Reviewers Rating: 
Excellent
Just returned from Sandals Halcyon and absolutely loved it!! I used this website for a year to gather information, so I figured I could help some people looking for information. I'll try to be brief.
Trip From Airport-I've read so many scary things about this. It was an hour and a half ride to Halcyon. The ride was not bad at all. The ride there was very nice. The ride back to the airport was a little scary only because the driver went really fast. It was actually nice to see the island and some of the views were awesome!! It really depends on the driver though. Our van was not very crowded, so that helped.
Halcyon-The resort is very nice. This resort is not as spectacular as the bigger Sandals but it is very nice. I was impressed because I requested a certain room and got it!! We were literally 20 ft. from the beach with an awesome view. Now there are some room blocks that are not beachfront but it is only a 1 min. walk to the beach. The grounds are kept clean and always looks nice.
Beach-This is the one area of somewhat a disapointment. The beach is nice but I went to Cancun last year and the beaches are amazing there. The beach is somewhat small and the water is more greenish. Also, there are vendors tring to sell you things. Also, they do ask you to get them food, I just said no and they never bothered me again. The first day you are there they hound you a bit, but as the week goes on they ease up. My wife and I did not spend much time on the beach. Most people stay at the pool.
Pool-There were 2 pools at Halcyon. There is a big pool that plays music and is a little more of a "party" atmosphere and there is a smaller, quieter pool. We spent time at both of them. Both pools have a swimup bar. We never, ever had any problems finding a chair to lay on. I have read some reports where people had problems, but we had none.
Watersports-This was amazing. It was located 20 ft. from our room. I never had any problem using any of the equipment. They have water kayaks, water bikes, hobie cats, sunfish, scuba diving, and snorkeling trips. This was one major difference between the bigger Sandals and Halcyon. It was much easier to use the watersports at Halcyon. We went snorkeling one day which was awesome. They boat you to the North part of the island about 20 mins. away. They let you snorkel for about 45 mins. and then take you back. The whole trip is less than 2 hrs. I did not scuba dive because you have to take a training course which I did not want to waste a half of a day.
Restaurants-This is what made this place for me. I went to St. Lucia thinking the food would be good but not great. I was completely suprised at how good the food was!! We went to Mario's twice and The Pier twice. We also ate at two restaurants at Sandals La Toc (Kimino's and La Toc). I never had a bad meal once. Mario's (Italian)was my favorite. Kimino's (Japanese) was the 2nd best. The other two were also very good but I can't say enough about how good these places were. Now, I am a simple man from the Midwest, but I was amazed. We ate lunch everyday at the buffet at Halcyon. It was very good as well. We never really ate much at lunch because it was hot. What else was great was the Grill. This is a place where anytime of day or night you can have things cooked for you. We went there a couple times latenight after a few too many drinks. The cheesefries were awesome!!
Service-Again, I can't say enough. I never understood how the place got such good workers because there are no tips. The staff will do anything for you. Our room was cleaned twice a day with new towels at night. I always worry about not having enough towels, there were no problems.
Entertainment-The nightly entertain ment was fun but not great. Most people are in their rooms by 11. My wife and I are in our late 20's and go out quite a bit so this was sort of weird. But, we met two other couples like us, so we just partied together. Most people are tired because they drank in the day and then had a huge meal at night. Dinner is biggest decision you must make because that is basically what you are doing at night. The resort does a good job of providing entertainment (Music, Dances, shows, piano bar, disco) but most people are pretty tired by that time. We went to the disco one night and there were probably 10 people there until about 1 a.m. Basically you sit at the bar meet some other couples and talk.
Halcyon vs. Sandals La Toc-You can't go wrong with either, but it depends on what you want. La Toc is much bigger and more spectacular. Halcyon is smaller and much more convenient. I like convenience, so I liked Halcyon better, but La Toc was very nice. What I mean by convenience is everything is right there. At La Toc you have to take a Shuttle everywhere. I would have hated that.
Weather-we had awesome weather. Sunny everyday with some clouds. It would rain for about 4 mins. and sun would come back out. Nothing to worry about at all. I kept thinking this is the rainy season? It barely rained!! It was hot at night though. By the end of the week I was looking forward to eating in air conditioning!!
Negatives-Not many really. The beach was a little negative because of the guys selling things. Before I went I heard reports of rats. I didn't see any rats but on the last night, we were walking and saw one off the beaten path. That sort of freaked us out, but you have to remember there are rats where you live to. Don't let this worry you, I just felt I needed to say this because I wanted to give an accurate report.
I can't say enough good things about Sandals Halcyon and would encourage anyone to go there. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me!!
Dan
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