By Alexander Britell and Guy Britton

It’s been open just three weeks but you can already feel it.

Even in the late afternoon on a Tuesday, you know a hotspot when you see it.

It’s sleek, it’s instantly hip and it’s, well, Roxxy Beach.

There’s a special VIP room on the second level.

The product of a Las Vegas-based development team, this newest beach bar in St Maarten is already one of the coolest in the Caribbean, a crisply designed beach bar-meets-beach lounge where you can spend all day and then spend all night, too.

This is a new kind of beach bar for St Maarten, a sophisticated, chic destination bar that’s on its way to becoming the island’s most happening lounge, with influences from everywhere from Ibiza to St Barth.

There are two bars, in fact. One is the main outlet, with a second-floor VIP room with a view of the ocean, joined by dining tables and the main cocktail counter.

And then there’s a classic Caribbean beach shack, a low-key wooden rum bar set right on the sand.

And yes, it’s a lounge, meaning you can get a chair and put down roots for the afternoon on a brilliant patch of white sand on Simpson Bay.

And then there’s Chef Davide Castro’s standout food, a mix of everything from uramaki sushi rolls )with inspired recipes like “sake mousse” and “crunchy berries” to salads, small bites and brick oven pizza.

There’s a charming little beach shack to the side.

The cocktail program is broad, from the Shi Shi, a mix of Frangelico, prosecco, lime juice and mint to the “bamboo colada,” a mix of rum, coconut, lime juice and passion fruit.

That’s along with a robust rum list that includes some very good rhum agricoles.

Every Sunday is a regular event, when DJs descend on the sand and this corner of Simpson Bay turns into a full-fledged beach party.

Here in St Maarten 2.0, there’s a new energy, a new dynamism, as the island looks forward and imagines what’s possible.

And places like this are right at the heart of it.

For more, visit Roxxy Beach.

— CJ

The post The Caribbean’s Coolest New Beach Bar Is In St Maarten appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Marriott has officially launched its highly-anticipated luxury home sharing program.

While the program includes more than 2,000 luxury homes and villas around the world, it also includes a presence in the Caribbean.

For now, that includes homes in Anguilla; The Bahamas; Barbados; the Dominican Republic; Grand Cayman; Jamaica; St Barth; Saint Lucia; St John and Saint Martin.

And the emphasis is indeed on luxury;

For example, Marriott’s collection of luxury villas in Jamaica ranges from a $1062 per night villa in Trelawny to an eight-bedroom estate for $5,228 per night.

In St Barth, on the other hand, the company has just one villa, a four-bedroom villa near Gustavia, as a point of reference.

Crucially, Marriott’s Bonvoy loyalty program members will be able to redeem points for stays at such properties.

For more, visit Homes and Villas by Marriott.

— CJ

The post More Details on Marriott’s “Home and Villas” in the Caribbean appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Cruise giant Carnival Cruise Line has launched its newest cruises out of the Port of Charleston.

The company’s Carnival Sunshine, which recently underwent a $200 million makeover, had initially relaunched with a series of cruises from Norfolk.

Carnival Sunshine will be sailing a series of four-to-11-day cruises from Charleston, the latest year-round cruise ship in the area.

That includes four and five-day Bahamas cruises, along with seven-day trips to Bermuda and the Caribbean and what will be the first-ever Cuba cruises from Charleston.

“Carnival launched Charleston’s first-year round cruise program nearly a decade ago and we’re delighted to homeport Carnival Sunshine which offers our guests so many wonderful onboard features and amenities,” said Terry Thornton, senior vice president of nautical and port operations for Carnival Cruise Line. 

Carnival said Charleston was an “important” part of the company’s ship deployment strategy, which looks to position cruise ships near larger U.S. population bases along both the east and west coasts and the Gulf of Mexico.

Carnival now sails from 20 different homeports in North America.

— CJ

The post Carnival Launches Charleston-Caribbean Cruises appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Delta Air Lines’ Boston expansion this winter will include new daily nonstop flights to the Dominican Republic’s tourism hub of Punta Cana, Caribbean Journal has learned.

The airline will be expanding what had been weekend service to daily flights for the upcoming winter season.

The broadened service will officially launch Dec. 21 in time for the peak tourist season in Punta Cana, home to the Dominican Republic’s largest concentration of resorts.

Tortuga Bay in Punta Cana.

“It’s been a tremendous year for Delta in Boston already, and we continue to keep climbing with new routes and frequencies, award-winning service, and industry-leading reliability that sets Delta apart,” said Charlie Schewe, Delta’s Director for New England Sales.

It’s part of what has been a larger Caribbean push for the airline, as more carriers continue to see the massively growing potential of the region’s tourism market.

Looking for a different side of Punta Cana? Try Cap Cana and its superb Eden Roc Cap Cana boutique hotel.

“Delta’s new daily frequencies to the Caribbean are exciting new travel options for Boston customers seeking more sunshine during those cold winter months,” said Massport Acting CEO John Pranckevicius. “We thank Delta for their continued partnership and we look forward to the additional travel opportunities this will generate for New Englanders.”

The news comes after Delta announced another Caribbean expansion, with new routes coming to the Caribbean from Detroit (including one to Punta Cana).

The new Detroit-Punta Cana service will also launch Dec. 21.

Heading to Punta Cana? Check out CJ’s look at the top resorts in the area.

— CJ

The post Delta Is Launching New Daily Flights to Punta Cana appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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