CuisinArt Resort & Spa

Amenities at the CuisinArt Resort & Spa

Resort Amenities Sailing Dry cleaning Fishing Fitness center Health club and/or spa Kayaks Laundry facilities Outdoor pool Restaurant Salon Scuba diving Snorkeling Tennis courts Windsurfing Room service Bicycles

In-Room Amenities Air conditioning Dataport Hair dryer Iron/ironing board Whirlpool Bath Minibar Nonsmoking rooms Safe Television

Honeymoon Reviews

07/18/2006   An Anguillan Paradise Honeymoon We got married on 30 December 2006, on my birthday so I won’t forget the anniversary, at the same venue as Sir Elton and David, The Guildhall in Windsor, only a week later... We wanted their flowers. The next morning we left a very grey, very cold, very wet London, en route to Paradise. We had chosen Virgin Atlantic to fly us to Antigua. We’ve flown with them before and found their service excellent, and we wanted to try their new Upper Class Suite. There was no queue at the Upper Class check-in, as we looked snootily at the 300 in the economy line. I love that feeling! The Virgin Lounge at London Gatwick is a great way to start your holiday. As you go in, the “Mute” button seems to be pressed and the noise of the airport ceases. You enter an oasis of calm. We chose to lounge in the comfortable leather chairs enjoying the panoramic view of the planes coming and going, guessing as to their destinations, whilst enjoying glasses of Buck’s Fizz. We could have caught up on some work. There are ample phone, fax and internet connections, but we had definitely turned off. There is a large salon where you can get you hair ready for the holiday ; have a manicure or a pedicure ; or just a pre-flight massage. We settled for the newspapers, a light breakfast…and some more champagne. On board, we were not disappointed. There were only 14 “seats” in the Upper Class Suite, set out in a “V” shape, from the nose of the plane, widening up towards the back of the cabin where the bar was. The seats are vast (22” wide and 6’6” long when fully flat) and extremely comfortable. They have a lumbar support and an ottoman which can be used as a foot-stool or a chair if your companion fancies a chat or wants to share a meal or a drink. The seat is also an engineering miracle. At the touch of a button the whole thing flips over to become a bed. You have a lovely duvet and pillow…and you’re off. Wake me up in the Caribbean. Should you choose not to sleep, there are games, films and lots of TV favourites to watch on the 11” screen The food was terrific, the wines superb, and the service from the cabin crew, excellent The Virgin crew always seem a bit younger, friendlier and more eager to please than their competitors. They help to make the experience enjoyable. I would say that the Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Suite is pretty much comparable to British Airways’ First Class product. It is expensive, but for me, at 6’7”, flying like this is two extra days holiday. So…suitably relaxed, my Beautiful New Wife and I arrived in Antigua, only to find that our onward Liat connection to St. Martin had a three and a half hour delay. My carefully calculated itinerary was shot to bits very early. My mobile phone wouldn’t work in the West Indies and trying to find an operational payphone in the “departure lounge” at Antigua was a challenge I could have lived without. After several attempts at different units, I finally got through to Chris, the very helpful concierge at CuisinArt, and he managed to convey details of our late arrival to “No Fear 2”, the private launch awaiting us at St. Martin to take us across the sea to the hotel. We had paid $ US 400 for a “fast-track” Customs clearance and private boat transfer to the hotel, and I can definitely recommend this service, particularly as the airport at St. Martin was very busy. The guy meeting us simply took our passports and papers and, two minutes later, we were walked through much to the chagrin of the rapidly growing queue. I love that feeling! He collected our bags and, in no time we were aboard “No Fear 2” and ready to go. 20 minutes later we arrived on Anguilla but unfortunately, as it was now pitch black, not romantically, on the hotel beach as planned. However, a 5-minute cab ride later we were warmly welcomed at CuisinArt. When we chose Anguilla as our honeymoon destination, we had originally looked at Cap Juluca, but it was full for 31 December – 14 January, so after a bit of research and a chat with the extremely helpful Inez Giusti in New York, we opted for Cuisinart. The first thing that strikes you is the architecture. Very Mediterranean and Moorish. There is immediately a very relaxing, spacious feel to the place. The entrance lobby was full of blinged-up pirates as preparations for their New Year’s Eve fancy dress party were under way. As it was now 9.30 pm, a very pleasant lady from the front desk accompanied us to our room to complete the check-in formalities. A complimentary chilled bottle of champagne followed shortly, although we were too exhausted to enjoy it. It was put in the fridge for later. Sadly, we lost the will to live and even the lure of noisy, sparkly pirates and fireworks at midnight couldn’t rouse us sufficiently to see the New Year in. We awoke to a glorious New Years Day…and a simply stunning view from our balcony. We had a Luxury Junior Suite on the third floor of block 5 of the beachfront properties. The view from the balcony was across the sea to St. Martin ; the sky was blue ; there was a lovely breeze, and the sun was out. 2006 - Heaven. The room was enormous. The bathroom is on your left as you enter…and is vast. There are his and hers sinks and a huge bath with room for two, although, honeymoon