Exchanging Decadence for Diapers at Club Med

Lush and laid-back, this mountainous dot between St. Vincent and Martinique is a secret even to many who frequent the Caribbean. A special surprise for families is that the 27-mile-long island is the site of one of Club Med’s most kid-friendly resorts.

The Club Mediterranee St. Lucia, one of 38 Club Med family facilities worldwide, sits on a beach at the southern tip of the island, near the international airport.

The village sprawls along 95 acres of rolling, palm-dotted greenery adjacent to the ocean. There’s a large oceanfront swimming pool with a covered lounge and bar, eight outdoor tennis courts and a pretty pastoral area for the horses, with paddocks and riding rings. The more than 250 guest rooms are in squat, four-story, pastel-pink wings adjoining the lobby. All the rooms have balconies and face the ocean.

But forget about Club Med’s hedonistic image here. Visitors--at this location at least--have traded decadence for diapers. The few singles and child-free couples I saw during a brief stay last December had come for the intensive English-style horseback riding program ($275 extra) or were seriously misinformed about the ambience. I had come alone (childless and mateless) as part of a larger trip around the island.

The club has separate daily activities for children in three age groups: the Petit Club for ages 2 to 3, the Mini Club for ages 4-6 and the Kids Club for those 8-11. Some Club Meds even have Baby Clubs for tots 4-12 months, but St. Lucia doesn’t, as of this writing. The high point of St. Lucia’s kids program is the circus, which has a real high-wire tightrope and trapeze with protective nets, a trampoline and juggling lessons, all carefully supervised. Every Friday, the children put on a circus show demonstrating the moves they’ve learned during the week.

Kids 4-12 also can learn scuba basics in the hotel pool, where instructors patiently teach them how to breathe through a snorkel and eventually get them suited up with tanks--mini-sized for the youngest.

There’s also an extensive Go Kart track and, for children 8-11, intensive English-style horseback-riding lessons at $175 extra for a six-day program. Kids under 8 can ride ponies and in horse-drawn carriages. And there are baseball and football clinics for children, and tennis classes. Parents can be as involved or removed as they like during the kids program, which is staffed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. I noticed in some cases that the kids seemed a lot more independent of their folks than the parents were of the kids.

One parent, for example, was constantly running after his daughter with towels. She kept graciously, but unsuccessfully, trying to steer clear of him. Most of the adults, however, seemed to bask in the freedom to sunbathe, and explore other recreational options.

Those include boardsailing workshops and competitions, archery, snorkeling and scuba diving lessons and instructor-monitored boat dives, a golf driving range, aerobics classes and horseback riding. At night there were participatory talent shows and staff skits, and there is an on-the-premises nightclub.

Club Med St. Lucia has an active adult tennis program, with group lessons periodically throughout the day. Aerobics classes are held outdoors in the morning and late afternoon, and scuba classes are held in the pool, then followed by field trips into the deep.

The scuba instruction is free (though there is a $150 charge for certification), and two dives a day go out to the reefs around the Pitons, forested half-mile-high twin peaks visible from many points on the island. Participants must be over age 12 and be either certified or have taken the free Club Med resort diving course.

Windsurfing, while popular, can be problematic here due to the club’s location on the Atlantic side of the island, where the water is rougher than on the Caribbean side. Locals say the water can get so choppy that only very proficient windsurfers can navigate in it.

The English riding program here is one of the few draws for couples and singles. Guests pay $275 per week extra for 2 1/2 hours a day of riding instruction in a ring, and students are videotaped for review later. For those into a less structured horseback experience, there are hourlong excursions along the beach ($19) or into the fields and hills behind the resort ($28). Children 8 and older can also go on trail rides.

The club also sponsors excursions (at an extra charge) to see the Pitons on the western end of the island; Sulfur Springs Park, a seven-acre crater billed as the world’s only drive-in volcano; the rugged interior rain forest, and the bustling capital of Castries in the north. There also are helicopter tours of the island.

Kids were clearly wowed by the place. While I was there, I saw several huge delegations with parents and kids augmented by cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, all vacationing happily together.

I had envisioned that the youngsters would be in good hands but pretty much out of sight, but they were in fact all over the place--splashing madly in the pool, tearing across the dining room.

As in all Club Meds, there are endless join-in activities loudly promoted all day and much of the night via microphone by the chirpy G.O.’s ( gentils organisateurs ) , Club Med’s signature “funsters.”

In fact, peace and quiet are somewhat elusive. Every time I managed to find a quiet corner of the resort to settle down with a book, I was accosted by a booming beckoning to a balloon-breaking contest in the pool or a talent show or trivia competition.

As at all Club Meds, mammoth food spreads with free wine are included in the price (children’s meals are an hour before adults’, but kids may also eat with the family), and beads are the currency for buying drinks and snacks.

Rooms at Club Meds are usually Spartan, and St. Lucia is no exception: two single beds and a dresser per room, and there are connecting rooms for families.

If you’re traveling alone, you’ll be paired with someone unless you pay a 20% to 50% single supplement fee, depending on the season. The days of keyless accommodations are over at Club Med. You get not only a room key but a wall safe. There are no phones or televisions in the rooms.

GUIDEBOOK

Joining Club Med Activities

Getting there: Various air/land packages for St. Lucia are available from Club Med, depending on the season and, in the case of children, the child’s age. It’s possible you would do better buying the Club Med land package only--which includes accommodations, meals and most activities at the resort--and arranging independent air transport. The least expensive advance-purchase American Airlines excursion fare from Los Angeles to St. Lucia, via San Juan, Puerto Rico, is $661 round trip. But it involves overnighting in San Juan on the return flight.

St. Lucia has two airports. Make sure you fly into Hewanorra International at the southern tip of the island, just five minutes from Club Med. Vigie, in the north, is a tortuous three-hour drive along gutted roads.

Club Med: For information on air/land packages, call Club Med at (800) CLUB MED.

Current Club Med air/land package rates from Los Angeles for a week’s stay are: $1,530 for adults, $1,055 for children ages 2-5 ($681 Aug. 31-Dec. 14), $1,130 for children 6-11.

Current land-only prices (not including air fare) for one week’s stay: $750 for adults, $375 for children 2-5, $450 for kids 6-11. (From Aug. 31 to Dec. 14, there is no land fee for children 2-5.)

Guests also pay a one-time initiation fee of $30 per family and an annual fee of $50 for adults, $20 for children under 12.

For more information: Contact the St. Lucia Tourist Board, 820 2nd Ave., New York 10017, (212) 867-2950.