We had the time of our lives. Everything was absolutely excellent.From the rooms to the service to the beach to the dining. The staff was superb...they made us feel like family and made us feel right at home. Travel has never been so relaxing. We didn't have to think about a thing (driving, planning, money, tips). There was always something to do. The entertainment was fabulous, the martini bar was a lot of fun, the pool was luxurious and the grounds were beautiful, the beach sports were fun. It really did feel like paradise and we cannot wait to return.
Thank you Sandals,
Chris & Sandy Beyer

My husband and I stayed at Sandals Whitehouse for a week, May 31 to June 7. We’ve heard issues with the airport being busy and having long lines, especially on Saturdays. However, we did not encounter any problems. Security, customs, immigration, and getting our baggage was very quick both going and coming. The Sandals lounge seemed nice. As soon as we arrived, we used the facilities, and my husband grabbed a Red Stripe on draft, then we were quickly shuttled to the resort. From reading previous TripAdvisor posts we knew what to expect from the bus ride. It is a bit scary at first because the driver will pass cars on blind curves and the road is narrow. I get motion sickness very easily and I found I did not have to take Dramamine. You soon realize that the driver knows what he is doing and the ride did not seem long at one hour and thirty minutes. And please tip your bus driver, he is not affiliated with Sandals and he has to load everyone’s baggage.

We arrived at Sandals, and since we had booked a concierge suite we were taken from the main lobby to the concierge lobby, where we were offered champagne, beer, or soda. After taking care of the paperwork we were escorted to our room in the Italian village on the fourth floor. Our baggage didn’t arrive soon thereafter, but we had a call from the concierge desk asking if the baggage had arrived. I informed him that it had not and he said he would look into the matter. The luggage arrived within 5 minutes of that call. The staff was very friendly and hospitable. Granted, anywhere you go there will be a few people who should never be in customer service, but the majority of staff we met was great. This was our second time at Sandals. We stayed at the Royal Bahamian in Sept ’07 for our honeymoon. The water in the Bahamas was so clear and blue. The water in Jamaica was not quite so spectacular. But the beach at the Whitehouse was well groomed and stretched for quite a ways. The beach at Royal Bahamian was very small, but they have an offshore island which more than makes up for that.

At Whitehouse you were not sure what drinks they had to offer at the swim up bars. The Royal Bahamian had a huge drink menu hanging above the swim up pool bar. At the Whitehouse swim up pools there were sometimes a laminated placard listing various drinks. After learning what other people were ordering I had the Purple Rain (sometimes they were blue) and Jamaican Smiles all throughout the trip. My husband was a little disappointed that they only had Red Stripe draft at the beach and restaurants. Unlike the Royal Bahamian where Kalik and Kalik Light are offered in cans, Red Stripe is only offered in bottles. Unless you have a stocked fridge you will only get draft Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light in the restaurants or swim up bars. Be aware that if you leave your drinks (cups) by your chairs at the beach, no matter how full they are, and go into the water they may not be there when you get back. The cups were quickly collected from the beach.

Also, be aware to sign up for activities early. We barely missed signing up for the pirate dinner, and missed out on a private dinner on the beach because it was booked up. It seemed to rain everyday around early afternoon and if you did not take your towel with you there was a chance you might not get one again. Unlike the Bahamas that had a serviced towel hut the Whitehouse had a bin set out by the main pool with clean towels. Unless you waited until the end of the day we never had a problem getting towels.

The resort we were told was at 96% occupancy but it never felt like many people were there. It was also a good mix of ages incorporating everyone from young newlyweds to retired couples. The one thing we were not prepared for was neighbors who were newlyweds and paper thin walls. After hearing a few things at night and much laughter we quickly got over this. They were apparently religious after hearing “oh god” “oh god” repeatedly :)

Since this was our second time at Sandals and had registered as a Select Sandals Guest (SSG) we were invited to a Sandals Select return guest dinner. They gave you leather sandals necklaces and a bottle of Appleton rum which was a nice surprise. The dinner was really good and consisted of oxtail soup, duck salad, your choice of roast tenderloin or chicken breast, and a trio of chocolate fondant, cheesecake, and a fruit tartlet. Each table had a host who was a member of the staff. We had the fortune of having Yaneke as our host. She was very sweet and professional and answered every question we had about Sandals.

