Jesse

I am interested in going to St. Lucia for my honeymoon September 7-13 and I was hoping to get some feedback. I am open to other suggestions also!<BR><BR>Budget: 4,000 - 6,000<BR><BR>Some Nightlife, beautiful beach, All inclusive, (THE WORKS)

Donna

Jesse, check out the Jalousie Hilton. We left the Halcyon within 24hrs. due to many things but one main thing was we did not think the $5,486.00 with air 7 nights was justified at all. In my opinion. The Jalousie was well worth the price to us. Location, location, location, beautiful beach at the bottom of the Petit Peton, great rooms,24hr room service,private plunge pools, the Halcyon has the most basic of Motel rooms.<BR>Check out Caribbean-on-line reviews for St.Lucia (twigs/review) on the Halcyon and the Jalousie.<BR>No swimup bars, or games(like drinking) at the Jalousie. Nice romantic entertainment nightly, just not the party sene.<BR>Donna

Christina

My husband and I went to Sandals St. Lucia for our honeymoon 2 years ago and it was the BEST trip I have ever taken. We didn't go to Halcion, but went to the other Sandals, the larger one. It is expensive, but its your honeymoon. The food is great (we were there 7 nights and ate at a different restaurant each night). There is tons to do from laying by the pool, playing Volley Ball, kyaking, etc. My advice is play the games they offer, it is actually a lot of fun. Most people there are on their honeymoon, so there will be tons of other couples. We even took a catamaran to the volcano, it cost extra, but was well worth it. Scuba diving was included, and that was a great experience too. My advice, if you can afford it, splurge on your honeymoon and Sandals is definitely the place to go!!

Marti

I agree with Christina, go to one of the 2 larger Sandals for nightlife, Halycon is a much smaller, mellow, laid back Sandals. I just went to the newly renovated one, Sandals Grande St. Lucia and loved it. I visited all 3, and would choose Sandals Golf resort as my #2.<BR><BR>Don't look for a beautiful beach in St. Lucia though, look for a nice beach, and an awesome pool area. If beach is your priority, St. Lucia isn't the place to go, personally I like the mountains, volcano, rainforest diverse landscape that St. Lucia provides. <BR><BR>Don't miss the street party in Castries!!<BR><BR>Don't miss dining at Mario's and Kimono's at Halcyon and Golf, no matter what Sandals you stay at--the bus will take you to any one, it's all included.<BR><BR>Happy planning!<BR>Marti

Donna

It is a shame when people say there are no beautiful beaches in St. Lucia. <BR>The beach between the Pitons at the Jalousie Hilton is stunning!!! You will not see anything like it anywhere in the Caribbean. Yes it is a cove only a 1/4 mile long. But with the Pitite Piton riseing 2,400 ft straight out of the ocean at its bace is something you will only see in St. Lucia. It is lovely, yes they imported white sand for this beach, I think is was the right move, the white sand next to the crystal clear cobalt blue water is breathtakeing.So wonderful to swim and snorkel from, something else that you can not do from the Sandals resorts snorkel from the beach. I do understand where the posters that have only experienced the beaches in the north/Sandals propertys are coming from, yes, we also were disappointed in these.I think at the Golf resort this beach is closed as much as it is open. <BR>Another great beach is at Anse Chastenet, it is the natural silver/gray/black sand very soft,exotic beach and location. This beach is 5 mins boat from the Jalousie Hilton. <BR>None of these beaches can be apreciated by just sailing by in a boat a 1/4 of a mile out.

Mary

Donna: Yes the beach at Jalousie is &quot;stunning&quot; but that's the only beach that's extraordinary and not everyone can or would want to stay at that resort or anywhere in the south for that matter. For those people looking for brilliant shades of turquoise blue, you won't find it often in St. Lucia, even by the Jalousie. The majority of the beaches in St. Lucia look just like those beaches here in Wisconsin along Lake Michigan - not bad, but not awesome - just not want many people are looking for when traveling to the Caribbean. The water is definitely clearer in St. Lucia but the color of the water and the sand is pretty much the same as where I live. There are some areas around the island with those pretty shades of blue, but I didn't see them in many of the tourisy areas.

Donna

Mary you are exactly right.But based on the posts I read very often, and my love for a beautiful beach/water. I would not have chosen St.Lucia as a destination. I Thank goodness I never read any boards before we chose St.Lucia. Yes when we saw the beach at the Halcyon that was the first thing that came out of my mouth was we had much better and more beautiful beaches here on Lake Michigan!!! But for anyone with interest, I post, based on the fact that in the Southwestern end of island the water and beaches where lovely. This has become one if not our favorite place. I only wanted to point out when people make generalized statements like don't look for a beautiful beach in St.Lucia that there are!!!

