Return to Windjammer- Mixed Review
Apr 25, 2024 NurseKRB Stoney Creek, Canada
Our highly anticipated return to Windjammer for our anniversary was met with many mixed feelings.
We enjoyed seeing the positive improvements made from last year- new furniture around the pools, increased seating at the beach, new umbrellas and sun loungers, improved quality and taste of menu offerings at all the restaurants. Noticeably improved…
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Our highly anticipated return to Windjammer for our anniversary was met with many mixed feelings.
We enjoyed seeing the positive improvements made from last year- new furniture around the pools, increased seating at the beach, new umbrellas and sun loungers, improved quality and taste of menu offerings at all the restaurants. Noticeably improved meal service from staff- although still remains somewhat inconsistent at breakfast. As for the staff- We saw many familiar friendly faces and many new ones as well. Staff was one of the main reasons we chose to return- friendly, kind, polite and fun!
While we enjoyed our vacation, the beautiful weather, the people….we ran into many of the same issues as our last trip and some new ones. The price point has significantly increased this year, and it was somewhat disappointing to see that the focus of their improvements were largely cosmetic.
ARRIVAL: 3/5- greeted with a cold rum punch, towel and a warm welcome back. Paperwork for room was incorrect- stated we were on a bed and breakfast plan via resort when we had purchased an all inclusive package via AC Vacations 6 months prior. I requested this be fixed prior to signing but they wouldn’t amend the paperwork. This did cause problems the night before checkout and at checkout. We were also told to get down at 7am to reserve beach chairs. No explanation of this new sun bed reservation system, although I had already known about it from a friend/owner there.
Similar issue to last year- incorrect paperwork and a rushed greeting without providing any real information about the resort….which in this case this year came with changes….
AMBASSADOR SERVICE: The wonderful Crestal was our ambassador. Polite, professional, knowledgeable and friendly, she was perfection wrapped up in a little navy blue dress! Checked on us. Greeted us by name at every opportunity. She knew how to make a guest feel special. She also recognized me from a previous resort she worked at….years ago!!! Talk about the right girl for a job. She is an asset….
Unfortunately, we had to switch rooms after a few days and she was no longer our ambassador. We were assigned to Karen who we never met or heard from for the duration of our stay. Funny enough this exact same scenario happened last year as well. I still don’t know who Karen is….
ROOM: 8/10- 1 bedroom Villa- wonderful space, comfortable bed, modern washroom, full kitchen with all the fixings and a beautiful balcony/ sun deck with plenty of space, furniture and gorgeous ocean views. Booking via vacation package with Air Canada, we were entitled to a fully enclosed unit as per their vacation package information. We received an open air one on arrival. While we were fine with air con only in the bedroom, the bedroom door was not functional and wouldn’t stay closed. This allowed hot air all through the unit. It was hot and miserable. After 4 trips to the desk, 4 different answers, 2 visits from maintenance, i pushed for a room change. Luckily, our wonderful ambassador, Crestal, helped advocate for one when we were told it was at capacity. Frankly I think my admission of sleeping naked on the balcony furniture overnight was what mortified them into a room change. At this price point, this shouldn’t have been an issue. I was very thankful for her assistance with this. We were moved to 138, which was a mirror image but enclosed with air con throughout. We slept much better here. Water pressure left a lot to be desired in this unit, but we were thankful for air, so no complaints were spoken of….
BEACH: Beautifully clean and calm waters. Glorious for a small cove beach with a private feel. Plenty of umbrellas, beach chairs, towels and chair covers provided….coupled with fantastic beachside service of food, drinks and spontaneous treats like sorbet, cold towels and fresh fruits brought around to your chair. Was truly delightful. The wonderful Brandon, Liam, Tevin and Junior are an all-star beach server team!! They work so hard to ensure maximum relaxation and enjoyment for guests, which I truly appreciated.
SUNBED RESERVATIONS: If you would like a beach chair prior to 10am, you must reserve your beach chairs on arrival by going to the towel hut. They will allocate you chairs for your entire stay. After 10am however, all chairs are open to anyone. In theory this sounds excellent, and I was excited for it. Until we tried it. Immediately, I was stone walled by the staff member, told nothing was available the entire week and the suggestion for this was to only come after 10. Unacceptable. I voiced that this wasn’t acceptable. I was still told there were no chairs. I said again this was unacceptable. Magically, two chairs appeared for the whole week, with a side of attitude and sass. We came down for 3 days prior to 10am, the chairs were occupied by someone else. No problem. We moved to some empty chairs and claimed those ones instead. However, we did witness a lot of guests getting into fights, abusing the staff, abusing the other guests, having absolute fits because they double booked chairs….It was awful. This system does not work. The kinks need to be worked out……we shared our feedback with the resort, but they looked as if they weren’t surprised. This needs to be either scrapped or perfected. I hope they can work this out in the future.
