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Excitement was in the air as Sandals Resorts International hosted the Grand Opening this week of Sandals Royal Curaçao; the 16th property in the Sandals portfolio and the first in the Dutch Caribbean.

During a high-energy sunset gala with fireworks, music mash-ups, and Carnival performers, industry insiders from the Caribbean, U.S., Canada, and the U.K mingled with SRI’s executives and local dignitaries that included Gov. Lucille George-Wout and Gilmar Pisas, the Prime Minister of Curacao.. 

It’s part of a broader expansion push for the company in the Caribbean, according to Adam Stewart, Sandals’ Executive Chairman.

“We’re building a new Beaches Resort in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and soon opening Sandals Dunn’s River, Sandals Royal Dunn’s River, and Beaches Runaway Bay in Jamaica,” he said. 

Renovations are also in the works for Sandals Negril, Beaches Negril, Sandals Royal Plantation, Beaches Turks and Caicos, and Sandals Halcyon.

Sandals is the Caribbean’s “only super-luxury brand with the highest repeat guest ratio in the region,” he said. “To say we’re excited about our future is an understatement; we’re going to take this brand to the moon.”  

Going Dutch  

Sitting pretty at the base of Tafelberg Mountain between the Caribbean Sea and Spanish Water Bay and outside the hurricane belt making it appealing for travelers who can do without the angst of weather delays during the Atlantic hurricane season that continues through the end of November, 351 room and suite adults-only all-inclusive Sandals Royal Curaçao has just about every amenity imaginable. 

“This extraordinary new resort sends a signal about the reimagined return of Caribbean travel and the ingenuity our guests come to expect from Sandals Resorts,” Stewart said. 

Scoring a holiday home run with unlimited food, drink, and play rolled into one price, new room categories called Kurason Island Poolside Butler Bungalows and Awa Seaside Butler Bungalows come with the use of a convertible Mini Cooper to explore the island. 

Other Sandals firsts like off-site dining for those in top-tier suites and the Dos Awa two-level infinity pool sweeten the pot.  

Thirteen bars and 11 dining options keep hunger at bay including the fan-favorite Butch’s Island Chop House, Mediterranean fare at Aolos, and a trio of beachfront food trucks.  

A hole-in-one for golfers, Old Quarry is one of just a handful of Pete Dye-designed courses in the Caribbean.  

Getting out and about is easy with a variety of tours offered at the Island Routes kiosk in the lobby. Take your pick from sunset sails and snorkeling cruises to Punda Vibes; the spirited night street party in the pastel-pretty capital city of Willemstad

“We’re in discussions with local tour operators to increase our options like deep-sea fishing and rock-climbing tours, “said David Shields, V.P Sales at Island Routes, Sandals’ in-house tour company. “The resort is a welcome addition to the luxury landscape with added airlift from the U.S. making travel more accessible. 

American Airlines now flies twice daily to Curacao International Airport from Miami. 

JetBlue offers three weekly flights from New York, while United Airlines resumes weekly flights from Newark on Nov. 12.

“We’re in conversation with Delta for service from Atlanta and with United to increase the frequency of flights from Newark,” said Alex Marte,   V.P  Airline Relationships and Sales Development, Unique Vacations, Sandals’ marketing agency. 

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It’s one of the best-known hotel brands in Mexico: Royal Resorts, which operates a portfolio of six family-friendly beach resorts on the Yucatan’s Caribbean coastline. 

That includes the renowned Grand Residences Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, a resort celebrated often in these pages, and one of the leading hotels in all of Mexico. 

And now the company has officially opened the doors of what is almost certainly its most anticipated new resort yet: the Royal Uno All-Inclusive Resort and Spa, a 540-room property in the heart of Cancun. 

The new hotel is focused on delivering the “Authentic Cancun,” manifested in its design by Mexican firm Et. Al. Studio. 

“We are excited to officially open our doors and welcome guests this summer to experience authentic Cancún at Royal Uno,” Efrain Canto, Royal Uno®’s general manager, told Caribbean Journal in a statement “We look forward to setting new standards in service excellence and offering exceptional experiences and programming for families and guests of all ages.”

The property, which began welcoming guests this week, is designed to be what Royal Resorts calls a “hotel of the sea.” 

That means every room has a private ocean-view terrace or balcony, and a “strategic” location right at the edge of the Caribbean Sea. 

It also means that the design “encourages the eye to look through its arched windows to appreciate the resort’s stunning location,” the hotel says. 

Amenities at Royal Uno include four bars, five eateries and a cafe and grab-and-go-counter. 

That’s along with two massive pools, a children’s pool with a water play area, waterspouts, a Kids Club, a family room and daily entertainment and activities. 

“Today’s traveler is looking for authentic hotels and resorts that offer both original spaces and unique experiences that connect them with the local history and culture,” Canto says. “We sought out a design that guests would feel welcomed in, as the resort becomes their home away from home in the Mexican Caribbean.”

For more, visit Royal Resorts.

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Jamaica just topped 1 million visitors in 2022, an arrival pace that shows no signs of slowing down. 

That’s been buoyed by what has been dramatic airlift growth for Jamaica amid the pandemic, including yet another route that launched this week: Frontier Airlines’ new daily nonstop flights between Tampa and the island’s tourism stronghold of Montego Bay. 

