Rockit:<BR>In what specific way do you think St. Lucia is overrated?

For poster XYZ, if you re-check my original post on Grand Cayman, I did note that GC has &quot;a deep blue ocean,&quot; compared to just the &quot;aquamarine&quot; of St. Lucia. When we were in San Fran, I noticed the various shades of aquamarine there, but folks that lived there said the deeper blue the water out there the colder it is. Not so in Grand Cayman, tho, right? - so warm and pretty calm. Hubby loves Caymans for the dives, especially. But you're right, it is important to note.<BR><BR>For GuyST, sorry, but when we were at Rendezvous, since the beach is public the locals that were there were looking to sell things, left garbage, brought their dogs and let the dogs roam around and relieve themselves on the beach. I don't care HOW large the beach is, between that, the crummy 'beachfront' room we had, the constant airplane noise and the tons of smoking that I could not get away from except staying in my room, you cannot convince me about Rendezvous, with the swim-up bar that most folks don't leave from ALL DAY. LeSport changed the policy about 4 years ago with regard to families; no one under 16 is allowed for like 9 months out of the year. The demographic is not older folks; I personally saw more of that demographic at Rendezvous, but I don't doubt your experience at LeSport (albeit a while ago, probably) at all.<BR><BR>For poster 'Kathy' - thanks SO much for the input on St. Lucia places 'off the beaten track.' We are going back for the 3rd time, and this time, our fav Taxi guy is going to take us on all the excursions around; I'm printing out your info.<BR><BR>For poster Dave, I hope my post about changing doesn't cause too many problems with your itinerary. Have a WONDERFUL time, and I absolutely envy you folks for having almost 2 weeks for your fantastic honeymoon!

All of GM's reasons for not liking Rendevous are EXACTLY the problems I had with it. <BR>Additionally, when we were there (keep in mind this is years ago - it may not be the same now), you had to sit at large tables with at least 8 other people, they had terrible evening &quot;entertainment&quot; with a toga party and crab races, the food was so so, the activity director was constantly harping on us to play volleyball or charades or some other such nonsense, and the place was full of drunken idiots of one particular nationality who all smoked like freight trains the entire time. <BR>I'd also encourage anyone who goes to St. Lucia to take advantage of getting away from whatever resort you choose to see the beauty of the island and experience the nightlife and culture.<BR>For some first time or new visitors to the Caribbean, the jump up at Gros Islet is a little overwhelming, but it is a not-to-be-missed adventure for the rest of us.<BR>The island is one of the most lush and beautiful in the entire Caribbean, but it does have its problems as well.<BR>I have yet to find any island in the Caribbean that can please everyone.<BR>If it's clean and safe and sanitary, it doesn't have any &quot;irieness&quot; - like the Caymans.<BR>If it's laid back, less-developed, and funky, some will find it &quot;scruffy&quot; - like Anguilla, or &quot;slummy&quot; like St. Lucia.<BR>All of the islands have their own personality and visual scenery.<BR>If a person chooses to go to a particular island and doesn't like it, they have no one to blame but themselves for not doing their research before they go.

GM: do enjoy your third visit to St Lucia and I am pleased that I could offer you some suggestions to make your trip more pleasurable. What can I say - I love St Lucia! It isn't perfect, but then again, show me a place on this earth that is? The trick to enjoying is to go with an open mind and be willing to explore. Also mingle witht he locals if you can, they are generally good people. One resturant I would recommend if you have'nt already been there is The Still - its just outside of Soufriere in a very lush, rustic setting - lovely! The food is mainly local and it is good. It is a nice place to stop for lunch on the way to Soufriere. Enjoy!!

Rockit,<BR>Please do us all a favor and DON'T respond to &quot;Real&quot;. I enjoy traveling and don't mind listening to people's opinions, but she's driving me nuts. Maybe she'll just move to St. Lucia!

Carmeli, Before we decided on the Jalousie Hilton in the southern part of St. Lucia, we strongly considered the Royal St. Lucian. If we go back to St. Lucia, we will probably give it a try. It is luxurious and uncrowded and probably a good choice if you want a nice first rate place to stay with some night life within easy walking distance. I have heard that the beach is very nice although the sand is more of a golden color than the bleach white color that many vacationers prefer. Of all the resorts in the north part of St. Lucia, the two I would consider most strongly would be the Royal St. Lucian and LeSport. Good luck whatever you decide.

To: Keep-it-real: We are planning to visit St. Lucia the end of this month and are staying at the Royal St. Lucian. Do you have any other info regarding the hotel, their restaurants or nearby restaurants? I've read that Froggy Jack's, the Coal Pot, the Great House, Green Parrot, Bon Appetit, are all good choices. Also has anyone heard of a land and sea tour on the Surf Queen with Joseph's Touring Co? Thanks!

