For our honeymoon in July 2001, my fiancee and I are considering St. Lucia and staying at either the Ladera or Anse Chastanet. We have heard great things about both locations, but we have one concern: no air conditioning. Has anyone stayed at either location, especially in July, and is the lack of A/C a problem, especially during the day (in case we want to spend some daytime in the room). Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

This question has been asked in the past and the lack of A/C seems to have bothered more people at Anse Chastanet than at Ladera, probably because Ladera gets better breezes than Anse Chastanet due to its higher elevation. We stayed at Ladera in November and experienced constant cooling breezes and did not miss air conditioning. The rooms seem to be positioned in such a way to take advantage of the trade winds. July may be different than November. However, we did notice when we went to the beach at Anse Chastanet and at Jalousie Hilton that it was significantly hotter down at beach level than it was at Ladera, and I certainly think we might have been uncomfortable in one of the rooms at Anse Chastanet that was close to the beach. The higher up you are, the better the breezes. Just my opinion. If you do a search of old threads on these hotels you will find more opinions on this.

Hi Robert: <BR> <BR>I can ditto what Lisa said. We stayed at Ladera and the breeze was constantly blowing and we were there in late June. We went over to AC and in my opinion it did not look as nice and I know the views are as nice as from ladera. You are closer at Ladera. Go look at the old opinions listed in this forum like Lisa suggested and you will get more information.

Robert, <BR>Stay at Ladera and you will have the honeymoon of a lifetime. You really won't believe it till you see it. Stunning and breathtaking are good words to describe the resort. We stayed at Ladera for our honeymoon the first week of June and the breezes really cool the room. We spent a couple of days in our room and in our plunge pool. The temperature was perfect. A couple of nights at dinner I even needed a light sweater. (Just an example of the service at Ladera: One night at Dasheene restaurant it was quite breezy and, without even asking for it, a waiter brought me and a woman sitting close to us a wrap to keep out the chill). The resort is top-notch without being stuffy. Very natural setting and wonderful furnishings. If you really love the beauty of nature, this is the place to go. I know I sound like I'm gushing but I had never stayed at a place that lived up to my expectations until I stayed at Ladera. Ladera was better than I ever could have imagined. We checked out both the Hilton and Anse Chastanet and were happy that we had chosen Ladera. Have a great time and congratulations!

Hi Robert, <BR> <BR>I just returned from St. Lucia about 2 weeks ago. We were there from July 3 - 10 and we actually had the same concerns about the lack of A/C, but they were unwarranted. We ended up with a beachside room at Anse Chastanet and it was fine. There was a ceiling fan above the bed and a large fan by the bed so at night we could turn them on if it got hot. But i actually had my husband turn the one by the bed off because it actually got chilly at night with the breezes. There was always a constant breeze during the day and at night. And I'm sure if you get a hillside room that the breeze is even stronger. Ladera is higher up than Anse Chastanet so it might be cooler but I don't know, we had wanted to get over to Ladera for dinner one night but we enjoyed it at Anse Chastanet so much we never bothered to head over there so I can't compare the two. But I would definitely recommend Anse Chastanet to anyone, the room, service, food, everything was awesome.