or not, double occupancy was not attempted. There is also an excellent shower with all sorts of settings. There is a door from the shower to an outside sun area, which when left open let a lovely breeze into the bathroom. This little area housed a single sun lounger. BNW had looked forward to this private solarium for a bit of topless sunbathing (forbidden on the beach) and she was disappointed to find that at no time at all during the day did the sun shine into the area! I hope we didn’t pay extra just for this as it was just wasted space. Beyond the bathroom there is a small room with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, a safe and lots of space to hang clothes. The bed is immense and incredibly comfortable, and the two bedside tables accommodate a telephone and a Bose radio/CD respectively. There is a sitting area with a large sofa, an armchair and a coffee table. The TV has a built-in VCR (No DVD !). Surely you’re not going to want to watch videos in Anguilla! There were some apparently available at the front desk. BNW did let herself be drawn to The Dog Whisperer on an obscure US TV channel as she was missing our English Bulldog, Albert, who was shivering in a cold, wet kennel in England. I opted for The Jerry Springer Show, just to enhance my self esteem ; and The Fox Soccer Show for my fix of English football. The 07.45 (local time) kick-off to see the famous Chelsea win at West Ham was not appreciated by BNW. The room opens on to a private balcony the width of the room, with two very comfortable sun loungers, a table and chairs. There is good air-con and a ceiling fan. You could however quite easily leave the patio doors open ; mosquito-doors shut ; and have the ceiling fan on for a comfortable night’s sleep. There is a fridge/mini bar. There were the usual drinks but the snacks were a puzzling and unappetising mix : nasty potato chips ; odd chocolate-covered shortcake biscuits ; past-the-sell-by Nutrigrain bars (yuk ) ; brie ; and Carrs water biscuits. Room for improvement here. Some quality stuff and perhaps some fresh fruit on a daily basis would have been nice. Indeed, Professor Howard Resh, who runs the hydroponic farm later told us that fresh tomatoes are supposed to be left in every room. He seemed quite hurt that we had none! We promised to mention it. We didn’t. Decorated in typical bright Caribbean colours, but, oddly with paintings of Mediterranean scenes - not to everyone’s taste - Overall, an excellent room. You can have breakfast in your room (Complimentary continental, and very nice) or go to the La Famiglia Mediterraneo, a tented pavilion adjacent to the pool. We did that most days. It is bright and airy, and if there is rain they lower the sides. The choice of fare is enormous, ranging from cereals through to steak and eggs with hash browns and all the trimmings. I did not give in to the temptation of the Breakfast Bloody Mary! The one thing that drove us mad was the music. Every morning it was the same CD - sort of chill-out jazz. We wanted some uplifting reggae. I did mention this (on day 4) and it was rectified (on day 13) – Caribbean time I suppose! Every morning a mother hen would lead her 6 chicks around the restaurant, much to the joy of the guests and disdain of the staff, who tried to discreetly shoo them away. La Famiglia was the restaurant used for lunch. Again the menu is enormous and the salads from the hydroponic farm were absolutely delicious. You could have anything from burgers to lobster. We found the service in here to be excellent. Relaxed and cheerful, although sometimes a gentle reminder was required. You had to feel sorry for the staff on occasions. There was a Mediterranean family group of about a dozen who were all asking for different things at once and getting increasingly and dramatically cross when the orders were arriving incorrectly, or not at all. I think the secret is to be pleasant and try and make friends and treat the staff as you would want to be treated – it worked for us. Derrick is the star in there during breakfast and lunch, anxious to chat and share jokes and West Indian parables – quite a character. In the evenings you had you had three choices : La Famiglia, the fine dining restaurant, Santorini ; or a “tapas” option at the main bar. La Famiglia offered a good choice, mainly pasta, pizza or grilled fish or meat, but we were astonished on one Saturday evening to be told there was no fish! On a Caribbean island? At a 5-star resort? The menu says that the food is for sharing. This is very true. The portions were enormous. My favourite was the mixed ham and cheese anti-pasta, followed by a (small) seafood pasta – excellent. Again, I nearly choked on my anti-pasta at the music choice. Whoever is responsible for choosing “The Final Countdown” by Europe for evening musical accompaniment in a Caribbean paradise needs to be tracked down, taken away and punished. Shocking! The Santorini offered the “fine dining” option. We ate in there twice, charmingly looked after by Frankie Hodge. The lobster with a coconut and curry sauce was delicious. BNW had the crayfish, and although fiddly were well worth the effort. On our second visit, I had the goat curry – wonderful. BNW was appalled I had eaten something she had earlier wanted to cuddle as we toured the island and instead chose the mahi-mahi, which she thoroughly enjoyed. We didn’t try the “tapas” at the bar, except for the “Chilli Fries”, which were divine. Thin cut fries, fresh chilli and flakes of parmesan – to die for! The Tuesday night “All you can eat lobster buffet” is a must! I only managed two lobsters. In general the food was excellent. We met Daniel Orr, the Executive Chef, and