We postponed our massage from Wed to Fri since I unfortunately stayed out too long and got sunburned. I think our mistake was not getting it the first day. My husband and I got the 50 minute couples tropical bliss massage, which is a Swedish massage, which did not aggravate my sunburn at all. It was our first time getting a massage and a pleasant experience.

On Monday the vendors set up by the main pool with leather sandals, jewelry, t-shirts, and artwork. They only take cash and I bought a few things including an “I survived the road to Whitehouse” t-shirt. The resort shop was nice with souvenirs of Sandals Whitehouse and Jamaica but I wish I would have waited to buy rum until we got to the airport since it was so much cheaper.

The water sports were generally the same as we encountered at the Royal Bahamian. We went kayaking and ventured out on the sail (catamaran) boat. The water sport’s staff was generally helpful. But if you have questions please ask. There is nothing more embarrassing than sailing into the demarcated swimming areas, and having to be “captained” back to the launching area. We, however, sailed successfully (whew). They also had some motorized sports like water skiing or water boarding (not what you think Dick Cheney).

Now for the food: Reservations are not needed, and I don’t think they let you unless you have Butler service. If you get to the restaurants when they first open you will be promptly seated and if you wait until 7 or 8 there is usually a 30-40 minute wait.

Bayside: My husband and I ate here our first night and it was not exceptional at all (A la carte). I had a chilled banana soup and chicken cordon blue while my husband had a spring roll and pork tenderloin. It was very blah and the service was robotic. At every course the waitress would walk by and would say loudly EXCUSE ME (which can catch you off guard)…..how was your meal? They do this at every restaurant but in a more pleasant manner elsewhere. After that we decided to only come here for buffet. The lunch buffet was good and they had a plethora of options. The chicken pineapple salad was really good.

Bluefield’s: We enjoyed Bluefield’s and ate here two times. It has a beautiful view of the Dutch beach. I had the jerk chicken with rice and beans and jerk roasted chicken pizza with provolone. Both were great. The first time we were there they had really good coco bread (warm buttery bread) but the second time they were out of it and french fries, which seemed odd. Service is a little slow, which we expected, but we never had any other problems.

Eleanor’s: Highly recommended. The grilled filet mignon with twice baked sweet potato was excellent. However, the crème brule seemed to missed the mark. It wasn’t cold or warm and the fruit they put inside had turned to mush.

Giuseppe’s: I had the cheese tortellini and my husband ordered the chicken parmesan. Both were really good and we both ordered the crème brule. Somehow I wouldn’t have called it crème brule. It did not have the hard sugar shell on top, just the custard. Although the custard was good.

Jasmine’s: Jasmine’s was good, my husband and I both ordered the crispy lemon chicken. The sticky rice pudding sounded good but once I got it I felt like I was eating prison food. We kind of expected they would not have a good selection of desserts. Apparently typical Japanese desserts are not our favorites.

Arizona’s: Arizona’s was a good casual tex mex restaurant. Be prepared for Kenny Rogers (which one of the sports guys told us was his favorite American artist) and Dixie Chicks 24/7. Birds that looked like small white storks roamed around which added to the atmosphere and there was a male and female peacock that occasionally turned up. The pirate night dinner was held here. While waiting in line the staff (sorry, I meant pirates) gave rum punch to the guys and Blue Hawaiians to the ladies. The meal was buffet style with the pirates and wenches walking around with food on plates and swords. The food was good but a few things such as the pork was horrible, just fatty leftovers.

Café Paris: We expected a lot more from here since everyone on TripAdvisor seemed to love it. It seemed like a small selection of desserts and coffee. The breakfast selection of muffins, sweet rolls, etc was good though.

As for entertainment we watched the steel drum band at Le Cabaret and they were awesome; everything from ragtime music to break dancing. And the bar and entertainment they set up most nights in front of Café Paris was good too. Beside the main pool they had the sports area with pool tables. Most nights my husband and I walked the beach and played a few games of pool. Overall we really enjoyed our time at Sandals Whitehouse and with Sandals in general. Next time we are going to continue with Sandals and try St. Lucia.

