Staying at the Calabash Cove Resort with Steph. Welcome to another of our Best of St Lucia with our reading series. We wouldn’t have this amazing blog without including our readers. The goal is to show you how amazing St Lucia is and why it’s the place to be. You do not have to take our words for it. Here is another amazing review of the island by one of our readers. This is the best of St Lucia with Steph. She stayed at the Calabash Cove and nothing but great things to say about it.
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Check out the past readers:
The best of St Lucia with Kristin
The best of St Lucia with Chris
The best of St Lucia with Cindy
The best of St Lucia with Augustina
How did you hear about The Calabash Cove Resort?
The friend I traveled with found the resort on an internet search of St Lucia resorts. We liked the sound of Calabash largely because it’s adults only, independently run, and it sounded very different to the larger resorts. We decided on staying at the Calabash Cove Resort.
Where was it located? (was it close to airport, was it close to or on the beach)
We enjoyed staying at the Calabash Cove Resort because it is located about midway between Castries and Rodney Bay, about a 10-15 minute taxi ride to both. It’s about an hour and 15 minutes’ drive to the airport. We arrived by helicopter into Castries though, which was a fantastic experience! Calabash has its own small, private beach.
Describe the ambiance of your room. (size, décor)
While staying at the Calabash Cove Resort, we were put in one of the Waterside Cottages which had fantastic views over gardens to the Caribbean Ocean and Castries. The cottages have a living room with small kitchen area, bedroom, bathroom and outside shower. They also have wrap-around verandas which are wonderful to lie out on, as well as their own plunge pools overlooking the ocean. The décor is a little dated, but to be honest, this just added to the charm of the cottages for us. Only the bedrooms have air conditioning, so it can get hot in the living area.
Was it easy to get around from the resort, and did they provide a shuttle service?
It was very easy to get around. The hotel doesn’t provide a shuttle service. However, they work closely with a very reliable taxi company and the drivers were always very reliable, friendly and knowledgeable about the area and the island as a whole. It’s about 10 or 15 minutes to Rodney Bay one way, and to Castries in the other direction. We went into Rodney Bay a lot and loved going to Spinnakers restaurant on the beach.
How were the restaurants at the resort?
The resort has one main restaurant (The Windsong) which is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They also have a more informal poolside restaurant, open from about 11:00 to 17:00. The resort is only small (26 rooms), so only having one restaurant wasn’t a problem. The standard of food is amazing, really excellent. The standard menu has a very good choice of vegetarian, fish and meat dishes, and every day there were at least two new specials for lunch and dinner and at least one special at breakfast.
I really had some of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten at Calabash. – The lobster was always amazing! There is entertainment every evening in the restaurant which was always great, and not at all intrusive on the dining experience. The views from the restaurant across the ocean to Castries were beautiful – and stunning at night. The Windsong has no windows, so the views are totally unspoiled.
What activities did you participate in at the resort?
The resort doesn’t have as many activities as you might find in a larger resort. There were things like mixology classes, which were great fun, and the beach had a number of canoes, paddle boards etc for guests to use if they felt like it. It also has a good sized swimming pool with swim-up bar. There is also a spa, which is excellent and a small gym. The real joy of Calabash is that it’s a lovely, peaceful place to relax, so activities weren’t really important to us.
Did the resort help with planning activities outside the resort?
The hotel was really good at planning activities outside the resort. The rooms had a big book containing information about many trips to take by car or boat, which the hotel would arrange for you. These included things like climbing the Pitons, visits to Hotel Chocolat, Whale Watching, hiring a speedboat, diving excursions etc. The reception staff was also very happy to help you arrange your own trips. For example, we wanted to tour the island by car, and they recommended the best places to go and arranged a driver for us for as long as we wanted. We had a lovely day!
Describe the personalities of the staff when you were staying at the Calabash Cove Resort.
The staff are fantastic! They all work incredibly hard, and all look very happy to be working at Calabash Cove. Everyone was very friendly, very helpful and very professional. The staff are a huge part of why we loved Calabash Cove so much, they were great fun and we loved chatting and joking with them. We were so sad to leave Calabash because it was such a beautiful resort, but we were also very sad to be saying goodbye to many of the staff we’d got to know so well too!
What was your best memory of this resort?
There are so many fabulous memories, it’s hard to choose! We were there all over the Christmas and New Year period, so obviously things like the gala dinners at Christmas and New Year’s Eve were very special. It was amazing to see the fireworks light up over Castries at midnight, which was a very special experience.
A group of us went to the Jump Up in Gros Islet and that was a fantastic experience too, we loved it! Every day things were wonderful too – waking up and walking out on to the veranda to see the beautiful views; seeing hummingbirds for the very first time; some great laughs with the bar and restaurant staff; making friends with some of the guests and having great fun; relaxing in the plunge pool in the late afternoon and gazing over the ocean. All wonderful memories!
Would you recommend this resort to your friends and family?
I would definitely recommend this resort to family and friends – we have already done so in fact!
Would you visit Calabash Cove again?
I definitely would like to visit Calabash Cove again. I am very lucky that I’ve been able to travel quite widely in the last few years, and without a doubt, the holiday at Calabash Cove, and St Lucia as a whole has been my favorite!
Thank you so much to Stephanie for this amazing review of the Calabash Cove resort. She was there over New Years of 2017-2018. If you are thinking of staying at the Calabash Cove Resort in St Lucia, you can check out rates at Bookings.com or compare with Expedia which has reviews of the resorts in St Lucia.
You might also like the perfect step by step itinerary for visiting St Lucia in 7 days.
View from the porch:
Restaurant at the Calabash Cove Resort
View from the Bar while staying at the Calabash Cove Resort
New Years Day in St Lucia
Fireworks on New Years Day
Jump Up in Gros Islet
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