Crystals Soufrière

Let me preface this review with two things:

1.It took me this long to write it because of how upset we were.

2.My wife and I are very down to earth, open minded, adventure type people. Takes VERY little to satisfy us and we don't expect much. We are humble and always gigve people the benefit of the doubt, to a fault I would say.

We were scheduled to stay at Crystals for 6 nights. When we arrived, Monica and Martin picked us up from the airport and informed us that we would NOT be going to Crystals for a "few" days. They took us to another "resort" that Monica runs in N. St. Lucia. We stayed there for 2 nights. It was OK, but not what we were looking for (or paid for). We were also supposed to have a rental car all 6 days, but they informed us we would not be getting that either. Instead, they told us they would take us where we need to go, when they say.

Day three comes and we are told they have a "special honeymooners" thing they do for every 50th couple or whatever. So they take us to a Plantation and leave us there for 24 hours. We spent the night in a cottage on the plantation that was downright scary and in the middle of nowhere. No locks on the doors. We were also told we would be taken to wherever we wanted to go while we were there by Monica when she dropped us off. Well, the Plantation owners said we had to fend for ourselves. That meant paying $80 for a taxi, when we were supposed to have a rental car. Needless to say, my wife cried herself to sleep that night (barely).

So the first 3 nights, we felt like prisoners. We were told where and when we would be doing things. We had our own plans of what we wanted to do in St. Lucia, but that never happened because of the "hijacking".

Finally on day 4 we get to Crystals. At this point, my wife and I are expecting the worst, so anything would do. Once there, Monica welcomes us and shows us the cottage we were told we would be staying when I booked, but she says we are not staying in it. She says "Look at how nice it is, look at the views, but you will be staying in the back of this cottage". At this point, my wife is in tears and I just can't believe what is happenening. I felt like I just got kicked in the you kow where and laughed at. Weeks earlier, my friend stayed one night at Crystals and Monica told them that we would be staying in the "nice" cottage as well. That didn't happen at all. Thats what you get for reffering people to Crystals I guess. Our cottage had a 3' X 3' "pool". Looked more like a ces-pool. I wouldn't go to the bathroom in it. Our cottage had no views and we had no running water for the last 48 hours we were there. We had to scoop water from the magnificant pool (ha!) and dump it in the toilet to flush it. Real romantic, let me tell ya. But at least we had our rent a car finally, so we can spend as much time away as possible. We could not get a hold of Monica and Martin the last 2 days to let them know about the lack of water (im talking not one drip) or that we needed to know what to do with the rental car. We had a 7am flight on day 7. No one knew how to get a hold of them. The 90 year old "security" guy said he had no way of getting hold of them. The added stress of that whole situation was a very nice touch after the week we had. So we ended up driving the car back to the airport and leaving it there, not knowing what else to do. It was a horrifying experience and I have never felt so helpless in my entire life. Its so easy for someone to say "why didnt you say something". Well, like I said, my wife and I are very forgiving and kept expecting everything to be ok. By the time we reached our breaking point, we couldn't get a hold of anyone!!

I believe Monica and Martin are good people. I also believe that they over-booked, and were trying to take care of us the best they could. Not only was I told that we would be staying in the "nice" cottage, but they told our friends weeks earlier. Then we dont even get to Crystals until our 4th say in St. Lucia and the cottage is a joke.

I would suggest Crystals to adventure type people who dont like to be pampered. I would also ensure you get written confirmation as to what cottage you have. Otherwise, its anyone's guess as to what you will get. I am assumming everyone who has written a positive review for crystals, has stayed in the "nice" cottage and didnt get their time and place determined by the owners.

Within five minutes of our arrival we felt as though we had known Monica and Martin for years! They are a lovely, friendly couple who made our visit magical with special touches like complimentary champagne, beautiful flowers, chocolates and candles on Valentine's Day, and a wonderful cocktail party mid-week. Our cottage (Papaya) was perfect: comfortable, beautifully furnished, and very clean, with breathtaking views. Crystals is a jewel - hidden away above the town of Soufriere with views of the Piton Mountains and the Caribbean Sea. Monica is a very thoughtful and efficient hostess who arranged to have someone meet us at the airport upon arrival and organized our 4-wheel drive rental. We arrived in St Lucia intending to fully explore the island; but thanks to our exquisite surroundings we stayed close to home all week enjoying the peace, tranquillity and friendly attentions of the staff at Crystals. We can't say enough about Crystals -- it is a stunning vacation spot with the best hosts one could wish for!