My husband and I went to Sandals Regency in St. Lucia in April 2007 for our honeymoon and we just returned from Sandals Whitehouse on June 6, 2008. Overall, Sandals Whitehouse (the resort) was more impressive; however, the Regency had much better staff and customer service. Below I have listed in detail our experience at Sandals Whitehouse with comparisons throughout to the Regency.

Arrival:
Arriving at the airport in Montego Bay was much nicer than the arrival in St. Lucia due to the fact that the Jamaican Airport had an actual Sandals lobby where we were allowed to wait until our bus was there to transport us to the resort. The lobby is very posh and much nicer than any of the other resorts' lobby's that we saw. It has dark wood covering the walls with extremely friendly Sandals employees standing by to welcome you and serve you drinks, fresh fruit and sandwiches. I read several reviews before I left about bringing Bubba Kegs so that you could fill them up at the airport and take with you on the long bus ride to the resort, so my husband and I followed other's advice and did just that. I would recommend this because the only beer at the airport is draft and they have very small cups to put it in. My husband and I wanted Red Stripe Light; however, it had just run out so we were just going to skip getting anything to drink; however, when the Sandals employees saw us putting our large cups we brought back in our bags they rushed over and asked why we were not filling them up. My husband told them that it was because the Red Stripe Light was out, so the Sandals employees told us not to worry they would restock it and we could then get on the bus. We waited and about five minutes later we had beer and were boarding the bus.

Bus Ride:
It may be bad and it may not be. The ride to the resort was fine because we had a very nice bus driver who took time to stop whenever anyone asked as well as told us many interesting things about the island as we were riding along. The drive on the way to the airport from the resort was not as great. The driver had far less to say and drove considerably more recklessly. His name was "Chicken" so look out for him. He needs to go back to driver's ed.

Check In:
Upon arriving to the resort we were greeted with warm towels and friendly employees. My husband and I booked a Concierge room so we were whisked away to the Concierge Lounge to check in. In St. Lucia we did not book a Concierge room and we were required to go to this large room with about fifty other people to give our credit card information and get our room keys. It was much less chaotic in Jamaica. I attribute this mostly to the fact that we were in a Concierge room this time. Upon arriving at the Concierge we were offered Champagne and given our rooms keys, Concierge package and guided by one of the Concierge employees to our building. We were checked in to our room on the fourth floor in the Dutch Village. The Concierge employee escorting us told us that the elevators were prone to get stuck on different floors and had not been working properly so we decided throughout our stay to take the steps...which became quiet a pain seeing as how we were on the fourth floor.

Our room:
Our room was very similar to the Honeymoon Ocean Front Room we booked at the Regency in St. Lucia with minor differences. The Concierge level room we booked at the Whitehouse had an in room stocked bar with alcohol whereas the room at the Regency just had an in room stocked bar without alcohol. Also, the balcony in St. Lucia was about three times the size as was our balcony in Jamaica. This was a let down seeing as how we paid a substantial amount more for the Concierge room in Jamaica. The in room stocked bar had one bottle of Jamaican brand rum, gin, and vodka as well as a bottle of Chardonnay, Champagne and Cabernet Savignon, a few bottles of Red Stripe and a few bottles of Red Stripe Light and juices and sodas. If you would like top shelf liquors in your in room bar it is an extra fee.

Restaurants:
Bluefields - Only open at lunch. Ate there twice, the first time the food and service was great, the second time we were seated an hour and a half before receiving our meal and it was horrible.

Bayside - Open breakfast, lunch, dinner. My husband and I ate here every morning except one and we loved it. The fruit selection is terrific and the made to order omelets were also a real treat. You are also always offered Mimosas here at breakfast which we loved. We ate here a few times for lunch and they always had a great selection. I loved their salads and my husband loved their grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoes in them. We never ate at Bayside for dinner; however, there was one night that they had a Beach Bar-b-q and we stopped by to get some coconut water and rum which was served in a fresh coconut. Very tasty! The Bayside staff were always very nice, fast and friendly.

Arizona - Open for lunch and dinner. We ate here a few times for lunch. It was good. Nothing to write home about but good. The nachos for two would be my recommendation and my husband's recommendation would be the burger with blue cheese. On Thursday night the restaurant closes for the Pirate's Dinner which is held here and must be reserved. My husband and I went to this dinner and enjoyed it. The employees dress as Pirates and serve the food to you on swords. It is family style and so you sit with other guests which we enjoyed.

