My fiancee' and I are about to confirm a weeklong honeymoon at the Ladera Resort in St. Lucia for late May 2001. Neither of us have been to the island and most of the reviews/websites look incredible. Does anyone have any tips as to what to do/what not to do? We are considering a deluxe 1 bedroom suite, is one room better than the other? Should we purchase the dinner plan for $48.00 per person or are there other places to eat that are easily accessable? We are looking for a romantic/beautiful spot that isn't overrun by tourists. The location is a surprise to my fiancee', so any input to make this a special trip is appreciated. <BR>

Mark, <BR> <BR>My husband and I are going to stay at Ladera in October. We had some of the same questions and had many good responses right at this site - keep looking at posts! I'll be glad to take notes and answer any questions you may have upon my return, however, do continue down at the posts and you'll find many positive responses about Ladera! <BR> <BR>Joan

Mark, <BR> <BR>My first question about Ladera was listed on this post July 16th - go to that post and you can view the responses I received along with other questions I had. Lisa & Kay were especially helpful! <BR> <BR>Joan

Hi Mark! I think you've made a fantastic choice -- provided that your fiancee won't be skittish about seeing little geckos and lizards running around. As the previous poster said, there have been a lot of recent threads that answer all your questions if you do a search of this forum using the word "Ladera." The dinner plan is a tough decision. We did not purchase it and were glad we didn't. We ate at Ladera 3 or 4 nights out of 7 I believe, and ate at Bang one night, at the Hummingbird one night, and at Jalousie Hilton one night. We had very good meals at all of them, and they were a nice change from Ladera, although to be honest with you the food at Ladera was superior in my opinion. Anyway, if it's an option you might want to purchase the meal plan for a night or two but not for every night. To be honest, we would not have gotten our money's worth out of it. I think the nights we ate at Ladera we each had one entree that was probably about $25 or so apiece, and we each had a glass of wine and that was it. We don't really do the whole appetizer-entree-dessert thing. So it's really a personal decision. Food at Ladera is pricey but we didn't think the prices were as egregious as we'd been led to believe they'd be, and the food and setting were certainly worth it. There are definitely other places to eat in the area (within 15 minutes away), but you will probably need to take a taxi to them, which is not a big deal in terms of time or money. Other options aside from the ones I mentioned are Captain Hook, and Camilla's, both in Soufriere. The restaurant at Anse Chastanet was good as well (we ate lunch there). Don't hesitate to ask the front desk at Ladera for restaurant recommendations -- they were very helpful and even called to make the reservation and arranged for a taxi to pick us up (and billed the taxi to our room). <BR>Regarding rooms, you will find out more from old threads but several people have raved about room S if it is available (we didn't see it though). <BR> <BR>Make sure you visit the botanical gardens one day, go snorkeling at Anse Chastanet at least one day, and visit the beach at Jalousie Hilton at least one day. We also visited the volcano which was interesting but nothing spectacular (it's a short hike downhill from Ladera, but uphill would be a problem so instead we had the beach shuttle pick us up). We also had a great rainforest hike with a local guide named Bruno, but I have since heard from other people who went on rainforest hikes with other guides that they did not have such a good time, so it probably all depends on the guide. Bruno picked us up in a minivan, drove us to the trailhead about 45 minutes or so away from Ladera, led us (and two other couples from other hotels) on a long hike down into the rainforest to a huge waterfall where we all went swimming in the natural pool, and he explained a lot about the vegetation and animal life in the rainforest, and then we hiked back out and he had freshly-cut bananas and pineapples waiting for us at the van when we got back. It took about 4 or 5 hours from pickup to dropoff and we really enjoyed it. <BR>Do a search and you'll pull up old trip reports that will help you a lot -- good luck and I hope you and your fiancee have a wonderful time.

Lisa, <BR> <BR>I'm trying to decide what to wear @ Ladera and really don't want to over pack (I'd like to just take two small carry-ons). I've been to a few islands and found that all we really needed were our bathing suits and a couple of pair of shorts and shirts and something more dress/casual for dinner. Can I expect the same at Ladera? What did you wear for your rain forest tour? What do most people wear to dinner? Also, I heard the Hilton has a nice buffet lunch and that we should hit the buffet later in the afternoon a couple of days, then just snack in the evening. Any comment about that? Thanks! <BR> <BR>

Joan -- My boyfriend and I are light packers and we brough basically what you described. We each had one small (20-inch) rolling bag that we carried on and stored in the overhead bin, and each carried a small backpack that went underneath the seat in front -- we hate checking luggage. We basically each brought 2-3 bathing suits, 3 prs shorts, 1 pr jeans (which we wore on the plane), 1 pr khakis (I also brought one lightweight black knit skirt, which I didn't really need, but it was fun to dress up a little more at dinner a couple of nights), 4-5 T-shirts, 2 long-sleeved shirts/tops (one of which we each wore on the plane), 1 pair of athletic/hiking/walking shoes, 1 pair of beach sandals like Tevas, and 1 pair of nicer shoes (I brought strappy low-heeled sandals, he brought a pair of tan leather casual lace-up shoes). We tended to wear the same things over and over, and my boyfriend also ended up buying a T-shirt there. On the rainforest walk we wore T-shirts, shorts, athletic shoes, baseball caps, sunglasses, and mosquito repellent (the only time all week we needed it). I would not do the hike in sandals because it was a bit steep/slippery/muddy in places, and also because you never know what you're going to step on in a forest so I like to have my toes covered. <BR>Most people dressed up a little bit at dinner but not a lot. My boyfriend wore short-sleeved cotton knit shirts (like polo shirts) and khaki shorts or khaki pants at dinner, but you could probably even get away with T-shirts if they were nice solid-colored T-shirts and you were wearing decent shoes. I didn't see anyone at dinner in athletic shoes. But I hardly saw any men in jackets so there is absolutely no need to bring one. Some of the women dressed up a little more and wore sundresses or skirts, but you still didn't really see high heels or major jewelry or anything like that. I did get a bit chilly a couple of nights at dinner when it was especially breezy and was glad I'd brought a silk sweater to throw over my shoulders and layer over whatever else I was wearing, but my boyfriend never really needed long sleeves all week (I'm always cold, he's always warm). <BR>We did a Hilton buffet dinner on the beach one night that was very good and was about $50 per person for all you could eat (not including wine or drinks). That was lovely, eating on the beach in the dark with candlelight and music, and there was dancing after dinner. But we never did the buffet lunch at the Hilton; we just ordered lunch there a la carte several times (try a roti; they're delicious, and the fruity drinks are to die for).

Forgot to mention -- we also each brought along a nice bottle of wine in our carry-on luggage. We were glad we did because wine is expensive on St. Lucia (their beer is inexpensive though, and very good -- it's called Piton). Your room will either have an icebucket or a refrigerator so you can keep wine cold. It was nice to be able to have a glass of wine in our room at night and watch the sunset before dressing for dinner, and it definitely helped keep costs down, plus we got to select something really special that would not have been available there. I don't know if you're wine drinkers but if you are I would recommend doing that.