Our room was nice. It wasn't quite as luxurious as Sandals promises, although I've realized that nothing is as good as Sandals promises. However, it was comfortable, as we used it mostly for our midafternoon naps and sleeping at night.

I would rate the room nicer than a two star hotel, but not nearly as nice as a beautiful $185 a night oceanfront cottage we visited a few years ago.

This is a view from the "sitting area" looking out at the patio. We didn't do any sitting in this area. If Sandals had splurged on a small $100 TV, I would have used it in the morning to watch the news, as I tend to wake up an hour before my fiancée and try not to wake her up. It did have a couch, a coffee table, desk and lamp.

The "kitchen", on the other hand, was basically useless.

Other than the fridge and sink, the rest of the kitchen only exists because it was never removed after Sandals purchased the villas from another company. I bet nobody's turned this relic of a stove on in twenty years. And the cabinets are empty, so even if you wanted to use the ancient stove, you couldn't, as there were no pots, pans or cooking utensils.

The coffee setup surely was as luxurious as any you'd find in a typical Holiday Inn in any American city. Small coffee maker, packages of coffee and tea, sugar, Splenda and a few chemical-laden, imitation creamers, which I ran out of on the first day and waited two more to be replenished. My fiancée was disappointed they had no Equal, the blue fake sugar.

Upon opening the freezer, I was greeted by the sight of two luxurious plastic ice cube trays, similar to the ones I had in my first apartment, when I was young and destitute.

The fridge had bottled water, Red Stripe Beer, a bottle of Berringer white wine, Coke and Sprite and two varieties of imitation fruit juices.

Nothing like the fresh taste of water, sugar, stabilisers, xanthan gum, locust bean gum and artificial flavors in the morning to remind you that you're living the luxurious life!

As I mentioned previously on my Overview Page, Sandals promises that Concierge Level Rooms have an "in room bar stocked daily with premium brand spirits" . if these are premium brands, I'd hate to see what they consider "well" brands:

The bedroom had a large, four poster king bed which was comfortable and turned down twice a day by the fine ladies in the housekeeping department. I felt compelled to leave them a generous tip, as they were one of the few departments that did their job properly.

Our wall unit air conditioning rattled loudly and incessantly. However, with a few bottles of spa products wedged in, I was able to eliminate most of the sleep-preventing noise. Our ceiling fan, on the other hand, was so out of balance, causing such loud grinding noises that it would have required strapping a goat to one of the blades to properly balance it.

Looking out our bedroom window, we had a view of the mountains, which was very scenic. Too bad our patio didn't have this view.

The electrical lines, wall and barbed wire didn't bother me as much as some reviewers noted. Then again, I tend to go for that "Cuban Prison" feel.

Our patio had a small table and two uncomfortable chairs, facing the pool that is shared by the other three couples in the villa. It was ice cold and I only saw one other couple use it once during the eight days we were there.

I wasn't too excited with our patio's "garden view", but that's probably due to the fact that we live in South Florida. I was literally staring at the same Orchid Tree that I do on my home patio.

However, a nice touch, absent from my home view, was the beautiful hummingbirds with long tails flitting about the Orchid Tree.

Unfortunately, the hummingbirds were too small and quick to capture in a photograph.

I didn't take any photos of our bathroom, but it was a decent size, with granite countertop, shower/tub combo. The tub was way too small for two to sit in, so I don't know what the point was. And the shower was no different from any American motel; horrible water pressure and on two occasions, we had no hot water. A call to the concierge on both occasions fixed the problem within an hour or two.

The bathroom window has no glass, only wooden slats. This silly design allowed biting bugs in at night. It wasn't as bad as some reviews I read, but we were vacationing in December. The summertime could be a problem, if the bug population increases as it does in South Florida.

I found it ironic that Sandals has allegedly won numerous environmental awards, yet every unit has a window that allows the cool air to escape while allowing the warm, humid air in. I suspect the cost of installing a proper window would pay for itself in a few months.

All in all, I found our room acceptable, with just a few minor annoyances. It wasn't luxurious, but considering we didn't spend many waking moments in it, we weren't too concerned.