Jasmine's - Open for dinner. I would recommend making reservations here. We made all of our reservations for our entire nine day stay the day we arrived and we never had a problem getting into eat anywhere; however, we did see many lines at night for people who had not made reservations. This restaurant was very good. The shrimp fried rice, sushi, tempura veggies, and cashew chicken were all excellent. The service was slow but friendly.

Giuseppe's - Open for dinner. This was my favorite restaurant! It has an anti pasta bar with many great choices such as the stuffed artichokes with blue cheese. Their pizzas, pastas, and risotto were all to die for!

Eleanor's - Open for breakfast and dinner. We ate here once for breakfast and were not impressed at all. Our waitress took FOREVER and she forgot half of our order. We ate here twice for dinner and the food again was great; however, the service was TERRIBLE! The filet is great here. My husband ordered a Long Island Ice Tea from the bar about four times before getting one...they kept bringing him Iced Tea instead.

Cafe de Paris - Open 5:30 am - 11:00 pm. Great pastries, coffee and ice cream! My husband thoroughly enjoyed this Cafe. He has a major sweet tooth, much more so that I do.

Extras:
Tuesday nights at 11:15pm they have a Chocolate Buffet. It is very good; however, it was not very big and there were a lot of people there. Luckily we were there early and were able to get in line because I have a feeling not everyone there was able to get something. You must see this! Everything is prepared by the employees at Cafe de Paris.

Weather:
Before we left I checked the weather for our trip and was concerned it was going to rain every day because there was a 60% chance of rain every day; however, it may have rained two times while we were there and that was it. Each of these rain showers only lasted about thirty minutes and the sun came out again. It was very humid, but we are from Alabama so were were used to it.

Activities:
The resort has many activities to keep you busy. My husband took the Scuba Diving classes and became Open Water Certified and loved it. He was able to dive to depths of 84 feet. We took the Glass Bottom Boat which is a nice boat ride but you cannot see anything through the glass on the boat. The resort also has Snorkeling, Sailing, Water Skiing, Hobie Cats, Kayaks, Tennis Lessons, and many more activities. The work out room and aerobic facilities also seemed nice; however, I did not use them.

Red Lane Spa:
I had the West Indian Massage and absolutely hated it. I told the girl (Amoy) to not be too rough because I do not regularly have massages; however, it was pretty much the worst pain ever for 80 minutes. She insisted upon using her elbows to push against my back which did not feel good at all. Then after the massage was over she recommended some product to me, well I never agreed to buy the product yet when I went to check out I was charged for it. I asked why the massage was not simply the $170 that was listed on their brochure and was told that it was because the massage therapist thought I needed this additional product. I quickly told them I never agreed to buy it and to please remove it from my check which they did with no problem. I would recommend everyone take a tour of the spa though because they have some really nice amenities that are included in your resort stay free of charge. For example, they have saunas and steam rooms for men and women as well as this great cold water/hot plunge pool area surrounded by palm trees and flowers. No one was ever there when my husband and I went because they do not really advertise that this is included with your stay; however, it is and you should definitely try it.

Beach & Pools:
The beach and pools are great! There are always plenty of chairs and floats to lay on! My only complaint is that the beach is not smooth when walking into the water. There were many rocks that could easily cut your feet, so I would recommend wearing water shoes when going into the ocean. There are also three sections of the ocean with buoy's where you may swim; however, none of them are more than chest deep. The main pool was my favorite; however, all of the pools were nice. The Dutch pool was the quietest but there was not a close bathroom to it. It would have been fun to swim there had we had a first floor room instead of a fourth floor room so that we could have just walked into our room when we needed to use the restroom. The French pool could be very loud we noticed. The Dutch pool also did not have a swim up bar; however, there was a bar right outside the pool which offered stirred not frozen drinks.

Staff:
Most of the staff at Whitehouse are nice; however, there are many people who act as if they could care less about their job or you as a guest. We NEVER encountered this in St. Lucia.

Concierge Complaint:
One thing that became REALLY annoying is that we paid extra for a Concierge room specifically for the REstocked in room bar; however, we had to call the Concierge every day to have this taken care of. We were under the impression this would be taken care of each day when our room was cleaned; however, this was not at all the case. Every day that we were there we had to call and ask for another bottle of Champagne. They did restock the sodas and juices each day just not the alcohol.

