The hottest new rum festival in the Caribbean kicked off on Tuesday night in Bonaire. 

Bonaire Rum Week, the first major event on the island since the onset of the pandemic, launched with an opening party at the island’s signature bar, Rum Runners at Captain Don’s Habitat. 

Several hundred attendees enjoyed some of the region’s premier rums, including several top new rums from the Dutch Caribbean. 

That included the event’s headlining rum, Rum Papiamento, out of Aruba. 

Reggae band Roots Vibrations provided the soundtrack for the oceanfront rum tasting, which featured rums including Papiamento; Rom Rincon; Papa’s Pilar; Don Q; Clifton Estate Rum; Rum San Pablo; Ron Barcelo; Dutch Head; Shaman’s Rum and Siesta Key.

The event was followed by a five-course rum-pairing dinner at Rum Runners. 

It all added up to a sign of Bonaire’s post-pandemic resurgence, shining the spotlight on the island’s impressive, growing culinary culture. 

“We couldn’t be happier with the opening for Bonaire Rum Week,” said Alexander Britell, editor and publisher of Caribbean Journal, which is organizing the event in collaboration with Tourism Corporation Bonaire. “It was a full-fledged celebration of premium rum in a truly spectacular setting on Bonaire’s pristine waters.”

The event continues all week, with tasting parties at Plaza Resort, the Buddy Dive Resort and the Divi Flamingo, along with a Rum Lunch at the Harbour Village, a rum pairing dinner at the Brass Boer and a rum-and-cigar pairing at Club Tropicana. 

There’s also the Diplomatico Cocktail Challenge at Tiki and Co, one of the island’s top bars. 

“This was the perfect way to begin what should be a fantastic week of rum,” said Guy Britton, managing editor and EVP of Caribbean Journal. 

“Bonaire is one of the region’s buzziest culinary destinations, and that includes a burgeoning spirits and cocktail culture,” he said.

Indeed, bars around the island are celebrating Bonaire Rum Week with special menus and rum lists for the occasion.

Caribbean Journal is also the company behind the Caribbean Rum Awards St Barth, the celebrated rum festival every November in St Barth (for more, visit the Caribbean Rum Awards St Barth).

For more, visit Bonaire Rum Week. 

The post The Caribbean’s Hottest New Rum Festival Kicks Off in Bonaire  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Another Caribbean destination has removed testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. 

St Vincent and the Grenadines has officially waived its testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers. 

The new rules, which took effect this week, mean fully vaccinated travelers no longer have to fill out the pre-arrival form or arrive with a test result. 

Minors under the age of 18 will follow the protocol of their parents or guardians. 

St Vincent and the Grenadines considers a traveler fully vaccinated if it’s been more than two weeks since the final dose of a two-dose vaccine or one dose of a single-dose shot. 

Travelers must show proof of vaccination. 

What about unvaccinated travelers? 

It’s not quite as easy. 

They don’t have to fill out a pre-arrival form either, however they do have to show proof of a negative antigen test within 24 hours of arrival, or a PCR test within 72 hours/three days before arrival. 

And, in what is now unique in the Caribbean, they must mandatory quarantine in a government-approved hotel for five days, with a rest between three and four days of quarantine. 

Unvaccinated travelers can only be discharged from quarantine with a negative test. 

For more, visit St Vincent and the Grenadines. 

The post St Vincent and the Grenadines Waives Testing for Vaccinated Travelers  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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American Airlines has just launched a pair of new Caribbean routes, Caribbean Journal has learned. 

The world’s largest airline has kicked off new service from Austin, Texas to both Montego Bay, Jamaica and the island of Cozumel, Mexico. 

Both are a sign of Austin’s growing import as a source market for the Caribbean, following the city’s dynamic growth, most notably amid the pandemic. 

Both routes are operating once weekly on Saturdays. 

The move comes after American Airlines kicked off a broad network expansion from Austin in the last quarter of 2021, adding flights to Caribbean destinations like Punta Cana, Nassau, The Bahamas and Puerto Rico’s San Juan. 

