By the Caribbean Journal staff

American Airlines is ramping up its flight service to the Caribbean’s most popular destination.

The carrier will soon be launching a pair of new nonstop routes to the Dominican Republic, with service from both Charlotte and Dallas-Fort Worth to Santo Domingo.

The new routes will both begin operating on June 8, with service running every week on Saturdays.

Santo Domingo is seeing a significant jump in airlift.

It’s no coincidence that American is the latest carrier to expand its service to the Dominican Republic’s capital, which the country’s officials are heavily promoting as its next big tourism pole.

Indeed, in the last year, a slew of carriers have launched new routes to Santo Domingo, including JetBlue, which now operates daily flights from Newark; and rapidly expanding low-cost carrier Spirit, which now runs flights from Orlando to the capital.

The planned launch comes as American Airlines also expanded its service from Miami to Santo Domingo at the end of last year.

Inside a room at the Billini hotel.

So what makes Santo Domingo a hot destination right now?

It’s a bustling, energetic capital, with perhaps the most beautiful historic quarter on the region, the Colonial Zone, along with large portfolio of hotels, an impressive cultural and arts offering and a deepening shopping scene to boot.

The Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo.

It’s even home to the first-ever cable car system in the Caribbean.

WHERE TO STAY

While its flagship hotel is almost certainly the spectacular JW Marriott, if you’re looking for a culture-filled weekend getaway, you can’t go wrong in one of the charming boutique hotels in the Colonial Zone, led by the Casas del XVI and the Billini.

For a more traditional, but equally historic experience, try the Hodelpa Nicolas de Ovando, set on the Caribbean’s oldest street.

— CJ

The post American Airlines Launching Two New Dominican Republic Routes appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

One of the Caribbean’s greatest luxury hotels has debuted a major new spa: the first-ever Natura Bisse-branded spa in the world.

The Dominican Republic’s Eden Roc Cap Cana has unveiled the new $2 million, 30,000-square-foot spa called the Solaya Spa and Wellness Center.

It’s home to 12 treatment rooms with indoor and outdoor cabins, a 1,200-square-foot anti-gravity yoga area, an indoor and outdoor aqua garden and a freshwater pool.

That’s along with a 3,000-square-foot gym with an in-house personal trainer and even a wellness bar with tropical fruit juices and smoothies.

It’s led by spa director Pedro Castillo, whose resume includes stops at international spas across Europe, the United States, South America and the Caribbean with brands like Dreams and Secrets.

“The Solaya Spa Fitness & Wellness has been designed to ensure every need of our guests is met so they can unwind and recharge in the most luxurious and relaxing facilities in the Caribbean,” Castillo said in a statement. “We are dedicated to offering exceptional experiences for each guest with close attention to detail, from champagne upon arrival to customized treatments. We know each face and each body is unique so our goal is to surpass all expectations for unparalleled results. Guests will leave our brand-new state-of-the-art facilities feeling relaxed, uplifted and rejuvenated.”

The post The Dominican Republic Has a Serious New Spa appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Music superstars Pitbull and Mariah Carey have signed on to the lineup for the upcoming Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival.

The pair of luminaries will join a lineup that includes Maroon 5, Ozuna, Gladys Knight and Third World, among others.

The festival opens Aug. 29, running through Aug. 31.

Mariah Carey.

Pitbull will open on the Sam Cooke stage on Aug. 30, while Carey will perform on Saturday, Aug. 31.

The annual event is held at the site of the World Trade Center Piscadera near Curacao’s capital, Willemstad.

For more, visit the Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival.

— CJ

The post Why Pitbull and Mariah Carey Are Coming to Curacao appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By Dana Niland
CJ Contributor

New hotels, new eateries, new flights — and record-breaking growth.

Cayman Islands tourism is surging right now, according to the latest numbers from the destination’s Department of Tourism.

Indeed, the Cayman Islands reported 145,804 stayover visitor arrivals in the first quarter of 2019, a sizable 8.67 percent jump over the same period in 2018 and a new record for the first three months of the year.

Locale is the newest hotel in Grand Cayman, set in the heart of the Seven Mile Beach corridor.

That comes as the destination welcomed 59,563 stayover visitors in March, which was itself an 8.37 percent jump over March 2018 — and the best month for stayover visitors in Cayman’s history.

“The Cayman Islands should be proud of its record-breaking stayover performance in the first quarter of 2019,” said Cayman Islands Deputy Premier and Minister for Tourism, Moses Kirkconnell. “As a Ministry and Department of Tourism, we are committed to developing innovative and authentic strategies for attracting travelers from key source markets. The recent launch of the USA focused Dream in Cayman campaign pushes the boundaries of destination advertising and I look forward to evaluating the results of the campaign in the months to come.”

Seven Mile Beach.

The growth comes as Cayman continues to position itself as one of the hottest tourism markets in the wider Caribbean, including a hotel sector that has an impressive pipeline of new developments from Mandarin Oriental’s second Caribbean hotel to a just-announced Hilton project.

That’s along with strong growth in new airlift, from Cayman Airways’ new route from Denver, Colo. to Grand Cayman to new flights like Southwest Airlines’ Baltimore/Washington-Cayman route.

The new terminal in Grand Cayman.

All of those flights are now arriving at Cayman’s brand-new international airport, which made its debut last month with a high-profile visit from Prince Charles.

— CJ

The post The Cayman Islands Is Seeing Record-Breaking Tourism Growth appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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