8/10
The Best View Apartment is aptly named. It is the upper half of a home in which Patricia’s mother lives. The view from the balconies on three sides of the house is unbeatable and every bedroom has access to it! The house is located in a neighborhood—not part of a complex or among other vacation rentals, so you get a feel for living in St Lucia. There is a small, pretty beach within walking distance, but few sidewalks so you must be careful of traffic. This local beach is home to fishing boats--quiet and peaceful with some vendors selling souvenirs and cold drinks nearby, but not much else. The house is a 15-20 min drive from Marigot Bay which is where you find kayak and SUP rentals, the nearest good restaurants, and a nice beach with all the tourist amenities.
Patricia and her mother, who lives on site, were extremely friendly and helpful, while respecting our privacy. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted and given a tour of the house. There was coffee/tea provided and breakfast food in the fridge. Unfortunately, we had a big problem with our transportation--had reserved a rental car, but was not able to get one the entire week. This was frustrating, because the places we had wanted to visit were not walkable from the house. Patricia went above and beyond trying to find us a rental car, and was ultimately unsuccessful, but that was not for lack of trying. She did connect us with a very reliable taxi service that drove us everywhere we wanted to go (Moses 1-758-384-1190)--highly recommended.
All that being said, you must remember that this is not the U.S. For instance, one day after a heavy rain the government shut off the water. Luckily, the house had large rain collection barrels that supplied water until it was turned back on (but that was not for drinking). Of course, the rain barrel water was very limited, so we needed to be careful. The water pressure in the hall bath was fine, but Bedroom 1’s bathroom was okay at first, but later varied to barely a trickle at times. When the tub spout was bumped during a shower it came off causing the shower not to work. Patricia responded very quickly when we informed her of the problem, and her husband came out that day to fix it. We found it inconvenient that the kitchen had no hot water for washing dishes, but there was an electric kettle, to provide hot water for washing. The nice ocean breeze was very pleasant and we had no problem with insects, so the AC (in 2 bedrooms) really wasn’t needed.
Diane J.
7 nachten verbleven in december 2022