“As we celebrate our 45th anniversary in Jamaica, we are thrilled to continue strengthening our presence with new service between Austin and Montego Bay, and in just a few months with the launch of our third destination in the island, Ocho Rios.” said Jose Maria Giraldo, American Airlines’ Managing Director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

The aforementioned Ocho Rios route is slated to launch from Miami in November with service to Jamaica’s Ian Fleming International Airport.

This summer, Jamaica will be operating up to 15 daily flights to Jamaica, what Giraldo called a “robust Jamaican footprint.”

“The expansion of this new route to MBJ is an indication that the confidence that American Airlines has in Jamaica as a destination is unwavering and they continue to respond to the needs of travelers, thus this direct service from Texas,” said Shane Munroe, chief executive officer of MBJ Airports Limited. “We look forward to welcoming passengers directly from Austin, Texas on a weekly basis.”

As for Cozumel, it’s yet another route for an airport that, while small, has seen surging growth of late. 

This year so far, passenger traffic in Cozumel is at 275,647, according to data from ASUR, which manages the airport. 

That represents a 59.1 percent improvement over the same period in 2021 and nearly the same numbers as in 2019, before the pandemic. 

The post American Airlines Launches New Routes to Cozumel, Mexico and Jamaica  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Dexton’s grilled cheese is in high demand. 

It’s the third day of a six-night trip at the Rose Hall Villas at Jamaica’s Half Moon resort, and everyone in this party of 8 is obsessed with the perfectly-grilled, golden-brown, crispy sandwiches. 

Dexton is our butler for the week at Laughing Gull, a marvelous seven-bedroom villa set amid the resort’s lush gardens just a short stroll from the sand. 

But the grilled cheeses are just a bonus. 

Dexton is there for every request big or small, from organizing a catamaran cruise around Montego Bay to putting togetehr an early birthday celebration for a five-year-old, replete with streamers, spotlights and music. 

And it’s Dexton, joined by Chef Tenisha and Housekeeper Maxine, that make this such a magical group experience. 

The is the Rose Hall Villas, Jamaica’s top villa resort set at the legendary Half Moon, a mix of stunning five, six and seven bedroom villas, some on the ocean, some in lush gardens, all romantic and elegant, all named for maritime birds.  

They’re designed in Half Moon’s timeless style, with black-and-white tile floors and grand staircases and sparkling pools. 

The space is profound, everyone has their own room, their own wing in the resort. 

And every villa is fully staffed with a group of all-stars; a butler, a chef and a housekeeper and a pool attendant, though you quickly realize their desires to make guests happy makes those titles seem a bit narrow. 

And they’re not the nominal butlers you get at certain resorts in the Caribbean, separated by a phone call or a challenging request. 

The Rose Hall butlers are at your villa from sundown to the end of dinner, ensuring that every moment, every meal is special. 

For a party of eight with varying dietary needs, that means even on a Grill Night Tenisha is helping make the terrific escovitch snapper while Dexton is manning the grill; he’s also handling the array of multi-color spotlights that turn a simple Wednesday night into a full-fledged party. 

The Chefs handle three meals a day and then some, with Tenisha serving up impressive breakfast spreads, comforting lunches and marvelous dinners to fit every guest’s need and appetite. 

For our group, it was a mix of pescatarians and jerk lovers (and burgeoning grilled cheese aficionados), with every meal exquisitely manicured for every individual need. 

And Maxine was a wonderful steward of the house, almost impossibly managing to do laundry for eight guests every day of the trip. 

Kemar was there to ensure a pristine pool, find every manner of pool float, and provide regular smiles throughout the day.

And every one of these villas has a similarly structured team, whether you’re traveling families or a wedding party or a golfers’ getaway. 

Now if these villa were set by themselves somewhere in the mountains, or on a slice of beach, they’d be spectacular. 

But the key is they’re at Half Moon. And that’s rather significant. 

That means access to all of the resort’s amenities across 400 acres, with just about everything for any group: a Robert Trent Jones, Sr-designed golf course; tennis; horseback riding (and pony rides for the kids); a shopping village; event space; squash; nightly mento concerts and the world-class Fern Tree Spa, among others. 