FOOD/BEVERAGE: Delicious and varied choices. We enjoyed the new Dragonfly restaurant. We dined at Upper Deck, Dragonfly, Papa Dons and Jammers. We did not dine in at Embers but enjoyed their menu from a beach chair! Quality and taste much improved, menus scaled back to reveal some great signature dishes and a few new ones. Service speed much improved for lunch and dinner. Breakfast remains tricky, with hit or miss service. We experienced some wonderful service by Liane, Jenna, Karny, Janel, Jacqueline, Nathalie, Wendy, Lenton, Kimbar and Ernest.
One issue remains- waiting to sign a bill near the end. Sometimes, we waited up to 30 mins post meal….this does waste a bit of time over the week. Would love to see if they can eliminate this for the All Inclusive members.
Also noted is that there are many more items on the menu that are NOT included for AI members or come with a supplement charge. It is very tricky as the menu items are noted by a tiny tiny asterisk. Pay attention or you will incur some hefty fees in US dollars.
BARS: Excellent service provided by Elijah, Travis, Adrian, Skeet and Sylvanus. Always ready for the bar crowd at night, entertaining and sweet, delicious drinks made…..they remember your drink orders and have them ready for you before you even know you’re ready for another. Service level 10/10. My husband is a Canadian Club drinker, and these guys went out of their way to make sure one was at every bar for him! We appreciated the care and attention to detail they provided.
SHUTTLE SERVICE: Much quicker this year! Not longer than a 10 min wait during peak times which was no problem at all. The wonderful Justin, Dwayne, Jimmy, Hermin and Linus will get you where you need to go safely and efficiently. Super nice and friendly guys! We noticed how sweet Hermin and Justin were when kids were on board….was so nice to see….
HOUSEKEEPING: Room always cleaned well and always had clean towels provided. Wonderful daytime service provided usually between 11am and 4pm which worked great for us. Not sure if this department is responsible for turn down service, but we received it in our first room for the 3 nights we were in it……once we switched rooms, we never received it again. No water. No towels taken. Nothing. We requested it via the app but it was not working either. Never did for the entire trip.
APP: Features worked well prior to visit but once on site, no requests could be made, no room service ordered….activities not posted….theoretically, this is a great idea. But it too was inconsistent.
ACTIVITIES: we enjoyed the many water sports available. Howard, Mario and Caius were super helpful and fun. Scheduled activities did not always take place (went to yoga twice and no one was around). We did not book spa or excursions on this vacation. Was going to try the spa, as we had a credit via AC Vacations as part of a promo. Staff said we did not. AC rep said we did. This never got resolved, so we opted not to go, as I was just kinda salty about all the miscommunication.
CHECKOUT: Received our bill the night prior. Multiple charges charged to my room for drinks, none of which were consumed by us. I approached the front desk the night prior in hopes to mitigate any problems the next morning during a busy check out.
The person I spoke to heard my concerns, and the first charge we looked at, she went into the back, grabbed all of my signed receipts, presented me with one and said “this is yours, this is your signature. You signed for the charges”.
The cheque number was not the same, the amounts were different and so was the entire charge (bill said dinner charge. They showed me a receipt for drinks) She then called someone and whispered into the phone?? Gave some attitude….Once she realized she was entirely wrong, the tone changed and she offered to look into it. She asked me to return to give her some time to investigate. I returned approx. an hour later to the lovely Abigail on desk. I informed her of the issue, she confirmed that the charges had been taken care of, that it was infact an error as we were all inclusive and did not consume any items that had a surcharge. She reprinted me a bill, I thanked her and all was well. The following morning, at checkout, Jean Pierre presented me a bill with new charges on it. I again explained to Jean Pierre what happened the night before. He stated that he could see the notes, and he understood, but we were on a Bed and Breakfast Plan…….i had to dig through my emails to PROVE that we were on an AI Plan…..something I had tried to do the night of arrival. This made no sense whatsoever….no fault of Jean Pierre, as he was lovely and assisted efficiently and pleasantly….and he apologized…but the staff shouldn’t have to jump through this many hoops and guests shouldn’t have to deal with this multiple times in a row. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
OVERALL: We absolutely loved Windjammer when we honeymooned here last year after a 2 year delay from COVID. We couldn’t wait to return to our special place…it was wonderful to see the fantastic staff who remembered us and treated us so well. It was nice to see some of the improvements we had hoped for and enjoy them this time around. It is hard to be terribly displeased while in St Lucia, as it’s a beautiful island with beautiful people. It’s my favourite place in the world…but windjammer fell just a bit short this year as they try to rebrand into a luxury resort for travel bloggers and influencers. From a business perspective I understand completely…..but from a consumer perspective, it didn’t feel like the same place we fell in love with.
The staff remain their strongest asset, and they 100% made the trip for us.
I will continue to acknowledge that they have crazy potential….it really is a beautiful and unique spot…it’s so very special….and we did have a good trip overall….but we just left with so many mixed feelings….Perhaps if the price is right, we will return.
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