My fiance and I are thinking about going to St. Lucia Grande for our honeymoon. The price quoted on the Sandals Web Page for the room level we want is well over $6000. On some earlier postings "discount rates" were eluded too, where do you find discount rates? We've been to one Travel agent and the price was roughly the same. Any help is appreciated

st luchia is very expensive. but you may be able to cut cost by having your travel agent look at booking the airfare and room seperately. applevacations.com, funjet.com are some of the high volume discounters. worry free vacations also has the vacations. they usually use the same charters (e.g. airplanes). . If you are up to it, you may also be able to get better rates by driving to a different city.

just to give you a benchmark.. .. . We're going to the grande in St Lucia on December 26th for our 25th anniversary and staying to greet the new year. In a swim-up lagoon room with concierge service. Taking helicopter from airport to the Grande (and back) instead of teh Mister Mouse's Wild Ride in a taxi van. (I'll hire a private driver to take us around the island for a day so I don't miss it. )

Now keeping in mind that I'm traveling at a horridly expensive time for travel. I have airfare and everything coming in at just over 7,000.

My travel agent is sandals certified and has really done a nice job for us. Look around, get several quotes, and don't worry about the money. You get one shot at this just like I get one shot at a 25th anniversary.

And yes, it is more expensive to go to St Lucia than it is to go to Jamaica or the Bahamas. But I don't think you'll regret it.

I'm going to the St. Lucian Regency in May for 9 days, including air (even fisrst class going down). . It will cost me $8400 but Im sure it will be worth every penny. By the way, I was originally going to the St.Lucian Grande until The Regency dropped to a 40% discount. Now I have the top suite for less than I would have paid for the top suite at the Grande. If you were to book online at the Sandals website, you will see the Grande promo at 25% and the Regency at 40%. . Find yourself a preferred Sandals Agent that will quote you between 5 to 10 percent below the online rates and you got yourself a great deal. By the way, fisrt class tickets should be sold by agents at a bulk rate. Never pay more than a few hundred per couple each way. Good luck.

wish i could still give you my TA's name, as he helped a whole lot of people get great rates at Sandals, but he's not selling those properties anymore. *sigh* - big time.

Is the room a huge deal to you? If not, you can cut costs by downgrading. You can ask for an upgrade when you get there, but really.. .. .. .. .. ..the idea of traveling to St. Lucia is to GET OUT THERE! If the room is really importent to you, that is a major cost.

yeah i agree with that. book entry level. we always do. it's no big deal and chances are you'll get an upgrade upon arrival. you're not gonna be in the room much anyway.

Does anyone know if they will give you a deal on a major upgrade if available when you get there? We have an oceanfront room now but were hoping to upgrade to one of the top level rooms if we could swing it.

there's no way to predict that. it's based on availability. my TA says people have gotten pretty sizeable upgrades, but if you go down anticipating to get that, you're going to be disappointed. book what you're happy with, then if you get an upgrade, great! we're the lowest category cuz we'll be happy with that if that's what we get.