Hopefully these suggestions will help you out....
We spent one week at the Windjammer in Feb./12. Absolutely loved it. About two weeks before arrival, I sent an email to the Manager whose email address is available on the WJL website. He forwarded my email to the reservations person. I explained that there were 5 adults in our group and we wanted to be higher on the hill away from the noise of the pool and restaurants. They upgraded us to Villa #500 near the top of the hill. It had a 30 foot swimming pool, 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and air conditioning. We were very happy with our villa and spent much of our time there. We had breakfast & lunch at the villa and went out every evening for dinner. On our first day we took a taxi to Rodney Bay to get groceries at Super J's. There are two locations but the older one had better prices while the newer one across the street had better selection. A taxi from the resort was $25 return trip. The driver waits for you in town while you shop. We opted to use a private taxi driver that we had used for our transportation from the airport to WJL. He was recommended by a TUG member. His name is Kimbert and here is his contact information: 717-4220, or
phvtours@gmail.com, or
www.phvtours.com. His rate to Rodney Bay was $15. We also used Kimbert for an island tour that was amazing. We toured the southern part of the island - a 9 hour tour for $100 for two people. Kimbert was super friendly and knowledgeable. We highly recommend him. He can accommodate 3 passengers but has other drivers with larger vehicles. The WJL has activities by the pool for different ages. The only thing our group did was the free snorkelling tour. A motorboat takes you about a mile away from the resort. The water wasn't too clear because of rain the previous day. There is a concierge that will arrange tours but we didn't do this.
As for restaurants, it's difficult to find a bad meal in St. Lucia. All of our dinners were very good to excellent. At WJL we went to Papa Dons twice and had excellent meals and service. It is nestled in the villas and not ocean front. There is a restaurant/bar that is beach front and we ate there once but found the food and service average. Other restaurants that we would recommend are The Coal Pot in Castries and La Terrace in Rodney Bay. None of these are cheap. Average entree price is $25. We did take a taxi for $5 per person to a town near Rodney Bay where they have an event called Jump Up. Food is available from street vendors. Four of the 5 of us had GI problems afterwards so although the food is cheap (around $10/plate), I would be careful. We didn't really enjoy ourselves here. Recorded music blasted through the street and it was disco music. Not really what I wanted to hear when I'm in St. Lucia. In the early evening, the streets are full of predominantly tourists (some very drunk). Later in the evening the locals join in. On Tuesday from 6-8, the WJL has a Manager's reception that is very worthwhile attending. They had delicious hot appetizers and free champagne and rum punch. There is entertainment and door prizes. A word of warning....if you plan on eating at Papa Dons, make reservations early in the week as we called in the morning and the only reservation available was later in the evening (one night at 8 pm and the other at 9:30 pm).
Initially we were going to rent a car but with insurance and extra fees, it would have cost nearly $100/day. No one in our party was willing to drive on the winding roads, especially at night. So we relied on taxis and paid $25-35 return for our group of 5. We actually enjoyed the taxi rides and met some very interesting characters.
We didn't do any hiking other than on our tour and around the resort. Do make sure you climb the hill to the top of the resort because there are fantastic views of the island from there. Took some beautiful photos.
St. Lucia is not a cheap holiday but it was one of our favourite vacations. Happy Anniversary!
