TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

So, this resort is 3 star no more no less, you will do well to remember this when you book because it does and is what it says 3 Star. You have probably read some really crappie reviews on here but don't let that put you off ,so long as you remember its 3 Star. " it does have 5 star views and a wonderful beach too that a massive pluss. Food, drinks and service are all 3 Star, with exception of a few staff who go above and beyond. Vanessa one of the managers is one also Crystal on the front desk. They are both wonderful. The food is cooked well not a great choice but more than enough, the rice here is about as good as I have tested. Breakfast is really good you have a chef called Ami who does the best omelette and poached eggs she is also really nice too. Drinks are all ok, all local brands, but they could do with a few more staff behind the bars. The Pool is great , not enough parasols to be honest. The beach and the sea is brilliant. The rooms are spacious the beds are bloody massive and comfortable our cleaner Fortuna was excellent . All said do remember this is a 3 Star resort, My wife and I had nothing to complain about to be honest. I would just like, to say thank you to All, the staff at Star Fish.

Booked in store with TUI as a group of 5, but werent told of the potential pitfalls that followed. Week 1. The Good, Absolutely beautiful location. Met the efficient and cheerful Crystal on the front desk and the happy Bell Boy, Akim, who took our bags to our allocated rooms, which overlooked the pool area and the beach. The room was adequate, a massive, very comfortable bed, mini fridge, flat screen tv with English speaking channels, a free, yes free, wall safe and an efficient AC unit. Week 1. The Bad. Simply put, not nearly enough staff, which put those present under constant pressure & therefore unhappy in their work, which showed on quite a few occasions. The pool and lobby bar were consistently understaffed leading to long waits for drinks, which also ran out on occasions. How can a bar run out of coke after an hour? The food choices were limited, they also ran out so any late comers to b'fast or dinner were literally left with the dregs, what food there was was bland with little variation from one day to the next. Witing time at the outside grill varied, but we waited over an hour one day. Pool area. Despite there being 70 plus sunbeds around the pool, there were only 14 umbrellas, which led to people, mainly the British, getting up at 0600 or before to 'reserve' the beds. Some people were even putting out towels the night before, and as for evening entertainment, there simply wasnt any, The coffee /tea/water urns regularly ran out & then the hunt was on for a staff member to refill them, just little things but combined with everything else, became irritating. Therefore a fair amount of 'suggestions' were made to Sean, the Operations Manager, who stated the hotel had recently had a change of management and were in the process of 'sorting things out'. Week 2. Management obviously had been sorting things out. there were more staff and they were much more cheerful. Staff of note were the smiley Patricia, Natalie and Alma, the lovely Maxcine and Amy and the charming Emmerson. Food became more abundant, still not enough variety though & the pool bar suddenly had more staff, although waiting times and lack of glasses/ ingredients for cocktails varied. However, the sunbed/umbrella ratio didnt change & with the arrival of several large groups, this exacerbated the existing problem. Evening entertainment went up a notch to poor, but at least there was some. Unfortunately at this time as well, the remnants of a hurricane passing by out in the Atlantic caused large swells in the tides and consequently the beach was closed for guest safety for most of the week. In summary, the root cause of all problems here is that no one will confirm or deny that the hotel is due for closure and or demolition, which makes the staffs' jobs at risk, leading to the variable attitude of staff members. The new management team keep assuring guests that they are 'on it' and produced a guest survey. I would not stay at this particular hotel again, it is dated and needs money spending, but by and large clean and tidy, because there are so many more hotels to choose from on this beautiful island. It would be interesting to see just how far it could come on, given the fabulous location and a new enthusiastic management team. Everything did improve on the 2nd week, but the experience as a whole left a lot to be desired considering our group spent just over £3000 per couple.

