Today’s reader review, St Lucia in BA Club World First review, is from Simon.
In this post:
Flights
After visiting Barbados– and horrified that we would be both back to work very soon, we managed to grab two bargain Club World flights to St Lucia in the last week of September. We upgraded with Avios 10,000 each and paid £900 return.
This was the first time I have ever experienced ‘FLUB’- flying First but Club World service!! The First cabin was blocked out the week we booked but having used Expertflyer seat alert I managed to snag us 2A & E. The plane scheduled to take us was a 777 with old Club (ying-yang) so we were really looking forward to the flight from Gatwick.
Flight to St Lucia
Gatwick North was surprisingly still very quiet. The only other BA flight to Antigua had left at 10 am when we checked in. There were no queues and after the document checks, we were on our way through Fasttrack to the Aspire Lounge. The Lounge was very busy. I appreciate that it is now choice to wear a mask- but I follow the advice that they should be worn in crowded spaces. The Aspire was very crowded!! The food offer was not appealing- and unlike the lounges at Heathrow where you order by app and drinks and food are delivered to the table, here you joined the queue at the bar! Not a great visit.
The B777 (G-VIIY/ BA2159) was showing its age! Boarding was swift- group boarding was back so we were the first on. Champagne was offered pre-take off.
Whilst it was great to be seated in BA Club World First the general condition of the seat and cabin was clean, but looked grubby. Lots of scuffed sides and threadbare carpets. Despite this, the space was welcome, and the cabin was very quiet with 10 passengers. Club /Premium economy was full and 70% full in World Traveller.
I’m convinced the crew was from Heathrow originally. (note they are all one fleet now) Their professionalism was very business-like, but extremely friendly – as it should be for a holiday destination. Drinks were free-flowing, and the food was good – the roast beef is back! I’m still not sure why they serve everything at once on one tray – but because of Covid inconsistencies are now a part of our daily life! Overall this was a great flight- made special with the seats in ‘FLUB’ and a great BA crew.
![BA Club World First dish](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture2-st-lucia.jpg?resize=827%2C1103&ssl=1)
Arrival at Hewanorra International Airport, St Lucia
I’ve posted before on ‘TLFL’ that my recommendation for arriving at any Caribbean airport is to avail yourself of an arrival concierge. Sure enough, this was another great move by me (much to the other half’s relief!!) £60 each with Island Transfers allowed us to skip the massive health check and immigration queues. From plane to kerbside took 15 minutes!
There were only 2 people doing health checks for a very full 777 and a recently arrived JetBlue before us. My other tip – print all documents off – it speeds everything up even more
Hotels in St Lucia
Anse Chastanet
Having visited St Lucia 14 years before we were looking forward to our second visit. But we broke one of our ‘golden’ travel rules, never visit the same hotel twice. Just over a decade ago on our first visit to Anse Chastanet we were blown away by the location, hotel, food, and service. The view from our room to the Pitons was still simply breath-taking (see feature photo) We were in a Premium room as we received an upgrade as returning guests, but the hotel seemed much more worn and not as cared for as when we first visited. The staff were not as friendly either, years ago we enjoyed many evening drinks with them and the occasional limbo dance – not this time.
The hotel was much busier too – in previous years the big group of tourists visiting the island was the Brits. There are now many more daily flights from the US- and the island now seems like to be a preferred destination for the Americans. The beach was still beautiful though….
![Beach at Anse Chastanet](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture3-st-lucia.jpg?resize=767%2C1023&ssl=1)
You can book Anse Chastanet through Our Luxury Travel Agent Partners GTC and receive the following free benefits:
- 100 USD resort credit (Exclusions apply)
- Complimentary full breakfast for two daily
- Property will offer early check-in and late checkout upon availability
- Property will offer upgrade at time of check-in – subject to availability (Exclusions apply)
- Basic Wi-Fi
Cap Maison
![Castries- Cap Maison in St Lucia](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture8-st-lucia-e1680682628733.jpg?resize=1160%2C870&ssl=1)
Our next hotel did not disappoint… Cap Maison in the north of the island on the exclusive Cap Estate is at the top end of five star! We spoiled ourselves by getting a speedboat from Anse Chastanet to Rodney Bay (the credit card took a bit of a dint!) but it was worth it. We cruised up the east coast with Piton beers in hand, touring Marigot Bay and Castries Harbour. This was a very special way to transfer taking us about an hour and 20 minutes. St. Lucia is very different from its neighbours- lots of windy roads with hairpin switchbacks, and single lanes zigzagging across the island meaning road transfers can be slow.
