This was our third time to Jamaica and our second trip to SWH. We brought our friends with us (first-time Sandals guests and first-time Jamaica guests) so I was really excited and a little anxious at the same time. I wanted their first visit to be a great experience, and it totally surpassed our expectations.

Flight and Arrival
We flew a very early direct flight (6:15am)on USA3000 from PIT to MBJ. Since the flight was so early, we stayed at the Hyatt that is connected to the airport terminal. That was awesome. We live an hour from the airport and the thought of dragging my rear out of bed at 2:30am to drive to the airport in February weather was just too much to comprehend. Never having flown with USA3000, we were a little worried, but we couldn't beat the price and the fact that the flight was direct. We knew we'd be on the beach by lunch time. That was worth the chance to me. Check in took a looooooong time. They have no online checkin option or pre-assigned seating, so everyone on the flight was in the line and needing a seat assignment. No big deal, but man it took forever. The good news was that we were the only flight for USA3000 at that time, so everyone in the line was getting on the same plane. I was getting concerned as the boarding time arrived and we were still in line for check in after 45 minutes to an hour, but I knew they weren't going to send the plane for takeoff with people still waiting to check in for their only flight on that morning.

The flight was great, smooth and the flight attendants gave the correct instructions for the immigration and customs forms. We noticed that other planes that landed around the same time as ours had given the passengers the wrong information and they had to fill out their forms again while standing in the immigrations line. The form has two sides, one is for immigration and one is the customs declaration. Each person has to fill out an immigration form; only one person from the household needs to complete the reverse side (the customs declaration) of the form. There was a Continental flight full of passengers pulled out of the line because they didn't have one immigration form per person. The flight attendants refused to hand out more than one form per family, even when asked for one, and it caused quite a backup at the airport, so much so that the immigration people asked for the flight number so that they could report the problem to the airline. My best advice is to read the forms and follow the instructions on the forms, not the instructions of the flight attendants.

Immigration and customs were a breeze and we had claimed our bags no longer than 15-20 minutes after landing. The folks at the arrivals lounge welcomed us home, took our bags and invited us into the lounge which has been updated since our last trip in 2006. We filled our travel mugs with some cold Red Stripe, had a few bites of fresh fruit and we were called to our van. We were the only two people from those two flights going to SWH, so our driver said to hang on for about 15 minutes and if nobody else came along we'd be on our way. We had full beers so we just stood outside the van soaking in the warmth of the sun for a few minutes and we were on our way. The trip took just over an hour as we didn't need a pit stop – we just wanted to get to SWH. Our driver was wonderful and the ride was really no scarier than anything I've experienced here in the hills of West Virginia.

Finally "Home"
We were greeted very warmly by name (awesome!) and given towels to freshen up. We were offered some cold sparkling wine and I went off to find a restroom (mental note: no pit stop and a full beer = maybe not a good idea). When I returned, a kind young man asked if we could follow him to the concierge lounge for check in. Score! We'd been upgraded. Once we were shown to our room, I said to my hubby that we should try to find out where our friends' room was as they weren't due to check in for another few hours. Our concierge heard this and asked for their names. She said she would check to see if they could be given a room as close to the Dutch Village as possible. They had also booked the Deluxe room which I knew put them in the French Village, but I wanted to make sure they were close by. I thought this was great attention to detail and was impressed that she went out of her way to help.

So, giggling like kids on Christmas morning, we dug into our bar and had a few (well, okay maybe MORE than a few) Red Stripes on the balcony to toast our arrival. It was lightly raining and it was just beautiful to us. We watched red winged black birds play and bathe in the rain in the palm trees in front of our balcony. As the rain slowed a bit, we wandered around and were amazed at how beautiful and lush the grounds had grown to be since our last visit. We sat at the Arizona bar and were greeted with a warm smile and welcome. We weren't sure what we wanted, so we were offered a "special" welcome drink. Ahhhhhh....perfect. We ventured to the lobby to see if our friends had arrived yet, and they were walking into the lobby. After hugs and some sparkling wine, they got their room packets. Again, we were shocked to see that they were in the Dutch Village as well, just one floor down from us. AWESOME attention to detail, again! This was their first Sandals experience and what a great first impression they had.