Christopher Heath, the Chef de Cuisine. Both were very approachable and Christopher was particularly friendly and always made a point of coming to speak with us when he could. The wines were good, but were, in common with almost everywhere on the island, expensive. We received lots of suggestions for eating out, and the three we particularly enjoyed were : Pimms at Cap Juluca – wonderful setting, overlooking the water. The food and service were excellent Blanchards – again a lovely setting, on the sea front. Try their “special” – an Anguillan three tiered platter, comprising lobster ; mahi-mahi ; and jerk chicken - wonderful. The two power cuts during the meal only added to the romance! The Straw Hat – we had carried out a reconnaissance mission to this place during the day when we hired a jeep as it is a bit off the beaten track, round the back of the airport, by the original customs dock. It looks like an old shack built on stilts in the sea…which it is, but don’t be put off. The welcome was warm ; the atmosphere and ambience were excellent ; and the food was superb. It was also considerably less expensive than anywhere else we tried. All in all possibly the best value. There were also friendly dogs outside for BNW to stroke. Rumour had it that P Diddy, Janet Jackson and Maria Carey were all on the island. They were never in the same restaurants as us! Returning to the hotel… The pool is excellent. I swam at 7.30 every morning and was alone. There is a children’s pool behind the main one and a (very) hot tub, which was just the job after a late afternoon swim or during one of the sudden, and brief, downpours. There are loungers along both sides of the pool and this area seemed fairly popular during the day. We preferred the beach…and what a beach. We have enjoyed holidays in Thailand, Mauritius, The Maldives and other Caribbean islands, but I can honestly say that this is the best beach I have ever been on. It is about a mile and a half long, and the part adjacent to CuisinArt is cleaned and “ploughed” daily. The sand really is like powder and I didn’t come across one stone! As you enter the sea the sand slopes quite quickly and the water becomes deep within about 15 yards. It is beautifully clean and clear. The loungers are very comfortable, and as soon as you arrive, very helpful and friendly hotel staff are there to organise your umbrella, put towels on your bed and bring you cold bottled water. Every day at 3 pm, the staff brought out delicious complimentary sorbets. There is a beach bar and the staff will gladly get your order if you can’t bring yourself to move. There is a breeze, which I enjoyed but BNW found a bit uncomfortable on windier days as it did kick up some sand. I personally found being able to exfoliate and get a tan simultaneously quite a good idea. We didn’t venture in to the Spa, although we heard good reports ; and obviously didn’t attempt to play tennis! We played a lot of pool early in the evening in the nicely air-conditioned pool room off the main bar. BNW lost by 51 frames to 3 over the fortnight. There are two free broadband computers located just off the main lobby. What did we do before the internet? The General Manager, Stephane Zaharia, was very visible and charm personified, taking time out to speak to all the guests. He hosts a cocktail reception each Friday, which revolves around Christopher Heath making a wonderful rum punch – go! We were invited twice, and went twice! We hired a jeep for a day to see the island. Unless you want to explore all the little beaches and coves, a 2-hour hire would suffice! We visited Cap Juluca and Malliouhana. I was surprised at Cap Juluca. It has a huge expanse of land but the entrance is really claustrophobic. Its grounds appeared slightly unkempt and it all looked a bit tired. BNW wasn’t impressed with the restrooms. Malliouhana was more impressive with a very nice Moroccan style cushioned-bar, but we were told the rooms weren’t very impressive. We were surprised at the number of families at the resort, but they all seemed to disappear on 3/4 January. If you are looking for total romantic peace and quiet, make sure you go when the kids are back at school. All too soon, it was time to go home. Liat conspired to give us a nice send-off. On attempting to reconfirm our direct flight from Anguilla to Antigua we were told that it no longer existed! The Concierge was extremely helpful and arranged a replacement flight with Win Air to St. Martin, and then on to Antigua, with Liat. On arrival at Anguilla Airport, the guy who took my bags also answered the Win Air telephone calls and loaded the aircraft. I half expected him to be the pilot too. The Anguilla-St. Martin flight was in an 8-seater thing resembling a Tiger Moth. With my height it looked like I was wearing the plane. It was possibly the longest 8 minutes of my life. Eventually, back in Antigua, the heavens opened, as if to prepare us for our return to the UK climate. Virgin looked after us at the swanky “Sticky Wicket” cricket ground and restaurant, a short, umb ella-protected stroll form the departure gate. The flight home was excellent. A nice meal, a few drinks and then a chance to put the flat bed to test. It passed with flying colours, as I slept for five of the eight hour journey home. We had a wonderful time. It is a lovely friendly island in general and a beautiful resort in particular. It is very expensive but the saying “You only get what you pay for” is very true in this case. An “Anguillan Paradise Honeymoon”.

07/18/2006   Go to Tripadvisor.com and see the Cuisinart ranked as #!. They have very good detailed reviews and pictures.

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