Ti Kaye Village Resort

Amenities at the Ti Kaye Village Resort

Honeymoon Reviews

07/19/2006   We ended up going for the 'Adventurous Honeymoon' and were pretty pleased with the trips that were included. Here are some comments on the activities we did: *Fruit & Wine Basket at sunset of your choice: Not that exciting. It was mostly imported fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew) wrapped in plastic wrap in a basket in with some prepackaged nuts and cookies. I think that the grapefruit and passion fruit might have been local though. It was brought to our balcony around 5:30, about 30 minutes late. *Choice of a Scenic boat ride along the West coast to the Capital Castries for site seeing or shopping OR a Snorkeling Trip to Soufriere: We had wanted to do the snorkeling trip but apparently they only had one out of two boats that they needed at the time so they couldn’t do it. The boat ride with Jonty up to Castries was wonderful and lunch was nice, but Castries really doesn’t have anything to see. The markets were filled with annoying vendors who were all selling almost the exact thing at varying prices and the other stores were high-priced duty free offerings that catered to the cruise ships that are often there. They did offer to replace this with something else and did not end up charging us for the Rainforest Hike we added so maybe that’s what they did. *A Relaxing Massage for two: The ~30 minute massage was nice, in our room, although they were also late due to having a massage scheduled before ours. *Land & Sea Soufriere Tour: An excellent tour. We took a boat ride down to Soufriere with Jonty again and he was again great about slowing down and showing us things like the fruit bat cave and answering all of our questions. We also appreciate that he slowed down when going over some rough swells so we weren’t knocked around too much. There were two other couple son the trip which included a guide and taxi to the Botanical Gardens and Diamond Falls, drive in to the Sulphur Springs volcanic area, reservations and transport to Ladera for lunch at Dasheene, and then a leisurely soak in the New Jerusalem Mineral Springs which were the perfect temperature. The view from Ladera is certainly outstanding but lunch was only nice and certainly pricier than Ti Kaye’s. Their varying dinner menu sounded more interesting but make sure to go early for cocktails, as it is dark by actual dinnertime. We ate together but I might recommend splitting up into couples. That way everyone can enjoy the view and the staff had trouble splitting the bill. *Choice of a Jeep for a day with a gourmet picnic basket Or a romantic sunset cruise: We chose the sunset cruise, which was definitely one of our two best activities. It was on a sailboat with 4 other couples but included so much food that we needn’t have eaten dinner that night and as much champagne as we wanted. Our captain and Michael and Crew-lady Swayliene kept us comfortable. We brought them enough luck in return to catch two fish that they could sell later, a Spanish mackerel and a blue marlin. We did get to spread out about the boat as well so we weren’t cramped together. *Choice of a Beginners Scuba Lesson OR Two Boat Dives for Certified Divers: We took our first scuba dive together which was great. We had a nice short dive in shallow water, which was nice and non-threatening. Our instructor, Andy was nice and calm and explained everything multiple times and took things nice and slow. He also took the opportunity to point out a couple fish that had camouflaged themselves against rock and sea floor. *Memento of St Lucia: They did not seem to remember this on their own, but when I asked, they put together a tote bag with a t-shirt and a bottle of rum for us. *Airport transfers: We had great drivers both times. They took their time and let other, more impatient drivers, go around. They pointed out the sights and named the towns as we went by. On our way in, we went up the east side and came back the west side and I’d say that both experiences are good. They seemed to take about the same amount of time and while the road on the west side was as nice as roads in the US, the east side road wasn’t horrible either. *Rainforest Hike: We took the option of hiking up and down multitudes of steps to get to the little waterfall. While it was too cold for swimming, I enjoyed soaking my feet in the water while our guide peeled us a delicious grapefruit. She also provided water, juice, and walking sticks and brought along lots of “props” such as coco pods and nutmeg so that she could break them open and show us the insides without picking anything. However, it is a long drive to get to the rainforest (maybe 80 minutes?) and the road up through the forest is absolutely horrible. The road in to Ti Kaye is bad, but this road is about 3 times worse. We did stop several times on the way in for some of the vistas of Cannaries and Soufriere. We also had an unplanned adventure when our first driver’s van broke down on the trail out of Ti Kaye and were kept waiting for over an hour while another driver came up from Soufriere to pick us up. The resort grounds are beautiful and everyone that we talked to agreed that Anse Cochon, the beach just down the steps, is