Soufriere, Anse Chastanet Resort Review

Overall Rating

I'll admit that the beaches are beautiful.

Where do I start?

The Anse Chastanet hotel neglected to tell me that during my stay I would be subjected to major construction; complete with land clearing! When I expressed my unhappiness with the situation, I was offered an apology but nothing else. Had I known that I would have been awaken every morning at 7 by hammering and loud workers I would have gone somewhere else! Funny for a hotel that does not allow radios in order to maintain serenity! This became such a problem that I was on the phone attempting to locate another place to stay until I was told that the remainder of my stay would not be refunded. If I could have afforded to pay for another hotel, I would have left and not looked back!
My beach-front room was a breeding ground for mosquitoes. At one point during my stay, I counted 54 bites on my arms, back and legs. Although the rooms LOOK great in brochures, be forewarned that there are no screens on the windows and just about every creepy, crawly thing that can get inside your room will get inside your room. I am not one who is taken aback by the sight of insects; after all, I do live in New York. But these bugs were big! And they bit!
The beach bar closes promptly at 10... Even if you are one of eight couples who are sitting at the bar engaged in conversation. My wife and I met several interesting couples after dinner. It would have been nice to continue speaking with them without getting kicked out of the bar area and being forced to return to our rooms! The entire hotel shuts down after 10. It felt like being at summer camp with an enforced curfew!
When I called to make the reservation, I asked if a meal plan was necessary or could we go into town and experience some local restaurants. The receptionist said that the town was a short cab ride away. The town is a very expensive, bumpy cab ride away and the hotel truly discourages you from going elsewhere. In fact, upon arrival we were subject to an early morning "orientation" in which we were warned about the "evil locals" who wanted to prey upon our innocence. The truth of the matter is that the hotel wishes to scare guests from leaving the compound so that any money you spend will be on their services! Because of the difficulty in arranging a cab, we were mostly forced to pay the ridiculous price of dinner ($45/ person). The portions were incredibly tiny and the quality was very poor. I mistakenly ordered steak. It was the size of a post-it-note and most of it was fat! If you are at all active, you will not get enough to eat and God forbid you ask the staff for more! Mt waitress "sneaked" me an extra plate one night and you would have thought she put her life on the line to do so! It was so bad that my wife would order the cheese plate -- that traditionally comes at the end of a French meal instead of dessert -- just so she wasn't starving. Or, you can do what I did and go to the gift shop and buy a $10 bag of cheese doodles! This is the only vacation that I have gone on and LOST weight.
I had arranged a day of horseback riding and was quoted a price by the social desk that was automatically charged to my room. I told the manager that instead, I wanted to pay this in cash and in person the day of my ride. I found out the hotel charges a MUCH higher rate than the ranch does and the hotel keeps the difference! No wonder why they kept encouraging me to charge everything (from taxi rides to mountain biking) to my room!