We just returned from our one week honeymoon in St. Lucia! We stayed at Ladera resort for the whole week. All I can say is it was the most incredible trip ever. The island is like a fantasy and the views from the resort are amazing! When we first got there and they took us to our room we were blown away. The most beautiful place we had ever seen. We stayed in room S, which is a deluxe one bedroom suite with a plunge pool. We also were on the dinner plan, so we ate at Dasheene every night. I thought that might get boring, but the food was so great that we never tired of it! The staff at Ladera were so wonderful and friendly. Our two favorites from the restaurant were Lawrence and Innocent. Super nice and very helpful. I actually started crying our last night because I did not want to leave. Let me know if I can answer any questions!

Congratulations and I'm so happy to hear how much you liked Ladera!

Ruby: <BR> <BR>It was wonderful reading your report. I am getting married next weekend and staying in a deluxe one bedroom also. I can hardly wait. I am more excited about St. Lucia and Ladera than the sedding Did the room have a safe in it? how much cash/traveler checks/ credit cards did you use? I am trying to decide how much cash to take and if I need travelers checks or mainly use credit cards. What was the foo d like at Ladera and waht was the cost for dinner? Are there any excursions you liked or didn't like? Did you rent a car or do taxi's? <BR> <BR>thanks <BR> <BR>Kay

Kay, <BR>Congratulations on your upcoming marriage and honeymoon! You are going to have a wonderful time. <BR>There is a safe in the room that we used and just carried our money for the day on us. We took half cash and half travellers checks. It was no problem to cash the travellers checks at the front desk. You will find everything is alot easier than you might think. The big saying on the island when you ask for something or thank someone is "no problem" and that seems to hold true! <BR>As far as how much to take, it is hard to say. We ate the complimentary breakfast buffet everyday and opted for the dinner plan at night. The dinner plan is $48 per person per night. Not really a bargain, but we didn't want to think about it! Dinner prices are about the same as a nice restaurant in the states. We only ate lunch twice while we there. We found the breakfast kept us full until dinner. We spent most of our money on drinks at the beach, beer delivered to our room and we just had to buy the robes that were in our room! We ended up spending about $800 while we were on vacation. But you will probably need more if you are not on the dinner plan. We did not do much sightseeing while we there, we were on our honeymoon after all! We went to the Jalousie Hilton beach twice and the Anse Chastenet beach twice and spent a couple of days at the resort and in our room. The most fun we had was ordering beer to the room and spending the whole day frolicking in the plunge pool and laying out! <BR>We did not rent a car. The roads are bad and we did not want to have to drive carefully and miss the scenery. Getting a taxi is no problem. Just tell the front desk and they will have one there in an instant. Our taxi driver was Marvin in a black Lexus and he was very nice. <BR>Let me know if you can think of any other questions! Have a great time!

Kay, I would add two things to what has already been posted in reply to your questions. #1, check out Ladera, St. Lucia on this site and get a bunch of information already posted specifically about Ladera. #2 it is not easy to get to an ATM machine on the island, at least we found it to be that way. Therefore, my advice to you would be make sure you bring enough cash or travellers checks with you. You can always re deposit it when you get home. However, pretty much every restaurant or tour we went on took credit cards, so take that into consideration. But don't plan on hitting a machine when you run out of cash, cause its not that easy. Have a terrific time, you will love it.

