Business travelers are more likely than vacationers to stay “in town” on most Caribbean islands. But if you’re looking for a different travel experience than the usual resort stay, there are few better destinations than downtown Christiansted, St Croix.

With its rich history, excellent dining scene, and lively boardwalk, the Crucian capital never gets boring, and there’s a sandy beach just a two-minute ferry ride away.

Christiansted has a pretty good choice of in-town lodging options, including the landmark Hotel Caravelle on the boardwalk. But for a more intimate and local experience, consider the 12-room Sugar Apple Bed & Breakfast, a charming small inn that welcomes you like a returning Crucian even if you’ve never been to St. Croix before.

“With just 12 guest rooms, it feels like home,” says Corina Marks, who owns the hotel along with her partner, Ryan Flegal.

“We’re slightly off the main drag of the boardwalk [about five minutes on foot] so away from the chaos, but still close enough to walk,” says Shannon Curley, manager of the Sugar Apple. “People are surprised by how quiet it is here, given how close it is to the bustling streets of Christiansted and the surrounding neighborhoods.”

In fact, the loudest noise you may hear during your stay is the crowing of a rooster from the neighbors’ yard to greet the new day.

The occasional hum of a prop plane is a reminder that the Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base is also within easy walking distance of the inn. (You can take a conventional aircraft to St. Croix, but if you’re the kind of person who treasures the journey as well as the destination, make a point of taking the seaplane flight between St. Thomas to St. Croix at least once.)

When it’s time to explore, one of St. Croix’s top car-rental companies, Centerline Car Rentals is just a three-minute walk away, too.

“That is really convenient for guests who just want to rent a car for the day to go see the other side of the island,” says Curley.

History and some unique quirks also are part of what’s sweet about the Sugar Apple. The cloistered property on Prince Street was previously the Pink Fancy Hotel, opened in 1948 and built around a Danish townhouse dating to 1780. The rooms and grounds were extensive renovated when Marks and Flegal reopened the hotel as the Sugar Apple in 2019, but the colonial charm remains in the form of brightly colored cottages, tiled walkways, whitewashed balusters, and wrought-iron gates and fences.

“We have maintained the structural design and color palette, and in that way we’re preserving the history as opposed to knocking something down and building something modern,” says Marks. “The property was completely rundown and needed so much attention,” she recalls, but, “we could see the potential was enormous.”

Part of the inn’s claim to fame is that the courtyard centers on the first swimming pool built on St. Croix. “I think people enjoy coming here, especially people who haven’t been back to the island in a long time, and connecting the location to its history,” Curley says.

Breakfast is served on a shaded patio each morning; one of the Sugar Apple’s unique features is that the menu is entirely vegan. In pre-COVID times, the inn was famous for its weekly vegan brunch. During the pandemic, breakfast service has turned self-service with coffee, tea, local fruit, and a daily assortment of morning pastries and bread, including vegan muffins.

Starting room rates at the Sugar Apple are some of the best bargains you’ll find on St. Croix, with low season rates ranging from about $129 to $149 per night plus taxes; in high season, it’s $149 to $179.

All rooms are decorated with aerial photos of St. Croix shot by Blake Gardner Photography and Simon Stevenson “to inspire people that St. Croix is the island to explore, says Marks. “We also hired Isabelle Picard to paint local fruit images for each guest room so visitors can learn and enjoy the beauty of our local bounty.”

Guests will find plenty of desirable 21st century amenities like high-speed wifi, smart TVs, and USB chargers in rooms. Most rooms also have kitchen areas with sinks, refrigerators, and microwaves.

With their hardwood floors, king beds and poolside location, rooms 6 and 8 are among the most popular accommodations. The standalone room 9 also is poolside, has a queen bed, and is up a short flight of steps, affording a touch more privacy for guests. “I recommend that one for stays of a week or more,” Curley says.

