Hi,<BR>Here's antoher vote for Biras Creek (Biras.com) there are 2 Ocean Suites on the end recently renovated that spectacular. The food and service is top notch, the grounds are lush and beautiful. We were married there, I had a hairdresser come to our suite to do my hair and it was his first visit to Biras - he usually goes to LDB. He said that the suite was much nicer than LDB. The pictures on the website (last I checked) for the sutites have not been updated that white wicker furniture no longer exists. The bathroom has been enlarged to include a private outdoor shower. The rooms are 15 feet from the waters edge. The golden light form the sunrise everymorning peeks thru the windows and quietly awakens you. The beach and beach bar service is great - just raise your flag and a server will be right there. Food and wine list is top notch, if you want to take a Boston whaler for the afternoon (no charge) ther give you a map and a packed picnic lunch also no charge. Take along some snorkel gear and have a beautiful private lunch on Prickly Pear - very romantic. The trip from LDB would not be time consuming for you and you get to explore 2 very fine resorts on an island paradise. Congratulations and I hope this helped you a bit.

Hi, need to correct the room at Biras we stayed in a Grand suite which is right on the end of the resort. I just checked the website and the pictures have been updated.

I am not amazed at Rosewood! They tend to cater to large groups, and I have seen LDB on luxury link alot lately! So the hotel is trying to fill up its rooms!<BR>Now, switching on your last day is a pain! Why don't you talk to Management at LDB or Rosewood and combine LDB with Caneel! Ask for Cabin 7, there are 5 wonderful rooms. You can ferry over to Caneel, and then fly out of St. Thomas.<BR>Is your travel agent working for you or not!<BR> Honeymoon-LDB should be asshamed, and you should not have to change your plans! One night, give me a break! Complain, complain, complain! Have your agent do it or do it yourself. Go to the top! I have been to LDB and its lovely. I have also combined, LDB and<BR>Caneel! Its a nice combo-the ferry over is part of the trip! But get Cabin 7! They offered it ot us at Caneel when they messed up our reservations on Scott! Good luck!<BR>

IF caneel is on the table, do not accept it. It will cost you time and money (changing airports) and it not worth it. It is a very different property than Little Dix. Stick to the BVI. Check out Guana Island, Biras Creek or Peter Island. Rosewood in the islands has not done a good job.

Rosewood has an ad in Sundays NY Times, advertising for the summer rates at Little Dix or Caneel!!!!!!<BR>I would call Rosewood direct! I think they OWN Little Dix. If you have to cut short or move-they owe you! <BR>Write Ombudsman in Travel and Leisure!<BR>But don"t be a sap!

I cannot believe that there have been so many responses. I think they all have been encouraging and some even amusing especially the "ankles" comment. Just to keep you posted and straighten things out, let me give all the info. We were set to stay at LDB for 7 nights not 20. Second, They only offered to take one night off from our packeage price and put us up in another resort at their expense. They also offered two fre nights the next time we come to LDB. They only offered the two days part after I spoke with management and told them how upset we were with the whole situation. Who's to say that we even come back to LDB, the airfare alone is a lot of money. Since we already have a sour taste in our mouths from the whole situation and we only have three weeks left before our wedding and we have so many other things to do, we decided to just forget about LDB and book at our second choice, which as someone figured out in an earlier post, Cap Juluca. Our travel agent checked it out and there was still some availability. So we switched everything over to CJ and are getting a full refund from LDB. It actually turned out ok because the airfare is slightly less and CJ is running a special so it all comes out less than what we anticipated to spend.<BR><BR>I can assure you that this will not be the end of it. I will be sending a nice lengthy letter to Rosewood, not LDB and anyone else that I can think of. Someone said that maybe I should send these posts as well so that they know that word gets out, I think that's a good idea.<BR><BR>Thanks everyone for the advice we both appreciate it and it helped us feel a little better about this whole thing.

Lou, I have been to Cap Juluca many times! The island of Anguilla is flat and arid, but its beauty ,its charm, its friendly people, its beautiful beaches and wonderful little reataurants and special hotels make it a nice package. Cap Juluca has much better rooms than LDB, and is on a perfect beach! Now you can relax! It is a perfect hotel and island for a memorable honeymoon! Enjoy!

Thanks, Lou for your response, much happiness to you both--everything happens for a reason.

I would change my plans if that happened to me. LDB is nice but I really think it's over rated. You can do better under these circumstances.<BR>Good Luck!! <BR><BR>

Cap Juluca has much nicer rooms and better beaches. <BR>It also has more class than LDB.<BR>Personally I think you are better off at CJ. I would have chosen it over LDB in the first place!

I would just like to add that when we were originally trying to decide where to go we were at a loss because both seemed very appealing. What made us decide on LDB was the fact that we actually knew three couples who went there on their honeymoon and all of them couldn't stop talking about how great it was. Unfortunately it was not meant to be for us at LDB but like Nancy saidm, "everything happens for a reason." Thanks again guys and as soon as we get back I will post on our experiences. Now I have to start doing some reseach on the island and find out what we can do while we're there.

