Sugar Beach, St. Lucia
I have been eyeing St Lucia for a couple of years after I saw another travel blogger's post about her trip there. The Carribean is a great trip from the eastern United States.
I was interested in booking a trip with Costco Travel (more on that later) and from their available resorts, Sugar Beach seemed like the best fit for us.
Sugar Beach is nestled between the Pitons and consists of private villas, rooms, and bungalows extending up the mountain from the beach. Our villa was beautiful!
Because the villas are so far away from the rest of the resort and the road are so steep, we had to be taken everywhere by shuttle. We would call the butler (yes, we had a butler) on our resort cell phone and tell him where we wanted to go and he would call a shuttle. He also arranged all of our dinner reservations and activities.
While this seems very luxurious and indulgent, I missed being able to walk to dinner of my own accord.
We ate most of our meals on the resort property. They had a variety of restaurants and bars and we weren't bored with the food choices.
Our favorite was the sushi bar, Cane Bar. We went there twice!
It was very sophisticated and had the coolest saki carafe.
While all the food was really good, it was extortionately expensive. Our breakfast was included in the room charge and we still averaged about $400 a day on food and drink. They do have a meal plan you can buy when booking directly with them. I would definitely look into that next time to see how it compares. We visited two other resorts for meals and the prices were about the same.
Sugar Beach is a luxury resort so expect everything to be priced at a premium so set your expectations, and wallets, accordingly.
Another thing to be aware of: our butler arranged a car and driver for us to tour the island for the day. The cost was $300. He also arranged the same car to take us to dinner that evening at a neighboring resort. When we got our bill there were two taxi charges, one for $300 and one for $310. We addressed this when checking out. We pointed out that one of the trips was just to dinner. They said they would take care of it and lowered the taxi charge to $268. The lesson, always ask the charge even if you think you may know what is reasonable. Another thing is to call another taxi company for a cheaper rate.
Even with our stay ending with what I would consider a rip-off, we loved the people and the resort was in a great location.
Here is my review of my experience booking with Costco Travel and our trip around the island.
