Jalouise Plantation w/ two toddlers: are we crazy?
 

I think we decided to go to St. Lucia in November and take our 1 year old and 3 year old with us. Reason is, the hotel is amazing. We can stay 5 nights in a villa with our own pool and seperate living room for the girls to sleep in. Its quite, but they still have a children's center and babysitting. amazing spa and there is even a playground on the beach. So, its small, luxurious, but also has stuff for the girls. BUT, are we crazy? its a super long flight (from DC area) - only one flight a day and we would get home at midnight. And its really hilly. We have to call the shuttle to go to the main house or beach. But, we really plan on spending a lot of time in our villa- they will still be napping and stuff. Dont know. I looked into Windjammer, but its too commercialized for us.

Oh also forgot to ask- how bad are the mosquitos? That may be a deal killer.

I don't know, but we just got back from St. John, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why people take little kids on expensive vacations. Many looked miserable (especially on the all-day travel days) and the parents looked stressed and grumpy with each other. If you are just going to hang at a warm, sunny villa I'm sure there are easier, and less expensive, places to go to where everyone will have fun.

Wliwl -- I can't for the life of me figure out why people are reluctant to take young kids on vacation. In my opinion, the only hard part is getting them on and off the plane -- and even that is easy if you rely on the kindness of strangers to help you carry stuff. The kids tend to fall asleep as soon as the plane takes off. Once you are at your destination, taking care of them is no harder or easier than taking care of them at home. We have 8 year old triplets and took them on their first flying vacation when they were 5 months old. We've taken them away two or three times a year since -- including 12 trips to St. Lucia. On many of the trips, we had to change planes. Believe me, it is not that big a deal.
By the way, you might like Windjammer -- there are always a lot of kids there.

Re: Mosquitos -- bring Avon Skin So Soft with you and slather your kids with it several times a day and that should keep away mosquitos.

I'm with john, we travel w/our kids to the Caribbean a lot with no problems. I think I'd be sad going without them! Fortunately our kids are happy with playing in the sand and water and love our trips. Of course, it's all our kids know. Disney for us isn't our idea of a vacation.

We've been to Jalousie on some day trips -we stayed on the other side of the Pitet Piton at Stonefield Resort, which we loved about 7 years ago. St. Lucia is gorgeous, especially the southern part near the Pitons where you'll be staying. The beach there is one of my all time favorites, nestled between the pitons. It's just stunning. There are no waves at that beach so it's perfect for little ones. You'll love having your own villa/pool too to spread out. The roads there are very windy and hilly, but if you're planning on staying at the hotel most of the time you'll be fine. Hardest part will be getting from the airport to the hotel. Make sure you fly into the airport on the southern end of the island so you'll be closer to the hotel. There aren't too many activities off site that you can do with the little ones as most involve hiking through rainforests, etc. But you could take them through the botanical gardens nearby-they might like that. I wouldn't worry about flying late hours-it's actually helpful as they should sleep most of the flight! Regarding mosquitos, it depends on the rain. I believe November is rainy season. We did have lots of mosquitos while there but we loaded up on bug spray. You'll find this anywhere in the tropics though. Sleep w/your doors closed, and spray under the bed, bathroom, and closets each morning with bug spray before you head out to the beach and that will help keep the bugs down. Have a great time and please post a trip report!

No doubt, people have different perspectives and experiences on this issue. I have the perspective of someone whose kids are now grown, but the farthest beach vacation we ever went to with them was the Outer Banks.

If you have any financial restrictions (and I recognize many people don't) just don't forget what it costs to send them to college. Also don't forget how wonderful it is to have a truly romantic, adult vacation.

In the meantime, whatever you do with your family, value your time together, it goes by quickly.

One thing I will say re: cost -- whenever we travel, we usually stay at the cheapest clean place we can find. I think that our kids are typical and they are thrilled with the notion of warm weather and blue water. They really wouldn't notice whether they were staying at a Ritz Carlton or a La Quinta Inn. (Last February we stayed overnight at a LaQuinta 2 miles from our home in New Jersey so the kids could use the indoor pool and they told their teachers that they had gone on a great "vacation.") So, my advice is to pick a place that you can afford and that you as parents will enjoy. The kids will adapt to whatever you pick.
Also, if your kids have never been on a plane, you might want to consider taking them to an airport once or twice to watch planes take off and land so that they get comfortable with the concept of flying.

Rather than tell you whether you should or should not take your young children on an expensive vacation, as others seem to feel the need to do, I'll give you the perspective of someone who now has teenagers but took my children on plenty of trips when they were young. Only you know your children and how easy/relaxing the trip will actually be. Our daughter at that age was a phenomenal traveler (10 hour car trips without a peep, good sleeping in strange beds and behaved at restaurants) our son was challenging (did not sleep well in portacribs and was a nightmare in restaurants) so we had about 3 years where we did very low key trips. What always worked for us was staying in condo resorts so we were not stuck with three meals a day in restaurants, the kids had a separate room to sleep in and what also was important was beachfront accomodations with easy access to the beach. Jalousie doesn't really have those two elements and St. Lucia is difficult to get around so the logistics can be a challenge. For a great beach vacation in the Caribbean that meets the criteria I describe, you might consider Turks & Caicos. Many, many upscale condo resorts with rooms right on the beach. The other thing I always considered when bringing my toddlers was whether the other guests would be happy to be around very young children or not. I know Jalousie appears to be family friendly but there may be many couples and/or older guests who don't appreciate the children as they should. I say this as a mother who took plenty of romantic trips with my husband but left my children at home and know that on occasion I was annoyed to be surrounded by young children. I'm just trying to suggest there may be better choices for a beach vacation with your children -- easier flight, better logistics. Jalousie is on my bucket list, I hope that whatever you decide you and your family have a wonderful trip!