After completing an online course to be certified as Saint Lucia Experts, we were fortunate enough to qualify for a 3-night, all-inclusive stay at the Windjammer Landing. We had some vouchers to burn on American and had always wanted to stay at Jade Mountain, so we planned a weeklong stay between the two resorts.
Because of the course, and the fact that we were now Experts, we were also given the opportunity by the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority to visit and experience eight additional resorts besides the ones we stayed in, over the course of two days.
We had a connecting flight out of Miami. (Jet Blue currently has a seasonal direct flight out of Boston.) Our car service was prearranged by the Windjammer and after retrieving our luggage, we were promptly whisked away by our driver Kerry, who was quite personable, and we requested that he be our driver later in the week.
We were greeting in the lobby with a cold towel and refreshing rum punch. The property is built on a steep hill and drivers in vans take you back and forth to your room and the lobby/hotel common areas. Our room was a lovely, newly renovated, one-bedroom suite (#151 like the rum!) We check out the nicely appointed room with a spacious master bath and a third-floor private sundeck with a shower. We took some video and pictures and unpacked and settled in to our home for the next 4 nights.
We headed down to the pool area for the managers welcome reception. Free champagne and some appetizers with some local arts and crafts. We had a drink at the bar before heading over to Dragonfly for the Caribbean buffet.
Lots of different food to try and most of it was good. We sampled local island cuisine from Callaloo soup to Saint Lucia’s national dish, Green Fig and Salt Fish. Very attentive wait staff, and we had a great seat for the sunset. It was a very slow time at the resort (it’s mostly owner owned timeshare condos) so waitstaff seemed bored, but friendly, for the most part. We didn’t get a really, good vibe from the bartenders, but maybe they were just bored as well. Animal lovers beware, there are stray kittens that will try and cuddle and sample some of your dinner.
The next morning, we enjoyed coffee on our lanai and then headed to the buffet breakfast at Dragonfly. Bar wasn’t open yet so no bloody Mary’s, but they could do mimosas, so we rolled with it.
We looked around in the gift shop and I found a long sleeve t-shirt to purchase. Checked out the bar 96* and had the drink of the day. Liked that the bar stools were all swings. I was daring and made my way out to the over the water hammocks – tip, wear your water shoes, many rocks on this stretch of the beach.
We hung out at the beach and had a few drinks as it rained off and on. Hardly anyone on the beach so no need to head out early to claim a seat. We jumped in the pool to rinse off the saltwater, and we were the only couple in it. Trying to stay out of the sun but there is minimal shade at the pool, so we headed back to the room to cool off for a while before dinner.
Headed to Jammer’s for dinner. We were the first people seated for dinner. We ordered Piton Beer, it was actually quite good and definitely refreshing. Danny had ribs and I had a fish sandwich; both were really tasty and very generous portions. We just chilled there for a while and watched the sunset. I had a delicious frozen concoction instead of dessert (An Almond Joy I believe?) We were tired so we left before the nightly musician started.
The next day we joined Marla Willie, a sales associate with Windjammer, for our first site inspection. Our first room was a large 4-bedroom villa in the older section of the resort. Lovely views, spectacular infinity pools and remodeled bathrooms. Great for a multi generation getaway.
We also visited a couple of fantastic rooms in the newer North End that were more modern and only steps from the beach. I could see us staying here with a couple of friends!
After this we headed to lunch at Embers. We enjoyed a couple of rum punches and some fabulous fish tacos and an artichoke and olive flatbread. The flatbread was taking too long to bake, and both the servers and the chef came over to apologize. No worries, we had nowhere else to go and were just enjoying the breeze and being in the shade.
Marla had arranged for us to have a spa treatment so after freshening up we had a driver drop us off at the spa. We had a couple’s body scrub and massage. It was really nice and well appreciated.
The resort had given us a bottle of red wine when we got to the room, so we had that on our roof top deck as we watched the sunset.
We took a quick dip in the shallow pool right across from our condo, there was only one other couple out there, but they were enjoying the hot tub. We then went back to Jammers for dinner where we had the Caesar salad and split the fish and chips, it really hit the spot. There was no photo evidence except for some pretty drinks.
The next day we were picked up by our driver Marc. He was arranged by Richard Moss of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority to take us on our 8 ½ hour site tour of some of the resorts on the Northern end of the island. First stop was Coco Palm. The rooms are being renovated, but to be honest we weren’t that impressed and the photos on the website look nicer than real life. Pretty convenient location for shopping, casino and local life, and some swim out rooms, but just not quite our style.
Next stop was The Landings. A very impressive lobby and we had a wonderful guide, Kerishma to show us around. This is a larger luxury villa resort with various size room options. It was lovely and had a beautiful beach. Definitely an upper scale place to stay with wonderful views of the marina or the ocean.
Stop #3 was Sandals Grande St Lucian. What can we say, it’s Sandals. It was lovely, and large, and loud, but it also looked like a lot of fun. We saw multiple age ranges enjoying themselves and toured several of the 12 dining options available and were treated to a lovely lunch of savory crepes at Josephine’s Creperie, which thankfully was airconditioned.
Sadly, none of the rooms we viewed had been cleaned so we were not allowed to take pictures. We were not able to tour the new over the water bungalows as they were occupied. Side note here, this resort is right next store to the Landings and while at the beach there you could see the bungalows, so they don’t have much outdoor privacy if you know what I mean.
Off to Calabash Cove. I think I picked this resort because of some photos I had seen on Trip Advisor and it intrigued me. After a twisty, narrow, bumpy road, we were warmly greeted by Rolando, and we met the actual owner Konrad Wagner at the start of the tour. We were shown three different room categories. When we walked into the swim up junior suite we were blown away. I was just so lovely, and the vine and flower covered patio was so charming and romantic. We could definitely see ourselves enjoying this room with its large hot tub and walk out access to the infinity pool and swim up bar.
The last room was a waters edge cottage. This option gives you more room and your own private plunge pool on your patio. Optimal choice if you need a little bit more space. We really liked the feel of this resort and the ocean views and beach were outstanding.
The last stop for the day was St. James Morgan Bay. This is a large resort with a fairly affordable range of rooms. Like I said, it is a large resort and it is spread out so you can be walking a lot depending upon where you room is located. There are no elevators. We toured several rooms and they are definitely decorated differently depending on where you are situated. There are several restaurants, a couple of pools and a nice kids club.
Whew, long, hot day. Back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. I had hoped to have a pizza at Papa Don’s which was also right across the street, but it hadn’t been open, so dinner was at Dragonfly for the fish fry. This was several different local fish prepared with Saint Lucian ingredients and while I thought it was to be served right on the beach it was not. It was good but I’m not sure I agree with what they charge for it. We were on all-inclusive plan, so it was included. Service was once again very good, and the best part was the large dessert bar. Also, the kitty cats were back, we named the black and white one orca.
I had done a load of laundry in the condo and didn’t really understand how to use the dryer so our clothes came out totally wrinkled so I had to rewash and dry them so we got to bed a little later than we wanted and had to pack somethings that were still slightly wet. Ugh.
The next day we had breakfast, bought some last minute items (Bounty rum and Cuban cigars!) and checked out. We had a slight issue with the cost of our car service. Guess it was more expensive than estimated to get to the next part of our adventure – Jade Mountain!
Stay tuned for part two and our absolutely amazing stay at Nick Troubetzkoy’s Jade Mountain.
If you’d like more information on any of these resorts, please reach out to us at (603) 777-7850
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Kathy's Korner 