We just returned from a wonderful 6-night stay in St. Lucia. We split our time 4 nights at Crystals and 2 nights in Marigot Bay.

The personal touches put into each of the 4 villas and the charming hospitality of our hosts are what make Crystals such a unique place to stay. Monica and Martin take such pride in Crystals and want their guests to experience the best vacation possible. We booked directly through contacting Monica via the website. She took care of everything for us, where to dive, where to rent a car (You definitely need a jeep in Soufriere), where to eat (Mago, Hummingbird, Anse Chastanet) etc. She had Errol deliver a car to us from the airport at a much better rate then a cab would cost us. He even escorted us back to Crystals in his jeep since we'd probably have lost our way trying to find Crystals. (Surprisingly, we got used to the left side of the road driving a lot faster than we thought we would). By the way, most of the cars are stick shift so you might want to specify if you need an automatic.

Arlette, the wonderful housekeeper (and one of Martin's many sisters) had such a fantastic personality. She made sure we were welcomed, showed us around our beautiful 2-story cottage. We were upgraded, for no reason at all, and we were pleasantly surprised that our fridge was fully stocked with treats: rum punch, bread and cheese, water and soda. It's these little touches....

Monica and Martin came to greet us the next day with more rum punch and wine in hand. She showed us around each of the cottages like she was showing us her home. You could tell these villas are her passion as she took great pride in showing us every aspect of the decor from mirrors aquired in Indonesia to the granite marble countertops from Italy. To add to that the views of the Pitons are amazing.

Monica, Martin and Arlette did a great job of introducing us to the other guests since there was no common area or restaurant. We had dinner with a lovely couple from Baltimore and wound up diving a few of times with another great couple from Connecticut.

All in all our stay was fabulous. To address some of the complaints in some of the other reviews, if you are looking for a 5 star resort with all the amenties, then yes, Crystals may not be the place for you. However, if you're a little more flexible,ie. ok with venturing off the property for a restaurant, bar or beach, having no common area, don't mind a few mosquitos since Crystals is up in the mountains etc (use the mosquito nets on the beds - they work great) then Crystals is the perfect place.

Another review mentioned low water pressure... we experienced that as well, but Martin quickly came over and replaced the shower head and fixed it right up. Arlette told us that Monica will usually lend guests a cell phone to contact her or Martin should they need anything, but we didn't feel the need.

It's clear that Monica and Martin really care about their guests and aren't just out to make a buck. When we decided to keep the rental car for an extra 2 nights to drive to Marigot, we called Monica on New Years Day (sorry Monica) and she helped us orchestrate the car return from an hour away without having to pay an extra pick up fee. That was above and beyond service since we weren't even staying at Crystals at that point. And to be honest, when looking at the villas at the other big name resorts, none of them came even close to ours at Crystals. For the value and the service, Crystals was by far superior.

Thanks Monica, Martin, Arlette and everyone,

We'll definitely return.

