Inside the Caribbean’s best new Christmas-worthy resorts

For many families, Christmas in the Caribbean is a tradition. It’s just too bad that the holiday season follows the hurricane season.

On Oct. 28, Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, smashed Jamaica, shuttering many resorts through the new year. While most of the holiday havens affected are rushing to reopen in time for the festive season, three of Sandals properties, for instance, won’t welcome guests back until next spring.

But hurricane recovery isn’t the only problem the Caribbean faces this year — in fact, most of its more than 700 islands escaped Melissa’s path. Anyone still searching for a new poolside perch to open presents in will discover a dearth of fresh options.

“There hasn’t been a lot of great new product this year,” said Jack Ezon, founder of the luxury travel agency Embark Beyond. “It’s very expensive to operate in the Caribbean and labor is not easy. There’s just a lot of risk, and the investment is not always an easy proposition.”

But there’s good news, too: Many suites have yet to sell for the holidays.

“Inflation really hurts that aspirational customer stretching to get that deluxe room,” Ezon said. “That doesn’t just apply to travel: Coach is suffering more than Hermès.” 

He’s seeing “great opportunities” to book rooms, suites and villas for the holidays across this bathwater sea, even during the typically hyper-competitive high season. What’s more, there are even a few glittering, newly opened resorts worth checking into from now through New Year’s Eve. 

Opened back in January, the St. Regis Aruba Resort snagged a sexy site on the island’s coveted Palm Beach coastline in the northwest. It’s an L-shaped high-rise with 252 rooms, including 52 suites, each with ocean views. Even the smallest room at 516 square feet is spacious, but its best room, the John Jacob Astor presidential suite, is a house-size 2,637 square feet.

Need more proof that it’s worth gambling on? The hotel is also home to the St. Regis’s first-ever casino. There are also six pools with cabanas, a spa and six different restaurants, including a rooftop spot, helmed by and named after Michelin-starred Chef Akira Back. He’s remixing Japanese and Korean dishes with the brand’s signature Gilded Age pizzazz. For the holidays, the resort is decking the halls and pulling out all the stops, with a lavish “White Christmas brunch at the Astors,” gingerbread house and ornament making, festive high teas, Christmas carols and, of course, a big New Year’s Eve bash. Merriment guaranteed. 

From $719 per night.

Carlisle Bay Antigua

On a crescent-shaped beach bay overlooking the ocean on the southside of Antigua, this aptly named resort isn’t a new opening, but it’s reopening for the season with plenty of new. Phase 1 of its multi-million-dollar total overhaul has been completed for more than half of the resort’s 87 suites. Miminat Shodeinde of Miminat Designs gave the rooms a modern-meets-natural remix full of sun tones. The best rooms are its six Bay Suites, which come stacked with four-poster beds, freestanding bathtubs, rain

forest showers and the resort’s best amenities. Also new for this holiday season, Bay Suite guests who book a four-night stay will get a personal concierge, private airport transfers, an in-room bar, discounts on spa treatments and a private beach dinner with a bottle of bubbly. Add to all of that a curated week of Christmas programming that includes a parade at Heritage Quay Pier (except traditional costumes and music), watersport tournaments, a craft market and a Christmas dinner that would make King Wenceslas weep. To ring in the New Year, a poolside cocktail party will be followed by a “Great Gatsby”-themed gala and after-party with a fireworks display. 

From $2,052 per night for a single room or $2,228 per couple.

Pine Cay, a Relais & Châteaux private island resort in Turks & Caicos, has new beach houses ready to be filled with yuletide spirit. These freshly built one-bedrooms have separate living rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, a private patio with a pool and direct beach access.

St. Bart’s-based architect Johannes Zingerle handled design and sustainable builder Portilame gave the houses indoor-outdoor, open-floor plans, with interconnected pavilions, pitched roofs and exposed beams for that au naturel experience. Look out for local materials like ipe and iroko woods. Finishes are equally lush: lighting from Flos Italy, sofas and chairs from Belgian design house Tribù, fixtures from Fantini Italy and accessories from Ralph Lauren. Check in to one of these new arrivals — or one of five private homes — and get your meals, clubhouse access and activities included. 

Beach Houses from $3,000. 

Peter Island

The largest private island in the BVIs has been operating as a resort for half a century — but it’s only been back in action for roughly a year now following a seven-year closure and rebuild courtesy of Hurricane Irma. Now, this 52-room resort — with 1,800 acres and five white sand beaches, owned by the billionaire Van Andel family (the cofounders of Amway), is back in its sweet spot.

The reconfigured resort is now primarily situational beachside and sports a full-service yacht club capable of docking 200-foot vessels. They’ve also added a 10,000-square-foot spa, butlers and beach cabanas. The main lodge is where you go for breakfast and dinner chow (e.g., at the Drake Steakhouse), or a soak in the infinity pool. There’s even a conference center should your Festivus celebration need a venue for grievance airing. For the ultimate holiday gathering, book its top spot: the six-bed, 21,000-square-foot Falcon’s Nest villa. 

Falcon’s Nest villa from $11,640 per night; room from $1,000 per night.

Salterra

Turks & Caicos isn’t technically in the Caribbean — it’s on the Atlantic side — but it is the region’s primary hub of island action. In March, Salterra, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, opened 45 minutes by air from Providenciales on rural South Caicos — and it’s easily this celeb-stuffed playground’s hottest new resort. With 100 rooms and suites (about half of which come with butlers), four pools and a sumptuous spa, it’s a sanctuary to nestle into for the holidays.

They’ll have a tree-lighting ceremony, Christmas Eve gala dinner, and a New Year’s Eve ballroom celebration within the Lucari Ballroom. Nearby, the local Marjorie Basden High School choir is putting on a Yuletide Carol Gathering and guests of the resort are invited to join. Bring a little something for the community gift drive. 

From $675 for a standard room, up to $4,396 for the presidential suite. 

 Donoma Las Terrenas Beach Resort & Spa

The newest resort in the Dominican Republic — and possibly the whole Caribbean — Donoma Las Terrenas Beach Resort & Spa rests on the scenic beaches of the Samaná Peninsula to the island’s northeast.

Local artworks and natural materials fill the 94 room and private villas, setting the stage for what is a largely wellness focused resort and culinary program (never fear, there are plenty of fresh pastas, pizzas, grilled steaks and seafood to be found). The spa has four treatment suites inspired by “earth and ocean.” It offers rituals rooted in natural healing traditions and indigenous ingredients. While their holiday programming is still evolving, test-driving this restful resort more or less guarantees a silent night full of calm and bright. 

From $283 for standard guest rooms and $1,832 for villas.

Coral Caye Island Reserve

There’s a fresh way to keep it Beliz-y in the Caribbean this festive season at Itz’ana Resort in Placencia on the country’s southern coast. They’ve acquired the 2-acre, private Coral Caye Island and added it to their list of luxury rooms.

As a buy-out — a 25-minute boat ride from the resort — it can accommodate 10 guests with a private butler, chef and fully personalized experiences. The rest of the time it will host daytime events for resort guests. Over the holidays, Itz’ana is decking the halls and popping bottles with special Christmas and New Year’s Eve gala dinners and brunches.

From $1,800 per night; $4,500 per night during the festive season.