I have some questions about my honeymoon which I am trying to plan. I am just starting my planning and have pretty much only been looking through this board for my research. I've got a few ideas and a few questions. Please let me know what you think.

St. Lucia definitely sounds like the place I want to go. We both definitely love nature and would like to get out and do some hiking and site seeing. For this reason I am thinking the southern part of the island is best.

I guess I should mention that our current plan is to get married on October 14th and then leave for the honeymoon soon after. (Probably the 16th based on flight availability.)

On the southern side of the island I am leaning towards Ladera and Jalousie Hilton. I was thinking it would probably be nice to stay at one of these places 3 nights and the other one 4 nights. Does that sound like a good idea? I was thinking this since it seems Ladera would give us the nice romantic privacy we would like, while the Hilton would give us an opportunity to get out on the beach and perhaps interact with other people (more so than Ladera anyways.)

What do you think? My other thought was to go to Sandals and do the all-inclusive thing, but I really want to stay at Ladera and am not sure I really want to split up my stay between the north and south side of the island... ?

Now for some specific questions that have been bothering me...

The flight... I've looked online and it appears that it is going to cost like $750 for a single flight. (Delta via Atlanta.) Do flights to St. Lucia typically drop at any certain time of the year?

My fiance wants to do at least a little shopping while here. I read that Solfrie isn't exactly the best place for shopping... Any comment about that? Women, does it have good enough shopping to scratch the shopping itch!?!? Or should I plan to try and get to Castries for shopping?

Next question. Do most of you typically go through a travel agent? Do they typically offer better prices than going direct?

The reason I ask that is that this is my first trip out of the country (that I have had to plan.) Here in the states I wouldn't bother with a travel agent, but I don't want to just assume that is best in this case...

Okay, I guess this is enough for now. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or comments.

Just remembered another question I had... How far in advance would everyone recommend making reservations? Or do these places not fill up completely at this time of year?

druidj,
I'm extremely impressed on your research so far and excellent questions.

For St. Lucia, yes you are probably right to just stay on the southern part of island for the nature portion. Though I'd do the whole time at Ladera or perhaps look at some private villas through:
www.tropicalvillas.com
Though mostly in the north, though could be some in the area you are interested in.
St. Lucia is a large island and getting from one end to the other takes the better part of a day (however thats mainly due to poor roads) therefore recommend concentrating on area.

I wouldn't say there's great shopping, what you'll find is local crafts, its not an international type shopping place with Gucci, etc.

Another suggestion very similary to St. Lucia is Tobago. Tobago is less expensive to stay, food and lodging...though it takes a little more to get to. You fly into Trinidad then local flight. The beaches are beautiful and rainforest and an excellent golf course, very low key place.

For airfares, yes there is a certain time of the year for sales and for your timeframe I'd start watching any time from May thru July or August for sales to Caribbean in October. Check the "load" status, that is if flights look like they are getting full but for the most part $750 is the normal rack rate...at least my experience from east coast and a sale you may hit something around $450-$600.

Best of luck and congrats!

October is low season, almost lowest of low....you don't generally have to worry too much about reservations very far in advance.

Not sure what you are expecting of Soufriere, but it is a wonderful Caribbean experience if you like it a bit more "rustic". As traveler863 said, no Gucci here. If you want to do any shopping other than local vendors, you would have to go to Castries. The duty free shopping as well as the Castries Market are there.

Regarding your question of whether to use a travel agent or just book it yourself. When we travel within the US, I generally make our reservations myself, though there are some exceptions. However, when we travel to the islands, I always use a local travel agent. The one reason for that is travel insurance. Maybe it's possible to buy insurance if you do it yourself, but I honestly don't know.

When you go through a travel agent they book a "package" for you. If you book your honeymoon trip you might get your airline tickets directly from the airline, and make your resort reservation directly with the hotel. I guess you could check on the appropriate websites and look for travel insurance offers.

Since it is impossible for any of us to tell the future, we have no way of knowing what might happen that would prevent us from going on a trip that we'd planned.

We both have elderly parents, but besides that, who knows if one of us might get sick (or break something). In fact last spring, just one week before we were to travel to Turks and Caicos, my hubby had 3 stents put in his heart. Though it wasn't a surgery that required cutting him open, we didn't know if the doctor was going to say he could travel or not. Luckily everything went well, and the doctor said go and do whatever you want. But, in the back of my mind, I was relieved to know that we had insurance that would allow us to get all our money back if we hadn't been able to go on our trip (several thousand that we wouldn't want to lose).

The insurance only cost us $59 per person. A pretty good investment IMO. Generally, it also covers replacing things if your luggage is lost. And, it covers medical expenses if you get sick or are injured on vacation. You just never know.

Also, there have been times when my travel agent charged me less money than the price that I had researched on my own. This applies to both airline and resort reservations.

Another thought, and I've heard of this happening, what if you get to your destination and it is horrible (God forbid). If you booked it, you are on your own to find another place to stay. If your travel agent booked it you call them, tell them the situation, and they find a suitable place for you to go. Granted, it's not likely to happen, but it has happened before. A travel agent might be able to pull some strings that you can't.

