Latest Reviews for Soufries

We have just returned from our 2 week honeymoon, staying at the Jalousie Plantation and are planning to definately return for future anniversaries. The hotel itself is of a good standard, but the real selling point for it is the fantastic location in between the Pitons - the views around the estate are amazing and you can't beat eating breakfast on the Verandah with views of the beach between the mountains or an evening meal overlooking the sea from the Pier restaurant.

We took a helicopter transfer from Hewanorra airport to and from the resort, which took around 10 minutes and drops you straight onto the Jalousie's own helipad. I would highly recommend paying the extra for the helicopter as the views are fantastic and the transfer very convenient as your luggage is forwarded via road and then delivered directly to your villa.
At check in, we were greeted by cold towels and rum punch, which is always a good start to a holiday. As honeymooners, we were cheeky enough to ask if there were any upgrades available, which the receptionist was more then helpful about and provided us with a suite (#204) that had its own plunge pool, partial sea view, separate living room and easy access to the rest of the resort, in particular the beach, and Pier restaurant. We walked most times to the pool, the main house and restaurants, but used the shuttle a couple of times when a walk seemed too energetic! The shuttles were prompt and the drivers friendly but I would say they could do with replacing a few of the vans as they backfired a number of times and the interiors had seen better days.

Our villa was large and airy and the a/c was fantastic and very welcomed! It was secluded and not overlooked and the cleanliness and maintainance of both inside and out can't be faulted.

We stayed on an all inclusive basis, which I am so glad we did, as after looking at the prices on the menus at all of the restaurants, the food was overpriced for the majority of the selection. The all inc. package included all meals at all of the restaurants and the majority of drinks were also, including a selection of wines, all cocktails, soft drinks etc. One thing that we weren't happy with was that bottled water was taken off the all inclusive package as of the 1st october, which we didn't find out about until that evening when the waitress bought the cheque for us to sign and costs $5.80 US per bottle! As there are no local shops within easy walking distance, this seems an extortionate way of reaping money from a basic necessity, especially when all inclusive packages are paid for well in advance and our own tour operator representive (Virgin) knew nothing about the change in policy either, so please be warned!

Aside from that, the restaurants were very good. Breakfast is only available from one location (the Verandah) but provides a good selection of continental and cooked items. Lunch can either be buffet style (themed on each day of the week, eg. American, English, Italian etc) or a choice from the beach menu of basics such as burgers, sandwiches etc, all of which are served from the Bayside Grill next to the beach and pool. The buffets were very good some days but others were poor, which from a hotel of this standard, we expected consistently good food. Most of our evening meals were either at the Pier, which offered a good selection of meals in a relaxed atmosphere, or the Plantation Room, which is a more formal dining experience. Each of them were very enjoyable and on selected nights, entertainment would be provided and themed evenings, such as caribbean music in the Pier and guitarists, and solo singer and accompanist in the Plantation Room. Some evenings were spent at the Bayside for Caribbean nights and the Managers cocktail party on a monday night. The entertainment put on for these was good (bands and limbo dancers/fire eating) but again, the food was buffet style, hit and miss again, and the other 2 evening restaurants are closed on these nights so you don't have much choice of dining on these evenings.

The facilites at this resort are good - not the place for you if you're looking for a lively nightlife, but if you are looking for peace and quiet and enjoying a break from it all in a romantic setting, this is the place for you. The watersports available are good, with snorkelling, scuba diving etc catered for. The beach is imported white sand with adequate sunbeds and shade and the pool only a stones throw from the beach, again with enough beds and parasols. The pool was fantastic but the area and sunbeds need some tlc to bring this upto the standard the hotel are looking to offer. The spa offers a great range of treatments, where we opted for the couples cabana massage, an hour-long body massage with fantastic views of the whole resort, beach and pitons - it doesn't get much better than that! On some days, massages were also offered by the beach which my husband was only too happy to indulge again!

The staff and the level of service in the resort vary from the fantastic to poor - from our understanding, the change of management of the hotel has not been welcomed by all concerned and, we felt, was reflected in the attitude of staff. The levels of staff need to be increased in most areas of the resort as although its low season there at the moment, the guests who are there require the level of service expected and paid for. On a few days, cold towels and fresh fruit were brought round for the guests on the beach and pool side but it only happened sporadically. Touches like these in a resort of this level should be a daily occurrence and consistent. Also, some staff seemed more pre-occupied with each other and the job they were doing than serving a customer waiting. Having said that, we hope that once the management have settled in, these points will be looked at as having read some previous reviews posted on this site, it is a recurring problem picked up by guests.

The organised trips that we went on included whale watching, Soufriere (volcano and botanical gardens) and Castries - I wouldn't recommed Castries if you are looking for a city with huge shopping potential as its mainly made up of local markets and stalls, which do pester tourists considerably. Point Seraphine is an enclosed shopping centre for duty free but not of the size to spend hours around. From the Jalousie, many of the trips are via boat, which provides ample opportunity for fantastic photos to be taken of the Pitons and local coastline.

All in all, I would definately recommend this hotel, particularly for romantic getaways. The location of this resort is its best feature and although a number of points do need to be addressed at the resort, I look forward to returning there in the future.