Info on St. Lucia?

[LtlTee]

Looking for some new vacation ideas for next year. We've been to Jamaica (probably our favorite), Cancun, and the Bahamas. We did consider Aruba, but I HATE wind. I read the other post about Aruba and how windy it is, and that just confirms what other friends have told me.

So now we're considering St. Lucia next year, and specifically looking at the Windjammer resort. Any reviews?

Thanks!

 

[maxaroni]

Are you travelling with kids? I've been to quite a few caribbean islands but it's been so long that things have changed. We went to AAA to ask their opinion as we were going to go to the Caribbean but now going to Disney. The AAA rep recommended Aruba or St. Maarten, traveling with a DS12.
Aruba is windy, no doubt about it.

Another question is when would you be traveling? Our AAA rep recommended Aruba for another reason...it's out of the hurricane path. That may or may not be important to you. I've travelled to many a caribbean island in the summer and never had a problem nor did my parents. However, that was when I was single and just paying for myself (went with a group). Now that we are a family and it's our hard earned $$$'s, with a trip costing much more, it became an important issue to us.

 

[LtlTee]

We're looking to go probably in May of next year, Wednesday thru Sunday, with no kids. However, I don't mind a place with kids. We would like it to be an all-inclusive.
We thought about St. Maarten also...

 

[Dan Murphy]

 

[LUVDSNY04]

Hi,.
I have never been to St. Lucia but my son went there on his honeymoon and the pictures he brought back were so beautiful! He and his wife stayed at the Sandals Resort.

 

[LtlTee]

Thanks for the input! It does look really beautiful, from what I've seen.

I just found out that someone I work with just booked at Sandals also, so I can get a first-hand report soon!

 

[minmate]

I have been looking into St. Lucia too! Small World! Haven't been yet but I have read good reviews of the Windjammer but have no personal experience! It is pretty deep into the Caribbean so (from Boston area) it's probably around a 6 hr. flight... not sure about NJ, guess a little shorter! But it looks soooo beautiful and I've read that there seems to be some good things to do there... drive in volcanoes and the Brig Unicorn are just two I was interested in. From what I've read, it's the ship used in Roots and POTC movie. They have some sort of Pirate Adventure sailing for kids and adults!

Maybe check out on the Cruise forums as I *think* some of the Disney Cruises go to St. Lucia.... not sure if any cruisers have done extended hotel stays in St. Lucia... but MAYBE! Good luck!

 

[chrissyk]

Thanks for the input! It does look really beautiful, from what I've seen.

I just found out that someone I work with just booked at Sandals also, so I can get a first-hand report soon!

I'll give you a first-hand report about Sandals St. Lucia right now. DH and I went there 7 1/2 years ago. The food was horrible, the beach was nasty, the pool was dirty. NEVER AGAIN!! The crowd at the resort was party-hardy, boozing it up the entire week. We talked to another couple who couldn't wait to go home too. We've never done another all-inclusive since. It seemed like once they had our $$, they gave us as little as possible for it. I think that this resort would be GREAT if you wanted to spend the week getting as tanked as possible 24/7. You'd get your money's worth in booze alone. However, if you just want a fun week in the Carribean, I wouldn't go to Sandals St. Lucia. If I had that $$ to spend all over again, I'd go back to Atlantis on Paradise Island.

 

[LtlTee]

Minmate, I also heard really good things about the Windjammer. There's a Caribbean discussion board that I just found, and the Windjammer did get some very good reviews, and Sandals even more so. Sandals has golf on site, but I'm not sure about the Windjammer.

I will poke around on the Cruise forum to see if anyone has any experience there!

Thanks!

 

[tkd lisa]

The 10 day Christmas cruise stopped in St. Lucia this year. The picture in my signature is from there. A number of DISers took the pirate excursion (on the Unicorn), and spoke very highly of it. My family did a horseback excursion on our own, which was also nice.

The island is VERY mountainous, and a lot of the locations can take quite a bit of time to travel to. We really wanted to take the waterfall excursion, but it included almost 4 hours of travel time, and that was just too much for us!

One of my coworkers just got back from an all inclusive there. I'm pretty sure it wasn't sandals. He and his wife had gotten a large discount/rebooking credit after their honeymoon was interrupted due to one of the hurricanes. He did say that flying in there was a little sporty, because it's a SMALL airport!

 

[LtlTee]

I'll give you a first-hand report about Sandals St. Lucia right now. DH and I went there 7 1/2 years ago. The food was horrible, the beach was nasty, the pool was dirty. NEVER AGAIN!! The crowd at the resort was party-hardy, boozing it up the entire week. We talked to another couple who couldn't wait to go home too. We've never done another all-inclusive since. It seemed like once they had our $$, they gave us as little as possible for it. I think that this resort would be GREAT if you wanted to spend the week getting as tanked as possible 24/7. You'd get your money's worth in booze alone. However, if you just want a fun week in the Carribean, I wouldn't go to Sandals St. Lucia. If I had that $$ to spend all over again, I'd go back to Atlantis on Paradise Island.

Ooops, we must have been posting at the same time.

I have stayed at all-inclusives before and have never had any problems, but have never stayed at a Sandals resort. We've stayed at Breezes in Jamiaca and absolutely loved it. Sure, there were people whose main concern was to drink their vacation, but they were not the norm where we've stayed. For the most part, everyone was really friendly and we never really saw anyone out of control. We really like the all-inclusives -- it's nice not having to worry about money all week, since it's already paid for.

Now, having said all that, I have heard some not-so-good things about Sandals resorts in general and am a little wary about them. I have heard that they are the real party resorts and get really wild. I don't want someplace dead, but I also don't want drunken fools to deal with all the time either!
Thanks for your input!

 

[Katie]

We went on a cruise that stopped in St. Lucia. It was the worst stop of the cruise. The natives were very persitstent in selling their goods. Our cab driver finally convinced us to buy something and then show the vendors we have purchased already and it would let up.. It let up SOME! I felt very unsafe from the moment stepping of the ship at the harbor. We wanted a cab and a driver approached us telling us he would give us a tour. We agreed on a price and another couple we met was going with us. So four tourists and one cabbie. He proceeds to walk us to his DATSUN hatback ..which there is NO way we can all fit in it comfortablly. We tell him we have changed our mind..where he became very angry and all his "friends' surrounded us. WE walked diligently and fast back to port!!! We hooked up with another more reputable cab driver. He gave us a tour of the island. It was very poor and I have NO desire to go back there ever!!!!!!!!

If a cruise ever stops there again, we will stay on ship!!!!! We have been to Cozumel, Belize, St. Maartan, St. Thomas, Barbadoes, Antigua..and I would return to all......but never never ST.LUCIa.

our favorite so far was st. Maartan, st. Thomas or Barbadoes!!!

Just my opinion!!

 

[LtlTee]

Thanks for the info! I'm sorry it was such a bad experience for you.
You mentioned Antigua -- would you return there? That was actually another place were were considering.
I have a friend who had a timeshare in St. Maarten. She said she really liked it, but it was very expensive compared to the other resort locations. She was happy for the condo so they didn't always have to go out. Did you find this to be the case?