This stop was a treat.

We honeymooned at Sandals Grande St. Lucian back in 2011 and never wanted to leave. We’ve talked about going back ever since, so this visit already had some emotional weight before we even stepped off the ship.

Near the port, there isn’t a whole lot to do. The port shops are nice, there are a few solid bars, and everyone is incredibly friendly, but it’s not the kind of place you linger all day. We usually book one excursion per sailing just to mix things up, so this time we chose Beach of the Day by Catamaran.

Boarding took a bit of patience. There’s only a small section of the pier available for catamaran excursions, and after watching two other groups head out ahead of us, it was finally our turn. Royal Caribbean uses local tour operators for excursions, and ours was run by Passion Tours. Right away, our main guide and the captain stood out. Friendly, relaxed, and clearly proud of what they do.

They don’t tell you where you’re going. It’s framed as a surprise, a beach chosen by the captain. Honestly, that just made it better.

The ride itself was fantastic. Deep blue water, dramatic mountains, and those suspended nets up front where you can sit directly over the water. They handed out free sodas and fresh local bananas, which hit perfectly in the heat. And the sun was hot. No easing into it, but there's plenty of shaded areas on the boat. On the ride back, they offer rum punch which has a good kick to it haha.

Then came the surprise.

We pulled straight up onto the beach right next to the resort where we honeymooned fifteen years ago. Ecstatic doesn’t even begin to cover it.

The beach itself is beautiful. Calm, shallow water where you can walk out quite far, though there are large rocks in places so it’s worth being careful. There are several sandbars where you can stand comfortably, which made it great for the kids. Chairs and umbrellas were available for rent, and I want to say we paid somewhere around $20 to $25 for two chairs and an umbrella. Piton beer was available by the bucket, very affordable, and absolutely the right choice.

We spent about two hours swimming, relaxing, and soaking it all in.

In the nearby parking lot is Joe’s Grill and Chill. Online reviews are mixed, but I’ll speak only from our experience. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and it’s worth remembering that this is a local grill that occasionally has buses and catamarans full of vacationers dropped on it all at once. It gets busy. Things take time.

If your excursion brings you here and you want food, order early.

I waited too long. I ordered a large coconut shrimp and a large order of fries, not realizing how close we were getting to departure time. The wait was long, but I watched them hand-batter and prepare the shrimp from scratch. This was not frozen, pre-made food, and I don’t fault them for the time it took.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time. I had to abandon the shrimp and grabbed the fries to go. I thanked them, told them it was fine, and ran back to the catamaran pretty disappointed, especially after seeing how good the shrimp looked online.

About five minutes into the ride back to the ship, a fishing boat came flying up alongside us. Standing on the front of that boat was our waitress, holding my to-go container.

They handed it up to us from the water. We tossed a tip back across to them, all of us laughing in disbelief.

I’ll be completely honest. That was the best coconut shrimp I’ve ever eaten. Hands down. My wife agreed. My kids, who normally don’t eat shrimp at all, tried it and came to the same conclusion.

We’re scheduled to be back in St. Lucia again next January, and we are absolutely making it to Joe’s Grill and Chill one way or another.

No question.

As with anything, your mileage may vary depending on the people who join your excursion and who you get as the crew for your catamaran, but I'm fairly confident we would 100% do this excursion again and love it.