We recently spent 10 days of total relaxation at the Halcyon in Jan 2012.

This was our first vist to this Sandals having spent the previous year at the Grande. The halcyon is quiet and laid back, a perfect place to escape from blackberries and the hustle and bustle of a busy world.

We stayed in a Butler Level room right on the beach and had a magnificant view of the sea. The waves lulled us to sleep every night.

The room, while a little tired in the bathroom was spotless. We have never stayed in a resort with such a high standard of daily cleaning including the cottage windows each day.

Service at all the restaurants was excellent. We had great food at every restaurant at the Halcyon. The Pier is beautiful and wonderful presentation. We loved Marios and the Bayside was good also.

We ate at Gordon's twice at the Grande and were very impressed with service and atmosphere. Food was also excellent but I would put the Pier in the same category (this is not a slight to Gordon's but a postive for the Pier). We also ate this year again at La Toc and were (once again) disappointed with the service and the food. Our wait staff at La Toc was disinterested and paid us little attention. The Manager seemed to have friends at the next table to us and most of the wait staff attended to that table and ignored us. Pretentious food and poor service make this our worst experience at an otherwise first rate holiday once again with Sandals. Next year we will not be adding La Toc to our list of dining choices.

A word about the butler service, this was very good and attentive. We will not be having a butler next year (not because it wasn't good but the Halcyon is so laid back, the butler service seems more like overkill). We can see the value of the butler at the Grande but it really doesn't seem necessary (and sometimes too pretentious) for the relaxing atmosphere at the Halcyon.

We were here on our honeymoon and we loved the extra attention from Sandals. Although we have been around the block before it was neat to go to the Honeymoon cocktail party (although we were about 25 years older than the oldest couple there).

We loved the Sandals Return guest dinner and it was really interesting to sit with Lennox and hear his philosophy on running a hotel (Lennox is bang on and knows he has a true gem in the Halcyon).

So many of the guests are repeat clients and it is not hard to see why people return year after year.

As a Padi Instructor I greatly enjoyed and appreciated the Sandals Dive Team and doing 17 dives this trip. Safety, knowledge and enthusiasm mark out this very professional team. I was impressed when I evesdropped on them running classes to hear they are "dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's) in teaching new divers. They have great equipment here for people to use (although I bring all my own stuff), all well serviced Scubapro gear, great dive boats and good divemasters.

We have already booked our return trip to the Halcyon and hope to see other new found friends next year.

Thanks you Sandals, thank you Lennox and the Team for running a first rate relaxing experience for vacationers.

See you next year (we can hardly wait).

The resort was alright but unfortunately we were overcharged for something we never received. There was a discrepancy with my credit card statement that didn't match the one we signed off on prior to leaving the island. We contacted Sandals and refused to reconcile or even follow up with investigating it further. We had to address it with our credit card company who was helpful. Totally unexpected and disappointed!

“28 visits to St. Lucia 25th at Halcyon coming up...”

We read and appreciate most comments from the guests at Halcyon. There are good and there are bad. Ultimately a vacation is what you make of it! From all the information you can gather today from Travellers reviews to photos there are choices to make everywhere and Halcyon by no means is better rated or less rated because of this information. We have visited the caribbean on several occasions and to many islands, but none give us the satisfaction we get every time we visited St. Lucia. From the warmth of the people to the beautiful weather it has yet to disappoint us. Halcyon quite honestly is not the most updated hotel, it does not have lavish marble and chandeliers. It is smaller, charming and extremely relaxing location. Most reviews revolve around some of the buildings and rooms in need of renovation but having read those reviews Sandals has acted to renovate all rooms on the resort. The last been completed as I am writing this review. Keep in mind the "guests" have a lot to do with why Halcyon is how it is....or should I say the majority of guests. Most of us love the charm of the accommodations in that you are not overburdened to reach any where by lengthly walks back to your room when you need to. The rooms are like small cottages surrounded by vines and flowers rather than a hall way through corridors of the normal hotels. Every room has its own character depending on your location you choose. Most rooms are all identical in size and some of been restyled near the paradise pool area. But once again when the guests are asked if they would like to see the place totally redesigned and updated the answer is generally we love it the way it is. Sandals has answered the call for changes and have updated air conditioning in the rooms, new furniture,tv's, patio furniture and a more modern gym along with many other changes, but they have not changed the character of the resort. We have the experience of staying at the Grande and Regency but our hearts lead us back to Halcyon. We book there over and over even after trying other resorts, but the staff have drawn us back. I started this review by stating a holiday is what you make it...well with the staff at Halcyon they help put an exclamation on that statement. From the minute you arrive at the entrance, to the restaurants, to the poolside or beach, the staff at Halcyon become your friends. Unlike other islands and resorts what is most noted is the lack of reaching for your wallet to get someone to help you get a chair,a table or a drink...IMAGINE that! What we have found from our first visit until our most recent a lot of the staff still remain, they call you by name and for those who sort of recognize you but may have forgot your name...they say Welcome back or Welcome home!!! What else do you want on a vacation????? Negative reviews aside, as I believe some cannot enjoy themselves no matter where they go, read up, educate your self and make the judgement yourselves...We have and have planned our 25th ...(maybe a record here) for Feb/2012. Special thanks to Mr. Dupal and the rest of the management staff for keeping the focus on the guests. Special friends have been made here...ask for them by name and you will see....Ruth, Stanley,Celina,Gavlin,Delores,Amanda, Melissa, Vanessa,Agnes, .....all the staff...get to know them,engage them and you will see why we come back.....a vacation is an experience...making it a negative one starts by looking at ones self no matter where you travel. Joe and Naysan Mississauga, Canada

If you want to eat a lot and bask in the sun then the Halcyon is for you.Set in peaceful tropical
gardens, the rooms are clean and comfortable although they could do with a spruce up when compared with the more modern sandals resorts, we also found a cockroach but that was dealt with very quickly.
The restaurants cater for most tastes but I would recommend a trip to the two neighbouring resorts for a change.If you do this, book early as the popular restaurants are booked up a week in advance!The shuttle busses favour the two bigger resorts too so we were left waiting for 40mins one evening for our bus to arrive.
The Halcyon sports facilities are great but as nobody uses them, the staff are'nt very forthcoming. Asking to waterski very much put them out. Contrary to what the website says, there is no squash court but the tennis courts are great if underused. Having finally located Chester the tennis coach, I enjoyed a week of private tennis lessons.
As the beach is not private, it is populated by locals who constantly try to sell you goods from jewelry to class A drugs.They can be friendly or aggressive, either way, it was a problem for us after a few days.
In a nutshell Halcyon has good food, great staff and is very beautiful but it is not the place for adventurers or sporty types. If you leave the compound, it is impossible to find the real St Lucia.