Francesca and Dan

New York, NY

We recently spent 17 days staying at the Crystal's guest house in St. Lucia. We thought some parts of it were great (uniqueness and decorating), but we were not prepared for or informed about other aspects of the establishment. First of all, the only water is rainwater and even though it rained almost the whole time we were there our faucets and shower had no pressure and we even ran out of water to bath or flush the toilets a few times. We were promised a private deck and plunge pool, but only one of the units has privacy and even then workers were building near it and would walk through at random times. The locks worked correctly one of the doors of out of the three units we stayed in. The pools, bathrooms and kitchen were dirty. The kitchens had stoves that only cooked one one high setting and all of the pans and knives provided were the cheapest we had ever seen so cooking was difficult if not really impossible. The maids would clean our dishes and then put them away wet when they did that and the only work it really seemed thay did was sweeping, making up the beds, and spraying around a bunch of bug spray. For the price we paid, we were expecting a lot more. We were told that we would get fresh fruit basket upon arrival and we did, but it took about ten days for most of it to get ripe. The last evening we were there the creepy drunk rasta security guard did come around with his machete and a coconut to offer us when I had already told him earlier that I was allergic to coconuts and didn't want any. They have two dogs tied with 6 foot long leases to their dog shacks outside the units... they barked a lot, were fed once a day, were never brushed, and were living in conditions that I considered very inhumane. One had just had eight puppies when we had arrived, there was one left when we left. The toilets in the units were not vented properly so they smelled and so did the property in general. We wanted to leave, but were locked in because they had charged us for our whole stay upon arrival and were told that the owners were very tight and probably wouldn't get our money back. The location was nice if you don't mind four wheeling. .. it is on a nice breezy ridge with good views of the pitons, but the sunset was hidden by a hill and some trees. The sad thing is that Crystal's was potential, but nothing seemed to have built or finished well. They upgraded our room for us for part of our stay for the same price and the people were mostly very friendly. With the locks not working and different people that we didn't know around we felt pretty uneasy about being robbed (especially the last night of our stay). We felt ripped off and the conditions the animals were kept in was very sad.

If you are looking for a luxurious, romantic, secluded accommodation at a reasonable price, look no further. CRYSTALS, owned and operated by ex-pat Monica (Irish-born, English boarding school-bred) and her husband Martin (St. Lucian), is a collection of four self-catering bungalows. We had million dollar views of the famed Pitons, the Sulphur Volcano, and the sea.

Although each bungalow is beautifully appointed with unique, exotic, and comfortable furnishings, we preferred to spend most of our time outdoors. Each bungalow features at least two balcony/patios; two have large plunge pools, one has a small plunge pool, and one has a tree-top hot tub. I felt so close to nature and far from the worries of the world, I lovingly referred to Crystals as "luxurious camping", even though we had all the modern conveniences (a/c in the bedroom, full kitchen, electricity, cell phone, hot shower, t.v., stereo). Just walking the roads around Crystals is an adventurous exploration; you'll come upon fruits too numerous to mention, birds, flowers, and butterflies, gracious neighbors, and more beautiful vistas.

While the accommodations were outstanding, we really appreciated the personal attentions of Monica, Martin, and their staff. Monica went out of her way to arrange the beautiful, tropical wedding I'd always dreamed of (which was no small task since I'd brought the wrong paperwork from home). The staff was always ready to assist you with anything, and happy to share their culture when we bombarded them with our numerous questions.

Close to all the natural wonders St. Lucia is known for, Crystals is the perfect choice for independent travelers.

In early February 2005 my wife and I spent 9 days at Crystals then spent 6 more days at Rodney Bay in the North. Crystals is far removed from the hustle and bustle of your typical beach side resort, it is set on a mountainside with breathtaking views of the Pitons (two pointy mountains that St. Lucia is known for). Make sure that you get the cottage that faces the Pitons with it's own private plunge pool and bedroom french doors that open to a view of the Pitons that you will not soon forget and Sheba the friendly dog will keep watch at night and laze around during the day. The owners Monica and Martin Charles are very friendly and accomodating. Crystals is not for everyone, it is isolated and open to the jungle environment and it is a good idea to have a jeep which Monica can arrainge for you . We loved it, we like the native atmosphere, the seclusion and the choice to barbeque by the pool or go into town for dinner. If we retrurn to St. Lucia we would defintely stay at Crystals once again.

My boyfriend and I went to ST Lucia for a week end we stayed 2 truly romantic days at Crystals in Soufriere,for us it was very special and different, we felt like Adam and Eve.we hope to spend lots more week ends in St Lucia and at Crystals. we love it.

we stayed two weeks at Crystals for our honeymoon, we could not have asked for a better place to stay, we had a very romantic room with a postcard view and our hosts made our stay extra special thank you monica and Martin.We hope to return