Final Thoughts
Hotel - Anse Chastanet
Room 12C - Cinnamon
We stayed in room 12C overlooking the valley, described as a garden room; although the cheapest room type (i.e. least expensive) it certainly wasn't basic. One side of the room and bathroom was effectively open air, only slats and netting (which I didn't notice at first) separated the room from the outside world. This had the advantage of providing a cooling breeze, and the netting moderated any strong wind.
The bed was surrounded by mosquito netting, and each evening the turn-down service lit a kind of incense burner to deter insects. All these defences worked most effectively, or there were no mosquitos! We took Jungle insect repellent and brought it home unopened. Sand flies were also conspicuous by their absence.
Dining
Apart from the buffet on the beach we ate exclusively at the Treehouse restaurant in the evening. Breakfast was also served in the Treehouse. This restaurant was open on two opposite sides, one side overlooking the path up to the rooms, the other overlooking the jungle and valley with a precipitous 100ft drop the other side of the railings. Strangely it felt completely safe. In fact the tables along the railings were the most popular and we took the opportunity to sit at these tables whenever we could, mainly because the chairs were placed either side of adjacent sides of the table as opposed to opposite. Apart from the view, this also meant it was easier for Jo to hear me, and vice versa.
This was the first time we had been to a hotel on an all-inclusive basis and I would recommend it. I'm not sure it necessarily saved any money, but it probably did even though Jo and I don't eat or drink a great deal. The main advantage though was that we could have whatever we wanted whenever the mood took us. Some premium items were not included in the all-inclusive tariff, but these didn't bother us. The excluded items that come to mind are Champagne, lobster and some cuts of meat such as fillet steak. One could drink as many glasses of wine by the glass, but not order a bottle.
The dinner menu consisted of a four-course menu with a choice for each course, four items for the main course and two for the others. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free items were clearly marked (just in case one wanted to avoid them!). As well as the daily changing menu there was another menu that did not change. It had multiple choices, and an extensive vegan menu. One advantage of the all-inclusive deal was that one could pick and choose any item from any menu without worrying.
Lunch was available at either the Beach Restaurant, or the Jungle Grill at Anse Mamin. We usually had lunch at the Jungle Grill and mainly opted for gazpacho and Prosecco, although I left my comfort zone and had a beef burger on two occasions!
Entertainment
I am reluctant to use the word 'entertainment', because it conjures up completely the wrong impression, but that was what they were.
For a 'resort' (another word I use reluctantly) such as Anse Chastanet, that is self-contained and quite some distance from towns or other tourist attractions, I think the hotel feels obliged to provide something for the guests to do other than lazing on the beach and eating and drinking. We took advantage of the complementary sessions; rum tasting, chocolate tasting, history lecture and art lessons, and Jo splashed out on a spa treatment. There were other chargeable lessons, a cooking experience and chocolate lab that we didn't do.
The hotel also organised many excursions, half-day, full-day or sunset cruises, even helicopter tours, but we chose a relatively simple morning tour to the volcano, botanic gardens and Emerald estate.
The taxi driver that took us back to the airport speculated that the hotel kept the road to the hotel in poor condition to deter non-hotel guests from going to the hotel and using the public beach. I would speculate that it also has the effect of keeping the hotel guests at the hotel!
Guests
The hotels guests seemed to be roughly 50% British and 50% American, with a very few others. I think I may have heard a Dutch couple, and just possibly a German couple, but no one else. Peter, the duty manager, said they never get any French guests; possibly because they go to Martinique or Guadeloupe or may be because of the British influence in St Lucia.
Everyone we met and talked to was delightful. On the tour to the botanic gardens, which I guess had ten participants, we met a professor of neurology (or neuroscience - I'm not sure) and her husband who were both at a university in Pennsylvania. She insisted in having her photograph taken with the first person to crystalise 'Troponin C', much to Jo's embarrassment! On the same trip we also met a couple who had served in the US military; they too were friendly and engaging. I should also mention John (a retired paediatrician) & Amy, from Virginia, who encouraged us, almost daily, to try snorkelling.
A lot of guests were staying at the hotel for the second or third time, not to mention the lady who was on her 26th visit. Even the guests returning for a second or third time speak volumes about the hotel.
As one might expect the majority of guests appeared to be retired, but by no means all, probably more than 50%, but not a lot more.
Staff
For the 49 rooms at Anse Chastanet and 30 at the attached Jade Mountain there is a total of some 585 staff, an average of just over 7 staff per room.
All the staff were friendly, polite and always acknowledged one, saying 'good morning, how are you' etc. whenever we made contact, regardless of whether it was the general manager or a gardener. The ones we came into contact with most made an effort to remember our room number and/or name. (Even though we were on an all-inclusive package we always had to sign a bill for meals, drinks, purchases at the shop, etc. Not all guests were on an all-inclusive deal and the hotel would therefore have needed to know who was having what.) Bearing in mind that most guests stayed for 7-10 days remembering one's name was flattering and impressive.
I can highly recommend Anse Chastanet for a beach/stay-put holiday. The rooms, dining and service were almost faultless; every member of staff was unfailingly friendly and polite.
Weather
The weather wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I had envisaged wall to wall sunshine. In fact we had quite a few showers, some of them torrential. However most days were a mixture of cloud, sunshine and showers, but predominately sunny. Whether or not it was sunny or cloudy the temperature was always in the range of 24C to 28C. I was expecting it to be unbearably hot, but not so, it was very pleasant. Perhaps if we had done something more exhausting that lazing on the beach and climbing the 142 steps to the restaurant it would be very tiring, but sitting under a sunshade, it was very pleasant.
Other
I was surprised by the fact that where we were there were no noticeable tides. We were told that the Atlantic side of the island was more tidal, but the Caribbean side had virtually no tides, a tidal range of a foot or two maximum.
St Lucia achieved independence from the UK in 1979, but still retains many traces of its British history. St Lucians speak English, they drive on the left side of the road, most of the road signs we saw were identical to UK road signs, and the currency (East Caribbean Dollar) has Queen Elizabeth II's portrait on its notes and coins.
We saw lots of small lizard type animals which I believe to be Anolis luciae. These are about two and a half inches long and spend their time sunbathing on the walls or tiles around the hotel. Any sign of a human and they disappear at lightening speed.
