Almond Smugglers Cove All Inclusive

Beautiful Grounds, Food Needs Work

The grounds were lovely with flowering shrubs everywhere. The sweeping views from the adult swim up bar were nice. Our room was in a convenient location. Some rooms would be quite a hike. The room had a fridge, safe & hair dryer. The service was generally good with no tipping expected. There is a little group of independent shops on the grounds, one with a wood carver (we bought a nice carving from him). A big downfall was the food. The burgers grilled on the beach were inedible with a strange bone-like piece of something in the burger. The buffet food was truly like a mediocre school cafeteria. Breakfast was good, but the fruit juices tasted like instant Tang with too much water. The main buffet often had a menu at lunch, with better food than the buffet, so ask if they have a menu during lunch. The pizzas made at the Italian restaurant were terrible, like shoe leather. However, the pasta they served was OK and the service here was great. The best dinners were at Enids, notably their rack of lamb. Making reservations for dinner was easy, as you can do 3 days in advance, but there were very few people staying while we were there. I am sure it is more tricky when they are full. The other bad item was some bug bites we got on our legs. They caused big red spots but did not itch. We got some mosquito bites elsewhere that did itch and didn’t look the same, so we think they were bed bug bites, and we weren’t the only ones.

We used Eastern Caribbean Diving and they were great. They picked us up each morning and returned us to the hotel by car or boat after diving, so no cabs needed, and the boat trip to the dive sites allowed us to see this beautiful island’s coast down to the Pitons. We really liked all of the ECD staff and the owners. They are safe, friendly, professional, and even made arrangements for us to dive with Nitrox. We usually got back to the hotel after lunch hours, so we ordered a picnic lunch in advance for all days. We went to front office and ordered for all days at once - took 10 minutes to fill out menu choices (sandwiches, fruit, drinks, pastries) and had our travel companions pick it up for us after lunch. When we got back, we took the lunch cooler to the pool and had a leisurely lunch. There is NO food available between lunch (ends at 2pm) and dinner otherwise. I only knew about the picnic lunch from reading other reviews on tripadvisor.com, not from the hotel itself. I am posting this same review on tripadvisor.

Great Family Vacation Spot

I was looking for a place to stay in St Lucia, and although I was not overly impressed with Almond Smuggler’s Cove when I read about it (and saw the pictures) on Expedia, I decided that it would probably be the best place to go for the whole family - me, my two pre-teen kids and my retired mother. It was the best decision I made - the place was WAY nicer than it appeared on the pictures - the room we had was fantastic - the food was tasty (not anything fancy, but very good) and plentiful. And the best part of the stay was the staff - they were extremely friendly and ready to help at the drop of a hat. I highly recommend Almond Smuggler’s Cove.

A good deal for the right people

This all=inclusive hotel is very reasonably priced and breathtakingly beautiful. The beach is nice, and there and many pools, all in good condition. Negative points were food that was mediocre at best and some staff members who were unhelpful. I would go there again if I were traveling with young children, but not just with my husband.

Traveler's tip on dining

Eat a lot of breakfast. The fresh fruit is the best thing there.