clairemorandesigns.co.uk
Our trip to Sugar Beach, St Lucia - Claire Moran Designs
I love holidays, I love everything about them. The sunshine, food, relaxing, going to the beach and spending time with the family. We had our 10 day trip to Sugar Beach in St Lucia in the diary since the start of the year, and I had been looking forward to it ever since. It was so nice to escape the grey and cold wet London to brilliant blue skies and sunshine. Also it was nice to escape Christmas for a bit too. We were staying at the brilliant Viceroy Sugar Beach Hotel that is nestled between the two Piton mountains – Gros Piton and Petit Piton. From the moment we arrived I was blown away by the hotel and the service. We were greeted at reception by our butler who walked us down the hill to our room, and arranged for our luggage to be dropped off. Our room was perfect, it was basically a mini house. We had an outdoor garden with private plunge pool, four poster bed and terrace that overlooked the sea, making it feel very special. Everything in the room was white giving it a very clean and sophisticated feel. The room and terrace were huge providing plenty of space for our daughter to crawl around. On our first night we were so tired after a long flight and time difference between St Lucia and the UK. However I managed to enjoy dinner in the Bayside Restaurant with the rest of the family, whilst my husband enjoyed room-service as our daughter was desperate to go to bed. The food was perfect, and I knew that this was the start of many more nights of brilliant food. It was wonderful to wake the next morning to see the hotel and resort in the sunshine and daylight, and to be able to see the sea from our terrace. We had arranged to meet the rest of the family for breakfast before spending the day on the beach. The breakfasts were amazing and huge, you could have anything you wanted. I had either Belgian Waffles or Pancakes everyday, and a continental breakfast too. My daughter developed a love for the sausages, and would devour nearly three every day. Also the range of fresh juices and smoothies were fantastic. Breakfast was quickly becoming my favourite meal of the day. We spent our first day lazing on the beach, and building sandcastles with our daughter. The sea was a brilliant blue and fairly warm too. The hotel has these fantastic pod-like platforms you can easily swim-out to, and they made a perfect spot for sunbathing. We alternated our days at Sugar Beach between spending time on the beach and at the pool. The pool is beautiful and huge too. It’s a little cooler than the sea, but I preferred being at the pool with our daughter as she had more space to crawl around and it was also less busy too. When she had her lunchtime nap it was bliss to be able to swim a couple of lengths on my own. So that was how we pretty much spent our days, chilling in the sunshine, relaxing, and having fun as a family. Now the main reason for us being in St Lucia with my family was for my Mum’s 60th birthday, and we celebrated it with a bang. We first enjoyed a gorgeous Swedish massage in the hotel’s Rainforest Spa which is absolutely beautiful. The entire spa experience was wonderful. When entering the spa you walk along a covered walkway through the trees, into their reception where we were greeted by lovely ladies who made us feel so welcome. We were shown to the ladies changing room and asked to get changed into their soft dressing gowns and slippers, and then taken up to their relaxation area. It’s called the Rainforest Spa as it is set in the rainforest, with the sounds of the rainforest and running water, making it truly relaxing. All the treatment rooms are their own individual wooden pod and dotted about on different levels. I think that there must be about 10 treatment rooms altogether. The lovely Leah did my Swedish massage and it was nice talking to her about our children. I’m not used to having massages but she made me feel at ease straightaway. The massage definitely made me feel a lot more relaxed and helped to ease a lot of tension I get in my shoulders and back. My Mum and my sister also really enjoyed their massages too, and loved the spa experience. Not only did we enjoy a spa treatment, we also had a fantastic six course meal in the Great Room restaurant overlooking the sea. The food was beautiful and we were treated to an amuse bouche between each course. I choose to have the freshly cooked gnocchi, the lamb cutlets and then the Grand Marnier Souffle. Each course was cooked to perfection, and the petit fours at the end of the meal were a real treat and surprise too. I even managed to take a couple back to my husband, who had to depart the meal early to put our daughter to bed. I found the overall experience at Sugar Beach to be really child friendly. Our daughter was on first name terms with a lot of the staff by the end of the week, and she learnt to say “hello” or “hi” on this holiday as she had heard it so often. The kids room was excellent, and she loved playing in the wendy house and climbing the stairs. We found it brilliant during breakfast as it was nearby and stopped her becoming restless whilst waiting for her food to arrive. Had she be walking there was so much space for her to run around on the pathways and on the grass. The hotel is traffic free apart from the tuk tuks chauffering guests up and down the hillside to their rooms. Our room was in a perfect location within minutes walk from the restaurants, beach and pool. I was a little concerned it might be tricky with the buggy. However we needn’t have worried as it was easy to push her around, and get her to sleep in the buggy during dinner. We had an absolutely brilliant holiday at Sugar Beach, St Lucia. Every thing about the trip was perfect. We have created some lifetime memories, and I really wish that we could come back one day. Thanks to the Viceroy team for making this the perfect holiday, and for treating to us to a spa experience in exchange for this review. I hope you enjoyed reading. Claire x