I stayed at the Starfish St. Lucia recently 4th September 2023 to the 14th September 2023 and this is what I found. The TUI rep at the airport organised our transferred very well and I cannot fault her. She was fast, efficient and amusing. The transfer to the Starfish Hotel was excellent and I and my friends, we were a group of 7 on this holiday, had an enjoyable journey to the resort. Upon arrival, we were offered a rum punch whilst they checked us in, taking a credit card deposit of £200.00 per room in case of damage! The lobby of the Starfish was hot, as there were no fans but once checked in we went off to our rooms. The rooms were tired, needed attention but they were clean and the bed in my room was great, huge and very comfortable and I slept extremely well in it every night. The room service came everyday and cleaned the room, although they did remove the two flannels, one after one day and the second after day five! They also removed some of the towels towards the end of my stay too! There were complimentary shampoos, body wash and body lotion in the bathroom and these were replenished throughout my stay. The bathroom was extremely tired and the shower was not fitted at the correct height nor in the correct way for the type of shower head, it was a rain showerhead but they had it jutting out of the wall at around 5 feet from the floor, so I had to duck down to use it. I had no control over the water temperature as only one tapped worked, so showers were cool but that was fine in the heat of St. Lucia mainly. My air-conditioning was fabulous and my room stayed cold the entire time I was there. That is where the good stuff ends though I am afraid. The fridge in the room was a small kitchen fridge simply placed on a table, and did not do anything for the design of the room. The lock on the door did not always work at first try and I had to get a housemaid to let me in as the lock was not responding to my key one evening. It did work fine after that however. The door did not fit the frame correctly so light poured in from all sides and therefore lots of room insects to come in too. I had lots of insect repellent which helped keep them away I guess as they were not a problem. There are three bars in the Starfish Hotel but only one is open at a time with only one barperson working, so at times a very long wait for a drink and people around getting frustrated about it. The bar staff did work very hard but not only did they have to serve the entire hotel's guest solo, they also had to replenish the bar when things ran out which they did all the time. At times the bar was closed for more than half an hour several times a day, as the poor unsupported bar staff tried to go and get the items they needed to serve the guests. It was not good enough, and the bar staff knew it, bless them. There was almost nothing they did not run out of during my stay. There are three restaurants at the Starfish Hotel, all of which serve inedible slop. One has to book for the Italian and Asian restaurants and as they are not open every day, it is a rush to get on the booking list as guests scramble to escape the buffet restaurant! Let's start at breakfast. Firstly, once told the person at the podium one's room number, one is pointed or depending on who is on duty, shown to a table. Again depending on who is on duty, one may or may not be offered tea or coffee although water is always brought to the table. The breakfast offering is fine over all. The pastries are stodgy and unpleasant to eat, the ham and cheese is quiet scarry, plastic cheese used by burger chains for burgers and sliced tinned ham. Horrible! Mango juice was on offer twice whilst I was there, but sadly fort an island full of mangoes, only on two occasions were they actually present in the dinning room and then, only a few slices which were not replenished for later diners. The same was true of yogurts. That said, they was plenty of bacon and sausages, scrambled eggs, very sweet baked beans and saltfish stew, tuna stew, and cabbage. Yes, they were on the breakfast menu! Some days we were treated to hash browns and American pancakes and syrup. delicious. Breakfast was fine and there was also a person ready freshly cook omelettes of one's choice and poach eggs. The only poor issue about breakfast was the staff, that were rude, miserable and just did not want to be there. Only one slightly older lady, made an effort to be cheerful and serve guests in a professional way. Lunch was slop. poorly displayed badly seasoned - that is to say not seasoned, and seasoning was not available all the time at table. It was hit or miss whether the salt and pepper pots had anything in them. Mostly they did not and upon asking the staff for some, they simply ignored us. At one point, one of my group asked a waitress for something, there were two in the dinning room, they both looked at us, looked at each other and both moved quickly out of the dinning room and stayed out for a full ten minutes. The same food seemed to be reused for diner at times although not everyday. Luckily I like lentils! Dinner was also the same kind of slop, chicken often curried badly with no flavour and fish, although I did enjoy the fish at least once. Lentils, breadfruit ( the first time is was nice - ish but the second time they had sliced it waver thin and it was like eating cardboard), I enjoyed the saltfish stew even at breakfast I tried a little as I think it is important to experience new things. But in general the food was terrible, flavourless, lacking in texture and colour and just very bad. The Italian restaurant was a joke. Their idea of