One of the leading luxury hotels in Saint Lucia is reopening, Caribbean Journal has learned.
Sugar Beach, a Viceroy Resort, will officially welcome back guests in November, following what the property calls an “extensive” renovation project.
The biggest changes include the addition of nine new rooms; an upgrade to the resort’s culinary outlets; a new beachside fitnesses facility and a new main pool area, among others.
“We are excited to kickstart this multi-phase renovation journey that will bring a new and elevated luxury guest experience to our already celebrated Sugar Beach property,” said General Manager Mark Sterner. “Every aspect of the renovation has been thoughtfully designed to bring the best out of each space and provide a new level of service, privacy and hospitality to our valued guests. Those visiting in November can expect to see Sugar Beach completely revived and like they’ve never experienced before.”
The property’s signature pool will be completely renovated, with a multi-tiered, landscaped design that will include a “fleet of exclusive luxury cabanas” and a new poolside bar.
The new rooms will include a mix of four one-bedroom beachfront bungalows right on the shoreline, along with five one-bedroom luxury cottages set higher up the mountain.
Each unit will have a contemporary interior design and views of the gardens, Pitons and the beach.
The new spa will be a transformation of Sugar Beach’s famous Rainforest Spa, with one new couples’ treehouse treatment room, bringing the total number of treatment rooms to 10.
Saint Lucia is currently open for tourism. You can find more about how to visit here.
The newest Nickelodeon resort has officially opened its doors in the Caribbean: Karisma’s new Nickelodeon Hotels and Resorts Riviera Maya.
And the resort has a very special perk: every single room is of the swim-up variety.
The new property has 280 suites — and all of them are oceanfront, swim-up units.
The relatively new resort brand, which first debuted with a property in Punta Cana, features designs, furnishings and inspiration from some of Nickelodeon’s most popular shows, including SpongeBob SquarePants and Paw Patrol.
The highlight of the property is a six-acre water park called Aqua Nick, with 2,000 square feet of water slides, along with river rides, a lazy river and amenities like the Paw Patrol Adventure Bay interactive playground.
There’s also Club Nick, a “free play zone” for kids with themed days, a craft laboratory, a playground a stage and visits by Nickelodeon characters.
Amenities include 24-hour in-room dining, six restaurants and three bars including a a pair of bars — both of which are, perhaps unsurprisingly, swim-up bars.
The waterpark complex at the resort.
It’s the latest addition to Karisma’s portfolio, one that has become one of the most prominent all-inclusive collections in the wider region.
Club Med helped pioneer the concept of all-inclusive vacations in the 1960s and 1970s, and people of a certain age doubtless remember the hotel chain’s jingle from the time: “The Club Med vacation/The antidote for civilization.”
Originally a no-frills concept with tented accommodations on the beach, Club Med has changed with the times and now offers travelers an experience that’s entirely, well, civilized. Upscale and more family oriented, Club Med has properties in some of more intriguing locations in the Caribbean and still retains some of the quirky touches that made the resorts famous, such as trapezes and circus-themed play areas.
The newest Club Med in the Caribbean debuted in late 2019, shut down soon thereafter due to COVID-19, and has now reopened as an essentially brand new resort. As part of Club Med’s Executive Collection, the “eco chic” resort on the Dominican Republic’s northeast coast offers premium level accommodations and amenities in a part of the country as yet only lightly touched by tourism. Rooms are spread out in four villages scattered on 93 lush tropical acres and facing a long stretch of pristine beach. The Archipelago village is adults-only, while the Explorer Cove village welcome families with kid-friendly amenities and a private pool, plus an exclusive resort-within-a resort dubbed La Perla. Wellness-oriented travelers gravitate to the Emerald Jungle with its spa and Zen Pool.
Set on one of the world’s best beaches, Grace Bay, the adults-only Club Med Turkoise has brightly appointed guest rooms in low-rise buildings, including top floor oceanview deluxe rooms with balconies. In addition to the main restaurant serving three meals daily, all-inclusive dining options include Sharkie’s Grill & Beach Bar, the oceanfront Blue Coral bar, and a wine bar serving premium vintages at additional cost. Activities include tennis, a fitness center, and watersports (including scuba diving); spa services are available, but cost extra.
