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I recently had the opportunity to take
my wife and teenage daughter to ClubMed’s Sandpiper property located in
Port St. Lucie, Florida. The Sandpiper Village is surprisingly located in
the midst of a residential area at the end of a road bordered by expensive
golf communities.
As one enter the property, one feels one is entering a gated community,
the guard in the entrance guard house serious checks your credentials
before allowing you access, you enter a well manicured garden area with
large shady trees and to your left is a nine hole pitch and putt golf
course. Ahead is a covered portico and open reception area. To your right
is the entrance to the conference center and around to the right of the
buildings one glimpses the Championship Golf Course. (I borrow the term
from ClubMed’s literature, as it must have been many years since a
championship was last held here).
Sandpiper’s accommodation comprises of a number of three story apartment
style blocks finished in the typical Floridian style. The rooms are large
and comfortable and have all been recently renovated, new soft
furnishings, safes, refrigerators and TV’s were in every room. Some rooms
adjoin for family use, one room having a king size bed and the other with
two large single beds (the single beds even have a safe for each occupant)
with the adjoining door is in the separating wall within the rooms. The
bathrooms were clean and tidy with marble top vanities and a serious walk
in closet which could hold everything anyone would want to take with them
for a week or two. Each block had its own washer and dryer and icemaker in
a communal area on the lower floor.
The blocks are scattered through a Floridian tropical parkland setting
which was suffering a little from the drought conditions Florida was
experiencing at the time of our visit. Most of the apartments have a view
across the St. Lucie Inlet and river, ours overlook the marina, other
overlooked the beach and a few of course, overlooked the park and car
park. Basically they are grouped around the communal areas - two pools,
two dinning rooms, lounge bar, reception and so on and are connected by a
network of walking paths. There are several nice walks to be had around
the lake and golf course areas.
The property could be called an American Resort experience in many ways.
There are all the amenities one expects to find a resort of this size and
then some. In the short time we where at the resort, we played a round of
golf on their 18 hole course which was also suffering from the dry
conditions so we did not play the course at its best, although the greens
were in excellent shape. We water skied and boarded, my daughter fell in
love with the trapeze (for anyone who has not seen this innovation before,
it is a serious circus size trapeze with safety nets), tennis is another
serious sport here as indeed were the many other things I did not have the
energy to try, trampoline, boule and so on and on.
Everyone thinks they know ClubMed and to a great degree we all do… we know
about the fun side, the beautiful locations on golden beaches, the fun
young GO’s who keep the momentum flowing and we know about buying your
drinks with plastic beads worn around your neck, we also remember the
endless buffets and serving yourself your every meal… Well, I am going to
burst that bubble and tell you that most of what you think you know or
remember from having been to a ClubMed resort in your youth – has gone
forever!!
ClubMed have, and are continuing to respond to the challenges posed by the
competition of the all-inclusive resorts that have appears in their market
over the last ten years. They still have some of the very best locations
on those beautiful beaches and sure, they still have buffet service and
GO’s, but a lot has changed.
The Sandpiper property is not located on the beach, my first surprise, but
it is located on a beautiful wide stretch on the St. Lucie inlet and yes,
it does have a small sand beach, but apart from that it was a whole
different experience to my previous Club Med visits.
ClubMed are going all-inclusive and by the time this goes to press the
infamous beads will have gone the way of the world and you will find
you’re drinking for free…..of course all the amenities offered (I should
mention that exclude professional golf and tennis tuition as well as
things that are concessions or contracted for such as tours and jet ski
safaris are not included), but such things as the trapeze, water skiing
and so on are included in the price. As one of the guests remarked to me –
she was a keen water skier from the New York area.. it was cheaper and
nicer for her to come to Sandpiper for a weekend to enjoy the sun in winter time and be
able to water ski all she wanted for a price that was less than the cost
of an hours water skiing in her area (when weather permitted).
