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St. Lucia Hotel, Resort & Villa Reviews
Ti Keye 04/28/2003
Reviewers Rating:  Excellent
April 5th-12th
Ti Kaye Village in St Lucia.
Flew USAir from Rochester to Philadelphia to St. Lucia
Our resort, Ti Kaye Village, had arranged for a taxi to meet us at the airport. Once we cleared customs, sure enough there was a pleasant young man holding up a sign with our last name. When Linda used the restroom prior to leaving for Ti Kaye, another St. Lucian approached Bob to buy drugs. We later learned that marijuana is quite prevalent on the island.
The drive to Ti Kaye is quite long (1 hour 15 minutes) The actual road into Ti Kaye is bumpy but is actually quite charming, since you feel as if you are truly heading to a remote part of the island. Upon arrival, the owner, Nick, and his assistant, Cheryl, warmly greeted us. We were then treated to a drink of our choice at the bar. The bartender that evening, William, quickly made us feel a part of the resort.
We stayed in Cottage F, “Fenyan”. Fenyan means lazy, which was the perfect cottage for us! The cottage was all we had hoped for and more. We entered the main cottage through a covered porch with a hammock and cocktail table and chairs for two. They even had a candle on the table! The view of the Caribbean was breathtaking! We entered the main cottage through French doors. The bedroom, which included a four-poster king size bed with a mosquito net, was large. You have the choice of using air conditioning or leaving the louvers open for the breeze; thus the mosquito net. Bugs were never an issue although. A small refrigerator was also in this room. Off of the bedroom was a walk in closet with a safe and separate bathroom. You need to go through the bathroom to enter the 10’x10’ outdoor garden shower, which was surrounded by tropical plants. You also need to turn on the water heater about 15 minutes before you take a shower. (Energy conservation) It’s hard to explain what a wonderful experience it was to use the outdoor shower with complete privacy. – To be able to see the sky and hear the birds singing!
For dinner this evening we experienced the first of many delicious meals by the chef, Goodman. Bob had Creole Mahi Mahi and Linda had the best lamb chops ever! The restaurant is outside and has a very high roof. The views are wonderful, day or night! The service provided by both Joel and Charmaine was outstanding. They quickly became two of our favorite restaurant staff! After an exhausting day and a great meal, and with very little sleep the night before, we easily drifted off to sleep.
On Sunday, April 6 we were awakened by the local fisherman shouting at about 6:15 a.m. as they prepared their nets for the day’s fishing. This was to be a daily occurrence, along with the very loud frogs that croaked from sunset until dawn. If you are a light sleeper, like Bob, bring earplugs. We also experienced our first breakfast. The resort fee included breakfast every day. There was another plan which basically included breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but since we’re not big lunch eaters, it made more sense for us to order dinner ala carte. The breakfast buffet always included four fresh juices such as pineapple, tropical punch, golden apple, and grapefruit. No orange or tomato juice here, and you didn’t’ miss it. There was also a variety of fresh fruits such as watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, papaya, pineapple, and of course the St. Lucian bananas. The bananas are exported only to England, and they were smaller, sweeter, and better than the ones we are accustomed to in the US. There were also three or four different types of cereal and croissants. Coffee and tea were always available. Linda drinks decaffeinated coffee, and since it was not readily available, they made an entire pot and gave it to her. Anything you asked for, they would do their best to get it for you. In addition to the buffet, you could order eggs done any way you liked along with additions such as mushrooms, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. You could also order bacon, ham, sausage, pancakes, toast, baked beans and French toast. As you can see, if you ate a hearty breakfast (which was served from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.), there was little need for us to have lunch. We did eat lunch though and it was also great. Lunch was 11:00 to 1:30 or so. One couple actually had their lunch delivered to the beach. Dinners were served from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Dinner entr饠prices were reasonable ($18 - $21 with a good wine list) and always delicious.
The beach was exactly as shown in the literature we had seen, but of course it was even more beautiful in person. Since all beaches on St. Lucia are public, it was a daily occurrence to see the Sandals Resorts boats pull into our area to drop off people for snorkeling and diving. The snorkeling is best at the north end of the beach along the rocks.
Via the Internet in the main office, since we’re from upstate New York, Bob was thrilled to learn that Syracuse University had defeated Texas and would be in the Championship game against Kansas on Monday night, so he asked Nick if we could get a TV for Monday night. There are only three TV’s for all of the cottages, and they are first come-first serve. We did not miss television while in St Lucia. Nick said he would either bring the TV to our room or put it in the bar area. For dinner that night we each selected Creole Kingfish, again a winner by chef Goodman.
