Sandals Whitehouse European Village & Spa

First I would like to say we have been traveling to the Caribbean for 11 years and this was our best vacation. CHECK IN: When we got to SWH they greeted us with big smiles and hand shakes. They invited into the lobby where they gave us champagne and cold towels to wipe our brow. They handed us some paperwork to fill out and then they gave us our sandals package with shampoo, conditioner, aloe gel and body lotion along with the keys to our room. Check in was quick and efficient. ROOMS: We booked the lowest category which should have been first floor French Village, but we were upgraded to 2nd Floor French Village. We had the BEST room. It was room number 3209 and I highly recommend it. We were on the corner of the building with views of the ocean and the French Pool. At night we would keep the sliding glass door open and listen to the ocean. The way the room was situated we could lie in bed and watch the sun set. It was the best room we have ever had. RESORT: The resort is absolutely beautiful. Yes there are small things that are not finished, but I would not have even noticed if it wasn’t for the fact that I already new about the unfinished stuff. Most of the things that are not finished are just punch list stuff, nothing major at all. This resort is HUGE! At first it was a little overwhelming, but I was glad to have to walk a lot since all I did was eat!!!! If you do not listen to any other advice, please listen to this….Bring comfortable shoes!!!!!! I know girls, you favorite sexy shoes are not comfy, well don’t bring them!!!!! You will wish you listen to me. I wore my “good” shoes the first night and paid the price the rest of the vacation. Trust me, comfy, comfy shoes!!!!!! POOLS: We loved the main pool. It was just beautiful. The swim up bar was great. I think we christened it with some friends. We were partying there on our friend’s last day. It was a gorgeous day. The guys we were with were jumping off the bar. We were talking and drinking all day, and then it was someone’s great idea to do some shots. Bob Marley shots for the girls and brain hemorrhage shots for the guys. Then around 6:00 pm we were starting to get hungry, so one of our friends says, “I’m going to order pizzas”. We’re like yeah cool. But I’m not sure if we believed him. Then he comes back and says “I just ordered 12 pizza’s, champagne and crème broulee”. We could believe it. It was awesome. We were all hootin’ and hollerin’ at the main pool, while couples all dressed up going to dinner were horrified by us. It was great!!!! The French Pool was fun too. We played pool volleyball there and hung out at the pool bar a few times. After beach volleyball which on in the French Village beach, we would hang at the French pool until it was time to get ready for dinner. RESTAURANTS: Bluefields for lunch was really good. You could sit and eat off the menu (jerk pork, jerk chicken, salad, meat patties, etc.) or you could self serve yourself with meat patties or handmade potato chips (they were yummy). Wear you bug spay here. Bayside for breakfast and lunch was great. They have the best fresh baked bread in the world!!! There salad bar was very good for lunch. There was something for everyone. For dinner it was ala carte. That is really my only complaint is that there should be a buffet for dinner because there were a few times when we were really tired and just wanted to grab something to eat but you couldn’t. You had to eat a five course meal every night, which is fine if you are in the mood, but if you are tired from a long day, you just want to “hit and run” as my husbands says. Arizona’s for lunch and dinner was very good. They had sandwich wraps, burgers, pizza, nachos, hotdogs and salads for lunch. For dinner it was Tex-Mex and was very good. The fajitas were really good. Jasmines. I liked it, but the service was soooooo slow. We did have a group of ten crocks which probably didn’t help with the slow service. The restaurant itself was really nice and I thought the food was good. Eleanor’s. We never ate there. Café de Paris. Girls, forget the “weight loss challenge” save it for when you get home. This bakery is insane! I thought I died and went to heaven. I haven’t gotten on a scale, but I did try to put on a pair of jeans I always wear and I had trouble buttoning them. Just think of it and it is at this bakery. I loved the ice cream. We love the cappuccino and espresso at night after dinner. Giuseppe’s we only ate there our first night (except for the pizza delivery one night at the main pool). I thought it was great, I had the shrimp with linguini it was yummy. DIVING: I wish I could comment. We couldn’t wait to go diving, but we loved the resort soooo much we just did not want to leave it. We did go once, but it was the shallow dive and it was just okay. But people really liked the deep dive, but seriously we did not want to leave this resort. WATERSKIING: This was great. They have the best ski boat. The watersports guys are the BEST. We met some of the best people we have ever met on vacation here. This place just puts you in the best mood... ya mon! One negative thing. . . the bugs. I have several bites, mostly my fault for not applying the bug spray one day. My husband has them too, but it’s all his fault he wouldn’t wear the bug spray, but I think the bites were worth it because this place is GREAT!!!

