We spent 10 days there.
Advantages:
*) Almost no current in the sea. Nice swimming, many fishes and corals.
*) Water skiing was organized well.
*) Usually the reception was very helpful when we needed info or an advice.
*) The garden was OK but not luxurious.
*) Spacious room.
*) Nice view.

Disadvantages:
*) We had to remind the reception about 4 or 5 times that we had a honeymoon package and had to be given special
items included. Every time they promised but nothing was done. But finally everything was OK.
*) When dinner was a la carte the service was very slow sometimes.
*) Birds in the restaurant. They are everywhere at breakfast time!
If you leave your plate for half a minute they fly up immediately and walk on your food. So we went to the buffet by turns.
They even fly and walk on the trays in the buffet.
Some of the pans aren't covered and when there is nobody nearby the bird have a real feast!
And nobody from the personnel even doesn't try to do something about it.
*) Breakfasts aren't various. Only a few kinds of food.
*) As a part of our honeymoon package we had a special dinner. The dinner was OK but very small. I was almost hungry.
*) Water in the pool was too cold.
*) Very loud music in the night. No chance to go to sleep until 11:00-11:30pm. We would prefer to turn in and to get up early.
*) The gym was small. Not a big issue actually.

Had a lovely break here from Ireland to Australia, but not a lot to see and do in Mauritius, and very expensive. Hotel was great although had trouble with breakfast etc, could not understand my accent.
But what spoilt it for me was the theft on my gold earrings that I have had for 30 years, running late for a spa treatment, I took them off and carelessly left them on top of the safe.
Talking to other people staying at the hotel, they had had things stolen as well, even cigarettes, the cartons were opened and a couple of packets takes.

We stayed at the Sands resort for 11 nights and 12 days on half board. It is rated a 4 star hotel and does justice to its rating. The service was excellent and the staff was friendly and very courteous. The rooms are spacious having a king size bed, sitting area and a nice balcony. The bathroom section is also quite big with a bathtub, twin basins, shower, toilet, wardrobe etc. We chose to stay on the second floor as it gave us more privacy. Sands Resort has a lovely private beach with a lagoon but you have to be careful of the corals. We used sea shoes and flip flops for swimming as one could hurt their foot. The swimming pool was beautiful and very clean and the poolside service was also excellent. The food was good but I can’t say it was Excellent. They had a different theme every night like Barbecue, Mauritian, Indian and European and on some nights a sit down dinner with a fixed selection. Entertainment in the hotel was good – Sega shows, singers, dj nights etc. The boat house was well organized; they had lots of free activities like snorkeling, pedallos, canoes, glass bottom boat etc. Sands resort has a tennis court, table tennis table, reading room, gym and a spa which is very beautiful. Room service and housekeeping is very prompt. I personally feel that Sands Resort is very good value for money considering the spacious rooms, the quality of service and the location.

Traveling from Sands Resort to Flic en Flac Town -
The Sands Resort is the last resort in Flic en Flac and quite away from the main town area – a good 10 mins drive. You can take a taxi right outside your hotel but it will cost you around 300 MUR to take you to Flic en Flac and they wait for 2 hrs till you do your shopping, lunch etc and then bring you back. We used the Local Bus Service instead

Local buses -
Local buses are a safe, convenient and inexpensive way to travel in Mauritius. From the Sands Resort to the bus stop is a good 10 min walk. The bus stop is just after the Hilton hotel. The buses from there take you to Flic en Flac, Port Louis (direct), Quatre Bornes (direct) and some other places too. Couple of times we walked to the bus stop as the weather was lovely and the road beautiful.

Why we chose to stay at Flic en Flac and the Sands resort –
1. I had read that West coast is better than the East coast when it comes to weather and sea conditions, so I was choosing between 3 places - Grand Baie, Trou aux biches and Flic end Flac.
2. Most of the interesting places to visit in Mauritius are better accessible from the South like – Casella Park, La Vanille Crocodile and tortoise park, Chamarel Colored Earth and Falls, Grand Bassin (Ganga Talao), Black River Gorges, Gris Gris etc.
3. Wolmar, Flic en Flac is one of the best places to see dolphins.
4. Places like Quatre Bornes (for Sunday and Thursday markets), are much closer to Flic en Flac as compared to Grand Baie
5. Traveling to Port Louis (for shopping/casinos) from Trou aux Biches or from Flic en Flac approximately takes the same time.
6. We were going on our honeymoon we wanted privacy but at the same time to be connected and able to go for sightseeing and day trips.
7. From research online I found out that Flic en Flac is the best place to stay if you want to be on the South West coast.
8. I went thru more than 30 hotel reviews before I chose the Sands resort as it was rated No. 1 by Trip advisor and there was not a single negative comment – all were positive.

About Flic en Flac Town–
We did not actually explore the Flic en Flac town as most of the times we were sight seeing. Flic en Flac has a beautiful long public beach. On weekends lots of local crowd and tourists are on the beach and you will find lots of Mobile Snack shops right on the beach. Flic en Flac town has everything – Restaurants, Money Exchange, Clothes Shops, Discos, Pubs, a Casino and a small shopping center which has a nice supermarket “Spar”. We stopped at Spar couple of times to pick up stuff like Water, Alcohol, Milk, Juices, snacks etc to stock in our fridge at the hotel. The hotel rates for food and beverages were quite high. We were on half board so we only bought stuff for lunch and in-between meals.

There are many hotels in Flic en Flac which are right on the beach and most of the 3 star and above ones have their own private section of the beach. For people who are going on a budget there are quite a few 2 – 3 star Hotels as well as apartments right across the public beach which are quite reasonable.

We have also written a General review on Mauritius and shared our sightseeing experiences and tips which you will find in the Mauritius review section if you are interested.

Please excuse spelling and grammatical mistakes. Corrections and comments are welcome (nobody’s perfect). I will also be happy to reply to any queries, please feel free to send me a private message or an email.

We booked this hotel from the reviews here on Tripadvisor and i have to say i think we stayed at a different place as i really didnt enjoy the sands! Firstly the good:

- location is fab, amazing views across the bay
- pool is great size, although cold in may
- beach is just outside your door, very clean and extremely good beach service for drinks/food etc
- public areas of the hotel are immaculate and very beautiful

now the bad
- staff had very poor english. at least once a day they got an order wrong as they didnt understand me. anything 'complicated' is a non-starter such as ordering a wine from the bar menu when you are in the restaurant - cue blank looks and much panicing.
- at the lobster dinner (60euro per person) 4 members of staff stood next to our table and had a 20 minute arguement about something. Cue stressed out guests as we just couldnt relax.
- over attentive staff , yes i know a wierd complaint but sometimes you just want to chill and not be bothered every 4 minutes (not exaggerating) to ask if everything is ok
- slow service - 5 people behind the bar but only 2 waiters. people from behind the bar just chatting and standing around while the waiters are running about trying to do everything. looked like staff had been trained for 'their job' and wouldnt take the initiative to chip in.
- food only OK, on 3 nights i didnt actually eat a main as i didnt like what was on offer. food in the other areas is very very good but pricey.
- rooms are big yes, but shabby in my view. looks like they were built in the 80's and had been repainted recently but not very well - drips on the floor etc. my husbands point was it felt like butlins.
- asked for a upper floor when booked but got a ground. due to flight times we only got there at 9pm and were give the last available room - ie, the dregs. we were penalised for the flight time not really anything we had control over. ground floor as no privacy unless you close the curtains which then leaves you with no view.

Personally i thought that this felt like a 3 star hotel. I would advise to pay a bit extra and go to theTaj.