definitely one of the nicest beaches on the island. There are even bathrooms and a restaurant at the beach so there is no need to go up and down the stairs much. However, from about 11 till 4 there are boats coming in with swimmers, snorkelers, and loungers from other hotels and cruise ships. The afternoon boats can be quite obnoxious with load music and rowdy drunk people so we usually went down for an hour or two directly from breakfast and didn’t return until 4:00 to avoid the sun and the crowds. The visitors do tend to leave the Ti Kaye area pretty much alone with its chairs and umbrellas and there are locals that enjoy the beach on weekends and holidays as well. The vendors were not a significant annoyance, although it seemed like the sometimes almost pretended to be resort staff so watch for the Ti Kaye shirts on real staff. Sea kayaks, both one and two person, are left out on the beach for anyone from the resort to use whenever they wish. The general location is perhaps the most secluded of any resort on the island and sight seeing trips take about an hour to get there. We loved our cottage, J or Jennes (meaning young or trivial in the local patois), although all cottages and rooms seemed to have an equally spectacular view and were pretty much exactly the same. The garden shower is wonderful, although we never had enough hot water for even just one person to take a leisurely shower. We also did end up with some insect bites but not too many. After all, it is a lush tropical island and that happens. Things were generally very clean and in good shape except for the amount of bird droppings in the dining pavilion from the birds that come and socialize each morning. Sometimes table clothes, chairs, and seat cushions didn’t seem to have been cleaned everyday. We thought that the food was generally pretty good but we were glad that we had not chosen a meal plan. The meal plans plan on you consuming $40 worth of food and drink (non alcoholic drinks only) at dinner and we usually spent about $30 each. It is nice that all menu prices include the 10% service change and 8% tax so that it is actually a little cheaper than it initially looks when you compare it to American restaurants. Lunch was pretty good, especially the fly fish baguette sandwich and breakfast, while not very flexible did have a nice variety of options. The “coco-tea” (lightly spiced hot chocolate) and chocolate chip croissants as well as French toast or pancakes were always my favourite. The “English” breakfast option did have a wonderful little grilled tomato on it and the “St Lucian” is definitely something to try. I did find myself wishing that breakfast started earlier than 8 so that I could get down to the beach earlier to enjoy the morning. Dinner varied from excellent to mediocre and one of our desserts, a passion fruit crème brule was so bad that I sent it back (top was way too thick and had a burnt taste). There was not always a chocolate dessert option, which was sad, and menu descriptions were not always accurate portrayals. A chocolate fondue with fruit for dipping ended up being more of a delicious white chocolate soup with two tiny fruit croutons so we ate it with out spoons. Appetizers and deserts can range from being quite small and literally just a taste to being a nice medium sized salad that two could enjoy. The best thing I had was a trio of different “fruits de mer” including a Mediterranean-like tuna sashimi, deliciously fried mahi-mahi, and shrimp with a stuffed crab shell. The coq au vin was very mediocre and certainly didn’t have a rich wine sauce that it had advertised. Don’t expect staff to be familiar with what is on the menu either since it changes every night. I was quite confused when I ended up with a very tasty chocolate soufflé after ordering something like “dolce gateaux” with the server’s explanation that it was a yellow sponge cake. Ice cream tends to be soft but the bananas are always wonderful. All of the staff, especially Theresa, were extremely friendly and made the effort to learn your name, but service was often frustratingly slow with simple things such as taking orders, keeping water glasses filled, and bringing the check. There was entertainment every evening except for Friday, when everyone goes to the close-by fish fry after free rum punches at the bar, and Sunday. Nobody was ever really in to dancing and there were no games in the evenings after diner or anything. Overall, it’s a pretty laid back experience where you don’t even need to carry a wallet. There is somewhat of a dress standard for dinner and lunch at the main restaurant, but otherwise bathing suits with cover-ups and flip-flops are fine. While your own cottage tends to be very private, you do end up getting to know the other couples as you mingle at the bar, on trips, or just greet each other at breakfast. Just before we left, two families with older children came in, but they were no problem at all. As far as nice resorts on the island, we thought that this one was definitely the best with romantic scenery, good food, and a wonderful beach, especially when you take into account that the normal room rate is half the price of the other comparable places.

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