My First All-Inclusive Vacation

View from the flight to Montego Bay. Isn't it beautiful?!

Hey guys! Being in Louisiana, it can get very hot in the summer, but I still enjoy everything that comes along with it - cold treats, bright colors, swimming, and vacations! Today I want to talk about my experience with all-inclusive vacations and why I think they are worth every penny! Note: I am in no way affiliated with Sandals nor reimbursed in any way. I am just a girl who loves a great vacation and wanted to talk about it :)

The perks about all-inclusive: everything is paid for up front (minus excursions), there is lots to do, you can literally eat and drink all day long.

What I love most about all-inclusive vacations is I don't have to keep up with how much money we are spending.There are times I will go on a vacation and spend, spend, spend and then come home and see how much money I spent and nearly faint! When  you're on vacation, you're there to have a good time and you don't want to think about finances and the "real world" until you get home. I agree with this mindset; however, if you don't plan ahead, it can bite you in the tush!

The downside of paying for a vacation - not just all-inclusive - is you're basically going sight unseen. Sure, they have pictures on their website, but you really don't know the lay of the land until you're actually there. Let's face it, pictures can be deceiving. When travelling out of the country, I tend to be more anxious because I'm stepping into unfamiliar territory. So, when we booked our first trip to Jamaica, I was extremely excited, but I didn't know what to expect.

We decided to stay at Sandal's Resort in Montego Bay. Booking the vacation was very simple and we had no confusion on where to go once we stepped off the flight. We were immediately greeted with someone who worked for Sandal's and she showed us to the "Sandal's lobby" that was inside the airport. We walked in, grabbed a drink and sat down to relax until our transportation arrived. Two gentlemen took our luggage, wrote our name on a tag, and placed it on our bags so we no longer had to carry our luggage around. We were immediately pampered from the beginning.

If you have ever traveled to Jamaica, you know how their driving differs from us in the states. It's an experience of it's own. We couldn't stop laughing because they use their horns for everything. If they're turning, they're honking. They move fast paced and there were a couple times we thought we were going to hit someone. (I'm laughing as I type this). With all the excitement, we did arrive there safely :) We were greeted by the staff with nice cold hand towels! This may not sound like much to some of you, but it was quite refreshing after two flights to get there. Not to mention, we had to drive to Dallas to get on our first flight. We're talking leaving our home at 3:00 AM folks and I am not a morning person! So yes, this little hand towel was amazing!

First Row: transportation from Airport and room pictures
Second Row - view of the beach and ocean from our balcony
Third Row: Where we ate breakfast in the morning, water sports area, one pool area, and rooms

We were then given drinks and asked to sit in their lobby until they got our rooms ready, which didn't take long. We were introduced to our concierge and he took us to our room. He informed us there would be a tour in 20 minutes and they would show us around the whole resort. Of course, we took the tour and it was very helpful. I'm sure we could have figured out the plans ourselves, but it was so much nicer being given a tour because we could ask all the questions we wanted.

Steel Drums performance

The whole resort was beautiful! Montego Bay resort is actually the flagship, which we did not know beforehand. The whole staff was amazing. The view from our room was the best. It was right on the beach and waking up to that ocean every morning is something I wish I could do every day. There was entertainment each day including games, volleyball (on the sand and in the pool), piano bar, water sports, and nightly entertainment. We saw fire dancers, "Newlywed games", local arts and crafts, steel drum performances, etc. Every morning, they would leave a Sandals newspaper that listed all the activities for that day, and the menus for all the restaurants! That was a game changer, because we never had to wonder about what was going on that evening or what we were going to do.

We did excursions, which were additional costs. We climbed Dunns River Falls, swam with dolphins, rode ATV's in the mountains and watched other guests ride on horses in the ocean. I would definitely recommend doing one of those! All in all, we had a great experience with our first trip to Sandals. We stayed for six nights and I could have stayed two more weeks! The food was great, the ocean was perfect and there honestly just isn't anything negative that I can say about our stay. If you are looking for a place to go that is worry-free, try a resort. If you want to head to the Caribbean but aren't really sure about the price, do some research. I've heard of other all-inclusive resorts that are a little cheaper than Sandals. I can only speak of Sandals, because that is what I experienced, but choose the option that is right for you. After all, it is your vacation :)

Sunset

Until next time....

xoxo, 

Amanda