My wife and I arrived at Sandals on 4/11 after a relatively flawless flight and bus trip to the resort. Yes! the bus ride was a little rough in places but at no time did I feel in any more danger than driving on a busy Chicago expressway. Our check-in was perfect(we were given a 1 cat. upgrade) and we were escorted to our room via a golf cart and our luggage came with us at the same time. We were in the French Villa(3216) corner room with perfect view of the pool/ocean. The walk to the main plaza is not that bad. If 5 minutes of walking kills you then consider revamping your exercise program. The food was average at best but the staff did work hard to accomodate your needs. The Arizona was probably our favorite place to eat. The major complaints came in regards to the Italian Villa with no water, electricity outage and poor AC. We had none of that. The pools were great although I will say the bar at the French was much faster than at the Main pool. Did not spend much time on the beech due to the fleas but in all was a nice looking and large beech. The Playmakers were great and tried hard to create a fun environment. Now for the really bad news. YES THE BUGS ARE BAD!!!! My wife and I were bit just about every night even with OFF with DEET. Some people had it so bad their bits were infected and blistered. You might be one of the lucky one's and not have any problems but I would not bet my vacation on it. I would never go back until I had a guarantee the bug problem was over. The really best part was the great friends we made. Shout Out to Eddie(AKA-Rodney) & Joanne, Lewis(AKA-Randy) & Stacey and Eric(AKA-Scuba Steve) & Shelly. My wife and I stayed for 2 weeks and after these guys departed our trip was not the same. So basically I would say give this place another 6-12 months to fine tune things and then give it a shot. I know that there are a lot of things that can be improved but in the end; we met great people and had a pretty good time.

Best Vacation Ever!! The resorts is beautiful and very private. The staff could not do enough for you to make your vacation special. They reallly went out of their way to make sure you were having a great time and had everything you needed. Even the bar staff remembered my orders and brought food and drinks to us on the beach without asking. The watersports and diving team were AWESOME, always checking up on us to make sure we were having a great time. My husband sometimes went waterskining eight times an day. Everett was the best at the Hobbie Craft, always scaring me by going vertically sideways, but never tipping the boat. The restaurant staff AMAZING! Fredrico at the Itallian took very good care of us, even invited us to Italy to experience his resaurant. Jason, Marco and Dern at Eleanors provided the best service I have ever recieved. Great steak and eggs w/beans in the morning. When getting on the bus to leave they ran up to the window with steak sandwiches for our trip so we would not be hungry. I almost cried, I could not believe someone would do this for us out of the kindness of their hearts. Special mention to Pusey the Night Bar/Entertainment manager. Always their to make your night a evening to remember. Ask him is he has gone on his date with Crystal yet? The beach was beautiful and very private. I spent every one of my 15 days on the beach playing in the ocean and only got a couple of bites the whole time. I was bitten way worse in Cuba, Mexico and Dominican. The gym was the best of any resort I have been to. Everthing cleand and in perfect working oder. I miss seeing Spongy's face everyday. We have the lowest catagory for room and never tipped during our trip. I believed we were blessed to be able to meet everyone at Whitehouse. The only negative experience we had was to see how rude other tourist were to the staff. The waste of food and drink was terrible. How uncarring people can be leaving garbage and butts all over the beautiful beach and Whitehouse resort. All you need is LOVE.

My husband and I arrived in Jamaica on April 15th for a 1 week stay. The ride to and from the resort was 1 hour and 1/2 and it was a death ride for me. The twisty, turning, mountainous road on one side, and the cliff on the other combined with speeding vehicles in the opposing lane really upset us most of the ride there. If you that is an issue for you, go someplace else. The resort was wonderful and the food, employees, and entertainment were as what you would expect from a Sandals experience. The pools were all open as were all the restaurants so we did not have any short changes there like some of the earlier staying guests. It is a very spread out resort unlike some of their other properties we visited. My only complaint is that we were eaten alive by sand fleas and/or flies on the beach. Most of the guests were joking about having the Jamaican measles. They need to warn guests to bring OFF with deet. They are still itching me. Nevertheless it is a gorgeous resort and the beaches and sunsets were beautiful. Not sure if I would return though.

