dcoopwood

We are looking into traveling the 1st or 2nd week in June to St. Lucia. We are thinking about doing 4 days @ Sandals Grande and 3 days @ Ladera just to get the North and South feel of the island. Has anyone done this or stayed at these hotels? I am curios as to how HOT it will be @ Ladera in June with an open wall. Will it be miserable? We live in Louisiana and have been through Hurricane outages during the heat and humidity and it's not fun, and wondering will it be similar or does the mountain/rain forest cool it off considerably. Thanks for any info.

KVR

We stayed at the Sandals Grande in Nov. '05. It was OK except we thought the food was lacking in taste and the non-existant nighlty entertainment. We did enjoy the AI champagne though and the off property excursions we booked through their tour desk. We enjoyed Sandals Royal Bahamain in the Bahamas better.

We looked at Ladera, but DH refuses to stay anywhere that refrigated air conditioning is not provided. We were very disappointed with the RIU Tropical Bay in Jamaica since the air conditioning unit in our room was just a blower.

We went to St. Lucia right after Hurricane Wilma hit the Cancun area. There was also a tropical depression in the area of St. Lucia. It rained everyday on and off. Mostly at night. It was still very hot and humid.

Sweege

Just got back from a fun week in St. Lucia (trip report coming). Can't help you on the lodging, as we (family of 5) stayed at the Windjammer, which was wonderful. One downside to changing locations is the extra packing, unpacking and checking in/out. In my humble opinion, a day trip (or two if you rent a car) to other parts of the island will give you a good feel. Do try to fly in/out of the nearest airport to your hotel as the cross-island drive is lengthy in time. As far as the temperatures go, aside from researching in a book or on line, one must presume it will be hot (strong sun) anywhere in that part of the world at that time of year. Hope this helps and that you enjoy that beautiful island.

nealzibub

I certainly can't guarantee the weather, but if I may put it my vote for the Stonefield Villa Estate, which is just a few miles north of Ladera; I think they are a bit cheaper, and the place is simply awesome. The villa w stayed in, Frangipani, had a ceiling fan, and outside was our own plunge pool. They have a free shuttle that will take you in to town, over to Jalousie Plantation [nice beach]. Just my 2 cents. NWG

sleeepy

We stayed at the Grande last year for our 10-year anniversary. We chose it primarily because it was adults only (we were taking our first vacation with our children). As KVR stated, the food is just ok - you have some good meals, but I can't say that anything WOWED me - I enjoyed the lamb at LaToc (Regency) and all the courses leading up to it), I loved the jerk wings at Barefoot by the Sea at the Grande for lunch with the chef salad, the crepes at Josephine's are great. The resort is beautiful and well-laid out, the grounds are beautiful, the beach is perfect for water sports and the pool is great too. Would I stay there again? I would probably try something new. If I had it to do again, would I do it over? Yes. We had a great time, met a lot of great people (not all honeymooners our week) and thought the property was gorgeous and didn't have to go anywhere if we didn't feel like it since it was all inclusive.

sleeepy

You'd guess right if you think I meant to say "we were taking our first vacation withOUT our children It IS adults only, right?