I guess my biggest surprise from my recollections of ClubMed in my younger
years was the food, restaurants, and the lack of service.. well I am happy
to report that at Sandpiper I was very pleasantly surprised.. A maitre d’
meets you upon entry to the restaurant and takes trouble to seat you in a
suitable area. There are in fact two restaurants at Sandpiper, one is for
dinners only which features full service for that romantic evening
together, the other is a larger dining room which is conveniently divided
up into several sections, one of which is for families with young
children, another for families with older children and finally one for
adults only!! During the course of your meal restaurant staff are
continually monitoring the tables quickly removing any unwanted plates and
utensils.
The larger restaurant has two salad selection areas where every type of
salad combination is available including Waldorf and the ubiquitous Caesar
and a number of exotic and European style favorites. Backing on the
kitchen area are two large sections of hot food choices, a carvery and a
section devoted to several daily specials. Both of the hot food sections
are tended to by a chef and or, you can serve yourself if you prefer. The
cheese and desert section proved to be extremely popular with a large
choice of cheeses, both American and European. There was also a serve
yourself ice cream area that appeared to be doing good business. The house
choice of very palatable red, white and European style rose wine was
available for lunch and dinner as were soft drinks, coffee, tea.
I was extremely surprised by the food choices available, quail in red wine
sauce, duck in orange sauce, mussels cooked in white wine and sprinkled
with parmesan just to mention a few that caught my eye, and even nicer the
selection changed with every meal, rarely were the same menu choices
repeated, with exception of some old and traditional favorites. We did not
get to eat in the Riverside restaurant during our stay, but I was assured
it is worth reserving for.
During the course of our stay we ran across a number of people who where
part of a group doing their annual sales conference at the resort. They
all appeared to be having a good time and during my conversation with some
of them, they remarked that the resort was an excellent choice as it had
so much to offer. Some had brought along their spouses and even a few had
young families with them on a buy-in scenario. They particularly liked the
idea that the children had their own separate play area and were total
supervised throughout the day with trained staff who even took them to
their meals. It allowed the parents to have the maximum time together and
the children to enjoy games and so on with other children their own age.
The conference center can be accessed from the main entrance area so a
formal business or wedding party can be conducted separately from the
resort ambiance if required. The conference center consists of a large
main ballroom with air walls that can close off 3 sections into different
areas for different uses. Fully open it has catered for a banquet of over
1500 people. There are three adjoining breakout rooms where audio & visual
is installed. Adjacent to the breakout rooms is a pleasant garden patio
where breakfast and coffee breaks can be taken.
Talking with one of the business executive involved with the group during
my stay he remarked that a large part of the reason they had chosen the
Sandpiper Village was:
A: Because it was located in the Florida sun.
B: It was an easy and inexpensive trip (no-overseas flights)
C: It had lots of team building opportunities.
D: It did not lend itself to people going off property and getting into
trouble.
E: It was an all-inclusive and thereby financially controllable program.
During the day most people seemed to be actively doing something even it
was only working on their tans around the pool. The evening entertainment
is as at all ClubMed resorts, arranged, scripted, and performed by the
GO’s and of course so much hinges on the talent of these young people. We
must have been fortunate as both evening features we attended where very
professionally done, certainly as good as one would find at a resort or on
a cruise. The circus, which was performed under their “big tent” was
absolutely hilarious and without question greatly appreciated by the
audience.
For those that had not worn themselves out during the course of the day,
the evening usually ended in the lounge with its large and friendly bar
area. Dancing, talent shows, karaoke and impersonating the latest hot
song singers, plenty of just plain good fun was being had by all, with
snooker and out back, electronic games for the younger set.
Our few days at Sandpiper went by all too quickly and I feel sure that
with the right group, participants would enjoy their visit to the resort
as much as we did.
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This report was prepared by: Jim Castle. The comments and ideas expressed are solely those of the author
and not necessarily those of Worldwide Travel & Cruise Assoc., Inc.
Feb. 2003.
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