I am going to stay at Rendevous, and I am seeing that there are some not so good things being posted about the joint. Did I waste my money? Also, any useful info about Diving sites-shops-conditions would be great. <BR>thanks!

Jeff, which island are you talking about?

Jeff, which island are you talking about?

If you are talking St. Lucia, 12 of us stayed there a year ago. We all had a wonderful time. Graeat food, casual atmosphere and beautiful beach.

Sorry, St.Lucia.

Sorry, St.Lucia

Hi Jeff, We were supposed to stay at <BR>Rendevous in December, but they overbooked and sent us to Sandals Halycon instead. We did drive by Rendevous to see what it looked like. The beach didn't look so great, I think the public had access to it & I would have been worried about beggars. We thought we were really lucky we were switched to Sandals. I am interested to hear how your stay is. Jennifer <BR>

Jeff, We stayed at Rendezvous in 1996. It sounds like you've probably already made many of the decisions that would require advice, so I'll just give my observations. First, did you waste your money? That's a hard question to answer--everyone has their standards and point of view. In my mind it was not a waste of money. We found it to be, overall, a pretty average resort. Decent rooms, decent food, etc. The pace, in general, is very casual. The beach is great! It's big, with soft sand and swimmable water. It is not a new resort, but it is well maintainted, clean, and the staff is very friendly. The grounds are particularly nice! We were amazed by the incredible variety of flora: many, many varieties of wonderful flowering and non-flowering plants! We stayed in the beachfront cottages, which were a little more private and had great access to the beach. However, they didn't look as nice as the regular beachfront rooms. Perhaps they've been updated since, though. At the time, it was couples-only, which frankly we found a bit "boring" at times, as it seemed there were lots of honeymooners just wanting to be alone. The seating in the main restaurant was a bit odd for a couples-only place: mainly tables for parties of 6, which meant sometimes not being able to sit alone. <BR> <BR>Another thing that seemed odd: After not attending the manager's cocktail party, one of the staff approached us later on that evening and said "We noticed that you weren't at the managers's party this evening." How did they know, and "So what!" Also, one evening, we decided not go to dinner. We stayed in our shorts and just hung out. Again, later in the evening, a staff member passed us and said "I notice you still have your beach clothes on", like it was frowned upon. Oh well, perhaps just cultural differences. <BR> <BR>Even with the somewhat negative things I've mentioned above, we found Rendezvous to be very charming. <BR> <BR> We really didn't have any problem with beggars, as indicated by a previous response. The beach is public, so there's a steady stream of traffic, with many locals trying to sell items, but we didn't feel it was a problem. In fact, we met some pretty interesting folks that way! One piece of advice that does come to mind: when dealing with the local merchants on the beach we found that they are very "possessive". It was made very clear to us that once an interest, even a slight interest, was shown in one merchant's goods, it would be improper to purchase like goods from another merchant (We also found the same in Grenada. Perhaps it's univeral. Perhaps it's just planned a guilt trip.) <BR> <BR>Do take a hike in the rain forest! It is beautiful, but be prepared: Take the proper shoes with good treds as it can get slippery! <BR> <BR>One more piece of advice: Rendezvous sits, literally, at the end of an airport. It is a small and not heavily used airport--but the departing planes can sometimes give one quite a start! Don't panic!