WTM 2008 Stand: CA 6500 What s new in the Caribbean November 2008 Over the coming year the Caribbean is set to witness the arrival of a raft of luxurious, boutique properties and developments. RECENT NEWS Spa Josephine, Martinique Nestled within the Carayou Hotel in the seaside resort town of Trois Ilets is Martinique s newest address for sublime spa indulgence Spa Josephine. Named in honour of Napoleon s wife and Martinique native, Empress Josephine, this new facility opened its doors in August 2008 with expert staff professionally trained in the latest wellness and relaxation treatments. Fully equipped with Hammam Turkish bath, sauna and Jacuzzi, Spa Josephine s massage menu features everything from California and Thai massages, to hydro-massage, Shiatsu and more. www.spa-josephine.com. Le Domaine Saint Aubin, Martinque Le Domaine Saint Aubin, Martinque, recently completed a major expansion growing from 11 rooms to 30, each espousing the same colonial look and feel, evident throughout the historic 19th century property. All 19 new rooms are housed in newly constructed or completely renovated freestanding cottages spread over a small hill facing the main entrance to the hotel. No telephones, televisions or radios enable guests to truly escape, though Wi-fi Internet access is available throughout the property on request. Le Domaine Saint Aubin is located in the verdant hills along Martinique s northern Atlantic coast between the towns of Le Trinite and Sainte Marie. www.ledomainesaintaubin.com. Villa St Pierre, Martinique Villa St Pierre is the new petite princess of hotels in Martinique the property boasts only nine rooms; the perfect size for guests to receive exceptional pampering. Villa St Pierre rests
in the heart of the historic northern town of St Pierre, making it ideal for history buffs. All nine rooms are air-conditioned and equipped with a mini bar, flat screen TV s and Internet access. An on-site restaurant with seating for 20 features French and Caribbean cuisine. www.hotel-villastpierre.com. Cap Maison, St Lucia Cap Maison, St Lucia, a new forty-nine room boutique resort, opened in October 2008. Located on St Lucia s exclusive Cap Estate, the Cap Maison boasts incredible views over to historic Pigeon Island and across to neighbouring Martinique. All suites and rooms have butler service, whilst the Ocean View Grand Villa Suites, which measure up to 3,000sq ft, are the largest in the Eastern Caribbean. Other services and facilities include three bars and a fine dining cliff top restaurant, overseen by award-winning St Lucian chef Craig Russell-Jones, serving French Caribbean cuisine. The new Spa Maison has three treatment rooms with natural lighting and outdoor showers. Visiting therapists will also provide guests with Shiatsu and reflexology while classes in tai chi, yoga and pilates will be available as demand arises. www.capmaison.co.uk
END OF 2008 CuisinArt Resort and Spa in Anguilla This month the CuisinArt Resort and Spa in Anguilla will open a 19,000 sq ft extension to its award winning Venus Spa. The luxurious $7 million addition will more than triple the size of the existing facility, and offer guests the ultimate Caribbean spa experience. New amenities include a Thalasso pool, where guests will soak in heated nutrient- and mineral-rich salt water, favoured for its healing properties and a Relaxation Room which will offer each guest expansive views of the Caribbean Sea. www.cuisinartresort.com New American Airlines route to Grenada This month American Airlines will resume non-stop flights from Miami to Grenada. Daily services will be available with departures from Miami at 17:00, arriving in Grenada at 21:20. UK visitors can now fly American Airlines to Miami and connect through to Grenada arriving on the Spice Isle the very same day. www.americanairlines.co.uk Newly refurbished Almond Smugglers Cove, St Lucia and Almond Beach Club & Spa, Barbados This month Almond Smugglers Cove reopens following a series of refurbishments and the opening of a children s pool. The property will also boast new beachfront rooms. December sees the reopening of the Almond Beach Club & Spa following a multi-million dollar redevelopment programme. The refurbishment, which will include a full upgrade of the main restaurant, bars, pools and 60 bedrooms, will reposition the Resort as one of the Caribbean s top four-star adult-only luxury hotels. www.almondresorts.co.uk Monarch Airlines Grenada and Tobago Golden Caribbean is now in a position to confirm that Monarch Airlines will provide a yearly service to the islands of Grenada and Tobago starting from 17 December 2008. The flight will depart Gatwick weekly on a Wednesday. Operating on Airbus A330 with economy and premium economy cabins. www.goldencaribbean.co.uk
