Reviews of Wyndham Sugar Bay St Thomas

[kellyh725]

The cost of the terrace is an extra $500 or $550. I am getting married at the Wyndham on the terrace on October 10th. I have been dealing with Monica on my arrangements and it has been a blast. Our total ceremony cost is going to be just under $5000 with taxes and everything. We also have to pay extra for the Sunday wedding. We also chose to do the ultimate wedding package since we wanted a DVD and everything it was just more cost effective.

[wendyL77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellyh725 The cost of the terrace is an extra $500 or $550. I am getting married at the Wyndham on the terrace on October 10th. I have been dealing with Monica on my arrangements and it has been a blast. Our total ceremony cost is going to be just under $5000 with taxes and everything. We also have to pay extra for the Sunday wedding. We also chose to do the ultimate wedding package since we wanted a DVD and everything it was just more cost effective.

Are you having a reception? I wanted to just make a reservation at one of the restaurants and they said I couldnt do that. I have to pay $1000 to rent space and then pay a minimum of $70 per head for catering. We are getting married there but not the reception. I cant see paying all that money for food and drinks and an all inclusive hotel. That is why we picked that place was for the all inclusive. Even if I wanted just appetizers, still have to pay the 1000 bucks to "Rent" space.

[BethGrubb]

Hi Gals,

Jack and I just returned from our wedding in St. Thomas! We stayed at the Wyndham from 6/28-7/12 right during their switch to all inclusive, so I hope I can answer some questions for you guys and review our experience. Warning LONG POST!

 

First, as I remembered, the beach is not rocky but down right at the waters entrance is rocky. You have to go to the far left end of the beach to get to a part to enter the water where there is hardly any coral & rocks. The beach was pretty clean and we saw a couple of weddings going on down there. The set up looked really nice for the ceremony on the beach with an arch and all.

 

We then saw two receptions down near poolside and two receptions held on the terrace outside the casino and Manor House restaurant. The poolside receptions were daytime both around 4 and the pool was still pretty crowded. Basically the setup is by the grotto/waterfountain and they have an employee stand there the whole time blocking the area off so that no one can walk through your reception, however it is definitely not private. The terrace receptions were more private as you had to pass through doors to get outside to the terrace. These were both at night and the setup there looked fancier than the one down by the pool. If you have any specific questions re these receptions private message me and I'd be happy to tell you about them further.

 

Second, the cleanliness of the hotel. I'd say it was about average, not exceptional but not dirty feeling either. Our room (727 oceanfront) was clean although the last 2 days we were there there seemed to be a whole lot of condensation from the airconditioner dripping onto the carpet so that the whole area around the desk on the floor was wet. We mentioned this to the maid but no one came to check on it and since we were leaving in 2 days we just let it go. Our fridge seemed to freeze almost everything and we couldn't find a level to turn the temperature down, and the one day we forgot to tip the maid I noticed was the one day that when the maid cleaned, she forgot to give us new hand towels and washcloths. Our room was not recently renovated and so you could tell a small amount of black grime in the grout in the shower. There were no issue with cleanliness around the rest of the hotel. The public bathrooms were always clean and well stocked. The inside restaurant was clean, and the buffet was as clean as could be for being outside seating. The pool was relatively clean and same with the hottub (which was very hot this time around) and I did see people cleaning them out in the mornings. The cabana rentals are $25 a day but worth it cause you get the shade and they bring you and refill up a cooler of drinks and get a whole bunch of extra towels. We had a large group (17 adults 4 kids) so it was well worth it to have a place out of the sun. There are iguanas there but they don't chase you or anything they just walk around. Also, there are cats at the hotel but this is because they are a cat friendly hotel meaning all the cats are spayed and neutered and given a small shelter outside with food and water. Basically we only saw the cats on the grounds (not in the hallways near the rooms). They are friendly but not unless you initiate contact with them.

 

Okay, the food and the all inclusive. First you should be aware that the all inclusive does not include the to go cafe cart on the second level of the lobby. It does include the Baci Italien Restaurant which is down by the pool and used to be called the Caribe. BTW Baci had the best food on the whole resort. The short ribs were awesome (we got them three times) and the seafood pasta was also very good. Baci only takes reservations for people with 6 or more in their parties, so otherwise get there early (like 6 when it opens) or you will be looking at 1-2 hours wait to just be seated. The food ordered at the Turtle Rock Sports bar was actually pretty good too, your standard stuff like chicken fingers, mozz cheese sticks, buffalo wings, fries, loaded nachos, popcorn shrimp all were good. The poolside grill basically has hamburgers (eh), hotdogs (good when they had the relish out), mahi mahi sandwhich (didn't try but heard mixed reviews), and ribs (Jack said they were okay). Theres also straw/choc/vanilla/pistaccio ice cream there. I do not recommend eating the hotdogs from the Mangrove Restaurant, as they are buffet and the buns get really hard quickly. The Mangrove is Buffet and the food there for lunch and dinner is just alright. I ate their veggie lasagna and liked it and their cold pasta salads are good. One night they had steamed shrimp and it was pretty good. Sometimes they had chicken fingers and fries inthere as well and they were fine. We only ate there twice because the bugs were so bad we were being eaten alive out there at night (more on this later).