Linda purchased some beaded necklaces at the beach. Make sure you negotiate! The young men who stay at the beach all day sell necklaces or conch shells that you can blow as horns. If you tell them “no”, they don’t bother you. Because we both got burned on Sunday, we stayed under the beach umbrella at the beach and by the pool all day. Dinner once again was great! Linda had Blackened Spicy Tuna, and Bob had Beef Tenderloin with B顲naise sauce. As promised, Nick brought the TV to our room since the bar did not have an easy cable hook-up. We watched the game with a young man we met from Virginia, Eric. His wife Katie was quite tired from the day’s events, so she did not join us. When Syracuse beat Kansas, we placed a couple of calls home (at $2.00 per minute, we didn’t talk too long). The 800 calling cards did not work from our room.
As part of our package, we had selected a day trip to Castries, the capital, to do some shopping in the local markets. The water taxi was to meet us at the beach at 10 a.m. However, we learned that at 10 a.m. the taxi was going to take some other people from the hotel to Soufriere, so our departure would not be until 11 a.m. When we learned this, Bob asked if we could take the water taxi to Soufriere to just see the sights, and the driver said yes. The driver, Jaunty, is the brother of Jeannine (the manager of Ti Kaye). It cost us only $10 total to do this. It was well worth the trip since we saw the Pitons from the water. Seeing St Lucia from the water is a must. Once we dropped off the people in Soufriere, we then went back to Ti Kaye to pick up the other passengers and continue our trip to Castries. Along the way we stopped at Marigot Bay, where the film “Dr. Doolittle” was filmed in 1967. This is an extremely beautiful bay. Once in Castries, we then blended into the crowd of people from two cruise ships in port for the day. The St. Lucians were selling local crafts and beachwear. Bob bought two shirts. There were also duty free shops, but we did not care to visit them. Instead we took a taxi to the Caribelle batik factory. We were in search of moss green fabric for my friend Deb, but all they had was hot orange and hot pink, so we chose the hot pink with a double-dolphin design. The clerk did go to the factory itself to see if there was any green fabric available, but there was not. We also bought three pillow covers (at $10 each we should have bought more), and Linda bought a knee-length dress. The only problem we had is that the taxi driver quoted us $12 American round trip, and then when we got back to town he said the $12 was for one way. Thus, we did not give him much of a tip. We had lunch at the Coal Pot, which was recommended by Ti Kaye. Linda had Creole Barracuda, and it was delicious. Bob had a huge, wonderful Caesar salad. This was one of the only places were went that actually quoted the prices in EC instead of the US dollar. Jaunty picked us up at the Coal Pot at 2:45 p.m. We were not given the extra hour of time we lost in the morning, so that was a bit disappointing. We went to dinner later than usual, and they ran out of chicken (which what was Linda wanted). The other choices on the menu were Kingfish and Calves Livers. Since Linda had fish for lunch in Castries, and does not like Calves Livers, she order lobster bisque for dinner. Bob had the Kingfish. Goodman the chef told us later that they did not run out of chicken and it was a miscommunication between the kitchen and the waitresses. He apologized and said he would make up for the mistake that week.
Wednesday, April 9, we took a jungle jeep (no roof) to the rainforest, where we planned to hike. It rained off and on all day, and we wore rain parkas that the jeep tour company provided. There were two other couples from Ti Kaye on this trip, and to our surprise a couple from Pennsylvania with a 4-year girl, a 3-year-old girl, and a baby boy under one year. We were told the tour we selected was for advanced hikers and not children, so why the family chose this tour was beyond us. One of the girls threw up in the jeep on the windy, narrow roads. This family also neglected to bring bug spray, but luckily we brought a can large enough to share with everyone. The two small girls actually did very well and did not need to be carried at all. The only thing is that the hike took longer than it should have, so we were late for lunch. The hike should have taken 1 hour down to the waterfall and 1-½ hours back up, but it did take longer. Because of the rain, there were no birds in view in the rain forest. We had really hoped to see a St. Lucian parrot, but that was not to be. The tour guide, Joe, was absolutely wonderful and showed us many natural things such as wild ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. The flowers we saw were breathtaking. The highlight of the hike was when Bob lost his footing and fell on the rocks near the waterfall. Luckily he was not hurt (only his ego was), and Joe christened the area “Bob Falls.” Lunch was a wonderful Creole buffet in a town called Soufriere, which was included in the price of the trip. Once back from the hike, we rested on the porch and Bob was able to get the small birds to eat from his hand. For dinner that night, Goodman said he was making up for the night before with the chicken catastrophe. We each had a wonderful flank steak marinated in a coffee and rum glaze, and Goodman was right. When traveling we never have gone all inclusive, as we like to try local place and get a flair of the local community. Even though there were only 3 or 4 different entries and 3 appetizers including delicious soups, each night was so great and varied that we felt no urge to leave Ti Kaye. The chef, Goodman, was outstanding from soup to desert. You did not see one guest complaining about the service or anything all week.
