All-Inclusive Wellness Escape in the Caribbean
How is this for the picture of health? In the privacy of their Lady Palm Club Suite at Sandals Saint Vincent, a couple takes turns on their in-room exercise bike. Their motivation? The giant landmark off the balcony: the Caribbean Sea. With an island breeze whispering “good morning,” and no responsibilities in sight, this couple could pedal all day.
There’s more beyond this suite — much more — to unloose the endorphins. The same is true at all Sandals Resorts across the Caribbean, where wellness is omnipresent in the vitamin D-laden air, where getting healthier during a weeklong island escape is as close to effortless as it could possibly be. An exercise bike in the suite is not required, but wow, it sure is a next-level convenience.
Find Your Wellness In This… or Find Your Wellness In That
Wellness at Sandals comes down to personal choices. Sleep in or sweat toxins out. Go to the pool lounger or go to the gym. Find your wellness in that … or find your wellness in this.
Pictured: The Red Lane Spa at Sandals Royal Bahamian
While morning is still fresh in Saint Vincent, couples can casually stroll down to Parisol Beach Club to peruse the breakfast menu. For anyone who cares even a little about fitness, this is “oh, my goodness” in its most literal sense. Sip an immune juice (pineapple, orange, turmeric, ginger, and cayenne). Dip into yogurt with coconut granola. Feel good about eating gluten-free cassava pancakes. And here, within arm’s reach, is the home-grown superfood specialty of Saint Vincent: a protein boost smoothie featuring sea moss.
Pictured: The sea moss smoothie at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadine’s Parisol Beach Club
The Caribbean As a Haven
The creamy drink stands as an example of why many global fitness experts consider the Caribbean a haven, if not a birthplace, of wellness. People swim in this ocean to help prevent illnesses. They go for long walks to breathe in pure oxygen. Fruits, vegetables, and virus-shielding spices are always in season. And then there’s sea moss. The rest of the world is just now discovering its natural benefits (packed with minerals like iodine, magnesium, potassium, and calcium), whereas here it has been part of everyday sustenance for generations. While influencers call sea moss an “adaptogen,” locals working the blenders at Sandals call it “just like grandma’s.”
Mornings at every Sandals and Beaches resort across the region start with a diverse range of wellness options. In Jamaica, guests can unfurl yoga mats on the beach. At Sandals Royal Curaçao, couples can ride bikes (the type with wheels that actually move) along trails. Couples can schedule treatments at Red Lane Spa, unlike anything they’ve ever experienced, because where else can they be on the receiving end of a papaya-pineapple salt mousse massage or a tropical glow facial?
Explore Wellness in Water
Tomorrow, couples can choose to begin another epic day with the mind-body-spirit revival of a cold plunge. They’ve come to Sandals and Beaches to relax, and with each passing moment comes another option to feel healthier, more alive, and better than ever.
Sandals destinations are chosen with the idea that guests should feel alive by simply waking up to the most gorgeous, care-free convergences of sand and ocean. They will enter the meditative “blue mind” by diving, swimming, and snorkeling in water more blue and more neurologically relaxing than science can adequately explain.
Pictured: The “blue mind” view from the Vincy Overwater Two-Story Villa at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Pictured: One of two soaking tubs in the Vincy Overwater Two-Story Villa at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Like the quest for blue mind theory, the wellness community encourages the pursuit of “active relaxation.” Both have been part of the heartbeat of a Sandals vacation from the beginning. Innovations have stacked soaking tubs, private plunge pools, mat Pilates, scuba diving, Soca dance classes, snorkel sessions, and those Lady Palm fitness suites with the exercise bikes, free weights, and yoga mats.It’s hard to imagine anything more actively relaxing than a yoga class in an outdoor cabana, surrounded by the soothing sounds and fragrances of the Caribbean.
At Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the most soothing sound can be raindrops. For centuries, rain has blessed the landscape with lushness and the people with a mental cleanse. So, therapists at Red Lane Spa incorporate this phenomenon into lymphatic massages called — appropriately and directly to the point — Raindrop Ritual, which is a close relative to the Raindrop Dreams treatment, where seven essential oils are dripped along the spine like purifying raindrops.
Pictured: The riverside spa bungalows at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadine’s Red Lane Spa
Pickleball Paradise
The spa at every Sandals and Beaches is smartly positioned within steps of the fitness center, the aqua center, the basketball courts, and now … pickleball. The pickleball courts, gear, and instruction so impressed USA Pickleball officials that they recently named Sandals Resorts International as its official resort partner of the Caribbean.
“I noticed right away on Sandals property that the brand is forward-thinking when it comes to health-conscious travel,” says USA Pickleball CEO Mike Nealy. “The fitness centers. The activities. The healthy food and beverage options. They always seem to be ahead of wellness trends.”
Pictured: The pickleball courts at Sandals South Coast in Jamaica
A Decision Detox
Perhaps you’re familiar with another one of those trends, “decision detox,” where the purpose of traveling is to get away from scheduling, planning, and all forms of decision-making. It’s woven into the culture at Sandals, where butlers and other team members mean it when they say “it is our pleasure” to plan when you’ll go to the spa, when you’ll take a ride out to sea, and when and where you’ll eat.
Which takes us to the “what” to eat — perhaps the most important thread in the tapestry of total fitness. The food and beverage teams at Sandals and Beaches place more emphasis on what nature provides, or what they call “clean Caribbean cuisine.” Translation: They source over half of all produce from local farmers. They use composting techniques. They integrate recipes from the islands (Dasheen Croquettes and Vegan Chicken Roti anyone?). Because of this commitment to clean Caribbean cuisine, the chefs who prepare the food and the guests who enjoy it promote a fabulously sustainable cycle: Less waste, healthier island environments, and the essence of whole-person wellness.
Pictured: The ‘Caribbean’ salad from Imoro at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
All-Inclusive Redefined
Redefine the all-inclusive experience. That, ironically, has been the mission of Sandals from the start. And now here we are. On a day when couples are riding exercise bikes in their suites, sipping on island wellness secrets, submerging themselves in blue mind theory, and detaching themselves from decision-making, you would think Sandals has transformed the all-inclusive into a wellness retreat.
It’s whatever each guest wants it to be.
There’s a saying behind the scenes at Sandals and Beaches, posted where staff members can see it every day. Exceed the expectations of the guests. And so, in that same spirit, for guests who come seeking wellness, prepare yourselves for something above and beyond.
Pictured: The Red Lane Spa at Sandals Dunn’s River