It means access to the food and beverage and pools and delights at two other resorts, including the dazzling new Eclipse, Half Moon’s newest resort, and the legendary Sugar Mill restaurant. 

And yes, that means you can spend all day at Eclipse’s stunning infinity pool, a place that’s exceptionally hard to leave. 

But at the end of the day, it’s the people. 

It’s Dexton and Tenisha and Maxine and Kemar, exemplars of the best of Jamaican hospitality. 

There are few villa experiences in the Caribbean like a staffed villa in Jamaica, and there’s no Jamaican villa experience like the one at Half Moon. 

And that means a group destination that’s rather hard to beat, either in Jamaica or anywhere else in the region. 

And if that sounds like hyperbole, it isn’t. 

It’s really that good, delivering an experience that’s memorable, one you can savor for months and years after the fact. 

And isn’t that why we travel in the first place? 

For more, visit Rose Hall Villas. 

The post The Rose Hall Villas, the Ultimate Group Destination in Jamaica  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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In a move celebrated across the wider travel industry, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has lifted its requirement for travelers to test negative for Covid-19 before returning home to the United States from abroad. 

It’s the culmination of a once-strong policy that had become extremely controversial as pandemic-era measures were relaxed around most of the rest of the world. 

Travelers had been required to take a test and receive a negative within just 24 hours of their return flight home to the United States. 

Now, travelers can simply get on a plane and return home, without having to spend what had been sometimes hours getting tested on their trips.  

It was a policy that had particularly detrimental ramifications in the Caribbean, which had to quickly set up region-wide testing apparatus aimed at returning US travelers. 

The move is already being widely hailed in the Caribbean tourism industry. 

“Since the announcement this morning, we are already hearing feedback from travel advisors, as well as American travelers, who are happy about this protocol being lifted in the U.S,” said Lorine Charles-St. Jules, CEO of Saint Lucia Tourism Authority. “The lifting of Covid testing requirements for international will absolutely have a positive impact on international tourism, as well as U.S. tourism. This is especially true for travelers who may have been deterred from traveling internationally because of worries about securing tests in time in a foreign country. While most countries, like Saint Lucia, have made it seamless to schedule Covid testing before departing for the U.S., there is always uncertainty in travel. Eliminating the testing requirement could spur further growth in international travel for Saint Lucia, the Caribbean, and all international destinations that appeal to the American market.”

To its credit, the Caribbean did just that, mobilizing testing infrastructure across much of the region at an impressively large scale. 

But the test was still a deterrent for many travelers, who did not want to risk getting stuck in a quarantine in a foreign country for a week or two or longer. 

More importantly, though, it was also largely unfair to the region, which had already taken great risk to relaunch its tourism industry — the engine of the Caribbean economy — but was now being faced with providing testing infrastructure and dealing with stranded travelers who would have otherwise returned home to their own healthcare systems in the US. 

“We are thrilled to see the end of the CDC’s inbound testing rule, which has been standing in the way of our industry’s recovery for too long,” said Zane Kerby, president and CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors, which had been one of the biggest proponents of removing the requirement. 

Kerby had previously told Caribbean Journal that the inbound testing requirement was having a “chilling” effect on Caribbean travel. 

Indeed, the ASTA has been engaged in what it called a “multi-layered advocacy campaign” to get to this point, including direct lobbying of Congress and officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden. 

“We commend the Biden Administration for taking this long-overdue step and thank ASTA members across the country for their hard work in helping get this across the finish line,” Kerby said. “While plenty of challenges remain in terms of rebuilding the travel agency business, today is a great day.”

With continued moves to remove pandemic travel testing requirements across the region (islands like Bonaire, Jamaica, Curacao and Grenada have already completely lifted their testing rules), it means more and more Caribbean vacations are just like they were before the onset of the pandemic.

In other words, you get on a plane, you travel, and you come home. Just that simple.

The post CDC Ends Return Test Requirement, in Major Boost for Caribbean Tourism appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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