What I’m about to tell you is a first for me. I have a butler phone. I repeat, I have a butler phone. Yes, a phone solely designed for calling or texting my butler whenever I need to, which has been thrust into my hand along with a strict instruction that while I am here, “You do no work!”

The first time I hear that phrase – which is uttered frequently during our stay – Angela (one of my two butlers; she and her colleague Kaydene alternate shifts so as to offer us 24-hour service) is trying to help me untie my shoes as I tell her that’s really not necessary.

The double-butler thing is just one of the ‘pinch me now’ moments I encounter as we arrive at our private over-water bungalow at Sandals South Coast, Jamaica. A moment that has my eyes doing a disbelieving sweep of the scene in front of us: double bed adorned with shells spelling out ‘Welcome home’; glass floor over blue water; peeks of paradise through every window. Nope, I definitely don’t plan on doing any work here, although I think I can handle my own shoes.

We’re 90 minutes south of Jamaica’s ‘second’ city Montego Bay (Jamaica only has two major cities, the first being its capital and cultural hub Kingston). With Montego Bay being known for its tourism and beaches, it makes sense that our bungalow (alongside 11 others, all recent additions to the Sandals couples’ resort here) is set in a 500-acre nature reserve; ocean vista on one side, quiet beach on the other, all bordered by vast green mountains. It’s typically Caribbean but with a dose of the Maldivian due to the over-water nature of our room.

Float off to a couples' retreat on the island of Jamaica