My wife and I stayed at Sandals Whitehouse April6-20, 2005. We had a GREAT time! This was our 4th visit to Sandals, and have yet to be disappointed. Food was good, People were AWESOME (Andre, Inoki, Odayne, Sheryl, Richmond, Troy, Patti, Stacey, Mr. Jones… too many to list them all!). The beach was OK. Not the finest sand ever. The beach is LONG… Plenty of chairs on the beach, we had no problem with bugs or mosquitoes, but we did have bug spray just incase. Property is very clean and spread out. The landscaping looks great. The room (we were in 2421, Dutch) was very nice. Tile floors, comfy bed, plenty of hot h20 and pressure in the shower. Room was made up everyday and turn down every night. The pools were clean and warm. The bars were stocked well. The service in the restaurants was good. Seems as if the staff is still learning, but the service is still good. Never had more that a 10 minute wait for dinner, food always came hot. Had one dinner that service was slow, but we were having a great time with friends, so it didn’t bother us…sometimes the restaurants can get loud (tall ceilings, tile floors, metal chairs) I think once they finish decorating and get the permanent furnishings, it will be much better! Café de Paris is awesome!!! Entertainment was good…nothing bad to say here…. Overall it was a great vacation, glad we went! If you’re concerned about going, my OPINION would be “relax. Go, and enjoy!”

Your holiday is what you make of it and we had a lovely time. The staff were lovely and friendly, very helpful. We were upgraded to the top class suite as it was our honeymoon – even though we were booked in a suite. The food was lovely and everyone around us did everything they could to make our stay more enjoyable! We went on several tours all arranged by the hotel on our behalf – great fun beautiful settings. Quite coincidentally we ran into two friends from university who were staying in the French village – not a trek at all. If 5 minutes is too far then you’re asking for a heart attack. The one thing we could have done with less of were drunken American xenophobes flashing people and screaming at the top of their lungs regardless of the time - day or night. Everything was wonderful except some of the other guests – we may even return for our 20th anniversary. To be helpful: (Air)Plane – an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets; common method of transport Plain - Not elaborate or complicated

We just got back(4/18) and I have seen many reviews prior to going and were skeptical. My husband and I are very picky and I have to say we loved the place. We are used to staying at delux resorts(Ritz and Rennissance) You are not going to get 5 star dinning but overall the food was very good. The Italian place is the best. It has 3 large pools (dutch is the smallest) and endless amounts of beaches. We stayed in a conciege level room and it was well worth it, from the bar to the constant help and service that was provided. All the people there were very nice and extremely helpful. We would reccomend this place to all our friends. I did hear some people had some problems but that was not our experience. The rooms were nice and comfortable, room service could be a little slow but remeber you are on vacation and not in the US. We would love to go back.

