I went to a couple’s resort as a single person – it was the perfect start to Brat summer
Stop waiting to be paired up to take a luxury trip – Natalie Wilson joined the honeymooners in Saint Vincent for a solo holiday and found that it was just as sweet
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Your support makes all the difference.There was a moment on the 11-hour flight to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines where I imagined the shame of a Friends-style “Mrs Geller, why you cry?” comment – like the one Rachel experienced, somehow alone on Ross’ Greek honeymoon – from resort staff concerned for my single status.
But with white sand, wafting palms and cocktails in the colours of the flag (things I knew from the loved-up pictures that pollute my Instagram feed), I hoped it would be hard to feel bitter on a Caribbean beach.
They do say if you want to find love to stop looking for it, so I checked in for seven nights at a Sandals resort filled with what I presumed would only be couples, me and the butlers that sang me in through the lobby.
I pictured myself deep in the book I’d been telling myself I’d pick up for the last six months. Slightly burnt from a lack of sun cream companion. A master of weather-based small talk for the next week.
Read more on Caribbean travel:
It’s true that adults-only hotels are not usually designed with singles in mind, but a resort that caters to couples could surely cater to singles for half the hassle – if not double the fun.
The 50-acre Saint Vincent resort is the first of its kind for Sandals, as the brand shifts from couples only to adults only. A two-bedroom beachfront villa for groups of friends travelling together and the communal dining restaurant Buccan are among the new concepts designed to enable interactions between guests.
That’s not to say that the suggestive aesthetics typical of Sandals don’t prevail. An in-your-face heart-shaped pool and spa treatment rooms for two promise lovebirds a dream setting for proposals and post-nuptial passion.
The lesser-known eastern Caribbean archipelago, the backdrop of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, is known as the “land of the blessed”, and even the famed franchise’s still-standing set has withstood the commercialisation that could further bring in tourists.
Long walks on the sand and lazing by the pool – that was the itinerary for most newlyweds here on their honeymoon. For me, daily sailing out of Buccament Bay, a snorkelling trip halted by jellyfish and bracelet-making for my best friend instead of a boy proved much more fun.
Sandals Saint Vincent shed the standard gates of Caribbean hotels to dive into local life – a rarity for all-inclusive fly and flops.
Lunch at Ferdie’s Footsteps, drinks at the Rastafarian Bush Bar and a truck ride around the Grenadine island of Bequia balanced the resort’s sleek amenities with the colours of authentic Vincy life.
But there’s truly nothing sexy about the huff and puff to the top of La Soufriere, the peak of the island’s 1,234m active volcano; handholding would have been hazardous on the hike unsurprisingly void of honeymooners.
The rose petal bath waiting upon my return to the garden bungalow. Now that was steamy – and perhaps alarming that the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me had happened on my specifically single trip and been drawn by a butler I’d known for 24 hours.
Who needs a boyfriend if you can afford a butler? One-to-one love from my white-gloved bartenders-meet-babysitters, Kervin, Binafi and Khaeshma, had almost all the same perks for much less emotional effort.
Alas, memorising the specifics of my mango margarita weakness became my new love language and breakfasts of Vincy saltfish bakes and callaloo greens eggs benedict turned my long love affair with food local.
Why anyone would ever wait to take a honeymoon-style holiday had me baffled as I basked in the first days of my indulgent “me-moon”.
After getting too comfortable with picking up my butler phone for golf buggy lifts, champagne and Jerk Shack chicken, it registered that overall, Sandals sells service, not romance.
Saint Vincent, however, sells a “very strong rum” – 84.5 per cent alcohol – and was hosting games of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, so, after four nights of liming (hanging out with friends) in the Three Jewels rum bar, I bought into both.
Post-interactive fire-breathing performance and possessed by my Love Island alter ego, where Keira Knightley found a pirate, I found a cricketer.
An international cricketer who quickly became very useful for fetching all-inclusive rum when my butlers clocked off at 10pm and somewhat understood British sarcasm by my final night. Coincidentally packing a holiday wardrobe in the cricket team’s colours may have even earned me unofficial mascot status.
Even without my indiscretions in the rum bar, my single holiday was a far less than loveless experience.
From games of Jenga with Winston the taxi driver to fresh mangos and an afrobeat’s education from the boys who work the beach to the off-duty Floridian dermatologist determined to heal my sunburnt cankles, Saint Vincent was nothing if not warm and welcoming.
I’d cherished trading candle-lit dinners on the beach for midnight pizzas with the girls and the saxophone-studded chaos of the swim-up bar. It's undeniably a pricey place for a solo holiday due to the double occupancy fees, but that shouldn’t stop singles from travelling with a group of friends to this slice of paradise.
“Brat summer” had begun, and I had my first win in my mission to be more Carrie Bradshaw.
Yes, I had arrived as a party of one, but I was leaving an almost cricket Wag with elaborate (if one-sided) plans to return for a wedding in the overwater chapel.
On the boat transfer back to Argyle International airport, eyes welling up from saying goodbye to my babes and my butlers and Cher’s “Believe” blasting from the boat’s aux, I could finally relate to Rachel Green’s tears.
Travel essentials
A seven-night stay for two adults at Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines staying in a Bamboo Palm Room with a balcony tranquillity soaking tub costs from £2,599 per person. Includes all-inclusive accommodation, return economy class flights with Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow and resort transfers; the price is date-specific and is valid for travel on 3 September 2025 only.
Read more: Why you should visit the Caribbean island you’ve probably never heard of
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