We had dinner that first night at Eleanor's with a pre-dinner champagne toast on our friends' balcony. Headley took our picture at dinner that night and it sums up the week. All of us are smiling ear to ear and totally relaxed. It is one of my favorite pictures of all of us.

The rest of the week was filled with fabulous meals and walks on the beach. The guys got resort certified to SCUBA on their first day and they fell in love with it. My husband had a problem with his ear, so he couldn't continue, but our friend continued with the full PADI certification and had an absolute blast diving. He said he didn't see much, but he certainly learned to love diving and can't wait to go other places to try it out. While the guys dove, my friend and I had massages at the spa. Excellent experience! We even went back later in the week for another service.

Food and Drink
I was really happy to discover that I liked the food at Jasmin's more than I did in 2006. That was the only restaurant that we didn't return to back then and it wound up being our favorite meal this time. We ate at all of the restaurants and we didn't have a bad meal or bad service at any of them. We didn't do the beach buffet in 2006 and they didn't have the Pirate's Night then. We did both this time and LOVED them. I think we went back for chicken curry wraps three times at the beach buffet, and the Pirate's Night was a blast. The only complaint we had about Pirate's Night family style dinner was that our friends managed to sit between the most negative people we've ever encountered. The band was too loud (ummmm....why did you plop down directly in front of a 20 piece steel drum set?), there's sand in my shoes (it is called a beach. I think they have those next to the ocean most of the time), I didn't get any salad (how about asking the person sitting next to you to pass it to you?), Jamaica is nothing like Mexico (yeah, that's because its this whole other country and culture. I bet there's something about that in the encyclopedia), and on and on and on. I hate to bust on people, but these were the types that would complain after winning the lottery that they got the money in 10's instead of 20's.

Like I said, all of the other meals were great. We even enjoyed the buffet breakfast at Bayside much more than in 2006. It seemed like there were more options and the set up was better somehow. I LOVE the fresh papaya and the fruit smoothies. Man, I miss those.

My husband doesn't eat red meat and he never went away from a meal hungry. I thought portion sizes were perfect, even the appetizers. I've seen recent reviews complaining that appetizers were only portioned for one person. I'm at a loss with that one. Everything else is portioned for one person, why wouldn't the appetizers be as well? I know that many chain restaurants in the states serve huge plates of things as appetizers, but I guess I don't expect that to be the case everywhere I eat. I only mention the red meat and portion size things because I see that a lot of Americans' reviews touch on those subjects. I guess I wanted to give my perspective.

Drinks at all bars were good, never had one that tasted "weak" or "watered-down". Service was always good, very short wait if any, even during busy times.

Activities and Entertainment
Aside from SCUBA and the spa, we also kayaked, took out the water trikes and water-skied. Very friendly guys at watersports and never had to wait. We also took an off-resort trip to YS Falls this time. It was FABULOUS. It only took about 40-45 minutes to get there and the JUTA tour guide who accompanied us was great. She had lots of information and was really funny. If you do this tour, be sure to tip your guide and driver as they aren't Sandals employees even though the trip is arranged through the resort. We jumped in, swam in and climbed the falls. Our falls guide was great and took pictures with our camera the entire time. Again, if you use a YS Falls guide to explore the falls, tip him or her. We left the resort at 9:45am and were back by 1:00pm so this is a great trip to do if you don't want to spend too much time out and about.

Service/Staff
Each and every person we encountered at SWH was pleasant, hardworking and treated us with the utmost respect. I wish I could say that was the case in our observations of how other guests treated the staff. I honestly don't know how some of the people who work at SWH are able to deal with rude and disrespectful people and keep a positive attitude. I won't go into long detail about the behavior of other guests, but I will just say that I'm very impressed by the staff and the way they handled the situations. Although they were being yelled at or treated with blatant disrespect, they remained calm, positive and respectful, and STILL tried to help the guests. I mention this because of some of the previous reviews' comments about slow service or staff not being attentive enough. I'm sure that the "guests behaving badly" believe that the staff they were yelling at were slow and incompetent and that they weren't being unreasonable. I'm sure in their minds, they weren't treated well and will likely express that to others. It is a perspective thing and I guess folks need to realize that when reading reviews.

