It begins at the edge of the beach in St Barth, with a rooftop oceanfront party at Le Barthelemy Hotel presented by the world’s most sought after rum distillery, Martinique’s Rhum Neisson. 

What follows is a full-fledged fantasy for rum lovers: rum and cigar pairings, master classes, ti’ punch happy hours, pool parties, multi-course rum culinary dinners. 

And then there’s the centerpiece of this St Barth rum festival: the two-day Marina Festival right on the harbor in Gustavia. 

And that’s without mentioning nightly after parties at the greatest rum bar in the Caribbean: Christopher Davis’ Rhum Room. 

This is the Caribbean Rum Awards St Barth, the Caribbean’s leading rum festival and an unmatched celebration of the finest premium rums on earth. 

This is the fifth edition of the event, which also of course includes the international blind-tasting jury that features an unmatched field of the region’s top rums. (You can find the full schedule here).

The event helps to kick off the beginning of the tourist season in St Barth, and sets the stage for the island’s Gourmet Month, which also includes the St Barth Gourmet Festival the following week. 

“Whether you’re a rum connoisseur, a lover of fine spirits or a bon vivant, this is an event you simply cannot miss,” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal and co-founder of the Caribbean Rum Awards St Barth. “

This year’s agenda includes a number of heavyweight master classes, including brands like Velier, Plantation, Flor de Caña, A1710, Damoiseau, Rhum JM, Rhum Clement and Diplomatico, all of which will be showcasing the very best of their product – and some of their newest innovations, too. 

Of course, the Rhum Room, which plays host to all of the after parties and master classes, is worth the journey all by itself, with a simply unrivaled collection of rare rums, including the largest collection of premium rhum agricole of any bar on earth. 

And there’s one way to experience the entirety of the event: an all-access ticket, which you can find here. 

“There’s no other rum festival like this,” Britell said. “Rum is not about stuffy conference halls and high-volume stuff. Here, every roducer brings the height of their “A” game, showcasing only their very best rums, and it all takes place exactly where rum should be enjoyed — against the backdrop of the beauty of the Caribbean.”

For more, visit EventBrite. 

The post In St Barth, a Caribbean Rum Festival Like No Other appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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American Airlines is adding to the first-ever nonstop service from the United States to Anguilla. 

The Miami-based route, which has been a game-changer for getting to the island, is expanding starting next month. .

On Oct. 7, American will be operating four flights each week between Miami and Anguilla. 

On Nov. 3, American Airlines will run daily service to Anguilla, with two flights on Saturdays. 

The following month on Dec. 18, American will be operating daily service along with two flights each day on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. 

What it means is unprecedented air access to the island, particularly for the winter season, opening up an island that was always one of the most sought-after vacation spots in the Caribbean, but among the most arduous to reach. 

“Buckle up for a season of easy Anguilla travel,” the Anguilla Tourist Board said in a statement. 

American Airlines continues to operate the Miami-Anguilla service on Embraeer 175 aircraft with 76 seats. 

That includes 12 seats in first class, 20 Main Cabin Extra seats and 44 main cabins seats. 

So where to stay? 

Anguilla continues to boast a diverse range of resorts, from traditional grand luxury resorts like Cap Juluca, the Four Seasons and the Malliouhana to a slate of terrific residential resorts,  including the newest place to stay on the island, Tranquility Beach. 

That is along with the recently-rebranded and newly-transformed Aurora Anguilla, a complete reimagining of the former CuisinArt resort. 

That resort continues to add new amenities, while anchoring around its spectacular Greg Norman-designed golf resort. 

The post American Airlines Is Adding More Nonstop Flights to Anguilla  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Who doesn’t love a great beach bar? 

What about an entire beach filled with them? 

Travel across the Caribbean and you’ll find them, single stretches of sand teeming with beach bars, often all right in a row — beach bars and, well, not much else. 

For whatever reasons, these beaches have become magnets for beach bars, usually starting with a single pioneer and then a wave of beach bars that follow and set up shop. 

They’re marvelous places to spend an afternoon or a week, where you can pub crawl and beach bar hop to your heart’s content — even in a single afternoon. 

We call them “beach bar beaches.” And here are our favorites. 

Cockleshell Beach, St Kitts It’s hard to think of a beach in the Caribbean that combines such immense natural beauty with quite so many beach bars. But Cockleshell does precisely that, with a privileged perch on the stunning Southeastern Peninsula of St Kitts and an almost dizzying array of terrific beach bars and beach sharks, starting with the high-end Spice Mill and extending all the way down the sand to the beach’s signature hotspot, the Reggae Beach Bar and Grill. 

The post The Caribbean’s Best Beach Bar Beaches  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Virgin Atlantic is set to relaunch its winter service to the island of Saint Lucia. 

The flights from London Heathrow will kick off on Oct. 31, the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority confirmed. 

Virgin is operating the service to Saint Lucia’s Hewanorra International Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

The route will operate through March 25, 2023. 

The flights takes about nine hours. 

They will complement existing United Kingdom service from both British Airways and TUI Airways from London-Gatwick. 

Saint Lucia says it has achieved an 80 percent recovery of its pre-pandemic tourism numbers. 

The post Virgin Atlantic Set to Relaunch Saint Lucia Flights  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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It’s the largest community of Caribbean travel experts on the planet: Caribbean Journal readers.

And once again, you get the chance to tell the world your favorites in the Caribbean, from luxury hotels and all-inclusive resorts to beach bars, culinary destinations and honeymoon hotspots.

Caribbean Journal’s unrivaled editorial team selected the nominees, and now you get to vote. Even better? There’s a write-in option for every single category, all 25 of them.

“This has been a record-setting year for travel in the Caribbean, with much of the region nearing or eclipsing what had been all-time highs before the pandemic,” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal. “This year’s Travelers’ Choice nominees represent the very best of the world’s most amazing travel destination.”

Voting is now live, and you can make your selections between now and Oct. 19, 2022.

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

Vote for your choices below:

Create your own user feedback survey

The post Vote for the Best of the Caribbean in the CJ Travelers’ Choice Awards 2022 appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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