an anti-pasta buffet was as much to do with anti-pasta as a cricket ball is to tennis. Service was so slow that three couples walked out without eating or part way through having had one course but got fed up after waiting forty minutes for the next, without being offered a drink in the meantime. The food was not great but it was better than in the Monarch buffet! The staff were the same people in both and were working both rooms at the same time it seemed as they disappeared from the restaurant for ages. The Asian restaurant was a bad experience too. Firstly, you guessed it, it was the same waiting staff, so they were waiting on three different restaurants at the same, no wonder they were so fed up and miserable. The soup in the Asian restaurant was the same soup served in the Italian with a pinch of chille thrown in, this made us laugh, no point in fighting it. The service was the usual slow ignorant offering although there was a young man who was trying and bless him, really did try to give everyone a reasonable service but with no support from the kitchen or management he was fighting a losing battle. The food was terrible, to the point it was just funny. The hotel is very tired and the lobby area was too hot to enjoy the bar in the evening. The entertainment held in the lobby bar was not great due to the heat and lack of fans. One evening I went to the lobby bar to get a drink to find only the barman and the singer present. All the guests had either gone to bed or were sitting outside around the terrace area by the pool. No where near the entertainment, it was just too uncomfortable to be in there. They did put fans in the lobby area just before we left - two! they need another eight at least to make a difference. I felt sorry for the staff behind the bar and behind the reception desk standing in that heat without a fan and a cool flow of air. The bar stank of body odour after an hour or so, not a pleasant place to have a drink in the evening. The sunset bar was only open a few times whilst I was there, some of the chairs were missing cushions and there was only a few chairs anyway and one coffee table to rest drinks on. The views were wonderful though. The swimming pool is not a swimming pool at all as it is not deep enough to actually swim in. It is made to drink cocktails in and cool off a bit from the heat. There is black mould growing around the edge of the pool in places and the sunbeds are covered in it too. There are four types of sunbeds here, all very low, so hard for those with knee issues to get down on and to get up from. Plastic frames with either blue or yellow mesh stretched across them, covered in black mould. There metal ones with a teal mesh on them which seamed to be mould free and also brown rattan sun loungers without cushions (the hotel nest door had the same ones with cushions and is owned by the same company!) There were only 16 parasols for guests to use around the pool, and these were like gold dust, we had one stolen from us one day and the people who stole it, went off out for the day anyway! There were also four available on the beach. There was no shade anywhere else around the pool so it was relentless sunshine, thank God for factor 50 spf! You can buy factor 70 there too. Also the jacuzzi did not work whilst we were there. There is a small town a two minute walk from the hotel with a couple of shopping malls, the usual street traders selling souvenirs and a supermarket and bars and restaurants. The local restaurants were very nice, not cheap, but much better than eating the slop in the hotel. Excursions were great, we booked one through trip advisor and paid in pounds sterling, it was a great day. We also commissioned a guy with a boat on the beach close to the hotel to take us over to Pigeon Island so we could snorkel there. He was great, inexpensive and stayed with us the whole time and was very attentive and kind. The other excursions we did we booked through the staff at the hotel, the excursion staff were great, as was the water sports guy, friendly and fun. We had a great time ion the excursions, although at every opportunity there are souvenir sellers almost mugging the tourists, even in the snorkelling areas, they are in kayaks! trying to get the snorkelers to buy a lift fr4om them! In short, I would not stay here ever again, the staff are rude, miserable and have no back up from the management who appear to do nothing. Despite many guests complaining, the manager kept himself hidden away and the staff were left to deal with unhappy guests. The rudeness of the staff becomes almost understandable when you see how the management of the Starfish Hotel treat them. The same people in the dinning room for breakfast at 07.15 are also there in the dinning room for lunch and dinner. They are expected to work in that heat all day and evening and are exhausted and fed up. I cannot recommend the Starfish Hotel St. Lucia, it is tired, rundown and the staff are unsupported and exhausted. It is also severely under staffed. In my opinion TUI have no right to send paying guests this terrible place. Yes, the beach is nice, yes the gardens are lovely and the views wonderful, but the management are useless and should be replaced asap. This resort needs a lot of money spent on it and the staff need training and management. The problems in this hotel start and end with the people in charge, the management, they need to be replaced with people who are competent and a chef who has taste buds and eyes. There are lots of hotels and resorts in St. Lucia, stay in one of those is my advice or take extra money for meals out with you.

