St Lucia!

've been to Barbados four times and thought it was time to visit another Caribbean island. St Lucia has always intrigued me because it looks so different to Barbados with it's lush green mountainous landscape, its famous Pitons and volcanic beaches. On Sunday 3rd March myself, husband Carl and 17 year old daughter Laila boarded our Virgin Atlantic flight at Heathrow Terminal 3. I always book Premium Economy on long haul routes because it provides an extra level of comfort and you also get little perks like Virgins Wander wall which is an area in the galley where you can go and help yourself to snacks and soft drinks. The extra leg room, wider seats and foot rest are so worth paying the extra for! Our flight went without a hitch and we landed in St Lucia on time. We were in our pre booked taxi and on our way to our hotel within 30 minutes. No fast track was needed on this flight! I noticed some people hadn't completed their immigration forms prior to arrival, which meant they had to complete them before they could enter. En route to the Royalton An Autograph Collection near Rodney Bay, was quite a hair raising experience at times due to the mountainous landscape and it was dark. There is only one road which takes you from the airport in the South to the Royalton in the North. Our journey only took 90minutes. Our driver was extremely friendly and told us a lot about the island. We arrived at the Royalton and were greeted by such friendly staff at the separate Diamond club check in area, who immediately made us feel welcome. I opted for Diamond Club when making the booking, which meant we had Butler service and enabled us to enter exclusive Diamond Club areas and restaurants. Our room was a Luxury Family Suite with Ocean Views and it was huge! Laila had her own separate area, which she was delighted about and so were we! The bed was up there with one of the most comfortable, we've ever had in a hotel. There was a minibar, which would be stocked with your favourite drinks, coffee machine, safe, iron, clothes steamer, robes, slippers and toiletries. One thing i did find extremely annoying was the Royalton theme tune which is playing on a loop on the tv when you enter the room for the first time and every time you turn the tv on. Luckily we didn't watch much tv! On our first day, after a lovely night sleep, we all woke up at about 4.45am so we were up bright an early, eager to catch some sun! No such luck as it pretty much rained all day, however, we still managed to burn! The locals call it liquid sunshine and now I understand why! We were allocated two butlers called Travis and Neil. They were fantastic and always checked in on us in the morning to see what our plans were for the day and make dinner reservations. They would also remind us of our dinner reservations for the day. This was all done over Whatsapp which is set up on check in. I believe if you are not part of Diamond Club or Hideaway (Adult only) you are not allowed to pre book the restaurants and you are on a first come first serve basis. There are several restaurants including Italian, Caribbean, Tex Mex, Sushi and Steak. My favourite was the Caribbean, the flavours in the dishes were delicious! The buffet restaurant was decent and had many choices available. We would spend our days between the Diamond Club pool and the beach. The beach is public so you do get vendors coming along trying to sell trips and their wares. They are very friendly and we even booked a private boat trip to see the Pitons and waterfall with Jefferson. He was a character! One evening, we decided to go outside of the hotel and check out Rodney Bay. It's a bustling town with bars and restaurants, shops and supermarkets Neil our Butler arranged our taxi and we paid $50 (US) return. Taxis are not cheap in St Lucia! It was about a ten minute drive. We had a walk around Rodney Bay and Laila took a tumble on a grate in the road (they were everywhere) and cut her knees quite badly. Naturally, it ruined her evening and we returned to the hotel where there was some fantastic entertainment. Laila had a cocktail and soon perked up and forgot about her injuries. In fact she perked up so much, she stayed out partying with other guests until 4am! Our boat trip which we arranged with Jefferson was fantastic. The boat picked us up at the beach at 2pm and we set off to see the Pitons and docked in Souffriere where we took a quick taxi ride to the water fall. After the waterfall, we got back on the boat and were taken to Anse Chatstanet to do some snorkelling. I stayed on the boat and enjoyed a Rum Punch whilst Carl and Laila did the snorkelling! on the way back to the hotel, we made a quick loo stop at Marigot Bay. Marigot Bay is a very beautiful area, with expensive hotels and restaurants. Celebs have houses there! After Marigot Bay, we headed back to the hotel and before us was the huge Celebrity Equinox Cruise Ship leaving the port of Castries sailing towards the sunset. The whole trip took about four hours. Our stay at the Royalton was very memorable and would recommend it to anyone who likes a big resort with lots to do, plenty of entertainment, food and drink. It really does suit all ages groups