All rooms have keyless, gated entry for security purposes, but the cheaper rooms face the street while the slightly pricier ones are arrayed around the pool or in a lush garden. “If you’re traveling here on vacation, I recommend paying the extra money to be on our upper level,” Curley says. “That’s where the pool and tortoises are, and it just feels a bit more secluded.”

Tortoises, you say? Yes, one of the quirky charms of the Sugar Apple is its tortoise garden, home to at least a dozen red-footed tortoises, from silver dollar sized babies to manhole-dimensioned adults (new ones are always being born, and there are many places to hide in the garden, so an exact census is difficult).

“None of the other hotels have tortoises,” Curley points out; other inhabitants at the bed & breakfast includes green iguanas that split time between the branches of the ancient mango, coconut, and flamboyant trees and sunning themselves on the pool deck, and of course colorful island birds making an occasional stopover in the hotel shady canopy.

The combination of low room count and spacious grounds means that that the Sugar Apple never feels crowded. Guests occasionally congregate on loungers or at the tables arrayed around the pool, but there’s also tables and chairs in the tortoise garden and a breezy rooftop deck with glimpses of harbor views.

Having successfully revived one of the most historic hotels in Christiansted, the owners have shifted focus to restoring a grand former plantation house in Frederiksted as the Featherleaf Inn, envisioned as both a hotel and premier event space, particularly for weddings under magnificent old-growth trees with the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop.

“We love the Sugar Apple,” says Marks. “Every time I go there I feel a sense of pride and endearment.  But Feather Leaf is going to be even more incredible. Ryan and I are passionate about experiential travel, but we are even more passionate about well being and ecology. With 10 acres we are able to grow lots of food at the inn. Our vision is to host retreats, cooking classes, celebrations, fundraisers, local schools interested in farming, conservation, nutrition, and even coral reef ecology.”

For more, visit the Sugar Apple.

The US Virgin Islands is currently open for tourism. You can find more on how to visit here.

The post A Great Little Bed and Breakfast in St Croix appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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Planet Hollywood has officially opened its first-ever all-inclusive resort in the wider Caribbean with the debut o the new Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Cancun. 

The property is set in increasingly popular Costa Mujeres, a destination often dubbed the “New Cancun,” just north of Cancun’s Hotel Zone. 

Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Cancun will feature 898 rooms, with an aesthetic in line with the company’s cinematic theme. 

That’s along with 11 restaurants, Hollywood memorabilia across the property; four pools, a lazy river, a mini-golf course, a surf simulator and an adventure park, among other amenities. 

The new-build property will also have its own adults-only wing called Adults Scene, a resort-within-a-resort concept focused on guests over 18. 

Adult Scene will consist of 332 suites, all with amenities like ceiling-mounted rain showers, hand-crafted beds and a focus on high-tech details (including the option of picking your own “theme music” during your stay). 

Adult Scene will also have its own private beachfront and pool area with a swim-up bar, along with waiter service.

The resort is also opening with on-site testing for guests to meet the new CDC requirements; the property will deliver same-day antigen testing as a complimentary service. 

Planet Hollywood’s regional collection also includes a beach resort in Costa Rica.

For more, visit Planet Hollywood Beach Resort Cancun. 

– CJ

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It’s just you and the most beautiful pool in The Bahamas, sipping on a Goombay Smash, surrounded by the towering palm trees of the hills of Old Nassau. 

Dinner’s a few hours away, with a Chateaubriand on the outdoor menu, followed by a late-night cognac with a house-made cigar. 

This is Graycliff, the iconic luxury hotel in the heart of Nassau, and it’s open and welcoming guests. 

The hotel, which has 20 guest rooms, is set just a few steps from Government House in the idyllic streets above the capital, and has long been a haven for celebrities and historical figures, from Winston Churchill to Jay Z. 

And in the age of social distancing, a luxury boutique hotel like this is the perfect prescription. 

This is a hotel for the bon vivant, a place for gourmands, a destination for those appreciate the true fundaments of luxury. 