The new daily nonstop service will add 186 seats per day; Tampa becomes the fifth United States city from which Frontier now flies to Jamaica, along with Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando and Atlanta. 

Frontier continues to add new airlift to the Caribbean at a pace for now unrivaled by any other carrier, a sign of the ultra-low-cost airline’s growth and its confidence in the Caribbean. 

Much of that growth has come from source markets in Florida; and while that has been concentrated in Miami and Orlando, the airline clearly sees a major opportunity in Tampa, on the state’s western coast.

“We are very excited to be part of Frontier Airlines’ growth and expansion plans,” said Jamaica’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White. “With this new connection between travelers from Tampa Bay, we will bring more visitors to discover the unique culture, breath-taking landscapes and warm, welcoming people in the island.”

The service is the second new Caribbean route to launch this month from Tampa, joining new flights from Tampa to San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

It’s yet another addition to a destination that has been seeing sizzling growth during the pandemic. 

And it’s a sign of Montego Bay’s continued strength as a high-profile Caribbean tourism destination, supported by a hotel product that’s one of the most enviable in the region, from the stunning new Eclipse at Half Moon resort to upstart properties like the S Hotel Montego Bay, which has helped inject new energy into the city’s “Hip Strip.”

Of course, Montego Bay is also a gateway to tourism hubs including Negril and Ocho Rios on the island’s north coast. 

For more, visit Jamaica.

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I’m taking an evening walk through a winding, palm-lined avenue.

I walk by a cinema and a French brasserie, a luxury goods shop, a cigar and rum lounge and an artisanal coffee shop. Families and couples stroll by as a DJ spins Latin music for the evening. 

This could be the Bal Harbour Shops, or a Spanish village, or a high-end shopping plaza in Palm Beach or California. 

But it’s not. It’s in the heart of an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. 

They call it The Boulevard, and it’s rather unlike anything I’ve ever encountered at a resort in the Caribbean, all-inclusive or otherwise. 

And it’s just one of the things that makes the Lopesan Costa Bavaro so unique.

Our SUV driver, Nickeas, pulls into the vast entrance to the 1,042-room resort. 

“This is the most beautiful resort in Bavaro,” he says, speaking of the original, traditional tourism stronghold of Punta Cana.  And at the beginning of the trip, it seems hyperbole.  But after a few days, we realized he was right. 

The Costa Bavaro is the first-ever Caribbean resort for Lopesan, a Spanish company with a broad portfolio of resorts across Europe (the name comes from two families: Lopez and Sanchez) in places like Gran Canaria and Austria, among others. 

That made it a rather tall order to compete in Bavaro and greater Punta Cana, where mostly Spanish companies like Melia and Barcelo have dominated with large resorts for decades. 

And then the company opened its doors just before the onset of the pandemic, making things even more difficult. 

But the result has been extraordinary: this place just looks good. 

The resort, set on a prime stretch of Playa Bavaro, is a stunner, from the sweeping lobby to the multi-tiered pool to a pervasive, ubiquitous attention to detail and style and impressive-looking build quality. 

That ranges from bigger touches like a seemingly endless fountain installation that runs from the lobby all the way to the pool to creative, inspired restaurant design that you almost never see at an all-inclusive. 

The lobby opens out to a broad town-square style space, one that wouldn’t be out of place in the middle of a Spanish town, where live music plays each night and people gather for relaxed evenings in the plaza. 

And then there’s the Boulevard, set at the back of the property, filled with restaurants, shops and activities, more than one would ever be able to enjoy in a single vacation. 

There’s just something lovely about it, something organic; whether you come here for a morning Dominican espresso or an evening film, being here is a pleasure. 

The coffee shop is right on the level of a top-quality cafe in a major European or American city, focused on locally-sourced Dominican coffee with a range of fresh juices and smoothies. 

But it’s all-inclusive, so you don’t have to reach for your wallet. 

The food in general is excellent, particularly in the Unique Club, the premium concept that comprises 127 rooms of the resort (and boasts one of the best all-inclusive buffets you’ll encounter, with an emphasis on local food like wonderfully fresh snapper, mahi maki and grouper. 

There are seven themed restaurants, from a hibachi and sushi eatery to a Mediterranean to a particularly good French brasserie in the Boulevard (that’s along with two buffets).

The activities are vast, including a kids’ club, a teens; club, a bowling alley, and, so important for the younger kids, a full-fledged waterpark just past the Boulevard. 

While the resort is perfectly great for endless pool and beach days (the main pool is a hub of activity during the afternoon)

The rooms are terrific, whether you’re in a traditional room, a junior suite facing the pool or the beach, a one-bedroom suite or one of the host of ultra-private, lushly landscaped swim-up rooms. 

And the service that Punta Cana has become known for, warm and friendly, with a uniform desire to make guests happy. 

When the resort opened its doors, it coined the term Costa Bavaro, something this area had never before been called. 

It was a “new” place to visit, placing it on the level of destinations like the Costa del Sol, and that was almost certainly purposeful, rebranding Bavaro and putting it in a new light. 

That’s because this resort is something different, and it’s not the Bavaro you’ve been to before. 

It’s the Costa Bavaro — and it’s a completely new destination. 

For more, visit the Lopesan Costa Bavaro. 

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