Room Service:
We ordered room service once because this was included with our room. It was okay, nothing special. The menu is very limited for room service and I would definitely recommend the restaurants over room service.

Overall our experience was very good. We would love to go back to the resort but Sandals seriously needs to work on the customer service at Whitehouse. We are not high maintenance people at all, but when you are paying $7,000 for a trip, you expect good service.

We booked our holiday through Virgin Holidays, to spend a week at the Whitehouse for my birthday and because we both needed a week where the answer to everything was either 'Yeahman...' or 'No problem...'
Having checked the map of Jamaica and noticed that the resort was equi-distant from Kingston and Montego Bay, we booked Virgin's Thursday flight to Kingston. DON'T DO THIS!! Having already received our tickets etc., the week before we went, we had a call from VH advising that the road journey from Kingston was in fact 8 Hours, and that they had therefore booked us an internal flight from Kingston to Montego Bay, with road transport from there. This was adding another 4 hours to our travel time after a Transatlantic flight, so we were not keen and several days of hassle followed involving the possibility of helicopter transfers (at considerable extra cost), which the day before we left became not possible - and we finally agreed to the internal flight to MoBay.
As is the way with these things, our Virgin flight was late in to Kingston, so we missed the internal flight and were left with the prospect of a night at Kingston airport - or to do the dreaded 8 hour road trip, which was now our only option.
The very nice supervisor from Air Jamaica helped us to find Eric and his taxi and we set off. To summarise the next bit - the 8 hour journey of which VH had told us, was actually only 3 hrs 45 mins, and would have been less if we hadn't had to drive through Kingston in the rush hour, and wasn't too bad as we were tired and slept through most of it! To be fair to them, VH were very apologetic about their total lack of correct information on our booking and gave us 2 extra free days in resort, and arranged a flight back from Montego Bay so that we didn't experience the same hassle on our return - but I will be double and treble checking the information they provide in future, as this was the most un-relaxing start to a holiday I have ever experienced!
Anyway, on to Sandals - once we arrived it was what we expected - a beautiful resort with mostly very friendly people and a lovely beach. We have stayed at Sandals on St Lucia and Antigua in the past, and the feeling of 'coming home' that Sandals try to engender was certainly there.
The room was excellent with a large bed, a jacuzzi bath, double bath and separate shower room. The fridge and bar were re-stocked daily, as part of the all inclusive deal we were on and it was nice to be able to have a drink in a hotel room without needing to take out a new mortgage to pay for it!
The food in the restaurants was mostly excellent, with Eleanor's, the Jamaican restaurant being our favourite - our only disappointment being that when we went there for our last evening it was fully booked and we couldn't get in - there is no pre-booking system, so if you want to go there it's worth popping down earlier in the evening and getting your name down, even if you intend heading upstairs to the Martini Bar first - where a bunch of very friendly barmen and women serve a variety of weird and wonderful drinks that make you very glad you don't have to drive, as one of them would probably have you over the limit!
Eleanor's is also excellent for its a la carte breakfasts.
The only slight disappointment to us was the Italian restaurant, although most of the American guests that we met put that down as their favourite, so it's each to their own.
The guests at Whitehouse seemed to be about 98% American whilst we were there, and as Brits we were very much in the minority, but we enjoyed this as we met people from all over the States and saw again what a diverse bunch they are. We were there towards the end of the Obama/Clinton race and opinions were shall we say, 'divided'. Virtually all the people we met were very interesting and friendly and if you stick a bunch of Americans in a swimming pool with a volleyball net and a ball you have a wonderful hour's entertainment as their naturally 'competitive' side comes out... Apparently a ball in the face stings a bit..!
Final points on Whitehouse - Bayfields on the beach is a great place for lunch; Some of the staff in the pool bar in the French village really do need to learn to smile a bit; Pina Coladas tasted better when they were made for you rather than coming out of that machine..; The overall feeling is that it's a bit big - it has lost the feel of say, the original Sandals in Antigua - but I guess that the economies of the place demand 4 story buildings.
Overall, if you like all inclusive Caribbean resorts, Whitehouse is well worth a visit - but go via Montego Bay!