I’ve already reviewed the Maho Bay Camp. Now for something completely different. The Caneel Bay resort is about as far removed an experience from Maho Bay as you can get, despite being less than 3 miles apart.

Caneel Bay was originally founded by Laurence Rockefeller (son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; brother of Nelson Rockefeller). The entire island of St John, in many regards, is a product of Laurence Rockefeller’s vision. He donated the land to the U.S. Government that is now the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park. The Caneel Bay Resort is within the park boundaries, and was a member of the RockResort family between the 50’s and early 80s. After exchanging hands a few times, Caneel has been in the capable hands of Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a company based in Texas since 1993.

A resort like Caneel lives and dies by its level of service. Though not a world traveler, I was certainly impressed by the service. Most travelers use Caneel’s private Ferry to get to and from St. Thomas, and its private shuttle to and from the Airport. I didn’t do this as I was driving from Maho. However, when I arrived with my bags, a porter was expecting my arrival and whisked my bags away. I quickly checked in at the front desk. The nice thing about the Virgin Islands is English is the official language. St. John is not an international destination despite having to clear customs at the St. Thomas airport. Americans go to St. John, not Europeans, but the Caribbean does make it a much more international feeling than say Florida. The weak U.S. dollar in the last few years has been leading more Europeans to visit the islands.

After check in, the concierge at the desk asked us if we needed anything. He told us what activities were available. We booked reservations for dinner both on and off the resort. The two nicer restaurants, The Equator and The Turtle Bay Estate House Dining Room, at Caneel require reservations (the latter requires a collared shirt, jacket, and close-toed shoes for men). I also booked a sunset sail for $80/person. Again, this was quite a splurge, but given the “Vacation mentality” and the fact I’m a sucker for sailing, I felt an unnatural compulsion.

We were off to the room. The Concierge escorted us to a golf cart and drove us to our room. The rooms at Caneel are spread across an expansive and well manicured landscape. The bungalow-like rooms are usually part of a duplex, insuring that you have a lot of privacy. I booked the cheapest room, a (tennis) courtside view room for a not so cheap price of $395/night. I actually ended up getting a slightly better room, a garden view, which has a $475/rate. Given that the garden view and courtside rooms are within spitting distancee of each other, I hardly see much of a difference. The premium rooms: ocean view, premium ocean view, beachfront, and premium beachfront might actually be worth the extra money for individuals who really want to be near the water. The beachfront properties are literally right off the beautiful beaches, no more than 30 feet from a nice beach chair and a Caneel employee who will take your drink order. The premium beachfront rooms, I believe, are premium because they are slightly more centrally located. Ocean view guarantees you a great view. There are no bad views on this island, so if I had to spend extra money I would spend it on getting a beachfront room.


I was very pleased by my room even though it was a “low-end.” The room was huge. I’d say at least 800 square feet, almost as big as my apartment. The bathroom was smaller considering the size of the room. It had a large shower but no bathtub - I imagine for water conservation reasons. The two sinks came with an excellent set of soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. There was a small deck overlooking the gardens and tennis court from which we entered the room. From the large sitting area, we overlooked the large windows that gave a clear view of the landscape and tennis courts. With two chairs, and ottomans, a minibar on the left and dresser on the right, the room had everything but a TV. Caneel prides itself on not having televisions. Ice was already in the bucket, and bottle of Cruzan rum, and can of coke came complementary. Also, when we returned to the room later that evening after doing some exploring of the resort, there was a complementary bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket of ice as well as some chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us. The only complaint is that for whatever reason they didn’t give us champagne glasses even though the bar area has a holder for glasses.

The best part of Caneel are the beaches. Caneel reports that it owns 7 separate beaches of varying size, however we could only find 6 of them: Honeymoon, Paradise, Caneel, Scott, Turtle Bay, and Hawksnest Beach. All of these beaches feature fine white sand and clear blue waters. The beaches have abundant chairs, and huge cotton beach towels from the rooms can be brought down to the beaches. The resort provides snorkeling equipment complementary. Sign it out the first day, and it’s your to keep for the entire stay. Other watersport equipment is also available to borrow. We only borrowed wind surfing equipment, but kayaks, paddleboats, and sunfishes are all available. However, the staff at Caneel only allows you to use the non-snorkeling equipment within the small bay bordered by Honeymoon and Caneel Beach.

While we stayed at Caneel on the European plan, the resort offer 2 other dining inclusive plans. The European plan is the standard hotel package without any meals included. The American plan is fully inclusive, breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition to the European and American plans, is a modified American Plan which only includes breakfast and dinner. There are two high end dining options, the aforementioned Turtle Bay Estate House Dining Room the Equator Restaurant. However, during the low season they rotate which of those restaraunts is open any given night. We only ended up dining at the Equator, which serves Caribbean inspired fare. The food at the Equator was very good, but not exceptional. I had spiced lamb, and my girlfriend had tuna, which were both cooked to specification but a little short on the Caribbean inspiration. Entrees ranged between $25 and $35, which is standard for higher end fare on the island. The Turtle Bay Estate House serves more standard New American fare. From what we could tell from the the menu it looked to be slightly higher end than the Equator Restaurant. Assuming you get one of the right tables, both places have fantastic views overlooking the ocean . Since I didn’t actually eat at the Turtle Bay Estate House, I’m only assuming it has great views given the location of the building. The Equator, built on top of the old sugar mill ruins, is a round outdoor patio with a dome like roof. The outside edge of the circle offers excellent evening views of Caneel bay, making it a great location for a sunset dinner.

The other option for dining is the Beach Bar which is slightly cheaper, $15-$25 for entrees, and no reservations required. We had a small dinner there the first night, and were pretty underwhelmed. It’s basically bar food, and not very good bar food at that. The other problem with the Beach Bar is its location near the beach and greenery. During dinner we were eaten alive by beach fleas. I suggest long pants in the evening (as does the Resort for other reasons - a suggested dress code). During the morning and afternoons the terrace is open for buffet breakfast and dinner. We never had the opportunity to try the breakfast, but the buffet lunch was very good, but not cheap. $23 for just the cold bar and $29 for both hot and cold bars. Caneel also takes orders from your room on a card you put on your door for room service breakfast and picnic lunches that range in the $15-$25 range.

Caneel is not cheap, but it’s a beautiful resort that is arguably worth the money.   There might however be vacation packages that make it more affordable.   For us we made it affordable by only staying 3 nights, and combining it with a cheaper stay at Maho.  At the end of 4 days at Maho, Caneel was refreshing change.   Also arrange for your own transportation as the Ferry and Taxi ride runs $100 if done through Caneel.   While the Caneel ferry is convenient, it’s not worth the extra $80 of convenience.