Ladera St. Lucia for Honeymoon
 

What do you guys think about Ladera in St. Lucia for a honeymoon. I know the rooms are great, but how are the roomservice, amenities, and such. <BR>Also, what type of excursions do you recommend for St. Lucia. We're thinking about booking a couple of day trips through Barefoot Holidays and are wondering if they're worth the money.

Ladera is a wonderful location for a romantic trip. Very romantic, beautiful sunsets, great location. The rooms are so unique. The resort is small, so they know their guests well. <BR><BR>There is no room service -- your room doesn't even have a phone. You can always bring food back to your room. A couple nights we had dinner at the bar at 4:30, watched the sunset from there, and then went back to our room for an...ahem...nightcap.<BR><BR>Excursions: You can book these on your own through Ladera and not pay outside fees. We hiked through the rain forest; took a day boat ride (with Elvis, who was great) to Castries and Marigot Bay, stopping to snorkle along the way; and went horseback riding at a nearby Plantation, Mourne Coubaril. Other couples took day sails (Ladera even packs you a lunch), went deep-sea fishing, took helicopter rides over the island. There's tons to do!

My husband and I spent our honeymoon at Ladera last year. You read our full trip report and see all our pictures at www.seashelltravel.com.<BR><BR>We absolutely LOVED it! We had the most romantic honeymoon we could ever have. There are no phones, radios or TVs in the room to promate the romantic intimacy. The staff was wonderful. WE need an iron one day and the office promply brought one over for us to use. My husband made plans to go sailing and the company called the office and they came right over to tell my husband he had a phone call in the office. The servcie in Dasheene restaurant was also wonderful. WE found everyone on St. Lucila to be very friendly.<BR><BR>WE were in deluxe suite "R" and it had a enormous shower that could ahve fit 4 people (but not on a honeymoon :-) <BR><BR>All the rooms are unique and all are beautiful. There are no bathtubs though only showers. You can see what our room wa slike looking at our pictures.<BR><BR>Excursions I would recommend are the jungle tour, the sunset cruise on the brig unicorn and taking a water taxi out so you can see the Pitons from the water! other than that be sure to have dinner at "bang" over by the Hilton on teh night they have their great floor show. Otherwise we just slept late and played in our plunge pool or the main pool. <BR><BR>The pool at Ladera was on the cover of the last issue of Caribbean Travel & Life and there was a great article about Ladera.<BR><BR>Let me know if you have any questions

NYU: What is great about the rooms is that they're open-air and the view is incredible. They are not luxurious or full of amenities. Similarly, what is great about the resort is its intimacy, its location, the views, the lush gardens, etc. If you are looking for room service, this is not the place (there's no phone in the room to call for it, to start with). I'm not sure what you mean by amenities -- the ones it has are unusual (pools in the rooms) and it lacks the ones most places have (TVs, air conditioning, phones, etc.). That is what makes it special.<BR><BR>I would recommend waiting and booking your day trips through Ladera's desk once you get there.

Forgot to mention: another reason they don't have room service at Ladera is because they don't want trays of food left laying around -- needless to say, in an open-air place, food & drinks left out attract major bugs.<BR><BR>Personally, I think Ladera's an idyllic place for a honeymoon, but it's definitely not for everyone...

WHY would you want to stay at a resort that does not even have phone in the room??? This sounds just Crazy to me

Hey, anon, usually I like to take vacations during which I can get seriously hassled a lot with calls from telemarketers, my mom, and whathaveyou. I also like to lay on a couch and watch TV all day. But we decided to get crazy and try a place like Ladera with sumptious native foods, a view straight from heaven, and fresh tropical breezes. Just went crazy, I guess. You can always buy a satellite phone so you can still get Domino's delivered to your room....

When I went to St. Lucia for my honeymoon, we stayed at the Hilton resort near the Ladera, but went to Ladera for dinner one night. I love relaxing on the beach, but I admit that I also enjoy air conditioning so I knew the Hilton was a better fit for me than Ladera. The other issue is proximity to the beach--Ladera is not on the beach, but uphill aways--a cab drive/shuttle bus away from the beach. This equates to absolutely amazing views, but I know some prefer to be a bit closer to the beach.