Let me just start off by saying that our trip would not have been worth it if not for the great people we met from Chris N Cheryl's message board. Mary & Greg, Connie & Rob and Brian & Amy are the most wonderful folks and will hold a special place with Shelton and I. Now for our trip!!!! Our 6:00 A.M. flight out of Pensacola was cancelled because of a cracked windshield so they put us on a 6:20 A.M. flight. No Problem. We then get Special Screened by the TSA at random. Well needless to say we watched our plain leave without us while standing there getting felt up in the middle of the airport. Moved to a 9:00 AM flight which puts us getting to the resort at 6:30 P.M. instead of 1:30. Bad Bad start which may have a little to do with my crappy attitude. Check in was O.K. I guess because there was only 4 people checking in and it was late, they must have felt like they did not have to treat us as well. We had to ask for the Champagne and never did get the warm towels. However we were in our room relaxing in less than 30 minutes and I believe we got an upgrade because we booked lowest cat. and ended up on the second floor. The rooms are very nice with beautiful four poster beds. Great view of the French Pool and what little of the beach you could see. Now I can't say much for our first day because Odayne at the French bar was keeping us full of Drink.....AKA Bob Marley shots for everyone around the Pool Bar. I don't even remember leaving the pool and going to our room. I was told at some point I even flashed everyone.. :oops: Sorry if I upset some of the wives. Bad day but this was my fault not the resorts. Oh and by the way luvnlife... you were the crazy drunk guy in the Red Hat. (see I'm not the only one who doesn't remeber) :lol: We booked our day trip through Soloman and went with Connie & Rob and Mary & Greg. Greatttt Day!!!!! I think this was our best day of the whole vacation. I miss you guys already. We only ate at the Italian and Oriental restuarants. Both were O.K. Nothing to write home about but not the worse thing in the world. Oh I forgot we did eat at Arizona's a couple of times and it was good and Bluefields twice (not good). Overall I think they could do a little better on the food. SSG diner was Good also. The free bottle of Rum and T-Shirts were worth it. We never did have a problem with the bugs. My husband had a couple of bites on his back the first day but they never itched and then went away, I never got bit. (Vitamin B-1 and B-12 along with Skin So Soft) However we did see some people with nasty red bumps all over there backs. Yuck!!!! But these folks did not know to bring bug spray. Don't leave home without it. Now comes the really bad part, We are on the bus ready to go to the airport when Shelton starts sweating extremely bad with some tightness in his chest. We get off the bus for him to get fresh air when the pains and faintness hit him. They rush us to the nurses station where the door is locked and no nurse. It took at least 5 minutes for them to find her. At this point Shelton is screaming that he is having a Heart Attack and I am freaking out. They take him in lay him down give him some oxygen and aspirin and call the Doctor. AN HOUR LATER!!!!! The doctor shows up with this EKG machine that looks straight out of the 1960's. He gets three abnormal readings and says we have to go to a specialists in Sav-La-Mar which is 35 minutes away. Charges us 100.00 and says thanks. Now the management tells me that they have cancelled and rescheduled our flight and not to worry about accomodations. They sent two employees with us so we would not be on our own. The so called Specialists office looks worse than any free clinic you could imagine, the Doctor is not there yet and there are about 10 people waiting to been seen. We sit in the bus and wait for about an hour and a half before we are seen. He does another EKG and says it is normal and that it was probably some kind of Angina and to follow up with a US doctor. Please take note that if my husband would have been having a heart attack he would have Died. I realize that we are in Jamaica not the US but there whole process was just terible. The resort should have a Doctor on duty 24/7. So what ever you do, do not get sick. Now when we get back to the resort NO ONE knows anything about putting us in a room or rescheduling our flight. The same manager that told me not to worry about a thing proceeds to tell me she did not say that and that we have to pay 400.00 for another night. Well this was not going to happen. :x I start screaming in the middle of the lobby which is full of check in guest. 15 minutes later she returns and tells me our room will be comped. I ask you, why did it take a returning guest to throw a fit and start crying to get a room when the folks that got there on Saturday 4/09 received two free nights and those on Sunday 4/10 did not? We still had power outages off and on and some of us did not have Hot water. I plan on sending Jeremy Jones a nice letter about this experience. All in all the trip was O.k. Again if not for the wonderful people we met it would have been a disaster. The resort is very pretty and the beach is great. If you are staying in the French building be prepared to walk alot or stay in the French area. I was one to say stop complaining about the walk, but once you are there and everything you do takes you on a 5 minute trek to the piazza it gets a little bothersome. You find yourself actually skipping things because you don't want to make that walk again. (the Chocalate Buffet) I would not go back....even with another 50% off. Management needs training, the workers however do everything they can to make you happy. We did meet up with one of the workers who helped us to our room after the Doctor only to be called 2 hours after from off the resort by her saying that she got fired for accepting tips. She wanted me to call the manager and try to get her job back for her. I guess because she remembered our room number is why she called us and no It was not us that tipped her. Please do not do this even though it may get you better service and make you feel like your helping that person out, you are not. They will get fired! Sorry for the rambling on and on but the start and finish of our vacation just made it one of the worst ones we have taken. I honestly do not think we will ever travel out of the US again. Please do not let my misfortune change your plans, you should go and make your vacation the best that you can. LOL :) Oh yeah one more thing..try drunken shuffle board at 1:30 in the morning. This is an experience no one should miss...... :D lol

