The Official St Lucia Thread!!

YEAH!! Me likey this thread

Oooh....I just got back last week....this is straight out of my review which hasn't been posted yet because I'm still trying to get come pics in order (its long and a bit geared towards people who didn't book yet but I hope you ladies can get something out of it):

Honeymoon: Sandals Grande St. Lucain (A)
We went for six nights starting at 6:00AM the day after our wedding…I recommend waiting a day or two and/or staying longer. After about 8 hours of plane/airport time and a 1.5 hour bus ride we got to our room, spent the rest of the day napping and the next day settling in so we both feel like we really only got to enjoy ourselves for 4-5 days. So that being said, we LOVED our honeymoon. I’ll break it down into what I think is most important to pass on.

Room: We had a concierge room (which we booked for 24 hour room service and a minibar in the room) but the added bonus was that when you arrived, they took you up to the concierge suite and gave you champagne and cheese while you filled out a tiny bit of paperwork and then you were free to go and could stop in at anytime and they would handle everything for you. We went back the next day to talk about excursions and then anytime I needed anything from a room service menu to reservations for restaurants or snorkeling, I just called that one place and it was all handled for us…I definitely recommend a concierge room for for anyone who (a)plans to spend any time in the room or (b)basically doesn’t want to be bothered

Restaurants: Let me start by saying that probably the best meal we had was dinner at the bayside café (which is right by the pool and where they also have the breakfast and lunch buffets). We went there because we had already gone to the Italian restaurant (which was pretty good too but they really need to dim the lights or loose the grass green walls in there) and we were too lazy to take the bus to the Regency (where most of the restaurants are). So we went in, had a great meal with a very pleasant waiter and got to listen to the reggae band that was playing by the pool bar…it was very islandy and we really liked it.

Kimonos was worth it…our chef wasn’t very exciting but the food was yummy and it gives you a good opportunity to mingle (the rest of the week we stuck to ourselves by choice and this happened to be our last night so maybe we were finally getting bitten by the social bug or something but we had a really fun time)

La Toc (at the Regency) and The Pier (at the Halcyon) not so much worth it…the atmosphere at La Toc was nice but food was marginal at best…I don’t like to eat too much beef but we had heard that their filet was good so I ordered it…well it might have been because we were seated at 8:45 and they ran out or it might have been because they thought I wouldn’t know any better or care if I did but I most definitely did not get a filet…what I had tasted fine but I was still aggravated on principle. We went to the Pier on our first night out because I was under the assumption that it would be romantic…well the food was what I would expect but it was just a regular old restaurant with no atmosphere and a few windows that looked out on pitch black so if there was a view you couldn’t see it anyway…I think some of the open air places at the Regency would have been a much better bet….long story short, I think if you don’t try too hard and stick to the more fun, outdoorsy type places, you’ll come away with a better dining experience. We heard good things about Pitons at the Regency as well.

Excursions (extra $) and Water Sports (included): I cannot speak about too much but let me say that everything we did was amazing…First we did the ATV excursion where they take you by a 15 minute bus ride to somewhere offsite, you ride the ATVs to a private beach and hang out for a while, drive them around for a while as fast as you can in the sand and dirt (this appealed to DH’s “car guy” persona) and then you drive them back, get on the bus and go back to the resort…it was very fun because it was something different…but it was MESSY!!!! We decided that this would be out only excursion since St. Lucia was new to us anyway so we were to cheap to pay $ to see it from a boat or a jeep or the edge of a volcano…it was a good choice for us but if you want to do more, you definitely can. Oh, we did pay $5 each to go over to the national park (right down the beach next to the resort) and hike up the little mountain...also very much worth it…it was good for some fake out exercise and great for pics. We heard from others that the jeep tour is kind of cool but that the Volcano is not too much more exciting than a big stinky hole in the ground.

As for the water sports we did the snorkeling (a bit longer than it needed to be but still very cool), the Hobie Cat Sailboats (by far our favorite experience of the week…they give you a short lesson and then you can take them out whenever you want….its very peaceful but fun at the same time) the crazy aquatrike (kind of fun but also much harder than it looks). There’s also waterskiing and tubing included but one of the tubes had a hole in it and we wanted to go together (we’re dorky like that) so we didn’t do it and waterskiing is way over our heads.

Basically I can say that when we first got there we worried a bit that we paid too much for nothing but the more that we did and the more that we found our own routine for what and where we liked to eat/drink that thought went away very quickly and we had an AMAZING time…I highly recommend St. Lucia, Sandals and specifically The Grande.

Thanks so Much For Sharing!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hey ladies
i just read on tripadvisor that for no extra charge you can have a photographer follow you around the Sandals and take pictures. Then you get the pictures on a CD ( probably for lots of $$$)

ever hear of anyone doing this? i would feel SO CHEESY but i really hate the traditional vacation/HM pictures:

waterfall
FH in front of the waterfall
me in front of the waterfall
up our noses as we try to take a picture of ourselves in front of the waterfall

etc. . . .

I'm not sure about a designated photographer to follow you around but we definately saw them roaming around (especially at restaurants and once by the pool and a photographer came with us when we went snorkeling)...

We went to look at the pics and they were $15 for each 5x7 printed and for the CD you had to have a minimum of 10 pics and then it was $60 (I'm not sure if it was still $60 if you had more than 10 or if thats a one time fee no matter how many pics)

I am thinking about going here myself.

Can you guys let me know how much you are paying and what you are getting?

You can FM me

I get so many different quotes from people

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Posted by D's Girl

I am thinking about going here myself.

Can you guys let me know how much you are paying and what you are getting?

You can FM me

I get so many different quotes from people

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You have a FM!!

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Posted by JassyandOscar

Thank you for the review. FH and I were still a little undecided between the Regency and the Grande and paying for a concierge level room or not- This really helps!!!

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We are going to the regency and staying first 4 nights in the imerial room then the last 3 in the villa w/ plunge pool. I think it will be worth it!! My friends stayed at the Grande last year and loved it!!

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Posted by D's Girl

I am thinking about going here myself.

Can you guys let me know how much you are paying and what you are getting?

You can FM me

I get so many different quotes from people

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You have FM

just be aware that the Grand only has 2 good restuants. And its at least a 30 min drive to the next sandals location.

Its pretty.. still prefer Sandals in the Bahamas hehe