Managers and staff at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, Sandals Montego Bay, and Sandals Whitehouse for hosting our groups. (Danielle was so impressed, she brought her family down for an extra week and stayed at Beaches Boscobel, one of Sandals' Family Resorts.)
We got to know each Jamaican “luxury included” resort and their distinct personalities. (No two resorts are the same).
Some things that were the same: the wonderful choice of restaurants; top shelf wine and alcohol; beautiful beachfront properties; tasteful dà©cor; mind blowing midnight chocolate buffets; Red Lane Spas where you can get a wrap or a massage (Danielle and I had the “West Indian Massage” at Grande Ocho Rios, courtesy of some of the graduates that came with us, thanks again ladies!)
Did you know that most resorts even have in room safe’s that fit a laptop? No tipping is another phenomenal addition to the list of wonderful things about Sandals.
By far, what stood out the most to me was the staff. Never have I seen such kind and helpful people who seem to truly enjoy their jobs. I had so many conversations with staff and I asked them what they liked best about working for Sandals. The answers were fairly consistent; they are treated well and with respect. Top Managers know them by name (Did you know Sandals has 10,000 employees?) An example of the staff going all out was one night we had a private dinner at the stunning “Royal Plantation”. One of the people in our group, made a comment about the flavoured butter to the waiter, a few minutes later he came back with a hand-written recipe from the Chef!
I only have so much room to write this so I will move along…
I woke up extra early a few mornings and took my coffee down to the beach. This is where I met some wonderful couples that were on return visits to Sandals. One couple was there for their 11th time, and they were vacationing with friends who were on their 4th trip to Sandals. I asked them if they travelled a lot, and they said “Only to Sandals. We have been to other places, but we always come home!”
At the end of June, I will be celebrating my 11th Wedding Anniversary, and have chosen to spend it at Sandals Royal Bahamian in the Bahamas. Danielle and I were there for the 2008 Sandals Travel Agent Recognition Awards, I fell in love, and decided right then and there, that this was the place to celebrate our anniversary!
Of course, I will share my experiences when I get back J
**Ready to take your Sandals Luxury Included vacation? Keep in mind: If you need help planning with your Destination Wedding or Honeymoon, over 100 of our Canada-wide WPIC Graduates are Certified Sandals Specialist.**
Cool pics! Love to see this all, thanks for sharing..!