If you’re looking for the archetypal exclusive-resort experience in the Virgin Islands, you’ve come to the right place. For those with the wherewithal to afford to stay here, Caneel Bay is it, the stomping ground of celebrities, jetsetters, and the just plain rich.
Caneel aims to offer its guests a comfortable place to relax and get away from it all. In service of the "getaway" aspect, the rooms don’t have telephones or TVs—but in service of the "comfortable" aspect, they’ve got everything else you could possibly want. (Except for kitchen facilities, of course—if you have to do your own cooking, you aren’t rich enough to stay here. If you get hungry, you’ve got your choice of several gourmet restaurants.)
I didn’t stay at Caneel (can’t you tell by the bitter envy oozing from every word I write?), but I was treated to an extensive tour of its sprawling 170 acres of grounds, as well as a few of its rooms. Each room I saw was slightly different, but I didn’t see a single one I wouldn’t want to stay in. And the resort boasts no less than seven beaches, six of which are for resort guests only. A few of them even have additional stipulations, such as adults only, to ensure that guests have as much peaceful seclusion as they could wish. There’s also a watersports center, of course—along with a private ferry service to shuttle guests to and from St. Thomas.
The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with trees and flowers everywhere—though unavoidably, the grass does die off at the height of summer. A particularly arresting feature of the grounds is the fetching ruins of an old sugar plantation, which the resort has made the most of by planting flowers throughout, as well as adding lights and tables; guests can arrange to have romantic private dinners among the ruins. There’s even a full restaurant built into the ruins of the mill.
Caneel also has all the health-and-fitness facilities you’d expect and then some, including a fitness center, tennis courts, miles of hiking and jogging trails, a large swimming pool, and massage rooms. My group was lucky enough to pay a visit to the Self-Centre, a lovely little house set high on a hill overlooking the bay, where a full selection of relaxation classes is offered. We tried a "sampler session," and though I usually don’t go in for this New Age stuff, I have to admit that I was feeling very relaxed by the end. In fact, we were all so relaxed that we could barely move, and the woman leading the class had to drop a series of gentle but increasingly pointed hints that the session was over before we finally hauled ourselves up from our mats, stretching and yawning like cats after a particularly satisfying catnap.
What can I say? Caneel has it all. It ain’t cheap, but in this case, you definitely get what you pay for.