Thursday, April 10, was a perfect birthday for Linda. We went to the beach around 10 a.m., took out the brand new double kayak, and explored a few nearby coves. The morning was a bit cloudy and had hit and miss showers but was still warm. We saw the most amazing rainbows! When we brought the kayak back at 11 a.m., there were six jungle jeeps there that had unloaded people from cruise ships to use our beach for one hour. Remember, all beaches in St. Lucia are public, and we’re pretty sure that ours was the premier beach since that was where all the cruise ships and the Sandals Resorts brought people to snorkel and dive. The afternoon was hot, sunny and humid. The beach was quiet again until about 2 p.m.; then we felt like we were on Virginia Beach! Six or seven large catamarans unloaded their cruise ship passengers to use our cove and beach, as did six jeeps! The hubbub and people watching was fun! It was even more enjoyable to watch the local beach bead and shell salesman go into action. When they all cleared out by 4 p.m., believe it or not, the only people on the beach were the salesmen and us. When back in our room, we had ordered a cheese plate and had some wine for cocktail hour. This is another neat feature from Ti Kaye. You have an order sheet every day where you can check off what you want delivered in the afternoon. Getting back to the room from the beach or pool your order of beer, wine, snacks, soda just about anything is there waiting for you. We headed to the dining room for a wonderful dinner of Snapper. Goodman and two of the waitresses brought two pieces of chocolate cheesecake to our table, compliments of the house, and sang “happy birthday” to Linda.
Friday, April 11, was our last full day at Ti Kaye. There was light off and on showers with sunny intervals for most of the day, so we saw many beautiful rainbows. After spending the morning at the beach, we decided to have a hamburger for lunch, knowing that later that evening we were headed to Anse La Ray for the Friday Seafood Festival. We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. As part of our package we went on the “Romantic Sunset Cruise” from 4:30 to 6:30 on a sailboat with two other couples from Ti Kaye. We were very pleasantly surprised, since we were expecting only a drink and a snack. We could have as much rum punch, beer or soda that we wanted. The “snack” turned out to be many different delicious hors d’ouevres that Ti Kaye had prepared. We did not see the sunset as planned because the sun managed to slip behind a cloud on the horizon! Once back, we had time to change and then meet at the bar at 7 p.m., where we had all the rum punch we wanted before boarding the taxis (three vans) to Anse La Ray. This was an interesting event. Anse La Ray is a fishing village, and the Friday Seafood Festival was started two years ago as a way to support the local people. We could choose from Snapper, pot fish (meaning they don’t know what it is), and some other fish that I’d never heard of. Jeannine, the manager of Ti Kaye, took Bob to one of the booths to order our lobster, bread, and two bottles of Piton beer. He paid only $76 EC for all of this, whereas Eric paid $90 EC for one lobster at another booth. We shared the lobster, which was the largest we’ve ever seen. Since it’s not what we’re accustomed to (Maine lobster), it was disappointing that there were no claws! All you could really eat was the small amount of meat you obtained from the legs, and of course the huge tail. The villagers were in good spirits and eager to sell their food/beer/liquor to you. We felt safe at all times and had a very good time. We learned that when all the tourists left Anse La Ray at 10 p.m., then the real party began and went until 3 a.m. They do this every Friday night.
Saturday, April 12, we woke up to rain, which cleared out by 8 a.m. We headed to breakfast and then lounged by the pool. We bid our adieus to Eric and Katie, since they left at 11:30. Our taxi arrived for us at 1:15 and had us to the airport by 2:30 (our flight was at 3:45). We arrived home in Fairport, NY at around midnight.
All in all this was truly a great, relaxing vacation due mainly to the personnel at Ti Kaye Village. Their dedication to making your stay as enjoyable as ever was nothing short of 5 stars (out of 5). Nick and his office staff will arrange any trip you might want to take and type out an itinerary for you as you do lose what day it is. Goodman’s dinners were outstanding and all the servers are so friendly. Joel and Charmaine who served us most of the week made our stay both fun and elegant. By the end of the 2nd day everyone on the staff knows your name and what room you are in. You do not need to carry cash as you can sign everything to your room. I can not say enough about our experience at Ti Kaye other than that when we go back to St. Lucia we will be staying at Ti Kaye.
Bob and Linda
Bob and Linda
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