The Calabash Hotel and Villas in Grenada Building work has started on the new spa at The Calabash Hotel and Villas in Grenada. The new 2,000 sq ft facility, which is costing nearly $1 million to construct, will be completed by Christmas 2008. The new spa, named Heaven and Earth at The Calabash, will overlook Prickly Bay in the south of the island and will have three treatment rooms, a Zen garden, a chill out area with a fresh juice bar, water feature and yoga pavilion. The abundant natural products of Grenada such as nutmeg and cinnamon oils will be used in all the treatments, which will include Swedish massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, reiki and Indian head massage as well as a range of facial, manicures and pedicures. www.calabashhotel.com Cap Macabou, Martinique Within easy walking distance of Macabou Beach, Martinique, Cap Macabou is scheduled to open by the end of 2008. The intimate, locally owned property features 44 comfortable, airconditioned rooms, each with a private terrace, dedicated parking and Internet access. Additional hotel amenities include a pool and on-site restaurant, L Hacienda. www.capmacabou.com. Cap Juluca in Anguilla By the end of 2008, Cap Juluca in Anguilla will have undergone a $13 million renovation. Thousands of new colourful flowers will be planted throughout the resorts grounds and lighting will be added to dramatically highlight the details of the new landscaping. www.capjuluca.com Couples Tower Isle, Jamaica Couples Ocho Rios Jamaica, which closed in March for refurbishing, is expected to re-open by the end of 2008 as Couples Tower Isle. The 206-room resort is currently undergoing a massive upgrade which will see the construction of an additional three floor complex of twenty rooms, refurbishing of the existing bars and main lobby and the creation of a new swim-up pool
bar and state of the art spa. On completion, the resort will boast 226 guest rooms. www.visitjamaica.com 2009 QUARTER ONE Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort & Spa The newly expanded Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort & Spa will be unveiled in January 2009. The resort s new Pirate's Island Water Park will be the largest in the Caribbean at 45,000 sq ft. It will include a new surf simulator, which will provide novices and seasoned surfers alike with the most realistic surfing experience imaginable. The new Italian Village, with 14 different room categories, will add a further 162 luxurious two-bedroom family suites to the existing 453 rooms at the resort. The 18 'Imperial Rooms feature a dining area for up to six people. Four new gourmet dining options will offer guests a delectable range of cuisine, plus the resort will introduce to their teenage guests a new under 21s nightclub, Liquid, which during the day transforms into a teen lounge, complete with music, Internet access, pool, table football and basketball. Teens and tweens can also pamper themselves at the new Red Lane Youth Spa, which will offer young guests makeovers, hair braiding and special reggae pedicures. www.beachesresorts.co.uk Villa Rockstar, St Barths Villa Rockstar, Eden Rock St Barths, a six-star villa being described as a one hundred million dollar yacht on land, is on target to open in January 2009. At 16,000 sq ft, the considerable size of the beachside Villa Rockstar will comprise all of the facilities often associated with world-class yachting but without the bumpy seas, so it will be ideal for people who bear the latter in order to enjoy the former! Summary of what Villa Rockstar will include: Four ultra-luxe suites, a fully equipped music recording studio within a screening room and theatre complex, a hand-made kitchen adjacent
