Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort 

My wife and I along with two other couples just got back after five nights at Sugar Beach Resort. The location, the villas, the restaurants and most importantly the staff were fantastic. The two of us stayed in a luxury villa (508) and it had great ocean views. The Cane Bar and Saltwood were our favorite restaurants along with Jetty Burgers for lunch. We can’t speak highly enough about the staff. Every single staff member we encountered was helpful, engaging and always asking if we needed anything. A special recognition of superior service from the following staff members (our butlers Tracey, Felicia and Swamed), (Afra at Jetty Burgers and the beach) and (bartenders Zeph and Kentus who also explained the rules of cricket). The staff make this resort exceptional. It is pricey but worth every penny.

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We recently stayed at a Sugar Beach villa (unit 606), and while it was a great stay, we enjoyed ourselves mostly in spite of the resort. In comparison, we spent 3 days at Cap Maison in the North prior to coming – very highly recommended. A few things to note when you book: Resort Layout & Transportation • The resort strongly encourages van service to get about the property – I haven’t seen this discussed much. While the distance between key locations isn’t particularly far, walking is discouraged due to narrow roads and speeding vans taking blind corners. • If you do opt for van service, it’s a bit of a mental load as you have to strategize each trip. Every relocation—whether to dinner, the beach, or the spa—requires booking a ride and then squeezing into the back of a van. Don’t forget suntan lotion, you’re not getting back to your room easily. • Speaking of vans –they are loud. You’ll hear them from your villa. Dining • The food was, at best, ok. We tried top-tier dining at Saltwood, as well as breakfast lunch and dinner at the other locations. It was basically all the same – and all 3/5. Accommodations • Our Villa was beautiful albeit bland and awkwardly laid out. • Villas are nicely secluded, but even at nearly $2k a night you’ll hear your neighbor Service & Staff • The concierge experience felt more like befriending a local, which we actually enjoyed. However, the drawbacks included long response times (1-3 hours in some cases). One night, after failing to respond at all, our concierge let himself into our room for a delivery while we were sleeping, startling my wife. • The beach is very nice, but we were constantly being asked, “what room number are you” even when we didn’t request any service. Presumably in an attempt to keep resort guest separate from the public, who are free to visit • Much of the service was disorganized and frustrating. We had a car and it doesn’t seem like that is common, so the staff was a bit out of sorts and never quite knew where the car was – failing to have it available for us upon request on 2 occasions, as it had to be parked in a lot a mile (or so) away • We were asked about our departing information (flight details, and if we needed rides to the airport) on 6 separate occasions in 2 days. I only remember because on the 3rd occasion my wife and I started joking about it. At checkout the host again said, “oh – should I book a van for you to the airport?” SMH – we had spoken to the concierge twice about that in 24 hours. • The Spa (Richard) didn’t get back to us when I asked to change the time of our appointment 1-month in advance. When we arrived I checked to see if my request had been confirmed (realizing I hadn’t received confirmation) and they acknowledged the email I had sent, that they hadn’t responded, then tried to charge me $200 for changing my appointment anyways. • Understanding this is subjective, but overall a large portion of the staff was not particularly welcoming and didn’t seem to be interested in guests (I’d say, roughly 40% of our encounters). Examples include the breakfast hostess who never once looked us in the face while asking if we wanted a table and then seating us, awkward van drivers, staff constantly in social interactions between each other, bartenders who were more formal than welcoming, personality-less front-desk hosts that didn’t veer from process. A vast contrast from Cap Maison in the north. There were many aspects we very much enjoyed, but for sake a long review – I’ll save those for our own memories. This was not a terrible visit by any means, but we have no burning desire to return. The resort heavily relied on the physical beauty of the surrounding area, and less on buttoned up staff and the subsequent experience they created. Overall, a 2/5 considering the expectations we had and high costs.

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Our family of 5 stayed here in February. We got upgraded to a three bedroom villa which was simply amazing. Beautiful views, amazing pool, wonderful jacuzzi! Our Butler Wynel was so friendly and helpful during our entire stay. He really tried to connect with the kids - even bringing them a raft for the pool and anticipated our needs by booking dinner reservations for us! The food on the resort was outstanding. The breakfast buffet was the best we’ve ever had. The sushi at Cane bar was to die for. My youngest kids loved the pizzas and our oldest’s favorite part of the trip was eating like a king st the beach BBQ! We also all loved the jetty burgers. On site snorkeling was amazing - we saw eel, puffer fish, schools of trumpet fish- even better than snorkeling we’ve done in Hawaii! My boys loved the soccer field, bocce, and ping pong too! Our one complaint was the service on the beach was horrible. We had to hound people to take our orders. They seemed annoyed. It was awful every day. Also on the last day my son left his flip flops by our chairs when we went swimming and he came back and they were gone! We found out the beach attendants had packed them up and sent them with someone else’s stuff! Their butler brought them back to the beach but my husband had to wait the 20 minutes for them to be brought back… not sure how you get the service the other group experienced. My kids did really enjoy the free popsicles on the beach. Short of the beach service everything else was great.

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