I don't mean to sound like such a pessimist, but sometimes things don't go as we'd like. Hope this gives you something to think about.

Luvvacation,
If the question is should you book yourself or use a travel agent, hands down...book yourself. You stress travel insurance and I can't say thats not a bad thing, I've used it myself in the past...once included with QE2 fare and once a relative with terminal illness I took out insurance seperately through Travelguard. Easy online policies, reasonably priced. They were one of the only companies to forgo policies which didn't cover 9/11 but opted to do so...granted a smart decision, considering the need for travel insurance post 9/11.

Travel agents are a thing of the past. Easy to do air reservations. But what about hotels? Thats all fine and good until a problem arises...then you have to get the travel agent involved and sometimes while overseas...what a pain. Moral of story you book yourself you have much greater leverage, not only with rates but everything overall during checkin, a suite might be your answer. Happy travels to all.

Thanks for the help. I actually just noticed that if I fly on Saturday it is only 30k frequent flyer miles per person. I had initially thought this was not an option since I was looking to leave on Sunday, which for some reason is 60k miles?

I may look into a travel agent for the hotel/resorts to see if they can get me any specials. Especially if they can get me the travel insurance cheaper than I can get it myself.

I did think of another question for everyone. I read a review that mentioned an all-inclusive option for the Jalousie Hilton, but on their website I could not find any information about it... Do they still have that? And is it worth doing? I think I would rather get out and experience some local food rather than just eat at the hotel, but I don't know if the southern part of St. Lucia has a whole lot of good places to eat?

That's really the only aspect of the trip that I am worried about... The cost of all of the meals.

Thanks again!

I also stayed at the Jalousie for my honeymoon in 2003 and loved it!
I booked the trip on my own mainly because I had frequent flier miles and I think it was only 30K to go per person with American Airlines. Initially I booked the Jalousie via the hilton.com but 2 weeks before the trip, Expedia had a better rate for the oceanview villa and I booked with them.

I did not do all-inclusive, but in hindsight, I would at least recommend getting the breakfast plan. We ate breakfast there most mornings. Oftentimes, we were busy doing tours so we didn't eat lunch at the Jalousie.
For dinner, we did go to Anse laRay on Friday night, Dasheen & The Bang on Wednesday. They're all great alternatives and add variety to the offerings at the resort.
For shopping, the hotel has escorted trips to Castries, the main town where you can do all the shopping you want. I enjoyed staying at Jalousie. Get an oceanview villa if you can afford it. You will have total privacy and your own plunge pool. I stayed in villa 303 and had a GREAT view of the mountains and the ocean!
My husband and I passed by all the Sandals during our tours and we were so glad that we didn't stay there. Sandals does not hold a candle to the overwhelming beauty of the location of the Jalousie which is right between the mountains and the villas are in the hills with phenonmenal ocean views. The Sandals are just your standard hotel, albeit luxury hotel. Can u tell I enjoyed my stay? Haha

Thanks for the reply! We have actually just finalized the wedding date and gotten two frequent flyer tickets from Delta. So I should be booking here shortly. Although I suppose it might benefit me to wait a while before booking in the hopes a lower price might come around. With it being the off season, I would not image this would be a problem...

I just found out that I waited too long to book the flights. My return flight has no more Skymile seats available... I had to bump the trip up to 8 nights to get an available flight... Can you tell I'm REALLY mad about that...

I am not certain what type of room I'm going to get. Ocean view did look like the nicest, but I may go for something cheaper in the hopes that they will upgrade me for free when I get there. I've heard that this is pretty common when you are there off season?

As long as you book a villa you'll be fine. Don't book a room in the Sugar House(?) I think that's what it's called, because those are just rooms in a small building on the premises.
Also, when booking, indicate that you're on your honeymoon. We did and there was champagne waiting for us!

Also, since you mentioned nature & hiking, you will probably enjoy a visit to the rainforest. We signed up for the Jeep rainforest tour at the hotel. The Jeep drops you off at the rainforest where the guide will escort you (and others) through the forest. We had a fun, albeit exhausting, time.
Make sure to bring good hiking boots/sneakers and a bathing suit if you go. Have fun.

Thanks for the info.

I have also been considering Anse Chastanet instead of the Jalousie Hilton. From the info I can find it appears that it will have more activities to do than Jalousie Hilton. (Diving, snorkling, biking, etc all onsite.)

I'm a bit worried about the fact that there is no AC. (Not worried about AC at Ladera since it is higher elevation.) I believe I saw some people complaining about this on tripadvisor, but they could just be picky travelers.

So if you had to pick five nights at Hilton or Anse Chastanet, which would you choose? (considering the fact that we will be coming off of 3 nights at Ladera.)

Another question I thought of. My fiance thinks that we may want to go the All Inclusive route so that we have a better idea of what we will be spending before we get there..

How are the All-Inclusive options at the Jalousie Hilton and Anse Chastanet? Are they worth it? Or would you suggest not getting it and trying to get to some local restaurants?

Thanks!