I used to think Little Dix Bay was top of the line, but that was when I was still naive, before I had really expanded my horizons and started to get away from the VIs to see the rest of the Caribbean. I only recently realized how foolish I had been to return to the same handful of places over and over for 20+ years, foolishly believing it just couldn't be better! But now I think places like LDB and Caneel are way overrated! Although LDB is in my opinion still vastly superior to Caneel, it started a downhill slide several years ago even though it was rennovated when Rosewood took over and took advantage of the hurricane damage to do so. They a/ce'd the Premium and Delux rooms leaving only 2x3 opening at the top of windows (boo hiss!) and some of the Oceanview are right near the Kiddy Kamp behind the Beach House!!! Then it took a hit from Harpers on the food and service, and other negatives include being at LDB's mercy in terms of the (good, not great) food and beverage as there are very few local options available, and there's really only two dining options short of the beach stand which means there is not much variety available over a weeks stay. When you consider the dining and beach options available in Anguilla, there is no need to ever look back!

Lou, the island is real easy to research! I am sure you know www.news.ai also there is a very active forum at caribbean on line to help you out! CJ is located on the west end of the island! Lots of nice choices to dine! Altamer is the new spot, right on the water and is wonderful. Trattoria Tramonto is my favorite, right on the beach, very causal for lunch! Nice at dinner too!<BR>Mangos is wonderful for dinner! Straw Hat too. Scilly Cay for a fun experience and dynamite rum punches.<BR>Cap Juluca is unlike any other caribbean hotel, and I have been to the best. So relax and enjoy! It will be a wonderful honeymoon.

Lou, my husband and I will be on Anguilla the same time as you. We are renting a villa for our honeymoon, well our 30th honeymoon Cap Juluca is gorgeous, I mean GORGEOUS. Having been to LDB and CJ, I find CJ higher quality, especially the accommodations and beach. Have a great time, I am glad that it all worked out. I don't know where I picked up "20" nights in the posts, probably reading too fast. Happy wedding and wishing you many more "honeymoons".

Hey Lou,<BR>I've been reading these posts and noticed that you are getting married in 20 days or so. Must be the 4th of July weekend that you are getting married. So am I, and we will be honeymooning at the Cap Juluca resort during the same time period. Who knows, we might run into each other. If not, I am sure we will both enjoy our respective honeymoons.<BR><BR>Just to let you know what kind of stress we are dealing with, we no longer have a wedding coordinator because she is going out of business. Luckily, we hadn't paid the balance yet so we didn't lose any money, just time and worry trying to find someone else during a holiday weekend. We got on the phone and called family and friends for help. WE got it!!! Two of my aunts who do this on the side have decided to coordinate our wedding for us. They were already coming from out of state and said they would love to do this for us. With all of this said, sometimes there is a silver lining to the turmoil that life throws at us. <BR><BR>See ya on the beach (maybe)

There are very few negatives about Anguilla. Two of the most common complaints are that it isn't known for great snorkelling and the island itself lacks the lush tropical beauty that many others offer. But Cap Jaluca is a special place for a honeymoon. Glad to hear it all worked out.

Hi Lou and Susanne, Been reading all these posts regarding your honeymoon and glad that you finally worked everything out. I found Cap Juluca 2 years ago and researched Anguilla to death! We will be staying there for our 4th anniversary around the same time you will be there. I believe you have made an excellent choice. Check out these websites:<BR>www.capjuluca.com<BR>www.capjuluca.ai <BR>www.news.ai<BR>www.islandhop.com <BR>www.anguillaguide.com<BR><BR>I've also found this board very helpful as well as caribbean-on-line.com. Congratulations and have a wonderful honeymoon.

i want you to know that 9 years ago we had our honeymoon at LDB, and it was by no means perfect- as was stated above- you will probably be happier at cj. having travelled worldwide since our honeymoon i can also tell you that ldb is not the be all and end all- that there are dozens of places on earth with comparabvle private beaches and exclusivity- and more choices for food, too! by the end of the week we could recite the house band's entire repetoire- why not? they played at every single meal!

Lou- <BR><BR>You should definitly circulate this thread as well as send letters to both the hotel and Rosewood. You lucked out that you were able to switch to another resort(without penalties it sounds like). I used to work front desk at a 4 star hotel and occasionally the hotel was overbooked. In return we paid for their hotel room or offered a voucher for those whose companies paid for their rate/also included ride to hotel. Your original hotel is breaking their contract by asking you to leave on your final night (even ruder/stupider of them as it is your honeymoon). It was ridiculous to have offered you two free meals on your next stay and a free night at a lower standard hotel. What's that saying "Tell one person about your experience and it spreads to 10 others...".<BR><BR> I just celebrated my one year anniversary recently and I all I can say to you is take a huge breath and try to relax! It is almost inevitable something will go wrong (with some aspect of the wedding/honeymoon) but hopefully that was the worst that will happen! I would contact all your vendors/hotels/contact people and verify everything with them a day or two before the wedding-speaking from misfortune.I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys!

Typing quickly while supposed to be working...<BR>I've been following this post and so glad that it seems to be working out. I think it was a good idea to switch places, as the original would have left a bad taste and coloured your hard earned honeymoon.<BR>Anguilla is not a lush island because it isn't volcanic. It's a coral island which is why the beaches are so spectacular. The snorkelling at Cap Juluca probably isn't the best, ask the beach attendants where they recommend.