We had a good holiday with some good points and some not so good. THE GOOD Caribbean food on offer everyday The location, beach and bay fabulous, close to shops and bars and short walk 20min to marina and 5 minute taxi ride to the Friday street party. Room clean and tided every day Large comfy bed Sea view, 20 steps from the sandy beach Reception staff very professional on arrival and throughout till departure The gardens were nice too Nice stroll along the beach Good walk up the mountain well half way up THE NOT So GOOD The pool restaurant was not good long wait and given stone cold chips Lack of parasols causing early morning scramble for shade Some staff lacked motivation, shame as others were so good. The bars were often under staffed and took long time to get a drink We found the Italian and Asian were not authentic but food was OK had 4 good meals and the service was good. This place is good value for money, if you want perfection then pay the extra for sandals , this is a budget Caribbean hotel offering all inclusive. Just need to be patient at times

We went on holiday as a group of 7 friends for 10 days. A much looked forward to holiday, we all work hard and this was meant to be our relaxed break. From day 1 it was full of issues, concerns and complaints. To start, we had four rooms, two of the group were greeted with a decorated bed with a towel creation and petals, and a courtesy call to see how they were and to ask of any issues? our room and another did not have the same service, we did not have the greeting decoration on the bed or the telephone call. This may seem a small issue but we all paid for the same experience and did not receive this. The air conditiong unit in our room was not working properly, room 228, staying at 25 degrees, we complained 3 times to reception, but to no avail, only when we included this in our complaint to TUI on day 5 of our 10 day holiday did we actually get moved - we just wanted a working aircon! Yes the rooms are dated, but they are fine, they are clean due to the amazing chambermaids and the ground kept beautiful thanks to the maintenance / garden staff. The staff - we would say only 3 of the reception / bar / waitress were nice, kind, smiled and helped, the others looked exhausted, fed up and physically expressed that the holiday makers were a pain for wanting to be served. As previously said ALL maintenance and ALL chambermaids said hello, smiled and were very nice. The holiday is advertised as having 3 bars, this is true, however, only 1 is ever open with 1 bar staff to serve the whole Hotel, I do not mean we were drinking alcohol all day, this is for ANY drink, there are no self service drink machines, other than coffee and hot water, which had run out of cups by 10am, if you want a drink, you have to wait. The one member of staff behind the bar has to replenish the bar of drinks and ice, therefore leaving the bar at times, for around 45 minutes, with no service. The Sky Bar is advertised as part of the 3 bars, however on the boards in the hotel is says it is closed on a Tuesday and Friday, this is NOT true, It was only open 2 days one week, guests were told they did not have enough staff to open it. The buffet was horrendous, there is no Vegetarian choice other than slop which is stewed vegetable or salad. Two of us are vegetarian, this meant we had to eat out a lot or eat salad everyday. Breakfast was the only decent meal, great omelets made infront of you and a good selection of food, lunch and evening meal not the same. We did raise this with the Hotel and nothing changed, we raised it additionally with TUI along with other issues and for the food we did see a slight change, but again mainly for meat eaters! We ate in the Asian and the Italian that are only open twice a week, and you had to book, it was the same servers working the buffet restaurant, as they have connecting doors to the kitchen. When we tried to order in the italian,we were told they had run out of pizzas!! When asked to repeat we were informed the oven was broken, then we proceeded to see many pizzas brought out. We spoke to the manager of the restaurant and then suddenly we could have pizzas again, all very strange and not customer orientated. The Asian food was awful, the soup was the same as the main restaurant just with spices / onion added. The staff were so hot and sweating as there is not enough air conditioning and they were overstretched making meal times take around 2 hours. As I mentioned the staff seemed to work the entire day! Every day therefore they were visibly exhausted, or miserable. There were clearly not enough staff to cope with the people that were there and it was not full. The pool bar ran out of bananas, mango and vodka regularly. They ran out of glasses to the point we collected glasses for them to watch them hand wash and then use. No staff collecting glasses, no service around the pool. The reception area is not air conditioned so this made it very difficult to sit in the evening. Many people raised this and 2 days before we left wall fans were put up. There is not entertainment, a serious missed opportunity, in the 10 days, there were the fire eaters twice, a silent disco which was early in the evening so many people were eating their dinner, and a singer one night who was so loud, no-one seemed to stay to listen or enjoy it. The Hotel has great outdoor areas which could be used. The beach and the view was exceptional, absolutely stunning nature,this cannot be faulted and the excursion chaps by the pool were lovely, happy to chat, have a laugh and still be working. There are nowhere near enough parasols and many sunbeds are broken. It states no reserving beds, this does happen, hands up we did this too on some days, we used the beds though for the day, some people reserved beds and parasols and then went out for the day, this is rude and inconsiderate. The towels should be removed, as well as the parasols if they are not used for an hour, we were told by another guest he did see this happen one morning at 6am. We wont be staying here again which is such a shame, the location is fantastic, the kayaks and paddle boards were great to be able to use, however we had a lot of rough seas and massive waves, so therefore the beach was closed for safety (not Hotels fault). The Hotel state that they want to emphasise their commitment to always enhancing our vacation experiences, and feedback is invaluable! Yet look back, the same issues happening since at least January 2023. If the Hotel wants to contact us that is fine and we welcome this, as we aired our concerns and complaints as well as the compliments when we were there, but were not seen by management? We gave our honest feedback on the questionnaire, we were provided at our last breakfast, and again when we checked out we were asked for honest feedback again, which we gave. TUI rep Isobel was a great help with some of our complaints. We would love to say we would go back, but the food needs sorting drastically and the staff need training, starting at the management, on customer service and speed. A few couples were moved hotels when we were there and another couple just left and stayed somewhere else. There were a lot of complaints, but no apologies or compensation from the Hotel to resolve these issues which was frustrating for us 7. If you are staying here, be prepared to eat out a lot so take more money as this is not cheap, average £40 a person for a main meal. Most of the guests were great. We did have a laugh.