What's wrong with someone being enthuisiastic about somewhere??? So real likes St. Lucia, just because they like the island so much is not a bad thing, they want to share their enthuisiasm. I went to St. Lucia and don't recall it smelling bad or the locals being overbearing, they were less overbearing than Hawaiians are rude. It is not for everyone, so what, I've never read so many posts from people who whine and complain as on some of these it's ridiculous. The smart thing for you Carmeli is to read everyone's posts and do research about the two locales and come to a decision that way. Your trip will be what you make of it, whatever you do when you post how the trip went be truthful and not petty, try be honest and objective as to what you liked and disliked about a destination. If I paid attention to every negative opinion of St. Lucia I never would have went and would have missed out on one of the most beautiful places around.

So is there something in between?<BR>Clean, safe island with lush landscape and great beaches?<BR>Would Nevis fit that bill? Or Antigua?<BR>

Dan, <BR>I'm not trying to play Mom here, but I think the problem is there's a difference in expressing your opinion and &quot;drilling&quot; people. Real just wants to play quiz games with others who don't want to do the debate thing on all the St. Lucia threads. Probably it would be best if she just stated her case and didn't go after others by asking them to defend themselves endlessly or telling others not to be mislead by those who don't like St. Lucia. There are a number of people who don't like it and there will be others who come after us that don't care for it. After all, that's what this forum is all about, don't you think?

carmeli: I think that the quality of beaches in St. Lucia is fine, unless you are so discriminating that you demand long stretches of powdery white sand beaches. If I were thinking about a downside to St. Lucia, I think the main one would be that the roads are in such poor condition, you can have a tough time getting around.<BR><BR>And to Nancy (the previous poster), I am sorry that my posts aren't your cup of tea. But, when posters disagree with each other, there is no getting around the fact that they are going to critique each others' opinions. This is what happens when posters take a stand for something.

Hands down, St. Lucia. GC was so freaking expensive, we felt raped when we left.

I have been to virtually every island in the Caribbean. In my opinion, St. Lucia was the most beautiful of the lot. I thought the scenery was simply amazing. There are other islands that are almost as beautiful. Cayman is not one of them. In fact, Cayman is probably one of the least attractive and least interesting islands. It is relatively safe and clean, as others have written, but there is nothing special about it other than the high prices and the diving. Between the two, I vote for St. Lucia.

Nancy,<BR><BR>The problem I have with postings is you jump on someone like keepitreal yet have no problem with someone like greg. Why don't you and greg just admit that you are typical american tourists who are snobs to anything different from the resort style vacations you like. The typical american tourist who likes to be pampered and probably goes running to the nearest Sandal for a &quot;real island&quot; experience. Carmeli if you want a real forum with insightful posts go to caribbean-on-line.com, not too many geniuses like Greg though there are some, but better insights.

Dan, <BR>First of all, I suspect that you are probably married to &quot;Real&quot; but aside from that, a typical american tourist? I am very far from a snob. However, it is quite obvious to me that because I prefer GC and am able to afford it, you are going to put me down for it. I have been to many places, rented cars and have explored the islands. Go back to my original post and re-read what I said. BTW, Dan, I love caribbean-on-line.com and luckily enough don't find your type on there very often.

Nancy-<BR>I've been to both GC and St. Lucia (most recently St. Lucia) and there are features about both islands that make it worth the trip in both cases. Grand Cayman has great beaches and crystal clear water and is sufficiently developed so that getting around on the roads is not a problem. The traffic congestion in Georgetown was a problem though. Sting Ray City was probably the one and only non-beach activity that I could recommend The island, aside from the beaches and water,was not that interesting. We visited the blowholes on the southern end of the island and the rock formations (called Hell), but it just wasn't too impressive. St. Lucia's beaches and water are not the equal of GC's (although in many places they are nice) but the island has a lot of interesting and memorable topography, which has been discussed above.<BR><BR>In a previous post Nancy you took me to task for &quot;drilling&quot; other posters on this board when I dared to disagree with their views on St. Lucia. Now I see where you have told off Dan by stating how lucky you are that you don't encounter his &quot;type&quot; on a competing travel website and insinuating that his views lack objectivity because he is married to me (which is not true). I don't know exactly what you mean when you talk about &quot;drilling&quot; someone, but your last post would seem to qualify. <BR>

Real,<BR>Visit Dan's comment about Greg. He suggested to Carmeli that there weren't any geniuses like Greg on Caribbean-on-line. The 'directions' on these forums are to express your opinion, which is what Greg did. As well as Michelle, Mary, Stinky, Rockit and Jackie. None of whom cared for St. Lucia. Drilling means that you continue to suggest that if only these people had stayed at a certain hotel, or had visited such and such a place they would have said,&quot;Oh, you're right. We LOVE St. Lucia.&quot; I think everyone stayed at different hotels and DID venture out and we are all still saying we didn't like it. Can't we all just have an opinion?

Has anyonee stayed at the St. James Morgan (formerly Windham Morgan)?