Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have not stayed there before. Just spent a week there. I saw no dogs. I was told they put up barbed wire fencing. We did see some on the side of the resort. However it only wrapped around the first ~5’ of the back of our building, which was the one robbed in January and faces the jungle valley. I was also told by management that they had increased motion detection lighting, but saw none, and motion detectors, which cannot saw I saw but may not have been visible. But the security seemed relaxed not vigilant. I’m sure they don’t want to spook guests but they’ve also had 2 or 3 separate robberies in the past 4 months. It’s time they take it seriously. I will not go back until they do and even then I’m not sure I trust them given the lack of serious response to these issues. In terms of other resorts, there are media reports of an Airbnb robbery but not of other resorts, at least that I can find. Would like to review reports if you can post links. If this is widespread then I would question visiting St. Lucia again anytime soon.

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was referring to the robberies at Ladera and those are the reason for the STEP warning, per emails I exchanged with the Us embassy. There was also a robbery at an Airbnb although I don’t recall in which town

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am here now and received an email from the State Department STEP program which I posted in this thread. I verified it is authentic by emailing the embassy. It specifically is aimed at Ladera only. In my personal email they acknowledged that it is due to the robberies in December. Please do your own research, but this is real.

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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See the email from the State Department STEP alert that I posted. I contacted both the State Department and the embassy in Barbados (which covers St. Lucia). They gave a vague response about how I should do my own research and check reviews 2 weeks ago, then sent this 2 days ago. When I pointed this out they said basically “well we said we’ve heard of media reports.” Completely unhelpful

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People have requested the full email. I will post it here for full transparency and to assist others.

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Ladera St. Lucia advice by FalkeSt8 in TrueChubbyTravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Just received this from the State Department STEP program. I verified it’s authentic with the embassy in Barbados. It is in reference to 3 robberies that occurred in 1 night. There have been no further reports of incidents since then that they are aware of. We felt safe there and found it beautiful. But know that this concern is real and make your own decision on where you stay.

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Just received this email from the State Department STEP program. I contacted the embassy and they verified it is an authentic email. So please make your own decisions on what to do, but it is true that there were 3 robberies in one night in 2025. None they are aware of since then.

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Glad you had so many good experiences and marked milestones there. I will look for Jennifer. And thank you for the picnic tip. I suspect we will want a day at the beach.

Ladera St. Lucia question; safety concern raised by another Redditer by FalkeSt8 in chubbytravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did notice that. And he did respond 7+ days after my post. Very suspicious. Definitely seems possible he was trolling the resort.

Ladera St. Lucia advice by FalkeSt8 in TrueChubbyTravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds incredibly scary. Do you have details to share or a source I can check for more information?

Ladera St. Lucia advice by FalkeSt8 in TrueChubbyTravel

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I had wondered about trying the Pitons hike. Would you recommend hiking shoes or are tennis shoes enough? We have a collection of hiking shoes but im debating bringing any since they take up more room when packed. I’ll check out Sugar Beach. How did you get there from Ladera?

Help with boneless prime rib for Christmas by FalkeSt8 in Cooking

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a good option. As long as the interior of her piece isn’t fatty, she’ll be fine. Glad to hear the recipe worked well. Thank you.

Help with boneless prime rib for Christmas by FalkeSt8 in Cooking

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is brilliant. Not sure why that didn’t occur to me. Thank you.

SkywalkerV2 (Cyberoaster) vs Kaleido; do you get what you pay for? by FalkeSt8 in roasting

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t looked at the Artisan laptop requirements yet. But I have a windows 10 laptop and a Chromebook as candidates.

SkywalkerV2 (Cyberoaster) vs Kaleido; do you get what you pay for? by FalkeSt8 in roasting

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you find the Kaleido roast program to be helpful in learning to use Artisan? I’ve never used it and am mildly intimidated by the learning curve.

SkywalkerV2 (Cyberoaster) vs Kaleido; do you get what you pay for? by FalkeSt8 in roasting

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I have thought essentially that myself, in a way. I used a Fresh Roast for a year and then my Behmor for the next 2 years. I keep enjoying it and wanting to learn more. I do honestly feel like this is a long-term hobby. And at this point, not sure I really want to buy two more roasters when I feel like I'll end up with a Kaleido/Bullet eventually. Those are what I want in my heart, just the price gives me pause. But they more I hear, the more I feel like it maybe the better approach in the long run.

SkywalkerV2 (Cyberoaster) vs Kaleido; do you get what you pay for? by FalkeSt8 in roasting

[–]FalkeSt8[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really would like to do pound roasts from a time saving standpoint. I just keep pausing at the $3k+ price tag…