Reviewers Rating: 
Excellent
Well I almost feel like I should thank Club Med for not opening! We booked our vacation at the St. Lucia Club Med back in August. We new what, in general, to expect from Club Med but had no idea at all what to expect of St. Lucia. It (St. Lucia) was wonderful!
We travelled with our 3 children, 11, 9 and 7 years of age. We had wanted a place with childrens activities and so when we had to look for somewhere else,Club St. Lucia seemed to fit the bill. We never actually left them in the kids club. Most of the kids being left behind were under 8, and they seemed to be very happy and well cared for. Our 3 connected with some kids their age at the pools and kept happy and busy and were safe just playing together. They had a great time and are still whining about being back. (Mind you so am I; as well it is minus 25 here!)
The resort is very clean and well maintained. We had a family suite in the Magic Parrot Village. This consisted of a sitting room with a pullout double plus a cot for the kids to sleep on, a couple of tables, and a fridge, and a master bedroon/bath with a queen bed, dressers, TV, large sink area etc. The bathroom had a bath/shower. We always had hot water and good water pressure. The room was kept impeccably clean by the staff. It was spacious and we were very comfortable. We were close enough to all amenities that we always walked (and even toured the grounds by foot a few times), but there are shuttles around the property if you choose or are further afield.
I liked the set up of the main pool and waterslide pool near the beach. Since these three were fairly close together, our family could split up for different activities and never really be too far apart. As well, you could keep an eye on your kids very easily from the comfort of your lounge chair!
All of the staff were wonderful. I particularly liked the fact that almost all of the staff were Lucian, they are certainly some of the friendliest people I have ever met. At the Club Med in Mexico that we had been to previously, the staff that interacted with the guests were American or Canadian.
CSL has a very large selection of watersports available right from the beach. Included were snorkelling, kayaking, windsurfing,sailing and pedalboats. For a fee you could also go waterskiing, tubing or jetskiing.
There are 4 restaurants at the resort. We only ate at 2 of them. The international grill is the main buffet and serves a marvelous selection at breakfast. Unfortunately we were not so happy at supper. The buffet is actually quite small and gets boring very quickly. As well I was very disappointed at the lack of local flavors! It was difficult to get in to the other restaurants for dinner, you need to make reservations a day or more in advance ( and the resort was quite empty when we were there). The menu for the Jade Vine did not look suitable for our kids taste, and we were unable to get in to it once we decided that we would feed the kids seperately. Two couples that we met there did go; one loved it and one hated it! The other restaurant that we used was Caps. We had almost every lunch there - it is very simple fare- pizza, hamburgers/hotdogs, fish kabobs- NO vegetables or fruits! But the kids were happy! We did have a dinner there, with table service and a menu. That was quite nice, but again it is Italian (not Carribean) food. There is also a burger cart at lunch and at 11p.m.
There is a show every evening. The ones done by the Magic Action Team are spectacular (Tuesdays and Saturdays). The others are okay, some are fun. After the show there is supposed to be dancing, but frankly the music was a bit boring. Now this did not stop us from having alot of fun visiting with our new friends.
I was amazed at the long hours and variety of tasks that the Magic Action Team preformed. They certainly contribute alot to the CSL experience. They, and frankly, all of the staff , were very nice to adults and to kids. The kids really felt at home, and I felt very comfortable giving them freedome to roam the grounds, day and night. The MAT got to know which family members belonged together, and even learned our names.
The bartenders were very nice as well. All drinks are included, including soft drinks and virgin blender drinks for the kids. They could live off of the smoothies they had! The drinks were inconsistent from blender full to blender full, with some being marvelous and some kind of iffy. The mixed drinks tended to be mixed far too strong and you could not convince the bartenders to ease off on the booze! As well, the bars serve drinks in small plastic glasses. Thats okay pool side but at night, we chose to get our mixed drinks from the Irish Pub, where they are served in glass glasses.
The beach right at the pool is nice, but not spectacular.(Our favorite beach is still Keawakapu on Maui). The water is very calm and my 7 year old mastered snorkelling very quickly there. It is also very shallow for a long way. Just down the road from CSL you can access Smugglers Cove. It is a much prettier beach, with bigger surf appropriate for boogie boarding and body surfing. Many people were snorkelling there as well.
We only left the resort 3 times. I am so anxious to go back and do more exploring and would recommend that you do go off site more than we did. We went by taxi in to the Rodney Bay mall for a bit of shopping. There are some nice shops there and your basic souvenirs are inexpensive. We did not go on the bigger shopping excursion into Castries. We took the morning hike over to Pigeon Island. Our whole family went, and our leader was concerned that our youngest wouldn't manage the hike. (She of course didn't know that he plays both hockey and indoor soccer and is much fitter and stronger than his mom!)The walk is not particularly strenuous, and it is worth it. The views are to die for.Finally we took the Brig Unicorn day sail on our last Friday there. Friday is pirate day and alot of fun for the kids. It is also cheaper. It is a very pleasant way to get a good view of the whole Carribean coast of the island. You visit the volcano and botanical gardens, which are interesting. Lunch on board was very good. And on the way back, the boat stops to let you swim in the calmest, clearest ocean water I've ever seen.
We bought tshirts and batik dresses in Rodney Bay, and necklaces and carvings from vendors at the volcano and botanical gardens. We spent very little over and above the cost of our accomodations, but next time I will be more adventurous.
Another thing that surprised me was the dinner time attire. The resort asks for casual elegance for dinner, but to my North American mind many people wore quite dressy clothes (not my definition of casual and often not elegant!) I thought short skirts, sundresses and dressier shorts would work, but felt quite underdressed. Lots of little black dresses, lots of sequined tops, etc. The reservations for dinner restaurants require men to wear long pants.
Be sure to take plenty of sunscreen because sunscreen is imported from the US and is very expensive on the island.
Overall we had a great time.We would go back both to CSL and to St. Lucia.
Ann
Ann
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