Mary

Good point Donna and that was my reason for posting as well. Too many people make generalized statements without many other details to back them up. I disagree with people who say the beaches in St. Lucia are bad but I also disagree with those who say they're great. But that's just my opinion. But because it's an opinion, I want it to be more detailed - create more of a picture of what I'm talking about so people have a good idea of what something is like. <BR><BR>It was interesting to hear someone else say the beaches are similar to the Lake Michigan shoreline

Penney

Jesse,<BR><BR>We really enjoyed Sandals Halcyon. We liked the more intimate atmosphere and it has a very romantic feel to it. The property is very lush and tropical, nice long beach that is uncrowded and just a very pretty property. It is alot more laid bck then the larger Sandals but nice in that we could go there for something more upbeat. Water sports were excellent as the water is nice and calm.

EL NINO

You are smoking crack if you think the beaches in St. Lucia are like Western Michigan!<BR><BR>Check out Ti Kaye, and definitely stay in the South, it is the more lush/scenic part of the island.

Mary

Not at all El Nino. In fact, not only am I not on crack by I have 20/20 vision. Take a photograph of the sand and water at most Lake Michigan beaches and one at most St. Lucian beaches (leaving out the palm trees of course) and I'd bet money that you couldn't tell the difference.

dave

yeah, and take a look at a picture of the Hudson River, ignore NY City in the background, pretend that there is sand and palm trees, picture a mountain in the distance, ignore the color of the water and, OMIGOSH! IT'S JUST LIKE ST. LUCIA!!!

Mary

Dave: I said &quot;MOST.&quot; Most does not mean all. Nor did I mention anything about that scummy Hudson River.

DAVE

Mary -<BR><BR>Lighten up. It was a joke. You said to leave out the palm trees. I said leave out NY City (and a bunch of other things). Hyperbole/irony. Get it? I guess not.<BR>By the way, the Hudson River is not all that scummy anymore. Believe it or not, it is now safe for swimming and they are actually considering &quot;building&quot; beaches on the west side of Manhattan. The East River is much scummier...

Mary

Sorry Dave, I thought you were trying to belittle my post.

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Well Mary, not to belittle your post, but I just don't think it's a very good comparison. But, to be fair, I decided to test your theory. So, I went to a search engine and typed in &quot;Lake Michigan Beach Resort&quot; (is there such a thing? If the beaches are as good as you say it seems that there would be). I was directed to a site rsn.com. This site has web cams at locations all over the United States. To the left at the rsn.com home page, you will find &quot;water cams&quot;. Click on that and you will find two Lake Michigan cams on beaches in Wisconsin-- one of the cams is on a beach somewhere in Door County and the other cam is on a Lake Michigan beach in South Milwaukee. You can't see the beach very well in the Milwaukee cam but you can see the Door County beach very well. I will let readers make their own judgement about whether the Lake Michigan beaches and St. Lucia beaches are the same. All I know is that the Door County beach is not anything like any St. Lucia beach I've ever seen. The Door County beach is a bunch of hard packed sand with some unidentifiable scrubby stuff growing up though it. Look, everyone agrees that St. Lucia's beaches are not the best in the Caribbean, but anyone who has ever been to Jalousie Beach and Reduit Beach in St. Lucia knows that both of these beaches are very nice. Comparisons to Lake Michigan do a disservice to people who might visit Lake Michigan expecting a tropical beach and to those who decide not to go to St. Lucia based on this unfair assessment of the beaches there.

Mary

Fair enough. But the ones I've visited (I've lived near them all my life and have been to many), standing on the beach and looking out to the ocean, looked very, very similar. I never said anything about beach resorts or comparing beach resorts nor did I state that ALL Lake Michigan beaches look just like ALL St. Lucian beaches. Besides, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Based on that - which I strictly limited to sand and water color - is not an unfair assessment. You can disagree with me all you like. That's perfectly fine. It's my assessment and my opinion. That's all.

GM

For Mary, your opinion is well noted, however, we really like the beach at LeSport, even tho it's not the same as Grand Cayman or St. John or the BVIs or Barbados. The cove makes it private, the water is clear, warm, clean and altho just a little more wavier than So. St. Lucia, very nice. From 3 stories up, we have pix of the water with the clarity and crispness of the smooth stones deep down in the water. From the Oasis Spa high atop the beach, the view is just gorgeous at Noon as well as dusk.<BR><BR>The beach at the sister resort, Rendezvous, IMHO is not the greatest beach, due to in part that it is a public beach where dogs are free to roam around with their owners and right next to the airport and naval base. The water there seems a little more grayer. If I want THAT I can go to Atlantic City for less money....<BR><BR>I do feel that So. St. Lucia beaches are much prettier, but I'm partial to the North/Cap Estate area.

dave

Since I was a wise-ass in a previous post, I feel a little obligated to come to Mary's defense. I know a guy who has a house on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan. I've never been there, but I've seen pictures that he took from his back deck. The beach, view and water are pretty stunning. It's not quite the Caribbean (especially in January) but I wouldn't knock it either. <BR>There's a lot of debate on this site about good beaches versus bad beaches, etc. I've been to a lot of islands in the Caribbean and I have yet to go to a beach that I would consider a &quot;bad&quot; one. Some are nicer than others but, when you say that a Caribbean Island doesn't have beaches that are as nice as another island, that is not a criticism. To use a sports analogy, it's kind of like saying that Michael Jordan is a better basketball player than Kobe Bryant. That's not exacttly a knock on Kobe...