We stayed at Sandals Whitehouse 3/29-3/26. We had originally been booked at Sandals Montego Bay, but were "upgraded" two days before we left. I panicked at first because I had read the place wasn't finished and it had been a rough opening. We decided to go with the flow, and we were soooo happy we did! Our first glimpses of the resort were amazing - We had not seen many pictures, as the Sandals site still had artist rederings up at that point. The piazza is gorgeous, especially looking out from the lobby! Check in was smooth. It took a while to get our bags...yeah yeah, we're on vacation, relax...but we'd been travelling in the same clothes for 12 hours at that point. We stayed in the French Village - 3424. It was a beautiful room, I think Honeymoon Grande Luxe Beachfront with four-poster bed, sitting area, desk and DVD player. Maids were in twice a day, at least. I was pleasantly surprised to find the windows were soundproof. The French pool activities died down before 6 every night, but closing the windows if it was noisy put everything else a world away. The place was basically running like it had been open for years. Elinor's for breakfast was verrry slow, but very good service. We couldn't complain about anything else. Every employee we came across smiled and greeted us. The only rudeness we came across was from some guests acting entitled to special treatment everywhere they went. When we were there, they were very strict about the dress code at night, which I liked. Everyone is in a bathingsuit all day, it was nice to see everyone dressed up at night. It added to the elegant feel of the piazza at night, which was beautiful. We ate at Arizona's, Bayside, Elinor's and the Italian restaurant for dinner. My favorite was Elinor's, although the pizza at the Italian place was great. Every night (and sometimes afternoons) we had dessert at the pastry shop. So good! I highly recommend a couples massage for relaxation as soon as possible after you get there. It sets the perfect mood for a wonderful vacation!

We arrived at the Atlanta airport about 7:00AM and at the departure gate by 8:00AM. Plane was scheduled to depart at 10:24 and it was on time. There were no surprises everything went smooth. We arrived at 11:50 almost 20 mins ahead of schedule. It took all of 10 min or less to get thru Jamaican customs. We dropped our luggage off at the lounge, had a couple of sodas made our way to the bus and departed for the Whitehouse. We arrived about 2:00PM and made it to our room before 3. Room – We were assigned room 3134 – the last room, bottom floor on the corner of the west end of the resort in the French Village. This was the first time we have not been upgraded in our last four visits. It was not a problem we were 50 yards from the ocean and maybe 25 from the Bluefield restaurant. At night we opened the sliding door and went to sleep listening to the soothing sound of the waves. I gave the people in the sales office and managers a rough time every time I saw them about my room. It is funny because every time I told someone we were in 3134 they would drop their head and smile and offer the positive points about the room. I guess this room location could have been a negative, but it wasn’t for us. We always book the lowest category room and the room assignments are the luck of the draw. Resort – This resort is huge. There are two (2) miles of ocean front. It is true each room has an ocean front view. I think this topic has been covered by everyone. It is truly a beautiful place. Food – What ever your taste you should be able to find something good to eat. We ate breakfast at Eleanor’s and Bayside. We would also check in at Café de Paris several times a day, because their selection changed regularly during the day. We did not eat at Arizona or the Italian. Negatives – I found the negatives of the resort were the rude and mean guests staying there. These people were in the minority, but one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. Example: The hostess at Eleanor’s stopped a group from entering and required a manager’s assistance. I wondered what had caused this incident and then I noticed that two men had on flip flops. The dress code requires closed toe shoes for men. There were others times when guests talked to the servers in very rude demeaning tones when requesting drinks and/or water. Tours -- We went on two tours – day trip to Negril with Talk of the Town and Sandals (Juta) Appleton Estate and Black River Safari. The tours guides were very informative about the areas we were visiting. Mark our guide with Talk of the Town pointed out the new resorts they were building in Negril (more competition for Sandals). Our tour guide with Sandals explained about the houses – some were wood and others were concrete. The government regulates what type of home can be built based on land ownership and income. She also told us about the school system, religion and Jamaican culture. Bugs – We did not have problems. We used Avon Skin-So-Soft at night and sun screen during the day. People -- We met so many wonderful people crocs and others. You will see them in the pics. Tips – Your vacation is what you make it. Keep a positive attitude and treat the people with respect. Luggage – We called the front desk and told the bellman our luggage was ready. He picked up the luggage before we left the room within two minutes of our call. Liquor – I don’t know how this works, but this is what we brought back: 1 liter of Appleton Special, 1 liter of Absolute, 1 liter of Appleton Reserve, 2 liters of Passoa, 1 fifth of pineapple rum, 4 small bottle of mudslide. The sales person did tell me the Passoa was exempt. Anyway I declared all the liquor and made it through duty free. Here are links to my pictures: http://www.pbase.com/sharpy/whitehouse http://www.pbase.com/sharpy/tours