And even the heart of the capital, it’s a quiet, serene oasis, a place where you can remove, where you can step back and stay inside a veritable bubble of indulgence and comfort. 

That means Graycliff’s celebrated puros, rolled at the on-site factory by a team of rollers from Cuba; the spectacular, authentic Neapolitan pizza at Giotto; truffles from the Graycliff Chocolatier; and wine from the third-largest wine cellar on earth or from the new Bahama Barrels, the only winery in The Bahamas. 

And that’s the beauty of it — it’s all here, all in once place, meaning you can come here and just stay here — going on a gastronomic journey under the palm trees. 

You can travel the world and not find any boutique hotel quite like it.

For more, visit Graycliff. 

Note: (For those who wish to dine indoors, Graycliff has launched a program with free antigen tests for diners — all guests just need to arrive 15 minutes before their reservation). 

The Bahamas has been open in its most recent tourism phase since November, and all travelers have to present a negative test result within five days before arrival. Here are The Bahamas’ most recent travel protocols.

– CJ

The post A Legendary Boutique Hotel in The Bahamas appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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One of the most beloved resorts in the British Virgin Islands is making a comeback. 

The Saba Rock resort, set on an island in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, will be opening this spring following a complete rebuild. 

The property had been devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017. 

“We’re eager to rejoin our local tourism partners in welcoming guests to this beautiful destination,” said General Manager Alain Prion. “Saba holds a special place in the hearts of many, and we can’t wait for our past guests to see and experience the new resort. We expect fans will embrace our new identity and hope our chic and casual setting will attract new customers as well.”  

The resort has been completely reconstructed, with a new “contemporary design aesthetic.”

The boutique property will feature seven rooms, two suites, a dive shop, a retail boutique, a spa, a full-service marina and a kiteboarding and kitesurfing school. 

And yes, it will also feature its signature bar and restaurant, with Caribbean fusion cuisine on the lower level and a “Happy Hour Bar and Lounge” on the upper deck. 

“This whole process has been a labor of love for the entire Saba Rock team, and I am truly proud of how we were able to navigate the challenges at hand and bring the new chapter of this iconic resort to life,” continued Prion. 

It’s the latest progress for the North Sound, long dubbed the Caribbean’s “Billionaires’ Row.”

For more, visit Saba Rock. 

— CJ

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The US Virgin Islands is open for tourism, and the destination has been at the forefront of the nascent Caribbean travel rebound. 

The USVI continues to see airlift to the territory expand, with both relaunched flights and new routes from carriers like American Airlines and Frontier. 

The USVI’s tourism success has largely been the result of the USVI’s Travel Screening Portal, which is required for all travelers to the US territory. 

So what do travelers need to know? 

Everyone age five and above visiting the territory needs to complete the Travel Screening Portal (you can find it here) and upload a digital copy of a negative test result taken within five days before arriving to the USVI. 

There are two other options for travelers. 

In lieu of a PCR test, the USVI also accepts a rapid antigen test result received within five days before travel to the USVI; or a positive result from an antibody finger stick or blood draw test taken within four months before traveling to the USVI. 

Travelers who don’t receive clearance from the portal will not be able to board an aircraft to the USVI. 

“With new variants of COVID-19 circulating in recent months, it is essential to adhere to prevention and control measures since we are still in the midst of a pandemic,” said US Virgin Islands Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte. 

Another crucial item for travelers to the destination is that the territory is exempt from the recent CDC mandate that requires a negative test result to the return to the United States. 

Because the USVI is a United States territory, travelers don’t have to get tested in order to return home, unlike all other Caribbean destinations. 

The USVI has welcomed more than 135,000 travelers through the portal since late July, and travelers will find a complete tourism experience on arrival. 

That means hotels, resorts, restaurants and attractions open and operating, whether you’re looking for a week at the Ritz-Carlton, St Thomas or searching for a villa in St John. 

For more, visit USVI. 

— CJ

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