![View from our room at Cap Maison- the gardens in St Lucia](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture5-st-lucia.jpg?resize=837%2C1116&ssl=1)
Cap Maison is a hacienda-style hotel with stunning views and facilities. It is regarded as one of the very best foodie destinations in the Caribbean and we found that to be very true. The main restaurant overlooks the sea with spectacular views. The other restaurant is a beach side informal affair called the ‘Naked Fisherman’. Food and beverage were excellent- great cocktails too!
The staff here were enthusiastic, friendly, and welcoming. The hotel does not have its own beach on the property (all beaches in St Lucia are public anyway). There is a lovely infinity pool- but many rooms here have their own lap pools. When booking I was tempted to book one of these but I’m glad we didn’t as the hotel was empty- 4 rooms occupied out of a total of 45. We had all the facilities to ourselves!!
![Pool at Cap Maison in St Lucia](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture6-st-lucia-e1680682652120.jpg?resize=1160%2C870&ssl=1)
The only drawback with Cap Maison is that the property backs on to the Royalton St Lucia, a massive hotel complex, very much aimed at those seeking the fun holidays. Having to listen to ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’ every evening didn’t spoil or ruin our holiday, but for those wanting a quieter time perhaps a room farther away from the reception would be better!
You can book Cap Maison through Our Luxury Travel Agent Partners GTC and receive the following free benefits:
- Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
- Daily Buffet breakfast for two guests per bedroom
- For stays of one, two, or three nights, guests will receive a complimentary lunch for two, once during stay
- For stays of four nights or more, guests will instead receive a $100 USD equivalent resort credit, once during stay (not combinable, not valid on room rate, no cash value if not redeemed in full)
- Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
Return journey
No boat rides this time – but a 2-hour stunning drive across the island back to Hewanarra airport. No FLUB either – even though I kept checking, but we were lucky that the plane changed to Club Suites. (G-VIIS) We had 5E & F- which I like as it’s in the more private mini-cabin at the front. A good standard flight back with a 5-hour sleep!!
![Lounge at St Lucia](https://i0.wp.com/www.turningleftforless.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Picture7-st-lucia-e1680682690882.jpg?resize=1017%2C1280&ssl=1)
The Lounge at UVF is … mmm… well… interesting. It was very busy will a full Club going back. It is split into two sections- a darker side with the bar, and a lighter overflow area which was less busy. A friendly waitress came and took a food order, which consisted of soup and some toasted sandwiches. I stuck to a beer!
Gatwick was very quiet again on arrival and there were no queues and of course no document checks on arrival.
Conclusion
St Lucia is still very quiet. A curfew was in place during the evenings and Castries was very, very quiet – a big difference forms our last visit when it was a bustling island capital.
This was a great relaxing holiday- very different from the more fun island of Barbados. St Lucia is true, unspoilt Caribbean- well worth a visit!
Like our St Lucia in BA Club World First review? you can read more flight reviews here.
14 comments
Sounds like a nice trip.
We’re booked to coconut Bay in February.
So how do you organise an arrival concierge?
And you said £900 for the flights, I assume that was per person.?
Any must see things you’d recommend on the island? This is our 1st visit.
Thanks.
Hi Ian- it was a great trip! Itw as a quick google search and then a few emails- there a a number of arrivals concierges. Yep- £900 each. The ‘drive-in volcano’ is a must see and maybe a tour of the estate at Hotel Chocolat. The roads in St Lucia are narrow and hilly- so a boat trip is a must!