Miscellaneous Stuff
We took advantage of the PhotoShop people taking tons of candid pics during the week. We got 3 of them and put them on a CD. Is it a little pricey? Yes, but totally worth it to get some good pictures of the four of us together. Headley and Delano are hilarious and fun to work with.

We were there during Valentine's Day and they had a lot of fun activities going on to celebrate. Where better to spend Valentine's Day?? However, if you are planning a wedding to take place during Valentine's week, be warned that it is a very popular wedding date for destination weddings. There were 9 weddings on Valentine's Day – the most they'd ever had on one day they said. If you are someone who will be wigged out that you aren't the only bride that day, don't pick Valentine's week. Please also understand that several people are there celebrating honeymoons, engagements and anniversaries. The staff will make extra effort to recognize a special occasion if you let them know about it, but you shouldn't be expecting everyone at the resort to remember that you are celebrating something special if you don't tell them, nor should you expect trumpets hailing your arrival or lots of extra services/packages for free. Again, I mention this as it was something I've read in previous reviews.

Having to leave the resort is always a downer. We had another early flight, so we had to have our bags out at 6:30am or something like that. The positive is that again, we were the only ones in the van on the way back to the airport. 65 minutes door to door without a pitstop. I'd much rather have early flights each way. The earlier your flight, the less chance for delays. That really didn't matter much this time since it was a direct flight each way, but it could be important if you have connecting flights, especially in northern areas in the winter. Also, I'd rather arrive early at the resort and have most of the day to lounge and play. It is almost like getting an extra day of fun. You pay the same amount for that night's stay whether you arrive at noon or at 11:59pm.

There was something going on with the computers at the checkin counter at the airport as they didn't have the passenger names on their records. They had to key everything in by hand and needed proof of purchase for the flight that had each passenger's name on it. Many people in line didn't have their itineraries or receipts since they booked as a group. My husband insisted that I didn't need to cart anything but the confirmation with us, but I did just in case. Good thing I did because it took the group folks a long time to get through the process. If you have it, may as well throw it in your bag just in case you need it. What's one more piece of paper? Another tip – be sure that your luggage has tags on it and make sure the name on the tag matches the name on the flight information exactly. If it doesn't, they'll make you change the tag. Oh – we didn't have to pay departure tax, it was included in our ticket price. I had a question about that since I'd never flown USA3000 before, so I'm including that here for others with the same concern.

I know I didn't go into a lot of detail about resort specifics, but a lot of that has been well-said by previous reviewers. I wanted to give more of a big picture type of report that may help some folks. When trying to find info on SWH that first time we booked, I know that's what I was looking for once we decided where to go. I mainly wanted to know what the atmosphere at SWH was like and most of my specific questions were about getting to Jamaica and finding the van...lol.

Please let me know if you have specific questions, though. I'll be glad to help if I can. Sorry for the length of this review. I'm a talker, which is bad enough, and I really had a lot to say this trip.

Alls we have to say is that this was amazing!!! we want to come back and will for sure.

Andre and Cheldon that work at Arizona's.....the BEST people ever. made our trip a million times better and memorable...we love them! tell them that the Dukes (alisha and jeremy) said hi!

What a dream wedding for my baby sister, the bus trip there was not as bad as everyone says. Just look at the beautiful land and dont be a back seat driver. The resort and staff were a class act. Very professional and fine dining at its best. There were 21 of us in the family that went and all said it was the best vacation ever. Outside vendors on Monday so have cash, they have great homemade jamaica items. Dont miss the Martini Bar, and lots of water activities included in the package. The wet bar was a blast in between volleyball games. We only wish we would have schedule the trip to be a little longer. Make sure you get your massage before you get sunburned, And trust me you will. The first massage was so great, I had another. Tell all the staff the Millers said hello, and hope to see them soon.

This was our 10th trip to a Sandals Resort...we absolutely love the people, the personalised service, the food and of course the returning guest diner...we were awarded our free trip and are planing to take that one to Sandals Regency St-Lucia...we have been to most Sandals resorts in Jamaica and have met wonderfull people that we have stayed in contact with through the years..We realy feel like we are part of the Sandals Family..

Chico and Monique Doucet
Bathurst, NB Canada