The Royal St Lucian
 

Hi,<BR>Have been spending a lot of time reading through this site to try to research my choice of the Royal St Lucian for my holiday this year in june.<BR>All the questions posted asking about this hotel seem to have very few replies(if any)<BR>Is there something wrong with this hotel ?<BR>or is it just not many here have been ?

I stayed right next door at the Rex last July.This is a great property,on the best beach in St. Lucia. There is also alot you can walk to from here,and we never felt unsafe.

We stayed at The Royal last November, Thanksgiving week, and had a great vacation. We stayed in a Seaview room. The Deluxe and Seaview rooms are the same except the Deluxe are on the first floor with a garden/pool view, while the Seaview rooms are on the 2nd and 3rd rooms with a pool/sea view. They also have 8 Beachfront rooms. The rooms are all suites (separate living room area, mini-fridge, bedroom area, large bathroom with 2 sinks, tubs, and separate shower, private patio or balcony). They provided maid service every morning and turndown service in the evening. Towels were changed at both times. The hotel made every attempt to fill any request we had. They have a lovely pool with a swim-up bar. All of the beaches in St. Lucia are public, but they have thatched huts on the beach for their guests use only. The Royal is the most luxurious of the 3 Rex hotels located on Reduit Beach (which from what I saw was the nicest beach in St. Lucia). The other 2 hotels are the Rex and Papillon. I believe they are all-inclusive and share facilities. I think you can get a meal plan at The Royal, but it is not an all-inclusive resort. The Royal is geared toward adults only. There were very few children. The only negative thing I can think of is their restaurant (Epicure?) for dinner. Breakfast and lunch is fine. They do have a gourmet restaurant (Chic) which is excellent. There are several good restaurants within walking distance of the hotel. The Buzz is located across the street from the hotel and is very good. If you decide to travel by taxi, the hotel will make arrangements for you. I highly recommend our taxi driver, Fletcher. I'm not sure why there aren't more posts about The Royal. I had difficulty finding info myself. The posts I have found always gave excellent reviews. I'm not sure where you are traveling from, I came from the USA, but the hotel has many European guests and this maybe another reason there are not many posts. Have you tried www.caribbean-on-line.com. There are several reviews under the hotel review section that gave The Royal excellent reviews. Also www.travelhop.com have virtual tours of the rooms. I think you will enjoy The Royal. Have a wonderful vacation! Please post a review when you get back.

Thanks for your help.

I just got back from 10 days in St Lucia. We spent 3 nights at the Royal and 6 nights at the Jalousie Hilton. I was so glad that we split our time there! Both hotels were wonderful, but each very different. The Royal is more of what you would expect from a typical resort hotel. The rooms were spacious and the views of the ocean were spectacular! It is also very convenient to the SLU airport (about a $15 USD taxi ride). We did not particularly enjoy the food there, but there were many other good restaurants close by. I would recommend Buzz and Greathouse. We spent most of our time there relaxing by the pool and ocean and saved our adventures for the Jalousie because it is closer to the volcano, waterfalls, rain forest, Soufriere, snorkling, scuba, etc.<BR><BR>We took a water taxi down to the Jalousie rather than opting to drive the 2 hours. In retrospect it wasn't a bad decision, but be prepared to get wet and make sure your driver has a tarp to cover your luggage. It cost approxiamately $100 USD and took about an hour. It was a fantastic way to see the whole coastline - including Marigot Bay, Anse Chastnet, Soufriere, etc. <BR><BR>When we got to the Jalousie we felt like we were entering secluded paradise! I loved the way the villas were scattered across the hills. We had much more privacy there than at the Royal. You almost feel like it is your &quot;home&quot; for the week. The resort is spread out across many acres but the hotel provides shuttle vans that run 24 hours per day. The shuttles were always very prompt and we never had to wait longer than a minute or two. The staff at the Jalousie bend over backwards to make sure you have a wonderful stay there. They can accommodate any request (even my PB&amp;J at 5am for breakfast)! They make it a point to remember guest's names and room numbers and after being there for just a day, I felt like we were almost family! If you do decide to split your stay, here are a few recommendations:<BR><BR>1) Helicopter out of the Jalousie. They have their own private Helipad and it only takes 7 minutes to get back to the airport rather than the 2 hours by taxi.<BR><BR>2) Go to the grocery store in Soufriere when you get there and get some snacks/breakfast for the days you don't feel like resort food.<BR><BR>3) Eat at Mango Tree and Dasheene restaurants. They are WONDERFUL and only a short taxi ride away from the hotel!!<BR><BR>4) Go to &quot;Bang&quot; on Wednesday night. It is a short walk from the hotel and is run by Lord Glenconner, formerly of Great Britain. It's a great show of acrobatics and fire dancing!<BR><BR>4) Stay at the Hilton for dinner on Monday - Italian night at the Pier and Friday - Calypso Party (grilled steak, chicken, seafood) night at the beach.<BR><BR>5) Go on the Jeep tour of the rainforest - request Tony as your guide.<BR><BR>6) Go to the botanical gardens and the volcano - it stinks of sulphur but it's worth seeing!<BR><BR>7) Snorkel/scuba at Anse Chastenet<BR><BR>8) Order a double-decker Peanut Butter and Jelly from room service - it's the best!<BR><BR>Hope this helps a bit. Have fun with whatever you decide!