The Club Med Punta Cana has an exclusive adults-only enclave (the Zen Oasis) and the family friendly Tiara collection of 32 suites with separate bathrooms and bedrooms for kids, five-star amenities, and activities that include fitness, golf, and archery lessons. The resort has a kids club for guests ages 4-17 and a unique Cirque du Soleil activity area where adults and kids alike can learn bungee jumping, flying on a trapeze, aerial silk dancing, tightrope, trampoline, juggling, percussion and more. All-inclusive dining options include 7 restaurants and bars.
Club Med feels quite at home in the French Caribbean, and the all-inclusive Club Med Caravelle resort welcomes families to a familiar hotel brand where you can enjoy authentic French Creole cuisine at the restaurants, French wine in La Cave, and a local ti punch at the Mango Bar. The resort features family friendly connecting rooms to create mini suites, kids clubs catering to all ages from infants to teens, a SOTHYS spa for the parents, and yoga, cardio, fitness, and trapeze classes.
Guided hikes, mangrove paddles, and kitesurfing lessons point to the true nature of this all-inclusive resort in the French West Indies, which takes full advantage of its lush beachfront locale to offer a broad range of included activities to guests. All rooms have ocean views, and dining options include a buffet restaurant, a new open-air beach eatery serving local Creole cuisine, and drinks and snacks at the rustic Madou bar.
San Salvador in the sister islands of the Bahamas was hit hard by Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, with the Club Med Columbus Isle suffering severe damage. The resort remains closed as renovations continue, but a reopening date has been announced for October 2022 (pushed back by COVID-19 from a hoped-for December 2021 reopening). When it does start welcoming guests again, the resort will have ocean view rooms on one of the best beaches in the Bahamas.
If you’re at a bar in Jamaica, it’s the rum for rum lovers, the one to sip if you’re looking for something special.
In just about every corner of Jamaica, Appleton 12 is almost always the best rum you’ll find on the shelf, the one to ask for, the one you know will guarantee a delicious evening.
As one of the Caribbean’s rum-making powerhouses, Jamaica doesn’t lack for wonderful expressions, from the esteemed Appleton 21 and 30 to lovely expressions from smaller-production brands like Moneymusk and Hampden.
But the latter are particularly hard to find on the island — making Appleton 12 the universal standard for a fine sipper.
Plainly, you won’t often find any island’s best rum in every bar — what you want, then, is the best rum you can find with regularity.
There’s an Appleton 12 on just about every island in the Caribbean — like Mount Gay XO in Barbados or English Harbour 10 in Antigua, Ron del Barrilito Three Star in Puerto Rico or Angostura 1919 in Trinidad, the ones that marry ubiquity with extreme quality.
They’re the ones you know you’ll find and that you know will be good.
And even if you’re abroad, it’s the same — Appleton 12 (and sometimes 21) is the one you’ll consistently find on the shelves of most fine spirits shops in the US.
But now Appleton has added a new expression, and it’s something dramatic.
It’s called Appleton 15 Year Black River Casks, and it’s, well, marvelous.
The rum, a blend of column and pot still rums, all of which have been aged for at least 15 years, is more than just the next level up from the 12. It’s a whole new paradigm.
So what’s it like?
Appleton 15 has an aroma of oak, leather, spice and dark chocolate, with a hint of prune.
The flavor profile is marked by brown sugar, black currant; caramel; tropical fruit; almond and pepper.
It’s almost surprisingly fruity, with some of the signature Jamaican funk but not as much as you’d think. The finish is exquisite, concluding with a warm glow.
It’s a luxurious, velvety, wonderful rum. It takes the quality of the 12 and brings it to another stratosphere, more elegant and better balanced.
It’s a Joy Spence masterwork.
And it just might be my new favorite Jamaican rum.
Grenada is one of my favorite places in the Caribbean in part because it checks off all the boxes of things that I love about the islands — authentic culture, local food you won’t find back home, great natural beauty and ample outdoor activities — and interesting rum, too. Here are some of the top reasons to plan a vacation to the Caribbean’s Spice Island right now (and here’s what you need to know before visiting).
