Awesome COVID-Era Vacation
First off, want to thank all the people who wrote reviews before me. I read through probably over 100 reviews before booking this place, and I was not disappointed! Hopefully, this can serve others in their decisions as well.
Room (5/5): We had the Premium Suite (which, from my understanding, is bigger + outdoor shower and hammock). The room was very nice and clean, nothing bad to say about it. Honestly didn't use the plunge pool much, as we would just go to the public pool or the beach.
Service (5/5): Honestly, more than 5/5 if I could give it that. Everyone was incredibly nice and tried their best to accommodate any requests we had. They may have been a bit short-staffed given lower occupancy during Covid (I'd estimate the resort was probably around 1/3 capacity, which is great for social distancing), so we would occasionally need to get off the cabana to find a server to order drinks, but we didn't mind. The butler service was also quite helpful. Although we didn't really try using room service much, the golf cart transportation saves a lot of time.
Food (4.5/5): My gf and I are both foodies, so we didn't have very high expectations for all-inclusive dining, but the Greathouse really blew us away! We actually chatted multiple times how some of the dishes were borderline Michelin-quality, especially the Valentine's Day and the beach-side dinners. Only reason it wasn't 5/5 was because a few dishes definitely missed the mark (namely the pulled-pork sandwich and the charcuterie plate). We figured out after a few days that the best dishes were seafood-based, likely since they were all fresh, so we stuck to those the rest of the stay. We were also slightly confused that, while they had an amazing cheese cart for dinner, the charcuterie plate seemed to feature Kraft singles and packaged pre-shredded mozzarella.
Location (4/5): Like many reviews have mentioned, the beach is on the Atlantic-side, so the water can get rough. And while they do provide free snorkeling gear, there wasn't much to see. However, we were still able to enjoy some beach days, as it was still calm enough to swim in, especially as you go further north along the beach. Also, as people have mentioned, although you're literally 5 minutes away from the airport, it's not much of a bother. I think I may have noticed planes 2-3 times a day, for about 30 seconds of noise, so really minor.
Other Experiences (4/5): We unfortunately came while St Lucia was under state of emergency, so we weren't allowed to leave the resort for land-based excursions. This was definitely disappointing, since we had hoped to hike the Pitons and go horseback riding. And when I had called the resort the week before to confirm excursion availability, they had reassured me things were still running (though maybe the restrictions had changed in between the call and the vacation). Of course, this isn't the fault of the resort, but anyone traveling during Covid should be aware that this may happen as well. That being said, the manager, Chris, did what he could to smooth things over, which we appreciated.
Overall, we were very happy with our vacation, especially given the conditions. And although we had planned to be more active with our activities, we had a lovely time eating and drinking by the pool. Highly recommend.
Thanks to their wonderful staff: Quade, Corneil, Leo, Roy, Jonathan, McCarthy, Hannah, Ali, Jakim, Delon, Lee, Lez, Tyler, and Gabina.