ejcrowe
 

I respect your opinion and love your well-informed reports, so...
If we decide on Grenada for Novemeber, what would be your recommendation for a place to stay?

Thanks,
Karen....aka iw

Hi, Karen--

Thanks for your kind words. I'd like to know a bit more about your budget and the places you've enjoyed in the past. Do I remember correctly that you love Nevis and enjoyed your stay at Oualie? Or was it Nisbet?

Do you want hotel/resort or a self-catering facility?

Budget....Don't have one, yet. I like to check out all of the options before I lock myself into one.
To be honest, we stayed at Oualie because of the staff...Jason, Vaden, Moi, Stacy....I know that Nisbet or Montpelier (sp) were nicer, but we loved the people. What can I say? So you can see that I am not all that picky. I did tour a few rooms at the 4S and they were lovely. I do like pampering! :)
I am one of the few that like the Marriott in St. Kitts. While out of place, it was convenient. Sorry! We had lovely oceanview rooms there and had a great experience with the staff.
I am very open to a hotel or resort. We are happy anywhere and honestly, after having a 22 year old cousin living with us for 4 MONTHS, I might even consider a tent! LOL
We had a great little hotel in St. Barts last summer that had an outdoor kitchen, which was nice to prepare lunches. We have been to the french side of St. Martin and stayed in quaint places.
Lots of different experiences, so throw it out there and I will look into it all!
Thank you for your time and help.

Karen

I really liked the rustic romance of La Luna, the seclusion, the rooms, the plunge pools, the food, and the service. In the interest of full disclosure, however, it's the only hotel I ever stayed in on Grenada. I visited quite a few others, either by dining in or by meeting up with new friends staying at other places, but mostly I've rented villas or apartments in my travels there.

The beach there is short but lovely, with semi-decent snorkeling offshore (good quality for Grenada, average at best compared to other islands). It's a quiet beach, with only a few private homes and another restaurant on the other end. The bedrooms have a/c and were spacious and comfortable with king size beds. The bathrooms are open air, so you can best judge if you're comfortable with bugs & lizards being around. The plunge pools are small and round like a whirlpool with a ledge for sitting--perfect for cooling off, drinking coffee in the morning and a cocktail in the evening--but they're not at all suitable for actual swimming. The patios also have a wide, comfortable lounge/daybed and they provide large curtains that can be drawn around for privacy so that you can maximize your outdoor living if you so desire. The hotel pool is more for looks or a quick cooling off moreso than swimming. The restaurant is good, albeit expensive, with an emphasis on seafood with an Italian flair.

The open air bar/lounge area was one of my favorite parts, strewn with comfortable chairs, chaises longues, and daybeds, all under a thatched roof--perfect for escaping the heat of the day or a brief rainshower.

If LaLuna sounds too rustic for the price for you (I emailed them and asked if they would honor the hotels.com rate if I booked with them directly and they agreed, saving about $60/night off the rack rates), here are a few more suggestions:

Spice Island -- This is the class act on the island. It's a locally owned and managed luxury all-inclusive. I've dined there quite a few times and peeked at a room. Service and food were top notch, bedrooms were really nicely appointed--luxurious without having that cold, impersonal "we have marble bathrooms" feel that seems to me a little out of place in the Caribbean. It's also on a gorgeous stretch of beach, Grand Anse, that runs for nearly two miles. Very calm water here.

www.spiceislevillas.com -- I've booked two different villas through this website and couldn't have been more pleased with the value--Turtleback Pavilion, a lovely studio bedroom villa, and Tradewinds Pavilion, a very nice 3-bedroom villa, both owned by the same couple. Nick Hughes is the owner/manager of the company and he can answer any questions about the other villas if you so choose. He offers everything from modest, 2 bedrooms to full-on crazy-spacious beachfront 6-bedroom villas.

For self catering facilities that aren't villas, I recommend Blue Horizons and Lanse Aux Epines cottages, in that order in terms of my preference and their prices & amenities.

I don't really recommend True Blue because of the location and because of the awful food and service I've experienced in the restaurant (on two separate occasions).

If you're more concerned about being in a beachfront hotel at a good price but not especially concerned about service or amenities, take a look at Grenada Grand or the Rex Grenadian, both of which have good deals on discount travel sites like hotels.com.

Good luck making your decision, and please let me know if you have further questions!

You are a gem! I am so excited to have "homework" and will happily look into all suggestions. It's fun researching somewhere new. I had become a bit stale having spent the last 3 years in the same places!
Thanks a bunch and I will keep you posted on the progress.

ejcrowe, do you have any thoughts about the lodging at LaSagesse?

Oh, I can't believe I didn't mention La Sagesse!

That's actually my favorite beach escape on the island--so lush, so tropical, so completely Eden-like, and I can get my dog-fix when I'm there, too! The accommodations are on the rustic side, but I think they're an excellent value. If someone wants to stay put in once place while not minding the utter isolation, La Sagesse is perfect. However, it's so remote that I wouldn't recommend it for first timers unless they're absolutely sure that kind of isolation wouldn't bother them.

Because there's no a/c in many of the rooms, I also would strongly advise not visiting August-September, possibly even through early October--the humidity just feels a little more sapping then with no a/c to renew one's cool.