Ruby & Laurie <BR> <BR>Thanks for the information. I think we will probably take around $1000 and our credit cards. I am not a big eater but my fiancee' is so I will probalby skip lunch but he may eat. I am trying to convince him not to rent a jeep, which is what he wants to do, and just do taxi's se we can enjoy the scenery. I do want to try a few other restaurants for dinner a couple of nights. We will be doing some excursions in the area too. I do want to shop for native made local things. It also sounds like I may ahve to have one of those robes too We will probably spend a lot of mony but we are both in our 40s and this is our first marriage so we HAVE wited a long time for a honeymoon so I plan to go all out so to speak! <BR> <BR>thanks again for the informaiton

My husband and I are going to Ladera for 7 days the last week in Oct. Have really enjoyed reading the messages. I did however, read on another site that bats swoop in to eat the bugs. I had to laugh, but seriously want to know if this happens. Are they a problem? How do you get to and from your room? Walk?Was the deluxe 1 bed. suite plunge pool heated? That is what we reserved, and I read several others say there pool was to cold to swim. However, I think those were standard suites. What was on the complimentary buffet? Can you drink the water? Are soft drinks available? (pepsi) My husband is a pepsiholic! Should I bring my own blow dryer? Someone said the converter will fry your dryer. Are there beach vendors? Beggars? Thank you for the info. I'am really looking forward to our trip. 32nd anniversary.

Hi Jan. We did have a bat circling in and out of our room one evening just after sunset. He would swoop in and out very fast and you couldn't really even see what it was; it looked almost like a swallow (bird) in terms of the way it flew. It wasn't a huge deal but then I am not really afraid of bats. My boyfriend and I just left the room and decided to go up to the bar for a while and when we got back to the room there was no more bat activity. They seem to really only be super active like that right around dusk. They will not run into you or the walls or furniture or anything because of their echolocation which is like a high-pitched radar we can't hear. You can see one of the bat caves during the water taxi ride to Anse Chastanet if you ask the boat driver to point it out; it's pretty cool -- there is a big crevice in a cliff and you can see and hear them in there. <BR> <BR>The breakfasts are wonderful. Yes you can drink the water (and we thought it tasted really good). Soft drinks are available but I don't know if it's Coke or Pepsi they have. You can bring your own blow dryer if you want but you don't have to because they have them at the front desk and you can just borrow one and keep it in your room all week; that's what I did. Yes there are some beach vendors and you will see them with little stands set up with dolls, conch shells, etc. for sale. They never bothered us but we did stop and look at their things a few times and in the end we bought a few handmade dolls for gifts to friends/family and I bought a pair of earrings and a necklace. You are expected to bargain for the price and should not feel like you have to accept the first price they quote you. We did not see any beggars on the beach. There were some in the town of Soufriere but frankly beggars are more common here in Washington DC where I live than they seemed to be in Soufriere.

Dear Jan: <BR> <BR>I can concur with everything Lisa said. We did see a few bats flying at the speed of sound around dusk but they never came near us. We thought they were really cool to watch. We did take a water taxi ride over to see the crevis where they stay during the day and that was really cool too. We used one fo Ladera's hair dryers too. They do have cokes in the gift shop. teh best way to find out what kind is to call them directly and ask. We did not see beggers or vendors on any of the beach around ladera. Our plunge pool was heated. You walk up a stone stairway to your door. It is covered in case of rain. <BR> <BR>

My husband and I are thinking of going to Ladera in Feb/March '01 and I have a few questions.Is there any type of evening entertainment? Is there much of a difference in the deluxe 1 bedroom compared to the standard 1 bedroom? If we travel with another couple, do you think the 2 bedroom is large enough, or are we better off with each couple getting our own 1 bedroom suite? Thanks in advance for your reply.

Lisa and Kay, <BR>Thank you both very much for your replys. You answered alot of my questions, and I'am even more excited! I'll try to post when we get back. THANKS AGAIN for taking the time. <BR> <BR>Jan

Hi Hope. If I were going to Ladera with another couple, I personally would want our own individual one-BR instead of sharing a 2-BR. If I understand correctly I think the 2-BR units have only one of the BRs being open-air, and I would definitely want an open-air room -- plus part of the fun of the openness of the units is that you do not necessarily want to have to wear clothes all the time, so I would prefer a 1-BR unit for the privacy.

I concur with Lisa. Ladera feels so inherently sexy that sharing a villa with another couple seems almost bizarre. I highly recommend separate suites.