great place to relax the hotel is 2 resorts together the st lucian and the papillon but they have merged into one but we felt that the papillon resort was more for famlies and the st lucian resort seems alot quieter we were all inc which was very good value for money the entertiment was good every night steel band reggae soul Robert was full of life and great fun as was nancy food was very good 3 restaurants and grill/snackbar to choose from hotel is right on the beach shops are just down the road supermarket/chemist/shopping mall on 2 floors
you must go on trips around the island there is so much to see we would like to thank Anthony on Virgin rep

Where do I start.......my wife and i booked this holiday through Virgin Holidays and went all inclusive. What is wrong with the hotel, the list is shorter if you ask the question what is right with he hotel? However, what is wrong with it?:
*The hotel is falling apart. Roofs are coming up and flapping in the breeze of more than one one building.
*The swimming pool without the bar pool in has tiles coming up at one corner, the ground has physically come up. They put a vase over this to hide it (Right on the corner of the pool).
*The same pool was also extremely dirty, if i had a dog i wouldn't allow it to swim in there.
*Due to the fact that the hotel was half full the hotel decided to shut some of the restaraunts during certain meal times. We chose the hotel for the variaty of eating places.
*I expected the food to be local produce, most nights were theme nights for example english pub night! I did not spend 9 hours on a plane to eat rubbish Enlish food in the Carribean.
*Rooms are in desperate need of refurbishing.
*Most of the staff were un-helpfull some times bordering rude.
*Quality of the food overall was really poor, we only ate twice in the hotel in two weeks, we chose to eat out where you discover St Lucians are really polite people and produce some excellent food.

However, the good points of our holiday:

There are lots of places to visit, the botanical gardens are beautiful as are the diamand waterfall. The sulpher springs were very interesting. The Pitons are really beautifull.

Our friends got married out there and it was organised by a company called Awesome Carribean Weddings, they were brill. If you are planning on getting married in St Lucia do look at this company.
There are some great place to eat and drink. For the best cocktails go to Delirious, helpfull staff, nice setting and great drinks, also does BBQ food which is really good. For a really nice dinner you must go to Edge. It is out of this world, a real experience.

Dont be put off going to St Lucia we had a brilliant time, i would advise that you dont book with virgin and do not stay at St Lucian by Rex Resorts, go room only as there are loads of resteraunts and bars.

When arriving at the hotel we were given a room with 2 beds rather than a double bed for a married couple. The hotel reception told us that the resort was fully booked so our room could not be changed until people left. Two days later we were offered a room at the rear of the complex overlooking a boiler house and noisy late-night club. The room was worse than the one we were in and we chose not to move. We pushed the two single beds together for the rest of our holiday, which was not ideal.

Of the five A la Carte and buffet restaurants available in the hotel three were closed during our stay. We were told this was due to the lack of guests (yet we were told the hotel was full when we wanted to change rooms, seems that the explanations were not consistent). We paid for all inclusive meals and drinks but much of what we wanted was not available due to the restaurant closures. What food that was available was of poor quality, sometimes cold and not fresh and very repetitive. When asking for tea during the afternoon we were told to walk to the other end of the complex to get it which was a 10 minute walk, meaning the tea was cold and spilt when getting back. There was little or know choice at the St. Lucian.

At the mid-point of our 2-week holiday a leaflet was put through our bedroom door telling us the reception, lobby and lounge areas would be closed to guests for the entire night as the hotel was holding it’s annual staff appreciation awards. It's seems beyond belief that the hotel preferred to disadvantage it’s paying guests by having to make alternative dinning and entertainment arrangements in preference to rewarding it’s employees.

When 60 delayed passengers were put into the St. Lucian for the night the 3 closed restaurants were not opened up for them meaning the only restaurant open in the hotel was overloaded, there was not enough food prepared, insufficient plates, cutlery and tables to meet demand and a 25 minute wait to be seated.

Generally, the hotel has seen better days and is in dire need of refurbishment and upgrade. Our bathroom was poorly decorated and of sub-standard quality. Our room was not cleaned on a daily basis and bed linen was not changed until we complained on the 9th day of our holiday. Weeds were growing out of guttering and woodwork around the buildings was rotting. When it rained water came through the ceiling of the Monarch restaurant onto the counters, food and floor. The hotel tennis court and swimming pool were in a dangerously poor state of repair. The hotel information booklet advertises the Rex Papillon and St.Lucian has a pool table. This was incorrect, after inquiring at reception we were told there wasn’t one. Snorkelling was not available, the beach activities staff told us we had to purchase our own equipment. Also they were unhelpful and not prepared to hire out hobby cats throughout our stay with a multitude of excuses. In the 2 weeks we managed to use the hobby cats for 2 half hour sessions.

The hotel staff constantly gave the impression they couldn’t care and at worst were rude with a bad attitude to guests. Unfortunately, we were not alone in our opinion of the hotel’s poor standards as we met many other people on a daily basis with the same judgment who also complained.

We spent a week at the St. Lucian. The staff was very helpful as our luggage made a stop San Juan via AA, and did not show up until the next day.

Weather and beach was great for the first 3 days, a Northerly Swell weather system came in on Wednesday and force us off the beach. Waves 15' hit the beach and resort. We were moved to higher ground, but hotel and maintenance staff were not on the same page as our beach front room was being boarded up while we were still in it. We had to move our luggage ourselves.

Food was plenty full but nothing to write home about. Not as good as other resorts we have spent time in.

Overall we had a good time and enjoyed the resort and company of other vacationers.