to twelve seat dining facilities, a circular bathroom tiled in pure white gold, a pool table and sports hall area, a swimming pool, spa pool and bar, a gym, a golf putting green and a croquet lawn, a personal butler throughout the stay, a private secure gate leading directly onto the St Jean beach and the clear blue Caribbean ocean just yards away. Solís The Palmyra Resort & Spa, Jamaica Solís The Palmyra Resort & Spa, Jamaica s first luxury beachfront residential community, is set to open in January 2009, on sixteen acres of pristine waterfront land on the Rose Hall estate. This casually elegant resort will boast the Caribbean s first branded world-class 30,000 sq ft E SPA, an ocean-view fitness centre and nearby championship golf at three of the Caribbean s most prestigious courses including White Witch, Cinnamon Hill and Half Moon. Guests will have a wide array of dining options with five venues offering authentic, internationally inspired dishes with organic choices, a gourmet shop and wine cellar featuring fine wines from around the world. The property features 13,000 sq ft of indoor meeting space and outdoor event lawns. Private concierge, butler, maid and chef services are available at a premium and are included with each private villa. www.visitjamaica.com British Airways St Kitts British Airways will be commencing a new direct flight from London Gatwick Airport to St Kitts, marking the first time the airline will a offer service to this Caribbean island. The flight will operate once a week on Saturdays, beginning on 10 January 2009. British Airways flight BA2157 will depart London Gatwick at 10:30 and arrive into St Kitts' Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport at 16:45 the same afternoon. The return flight BA2256 will depart St Kitts at 18:15 and arrive into London Gatwick at 7:50 on Sunday morning. British Airways will operate a 272-seat, 777-200 Boeing aircraft in a three-class configuration with thirty-six Club World business class seats, twenty-four World Traveller Plus seats and 212 World Traveller (economy) seats. Flights in both directions will operate through Antigua and are listed in local times. www.ba.com
Hodges Bay Club, Antigua Hodges Bay Club, an exclusive new hotel, spa and residential development in one of the most beautiful locations in Antigua, is gearing up for its grand opening in early 2009. Designed by specialist spa and hospitality architects The Syntax Group (behind Chiva-Som) and set amongst lush tropical gardens on the sandy north shore of Antigua, Hodges Bay Club is a sophisticated, environmentally conscious resort and residential concept that is set to become one of the hottest developments in the Caribbean. www.hodgesbayclub.com The Point, Grenada The Point, a new 15-room resort property, is set to open on the South Coast of Grenada, in the first quarter of 2009. It is designed to incorporate many ecological ideas to reduce the impact on the environment through the use of solar water heating, solar lighting and a water irrigation system. www.grenadagrenadines.com 2009 QUARTER TWO Thomson Airways - Aruba Extra flights are to be introduced to the island of Aruba as growing numbers of British travellers discover this corner of the sun-kissed Dutch Caribbean. Thomson Airways will operate a weekly direct flight to Aruba from London Gatwick from May 6, 2009, replacing the existing fortnightly service operated by its sister company First Choice. The new weekly charter will depart on Wednesdays from May 6 until October 28, 2009. This flight is in addition to the fortnightly direct Manchester service, which will continue to also be operated by First Choice Thomson Airways, and will depart on Thursdays from May 7 until October 22, 2009.www.thomson.co.uk
2009 QUARTER THREE Jumby Bay Antigua Rosewood Hotels & Resorts have announced a $26 million renovation of Jumby Bay Antigua. The project will include the redesign of rooms, the addition of a new resort spa, an oceanfront infinity pool and the total renovation of the open-air restaurant. Jumby Bay has long been lauded for its attention to detail, and the renovation and expansion will be a reflection of this quest for perfection and sophisticated luxury. The twelve-month renovation is scheduled for completion in mid 2009. www.jumby-bay.com LOOKING TO THE FUTURE GoldenEye, Jamaica GoldenEye is adding a multi-million pound high-end resort village to its exclusive resort in Oracabessa, St Mary, Jamaica. Completion of the mixed-use residential and full-service resort is set for December 2010 and will feature approximately 200 guest rooms spread over sixty acres of coastal land. The project will integrate the surrounding ecology using a Mediterranean design. The property will also boast its own spa, swimming pools and a lagoon. The development is currently in its first phase which includes the strengthening of the sea coast and work on the lagoon. www.visitjamaica.com For more information about what is new in the Caribbean please visit www.caribbean.co.uk