Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines has officially relaunched its service from Orlando to Cancun on the Caribbean coast of Mexico.
The carrier is now operating four flights between Orlando and Cancun each week, with service on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The flights take just under two hours.
It’s another airlift boost for Cancun and its airport, which have been seeing strong growth since the Mexican Caribbean officially reopened for tourism over the summer.
Spirit has been rapidly growing its Caribbean network out of Orlando in recent years.
Of course, any great resort must have excel in the fundaments of luxury: food and drink; interior and exterior design and, most importantly, service.
But Caribbean luxury transcends that. In the Caribbean, luxury is also about beauty, about space; about the natural environment; about the sights, the aromas, about the art of experiencing the outdoors.
In other words, it’s about all of the things that travelers prize most right now.
Compiling our annual ranking of the best luxury resorts is always a challenge; and this year, even more so.
But the properties that made this list combined exacting quality in the aforementioned technical areas (including, of course, health and safety protocols) with that most important criterion of all: how special a resort makes you feel.
Here are our favorite luxury resorts for 2021.
One of the villas at the Shore Club.
The Shore Club, Turks and Caicos Now more than ever, travelers are drawn to residential resorts — properties that combine all the amenities of a home or villa with the ones you get at a hotel. Indeed, the things we want in a hotel experience have changed — and that’s what’s made the Shore Club Turks and Caicos even more of a masterwork. This Long Bay beach stunner has some of the most gorgeous — and gorgeously appointed — rooms you’ll find in the Caribbean, married with marvelous service, an exceptional culinary offering (including the wonderful new Almond Tree), a world-class spa and the kind of impeccable service that answers every request without ever being intrusive.
This story is part of Caribbean Journal Invest, the authority on Caribbean hotel, real estate and tourism business news. Join to access this and other great features, including our biweekly newsletter. Subscribe to Read More.
Caribbean hotels are moving rapidly to offer COVID-19 tests on-site to guests, responding to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC’s) new requirement that international air travelers entering the United States produce a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of arrival.
The new rules — which also allow travelers to produce evidence of prior recovery from COVID-19 in lieu of a negative test result — go into effect on Jan. 26, 2021.
Officials say the new policy is intended to slow the spread of new, more infectious strains of the coronavirus, such as that recently detected in the United Kingdom.
Such proof is required even for travelers who have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Airlines are instructed not to let anyone over age 2 board aircraft bound for the United States without producing a negative COVID-19 test result or proof that they have recovered from the disease. (Note that these orders do not apply to travelers from U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.)
The testing requirement sparked immediate concern among Caribbean hospitality officials and travelers alike — the former worried about the impact on the slowly recovering tourism economy, the latter worried about availability of testing in Caribbean destinations and the scenario of being stranded on vacation due to not being able to get a test, or testing positive for COVID-19 and being required to quarantine for an extended period before being permitted to return to the U.S.
Anguilla.
The latter remains a concern — travelers who test positive on vacation will be required to produce a negative test result before they can go home. But many Caribbean governments and hoteliers are scrambling to ensure that testing is readily available for international visitors.
Anguilla’s Minister of Tourism, Haydn Hughes, expressed confidence that his country — which has had only 11 confirmed COVID-19 cases, would be up to the challenge. “Testing has been at the forefront of Anguilla’s reopening strategy — that includes testing on arrival and departure,” he said. “Therefore, the CDC’s requirement for testing on departure for all visitors returning to the US is one that Anguilla has the capacity to handle in an efficient manner.”
Hotels and resorts are taking a variety of approaches to providing testing, with larger properties predictably being the first to offer on-site testing to U.S. travelers.
Guests of the 603-suite all-inclusive Serenade Punta Cana Beach & Spa Resort in the Dominican Republic, for example, can get a COVID-19 antigen test in a private area of the resort if they are staying for four nights or longer. Testing, arranged by a partnership with Hospiten Hospital, will be done by appointment 72 hours priori to departure home to the U.S.; results of the antigen rapid test will be available within 20-30 minutes, and documentation will be provided in English and Spanish.
Serenade Punta Cana.
“Our guests will not have to worry about finding a testing location as Hospiten Hospital will provide a safe and easy option right here at Serenade Punta Cana,” said Aimee Tejeda, director of sales and marketing at the resort.
Jamaica’s Hedonism II resort will provide antigen testing free of charge to guests, who are instructed to make a testing appointment upon arrival at the hotel with the concierge. In the event of a positive COVID-19 test result, the resort promises to provide quarantine accommodations for the mandatory 14-day waiting period.
“We want to let our valued guests know that there is no need to cancel a reservation due to this new CDC order, as we are working to ensure that everyone can meet this government requirement in anticipation of their return home in a seamless and timely fashion,” said Hedonism II general manager Dermot De Loughry.
Likewise, all Karisma Hotels & Resorts in the Riviera Maya, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica will offer complimentary, on-site COVID-19 antigen testing to all guests through March 31, 2021, as well as 14-day quarantine lodging if required.
Another Jamaica resort, Half Moon, is framing testing as a guest amenity dubbed the Testing Concierge.
Guests arriving at the Half Moon Welcome Center in Sangster International Airport can arrange for a convenient time to take the COVID-19 viral test during their vacation, “thus ensuring minimal time is spent away from the resort’s sandy beaches, relaxing pools and numerous restaurants,” according to the resort.
The antigen tests will be conducted by Baywest Hospital, located in the Half Moon Village, and the Testing Concierge will ensure that all paperwork is in order for guests before their departure back to the airport.
Testing will come with a price tag at some other resorts, however. At Hermitage Bay in Antigua, for example, guests will be offered on-site Covid-19 RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) testing, with a healthcare worker performing the swab test three days prior to scheduled departure to the U.S. The tests will cost $250 per person.
La Colección Resorts — which includes a host of properties across the Dominican Republic and Mexico, will offer travelers two options: free rapid antigen tests conducted at the resort, or PCR tests for an additional fee and conducted at local clinics.
The newest resort in Punta Cana has launched a new on-site antigen test program, Caribbean Journal has learned.
The Serenade Punta Cana Beach and Spa Resort is offering antigen tests for $50 per person to meet the CDC’s new requirement for incoming travelers to the United States, which mandates that every travel show proof of a negative result within 72 hours before returning home.
The Punta Cana all-inclusive has partnered with Hospiten Hospital to have medical professionals administer the tests in a private area at the resort.
Guests need to make an appointment for 72 hours prior to departure from the Dominican Republic.
The results arrive in 20 to 30 minutes, according to Serenade.
“Serenade Punta Cana management team decided to offer testing in an effort to ease the departure process for our clients returning to the United States,” said Aimee Tejeda, director of sales and marketing at Serenade Punta Cana. “Our guests will not have to worry about finding a testing location as Hospiten Hospital will provide a safe and easy option right here at Serenade Punta Cana,” she added.
The 603-suite resort officially opened in December.