Great review @simon. Am off to St Lucia for my birthday 10-18 Nov so this has come in very handy. After our experience in Nassau’s lounge ( 2 drinks vouchers and that’s it. which surprise surprise turned out not to be what BA is paying them for) can I just ask if the UVF lounge is free flowing or also limited? I mean from your pics I doubt we’ll be rushing there hours early to experience it.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Thanks Clayton! Free flowing drinks in the lounge- but you have to queue at the bar to get them. Its definitely not a lounge to spend time in. Have a great trip!
Very much appreciated for letting us know. Yes agree it’s not exactly the CCR. NAS was a joke with it’s two vouchers although in their defence when I raised this with BA they were shocked & annoyed & went as far as sending me a redacted copy of the contract in place showing it was to provide “full service with unlimited F&B offering for passengers who qualify for access via both class of travel and frequent flyer status” and threw 50k avios at me as a sorry which was bizarrely generous of them at the best of times let alone these days.
I have also booked the VIP Meet & Greet + return transfers on your recommendation. I suppose I should ask for your commission link at this point lol.
My only frustration in your, excellent, review is that I had planned to submit one to Michele myself and you’ve beaten me to it!
I suspect that everything being served together on one tray is to reduce the number of passenger/crew interactions. Some people would consider such caution ridiculous; that said, your conservative approach to ditching your mask would suggest you’d be in favour of that.
Thanks James- my comment was intended as an illustration of how inconsistent the rules are. If you fly in First everything is back to being served individually. I just had lunch in a pub- they serve each course separately. I enjoy excellent customer service.
One interesting point about FLUB is that on some occasions BA decide to use the First seats only very late, so as a Gold card holder one can be moved into that area without any choice over one’s seats. We’re booked to ANU in Dec; our seat allocation in Club World has just been changed, which I think is because a 4-class 777 has been assigned to this 3-class route. But Manage my Booking isn’t showing the cabin, just the meaning of the symbols. The Gold card holder’s number automatically cuts off callers, as does BA’s chat line service. And I thought that all airlines wished to re-capture their customers: I’m afraid that BA doesn’t seem to be trying all that hard at the moment.
Yes the phone lines have been a mess for a while. They need to sort it out by allowing people to do the majority of things online again.
Ah the elusive Yorkshire puddings! We had the same meal on our recent club flight out to Vancouver on a tired 777 (G-YMMA). The crew apparently struggle with heating them up without them collapsing or turning into shoe leather so you were lucky!
I recently had 12 nights in Saint Lucia staying at Reduit Beach Gros Islet at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort. I got a reward flight for 66,000 avios + taxes, I went economy out returning in premium economy, but I was offered an upgrade for £160 up to PE outbound & £320 up to business inbound, so although not quite as luxurious as yourself I got PE/Business class flights for less than £750. I used Club Aspire lounge at Gatwick which had a cold food buffet & hot food ordered from your table, if you wanted a further drink you had to go to the bar but at 11am on a Wednesday morning there was no queue. I left my resort for my return flight at about 14.30 for an 18.45 flight, got to the airport about 16.00 after a beautiful drive through the Saint Lucian countryside(it’s ok I did go on a couple of trips around the island during my stay) Although there was a priority line because people had the wrong documentation or couldn’t activate the Verifly app it was about 17.15 when I got airside & didn’t fancy the lounge at the airport for about 45 minutes. But all in all even with curfews & lockdowns I had an excellent holiday & both flights were very good
Hi all. I must say that the lounge at St Lucia is probably the worst I’ve visited. We left with a lot of the US flights so it was busy. The picture in the report was another bit of the lounge that was empty when we left and I got thrown out of it back to the crowded part. Hopefully we will get a better lounge once/if the new terminal gets built!!
Yes I’ve been there too. It’s like the lounge that time forgot! Pretty bad.
Sorry but St Lucia is only pretty to holiday makers it’s a drab,unfriendly,boring, rude place, with no thoughts for local people. Stay longer than 2/3 weeks and you will sure see the difference. I live here now and hate it, but i made my bed so i now have to lie in it. What a dump this place is full of impolite people, dumped cars, fallen down buildings, terrible roads,stupid drivers and NO PROPER hospital. My advice go to Barbados or any other island but here
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