BBC Beach in Grenada.
The Beaches
Grande Anse Beach is one of the truly exceptional beaches of the Caribbean, stretching for miles of white sandy goodness in the southwest tip of the island. Several of Grenada’s top hotels and restaurants are located on this beach, which nonetheless retains a sense of laid-back relaxation. Nearby Morne Rouge (BBC) Beach is sheltered in a cove and has calm waters, while palm-fringed La Sagesse Beach is perfect for solitude seekers and those seeking a more local vibe. If you want to see turtles, head to Levera Beach on the north end of Grenada, a nesting area for leatherback turtles.
Silversands Grenada.
The Resorts
Grenada isn’t overwhelmed with resorts, but the vacation hotels on the island included some pretty special places. If you’re looking for something familiar, you’ll find the all-inclusive Sandals on Pink Gin Beach, while the Radisson Grenada Beach Resort is a reasonably priced pay-as-you-go option on a prized stretch of Grande Anse Beach. But it’s with boutique upscale resorts that Grenada truly shines, with iconic hotels like the Spice Island Beach Hotel, the Mount Cinnamon Resort and Beach Club, and the newer Silversands Grenada.
The Community
There’s no denying that tourism is part of the landscape in Grenada, but it’s not the only thing. Maybe that’s why the island, for all of its sophisticated resorts, still retains a sense of how the Caribbean was before mass tourism. The Grenadian people are warm and friendly and welcome visitors into the local culture especially at events like the Spice Market in downtown St. George’s, the island’s capital city, and the annual SpiceMas carnival.
The Waterfalls
What’s even better than taking a hike in a Grenada rainforest? Taking a hike to a spectacular waterfall in a Grenada rainforest, of course! Of the 18 major waterfalls in Grenada, Annandale is the most popular — it’s 30 feet tall and also easily reached via a paved path. The Concord Waterfalls are a reasonable safe bet even in the dry season, and you get three waterfalls for the price of one — Concord, Au Coin, and Fountainbleu. Plus, the 45-minute hike to the falls helps keep the crowds down. If you want to see the tallest waterfall in Grenada, that would be 82-foot Tufton Hall, but the price of experiencing it is a challenging, three-mile hike. Mt. Carmel (or Marquis) Falls are almost as tall (70 feet) but it’s a flatter, shorter hike in to see it. The Seven Sisters waterfall is a highlight of the hike into the Grand Etang National Park in the center of Grenada.
The Dodgy Dock.
The Food
If you’re even a mildly adventurous eater, you’ll have the opportunity to try some things you’ve never dined on before during a trip to Grenada. The local Creole cuisine takes advantage of the island’s abundance of spices and other natural ingredients, and is widely available even at resort properties. The Dodgy Dock restaurant at the True Blue Bay Resort, for example, has a popular Street Food night on Wednesdays with live music and local dishes like Oil Down — the one-pot national dish of Grenada — Curry Goat, and Callalo Stew.
The Spices
They don’t call Grenada the Spice Island of the Caribbean for nothing. The island is redolent with the smell of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, bay leaves, and turmeric, all of which of course find their way into the local food, including the island’s excellent estate-made chocolate. Fresh spices from Grenada make a great take-home souvenir or gifts for friends, and no trip to Grenada is complete without a visit to the fascinating Gouave Nutmeg Processing Cooperative, where nutmeg fruit and mace are painstakingly separated by hand for use as food, medicine, balms, and more.
The River Antoine rum distillery in Grenada.
The Rum
Like better known Jamaica and Barbados, Grenada has a rich history of rum production dating back centuries. Westerhall Estate, for example, has been distilling rum from locally grown sugarcane since the 1700s, but until pretty recently it was not sold outside of the Caribbean. For an unforgettable education about the ancient process of rum making, visit the River Antoine Estate, which has been more or less distilling rum the same way since 1785. Fresh cut cane is carted in from the fields to be crushed in a water-powered mill, with the resulting juice then kept in giant natural fermentation vats before being boiled down and distilled into rum. It’s all pretty primitive but yields the unique Rivers brand rum consumed mostly in Grenada, including a 155-proof version that’s literally too dangerous to fly on a plane, so drink up!
