knutson

We will be traveling to St Lucia May 11th thru 19th and staying in the Soufriere area (Jalousie Plantation or the Anse Chastanet). I've been reading about the area and gathering information but haven't found answers to these questions:
1. Are either of these resorts worth the money?
2. Is this area busy in May? (beach area)
3. SOme resorts offer up to a $200 per day meal credit. Does $200 go far or would one p/u groceriesen route to supplement?
4. Are most of the resort restaurants buffets or what they serve you get?
5. Are most causual dress for dining?
6. I was told to take a shuttle from airport (UVF) to resort THEN rent a car. Resort person stated these resorts are remote and hard to find. Does this sound true and once at resort, can I easily rent a car from there at a decent price?

Thank you ahead of time and any other advise would be great

Lee00

1. Are either of these resorts worth the money?
* Both are very nice with beautiful beaches, unless you want to pay crazy money and stay at Ladera or Jade Mountain. It all depnds on what is your looking for. There are much smaller guesthome type of places that are very nice as well and cheaper.

2. Is this area busy in May? (beach area)
*May is the low season and you shold be able to get a better rate, unless you go around Jazz time. The prices shoot up for a couple of weeks.

3. SOme resorts offer up to a $200 per day meal credit. Does $200 go far or would one p/u groceriesen route to supplement?
*Might be a good idea?? I don't know much about that.

4. Are most of the resort restaurants buffets or what they serve you get?
*Some have restaurants and buffets. I would check each resort website dining section to be sure.


5. Are most causual dress for dining?
Beach smart such as collard shirt, dockers type pants... etc, No Beach Wear.

Lee00

If you are planing to get off of the resort and see the island, you can find alot of good ideas and tips on this link. You won't find resort information but you'll get a peak into St. Lucian life, at least from a tourist perspective.
http://uptodatestlucia.com/

knutson

Great info, thank you Lee00

knutson

Thought of one more ?. I've read reviews where at resort checkout, people were hit with a much higher bill due to taxes, etc not originally disclosed. Is this common?

Lee00

Hotels & Resorts add an 8% tax on resort purchases, 10% tax service fee tax, (total 18%) all mandatory by the St. Lucian government. When you talk to your resort, you can always ask them what will your total bill be with tax. The article below explains this the best.

Regarding the article, please note, St. Lucia's departure tax is now included with your airfare, so don't expect to pay this separately at the airport.

Caribbean Tourist Taxes and Fees
http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/befo...sandfees_2.htm

RangerRick

If interested in an island tour, hook up with COSOL tours. You can find them on www.cosoltours.com. Jalousie beachis a very nice beach withsnorkeling on the side area that has very calm waters.

Lee00

Defintely take a look at "things to bring" and "helpful things to know" on the link I placed before you go on your trip. It may come in handy.

beth48

The road to Anse is narrow and full of pot holes - be prepared for a slow ride over a few miles to get there. Jalousie's beach is very nice with calm water and a great area for snorkeling. Didn't stay at either place but we visited both. Crazy driving on St. Lucia - very mountainous with many hair-pin turns while going up and down the mountains. Roads are not well-marked so be prepared if you venture out on your own.

sassy_cat

May is quiet because the cruise ship season is over. We got back just over a week ago and there were cruise ship/s in Castries every day.

This didn't affect us too much but we did notice 4 or 5 catamarans packed with cruise ship passengers in the bay where Anse Chastanet is (we had lunch there). Some hotel guests seemed to wait until they'd left to use the beach!

I'd recommend renting a car from the airport. It will be cheaper... we used Hotwire. We had no problem finding places and as you will be staying in the South you won't have too long a drive (an hour or less).
One caveat I recommend that on arrival you drive during daylight as at night it's a different story!

Enjoy!
Oh, if you click on my name you can see my recent trip report.