I've never been to a Sandals resort so I have to take your comments at face value, Hug. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me, but then bear in mind the clientele the chain aims for...
Wealthy American and British tourists with a week of holiday or a honeymoon... in either case, lots of cash to get rid of.
Almost without exception, the tourists I met were 50% Brits, 50% Americans - the former running away from family disputes to get married with a few friends or honeymooning, the latter generally just spending as much cash as possible with their one week off. They couldn't believe we got so much holiday (trans. vacation)
We managed to persaude another young couple to come out with us on a Jeep expedition and on the way we picked up a hitcher who gave us a errr 'guided tour' of one or two towns for a small consideration (I think his directions home ended up in a tour and he wanted some cash for it, but what the hell - we learned a lot !) but they were the only people we could find who were interested. That's the culture of 'all-inclusive' holidays I'm afraid.
People who buy these packages do not want to go drinking with the locals in the good bars. They prefer dinner in one of the three restaurants, followed by free waterskiing whilst the nanny looks after the kids.
If you're a reasonably qualified diver, you will love St. Lucia. There's a superb wreck in about 60ft just outside Castries harbour - merchant vessel, carrying explosives running away from a U-boat, missed the natural crescent harbour and blew up on one of the promontaries.. the ship is peeled open from bow to midships and becomes more shiplike at the stern. The bed is littered with armoured cars, guns, jeeps, you name it, and the fish are quite friendly too
Vis at that depth is about 200m... unbelievable.
You pays yer money and takes yer choice, but don't be put off by the recent bad press - just find a good value holiday !
P.S. Hug, the Nelson was not a bad joint, but I could point you in the direction of a lot lot better !
[This message has been edited by TBone (edited 11 January 2001).]