We stayed here for 5 nights at the end of a 2 week trip to St Lucia. the property was pretty much as we expected. We stayed in Cottage Jou Jou (JJ) which is one of the duplex cottages. It has a shared wall with the neighbour but you never heard them and it was lovely. It was a good position as we were up the top of the hill, so not overlooked and could also drive our car right up to the property, so no lugging bags around. The room is very spacious with a bit canopied bed, air con, fan, minibar/fridge, wardrobe with safe and large veranda with table, chairs and double hammock as well as the outdoor shower which was perfect. I am glad we didnt bother upgrading to a higher room type (which i had considered) as this was excellent and was always realy well serviced, clean and thoughtful touches (citronella candles, flowers on bed on arrival, complimentary bottle of watre in fridge, mosquito repellent in bathroom and bug spray). We didnt find bugs to be a problem there or anywhere else in St lucia. If you have travelled to anywhere tropical before, you are just sensible - before dinnertime, as it got dark, we closed the shutters, switched on the air con and fan and tucked in the mosquito net. Really no problems - and there were a few friendly lizards to eat the few mosquitos we saw.
The resort itself has been well done - we are not resort type people. We loathe big hotels, we dont like organised trips/tours and this was the most touristy place we stayed on the island. We hired our car and drove all over the place on the island, hiked to waterfalls where we were the only people there, went quad biking in the rainforest, climbed gros Piton, ate in the market with the locals in Castries, went out in the evening to Soufriere and went to the fish fry - arriving around 10 pm when all the tourist buses had taken the tourists home!
There were parts of this resort that have unfortunately lost its Caribbean flavour - the food is one thing. Too much of it is americanized food (burgers, club sandwiches, french toast at breakfast etc.) and the evening food would be better if there was more choice and some lighter alternatives...many things had heavy sauces, rice or mashed potatoes. They should use more local products and less imports. I also found it a but disconcerting that there was a water menu in the room - why go to St Lucia and insist on Evian or San Pelligrino water. I think that Ti Kaye should pride itself on everything the Caribbean has to offer not be just another westernised place on the beach.If it continues to do this it will lose all its appeal.
Aside from that the service we found a little hit and miss. Everyone was always polite and helpful but sometimes it all feels a bit scripted and there can be a lack of personality. I feel like they have all been told what is European/American hospitality and told to follow it to the letter. As such, it sometimes comes across as a bit fake compared to the exceptional genuine Caribbean characters we met elsewhere. The exceptions to this were Stella in the restaurant who was lovely and Terry on the beach who is a very helpful and friendly. We also found the restaurant lacked any atmosphere in the evenings, although we were glad of the dress code, as I am pretty sure there would have been people in shorts and T-shirts otherwise.
We like to get to know the locals and really experience the culture, so were bit put off by the organised trips on the notice board in reception - I thought that the note there warning people against going places without being on an organised trip is ridiculous and plays on the nerves of inexperienced or nervous holidaymakers. For example we got a rather odd phone call asking why on the friday evening we had not booked in for dinner, or for the trip to the fish fry and I got a very cold response when I explained we were driving ourselves to the fish fry in Anse Le Ray. Honestly, we didnt feel unsafe anywhere ever and people should really explore the island as it has much to offer. We went there and had a great time with the locals.
We also disliked the fact that this was the only place we stayed with everything priced in US dollars. We are not American, nor were we in America - so I dont see why everything isnt priced in the local currency. If I go to America I don't want everything priced for me in £'s or expect to pay in Canadian dollars just because its next door! We got cash out from the machines there, and it is EC$, so we want to see things priced that way.
We also thought that more could have been made of the beach. It is a lovely beach, and there are always enough sunbeds, and the sand is lovely and soft all the way out under the water. terry who looks after the beach was great and very helpful to put umbrellas up and get you drinks. (And I think it is exceptional that he maintains his friendliness when we saw some people treating him in quite a condesending manner or expecting him to do everything for them). We just thought that the beach lacked some facilities - there were a few kayaks which were good and the dive school, but it would have been good to have some other watersports (maybe hobie cats or we saw other places on the island where a boat would go to do water ski-ing one day a week from each beach). We also think that ashtrays should be provided as we saw some smokers (mainly not resident to the hotel) leaving their cigarette butts in the sand. Sadly not thinking of the future of this beautiful place.
The boats coming in and out of the beach have to be mentioned as there are lots of them, and pretty much all day - many are the same companies so come in one after the other, when one leaves another arrives. Sometimes its not too intrusive but sometimes there are 40 or 50 people snorkelling, or the boats playing loud music.
we also had some mix ups with our booking - when we booked they took too much deposit. And it took me about 8 emails to get them to refund the extra they had taken. They said I could have it taken off the bill when I got there, but I wanted it refunded, as they took too much. I was also concerned in case Virgin airlines went on strike, that if they had taken too much deposit it could be a problem trying to get the extra amount back if we had to cancel due to strikes.Eventually after much discussion they refunded the extra they had taken.
Also then when we checked out, we reminded them about our dinner and cocktails the night before as they had not added it to the bill, she then added it on and we signed. A couple of hours later, I was then summoned to the restaurant from the beach, being told that I had to take a phone call from reception as we hadnt paid our bill properly. I found this quite rude - the lady had forgotten again to add on the dinner and drinks. So we had to return (up all the stairs) to the office to rectify it. I felt rather uncomfortable that the other girl who had called me at the beach made it sound as if we had deliberatly not paid something, and it was quite embarassing and inconvenient. When we returned to the office, the lady originally responsible for the mistake apologised for it and was very pleasant.
We really liked the rooms at Ti Kaye and the location and beach. However I think our 5 night stay was enough. We would have got fed up with the superficial service and lack of food choice and restaurant atmosphere if we had stayed longer. I would recommend to move around the island for a longer stay and explore, explore, explore- get out there, hire a car and see it for yourself !!!