 

Okay... the Manor House. This is the sit down place at the back of the hotel lobby. The breakfast buffet was great, loved it. The fruit is sooo good there. They always had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, build your own omlet, cereal, muffins, fruit juice, etc. Dinner: every night they have one whole page of entrees,apps, and desserts that never changes and then an additional page of "nightly specials" which change every night. Some of the standards were Lobster Bisque(good) , Salads, Skirt Steak (good), Shrimp with Feta and Pasta (good), Chicken Alfredo(okay) , Pork Medallions (good). Some of the nightly specials included NY Strip (good) , Curry Chicken (okay), Salmon, Grouper, Lamb Chops (good), chicken satay (not so good-not very flavorful). Also you can order for kids pizza, mac n cheese, chicken fingers. BTW their mac n cheese was really good!

 

Even thought most of the food was tastey, the service at the Manor House was pretty poor. Once we were seated (just Jack and I) we often waited 10 minutes before our server would even come to take our drink order and another 10 before she would bring back our drinks! Once our meal order was taken it would often take a half hour or more for our apps to come out and then an additional half hour to 45 minutes for our main course. Also, our servers rarely came around asking if we wanted refills on our drinks, we would have to go up to the bar to get them ourselves. I am not exaggerating here, nor did this happen once or twice. It was consistently happening every night of our 2 week stay that we ate at the Manor House. I understand things are on island time but 2-2.5 hours for just one meal on a consistent basis is ridiculous, especially if you had other things you wanted to do after dinner. One night I ordered grouper and they brang me out chicken, I kept waiting for the waitress to come by to correct it but she never did so I just ended up eating the chicken cause I was hungry. Sometimes after our food was delivered we would never see the server again, she never came by to ask how everything was, until the end of the meal. Also consistenly we had a wait for dinner, even though we would see large numbers of empty tables. One night we had a large group for dinner and even made a reservation for the Manor House for 730pm. We did not get seated until 9 pm (although they continually told us that it would be 5 more minutes for an hour and a half) and didnt finish dinner until 1045. The service at Baci was much better, once seated you could eat your meal and be out of there in under an hour. Our server at Baci was Swayne and he was awesome!

 

The service around the rest of the resort was pleasant. The bartender usually got to us quickly, the pool concierge was always very friendly and Augusta was so nice she gave us a free cabana rental one day. After our wedding (which was on Magens Bay) some of the staff even knew I had gotten married and asked me about the wedding and how stuff was going. The bell people were nice, the shuttle driver was nice, really all the service everywhere was great except in the Manor House, I really don't know what the issue is there but the floor manager needs to get a new crew and train them on proper ettiquette and then something needs to happen in the kitchen to get food out quicker, I dont know if it is lack of cooks back there or lack of servers to get the food out, but by the last night Jack and I were fed up with it. I really would say the the Wyndham was a great place to have all our wedding guests stay at if the service at the Manor House had been better.

 

I hope this review is helpful for you. Please pm me if you want to know any more details about anything.

Happy Planning

Beth

[BethGrubb]

ps note on bugs

the sand fleas and no see ums are horrible! i wore bugs spray the whole entire time i was there (don't even bother to bring perfume) and i still got bit about 20 times over a 2 week period. The bug spray at the hotel is like $15 a bottle (also the sunscreen is that much) and we went through like 4-5 for 2 people for 2 weeks! If you have room in your luggage bring it with you and bring Off because the Repel they have down there is really sticky and smelly and the off went on much smoother. We couldn't find Off at any of the local tourist stuff. They do have a Kmart there and it woudl probably have Off but we never went to the KMart, just the touristy places.

[kellyh725]

We are only going planning on having about 10 to 12 people come for our wedding, which according to all the stuff I have seen you have to have 20 or more people to do any of the catering. I have an email in to Monica to see if we can just get a private room at one of the restaurants since we are going to be having so few people.

 

That was another reason we liked it as well for the all inclusive deal and everyone is going to be staying at the hotel, so we thought it would just be easier and nicer to have a reservation at one the restaurants instead of doing the catering. The cost would be lot easier on us as well.

 

I will let you know what Monica tells me.

[Beth0413]

Kelly H - I think if you have 10 (or less) people you can just do dinner at one of the restaurants. They just won't take tables of more than 10.

 

I only know that info. from when I talked to them about my planning. Hope that helps

[Rene5]

Wow, we are also going to be getting married on the 10th of October. I am glad to hear that your coordinator has been good we have not had the same luck we have been trying to reach them for more than 2 weeks just to pay them and we cannot get an answer back. So far not so happy. We are going to be having about 60 people fly in, even with that large of a wedding we are not receiving a call or an email back.  Hopefully everything else goes good since trying to pay them is so difficult and unorganized. 

[kellyh725]

The best way I found to get a hold of Monica on the phone, was just to keep calling until she answered.  I had left a message, but she didn't return it.  I have had the best communication with her by email.  When we did talk by phone she was extremely helpful and we got the little details figured out.  She is also going to make the reservation at the Baci restaurant for 19 people. 

[clownfish]

What is Monica's email address? I've been trying to get ahold of someone @ the Wyndham for a week but none of the emails or contact forms will go though!! We're looking at getting married there May 6th! Thanks!

[kellyh725]

Monica's email address is [email protected], another contact there is Brian Postle and his email address is [email protected].  Good luck with your wedding plans.  I am getting married there in just 11 days.  I am getting so excited.