Any advice on the best all-inclusives in Aruba, Barbados or St.Lucia is appreciated. Tks.

The best all-inclusive in Aruba would be the Allegro. Nice hotel directly on Palm Beach. We used the following agency that we found here on Fodor's board: www.travelunlimited.com

I have only been to one all inclusive in St. Lucia so...really can't say if it is 'the best' but we were very happy with Sandals Halcyon -particularily: the food, service and accomodations, and drinks (pretty much everything honestly) were fabulous....especially the food! <BR>I have a travel report if you are interested; just email me. <BR>St. Lucia is awesome, a very beautiful island!

I just returned from Sandals St Lucia Golf Resort & Spa and I was very disappointed. This was our first experience with an "all-inclusive" property, so I really can't say how well they measure up to any others. However, we also visited Sandals Halcyon and found it the better of the two, but still not up to par price wise vs. going on a cruise. Food variety was good, but service was nothing to write home about. The bottom line: unless you really drink a lot - you won't get your money's worth. On the positive side, the Sandals SCUBA program is the best I've seen in the Caribbean. Good hunting!

Hi Danielle: Since you are thinking of St lucia, Aruba or Barbados maybe you would enjoy a Southern Caribbean cruise. In Jan 1997 we did this itenerary and really enjoyed it. On a cruise it is pretty much all-inclusive. We have stayed a week in Aruba at laCabana, it has suites so you have kitchen facilities. We bought a meal plan for breakfasts and 3 dinners. This worked out well because we were able to go out to a few of Arubas finest restaurants also. We really enjoy Chez mathilde and L'Escale. We liked this flexability. Karen

Stay away from Sandals. We had a miserable time and have been trying to get compensation for our "horror-moon". E-mail me for our sad but true story...Mark