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Island hopping: Caribbean spa travel guide
Jamaica Strawberry Hill
This upscale-rustic resort is in the Blue Mountains, 50 minutes from Kingston. An 18th-century plantation, it was purchased in 1972 by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who used it as his own residence until opening it as a hotel in 1994. He's dressed it up but kept it true to its roots. The 12 airy cottages are decorated in colonial style, with handmade mahogany furniture and Jamaican fretwork, and have wide balconies. Like the restaurant and infinity pool, they have views of the mountains and the ocean beyond. The restaurant serves some of the spiciest resort food I've had. Carole Fullerton, GM when I visited, tells me Blackwell is committed to hiring within the community. It's an admirable idea that results in a genuinely friendly staff but uneven service.
As for the spa, the question is why Blackwell imported Ayurveda, in the form of an Aveda Concept Spa, to a remote area that's rich in healing traditions of its own. The Aveda script--"would you like to go on a sensory journey today?"--sounded strange in a Jamaican accent, and it seemed to me that the therapists weren't comfortable with it. One told me he learned Ayurveda by reading a Deepak Chopra book.
I sign up for a customized full body massage (60 minutes, $90) and the Body Elixir (50 minutes, $120), a body scrub and Vichy shower, but scrap the latter when I learn there's no heat in the treatment rooms--late afternoons get cool in the winter--and book the Essential Back Treatment (30 minutes, $45), a back facial. The therapists tried hard but displayed a dismaying lack of knowledge and professionalism: They hadn't heard of Renova and answered my questions about ingredients by reading the bottle labels. The male massage therapist interrupted our consultation to compliment my hair, then began the massage on my upper thighs; the woman who gave the back treatment offered only a perfunctory apology when she caught my hair in the electric spinning brush used for exfoliation.
If the spa left me cold, I loved the hiking, led by local guides on trails through villages. It epitomizes what the hotel does best: immerse you in the authentically Jamaican. --A.A.
Rates $325-$775
Reservations 800-688-7678
Website www.islandoutpost.com
Nevis: Four Seasons Resort Nevis
Bring the Callaways and the nanny if you come to this intensely kid-friendly slice of Greenwich-on-the-Caribbean. The resort's driveway slices through the impeccably manicured golf course, leading you to expect a palace. What you find instead is the beach shack as reimagined by Four Seasons. The 196 rooms are spread through two-story wood-sided buildings with screened porches. Arriving at your room, you step into the classic Four Seasons womb of luxury. The signature spaciousness (doubles are at least 490 square feet) and marble bathrooms are here, but so are coral-colored walls, rattan furniture, and bright kilims. Families and corporate groups come for the country club coziness, the kids program, and chef Cyrille Pannier's prosciutto-wrapped black cod with breadfruit and sunchoke ragout. Factor in the beach, where you're spritzed with Evian by fawning attendants, and you see why many guests never explore this sleepy island.
The centerpiece of the 12,000-square-foot spa is a garden with six yellow gingerbread cottages, each housing a treatment room, lining a winding path surrounded by thick tropical foliage. The interiors are modern, climate-controlled environments with earth-toned tile. Massages are also offered in a spacious beach cabana.
I had a solid Nevisian Massage (50 minutes, $110), essentially a Swedish massage with some deep elbow work. The Rum Tonic (80 minutes, $190) began with a sugarcane exfoliation and rum-ginger-and-honey glaze. It continued with a Vichy shower and an application of shea butter. Refreshing, sure, but it felt a bit rushed, as if there were one too many steps. I found tranquillity on a chaise at the sala pool, gazing at cloud-capped Nevis Peak. But only temporarily: A loud bass thumping from an adjacent corporate meet-and-greet shattered the calm. (An hour later at dinner, it sounded like a battle of the bands.) Alas, the resort's thriving meetings business and its peaceful spa don't always coexist harmoniously. --E.P.
Rates $625-$4,940
Reservations 800-332-3442
Website www.fourseasons.com
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