ATTN Jalouise veterans!!! I need your insight!
 

Hello, I have been researching honeymoon destinations for a month so far. I have looked at a lot of places. Mexico, Jamaica, Hawaii, and many Caribbean Islands.

St. Lucia caught my eye originally through the Sandals resorts. Through further research I came across the Jalouise Plantation. The scenery alone stole my heart from the get go. The beach nestled in between the beautiful Pitons, what more could you ask for?

My heart is set on Jalouise. All that is left is making room in the budet to make this dream come true. But that comes with every wedding/honeymoon I guess.

Is there anybody out there who has previously travelled to Jalouise that can share some travel experiences? What kind of rough budget am I looking at? Of course everyone wants to stay in the super upgraded luxury deluxe honeymoon suite, but has anyone stayed at the base sugar mill room? Is this the kind of resort where you are hardly ever in your room anyways? Also it seems all rooms have a "plunge pool", but are they all private?

Any comments or links to previous Jalouise posts are appreciated!

I've only stayed here once, but the property is really impressive.

All the villa plunge pools are private, but the amount of privacy differs depending on the amount of greenery around the pool itself.

This is a very large, sprawling resort, and the accommodations differ.

The Sugar Mill Rooms are beautiful and conveniently located. In the off-season, you can get the Luxury Villas (recommended over the Sugar Mill Rooms) for a bit over $300 per night, which seems a good deal to me.

However, meals and drinks are expensive here, and the resort is fairly isolated, so it's not very practical think you'll be eating a lot of dinners off-site (though you could easily take a taxi up to Ladera's Dasheene for dinner one night). Meal plans are expensive, so keep that in mind, and taxes are high.

Get the nicest room you can afford, but even the Sugar Mill rooms have plunge pools on a private patio, and while I didn't stay in one of these rooms, I recall that the private patios were pretty private. The cost of this resort is not very different from that of a Sandals even though the resort is not all-inclusive. I guess the real difference is how much you drink because drinks aren't cheap. You are closer to most of the interesting activities on the island, but even excursions are expensive and need to be budgeted for unless you plan to spend all your time on the resort grounds.

@ Doug_Stallings thanks for the reply. The villa rooms definitely look like the way to go. From your experience, would it be worth the effort to catch a boat ride over to the nearest town and stock up on Piton brews and snacks? Assuming the rooms are equipped with a mini fridge. Just thinking that would be a way to save a little bit.

Do you know if climbing the Gros Piton is extra? It is advertised on their website, but of course no mention about if this excursion is extra.

You'll no doubt want to go into Soufriere anyway, so it's definitely worth doing that early in your trip so you can stock up on a few little things. I'm not sure if the resort offers a town shuttle or if you have to take a taxi, and I don't know if there is anything closer. There are other threads here that talk about Jalousie, so perhaps there's some more information there. I haven't been for several years, so I don't want to make assumptions.

there is water taxi available from jalousie to soufriere. it's much better than land taxi (faster, cooler, excellent scenery) i think you can use water taxi to get to Dasheene as well. also you could go over to the beach at anse chastenet for part of a day - also by water taxi.

You can't possibly use a water taxi to get to Dasheene, which is at the Ladera resort on a high ridge immediately above and behind the Jalousie. But it's a great way to get into town (faster and better ride, and perhaps cheaper than the regular taxi).