Good Morning, Good Morning! And Happy Fri-YAY before Christmas! Everyone ready for the holiday weekend? Yeah, me neither, I’m last-minute scrambling over here 🙂 I do, however, just absolutely love this time of year. St. John has been bustling with residents and visitors filled with holiday cheer and there have been SO many awesome events going on. But this year, the holiday season is even more exciting on St. John. Because there is a ton of news in Love City business land. And today I want to share with you some sneak peeks from the Caneel Bay Beach Club which will finally be opening this Monday!
I have been invited to take two trips out to the new beach club on Honeymoon over the past week and a half. The first was with a dear friend and mentor, Ian Samuel, who has been assisting leaseholder, Mark Snyder, with the execution of his vision for the Caneel Bay Beach Club: Bringing back the Caneel Bay Resort vibe to the property.
We acknowledge nature’s beautiful and delicate gift of a location while offering classic indulgences during your experience in this unique beach setting. – Caneel Bay Beach Club Website
Ian showed me around through the ready-to-open property that had just been waiting on permits, which he had obtained earlier that afternoon. “Well, what’s next?” I asked him.
He invited me to bring some friends and come out last Sunday as a “birthday gift” to enjoy an afternoon in one of their lovely cabanas and meet the staff. I, of course, agreed that was a great idea 😉
First, I want to say that when we walked up to the property on Sunday afternoon, we were greeted with smiling faces and warm hugs by many former Caneel Bay employees who were proudly wearing the petroglyph inspired logo on their white polo shirts once again.
It was a breath of fresh air. The service ALL DAY was top notch!
Manager of the Caneel Bay Beach Club, Wednesday Rostad, greeted us upon arrival and gave us a quick tour of the gift shop, the beautifully renovated bathrooms and new outdoor shower area before leading us to our cabana at the far end of the beach.
By the time I finished taking photos of the amenities, my friends were lounging in the lovely couches in the shade of our cabana, placing their drink orders and enjoying the cool towelettes that are provided for all Beach Club cabana guests. Additionally, plush beach towels and a cooler stocked with a premium bottle of Island Hope wine and water were waiting for us when we arrived and will be provided for all cabana guests.
That was just a snippet of the incredible preview that we were fortunate enough to have last weekend. And I’m sure you’re now asking the same of me that I asked of Ian…So, what’s next?
Well, they are currently transitioning through the weekend with a “soft opening” of sorts. The shuttles from Caneel Bay, which are $6 one way, are currently operating through the weekend for the general public. And Caneel Bay Beach Club is offering hourly chair rentals for walk up guests which include a beach towel and still or sparkling water for the length of time you are enjoying the space.
Throughout the soft opening weekend, the bar is open and serving non-alcoholic libations and mocktails. But on Monday, guests will be able to enjoy the full experience!
You know how I have mentioned that Caneel Bay Beach Club will be a plastic free zone? Well, they are using these AMAZING recyclable aluminum solo cups for all of their beverages in lieu of plastic that could wind up as accidental turtle snacks in the sea! While we are on the subject of environment, their solution to water service is a self-distilling water machine that pours still or sparkling water on tap. Which is served in unlimited quantities to all Beach Club guests.
A few pieces of additional information I wanted to share with you…
- Outside coolers will be prohibited on the shuttle. You are welcome to hike or boat in with them to enjoy the public beach area, but they will not be allowed in the Beach Club area. Just like a normal restaurant, you can’t bring outside food or beverage in.
- Eventually, walk up food and beverage services for boaters and hikers will be available in the dining area.
There are several ways to enjoy the Caneel Bay Beach Club…you can rent a chair for an hour, or for the day. You can rent a cabana for a day of luxury to enjoy with your friends and/or family. Or you can simply grab a drink at the bar, take a peek in the gift shop and enjoy the view with the sand on your feet and the sun on your face. You can find out more about reserving the chairs, cabanas, concierge services and shuttle tickets (limited amount daily) on the Caneel Bay Beach Club’s website which is currently live and accepting reservations.
I hope that all of you get the opportunity to venture out to Honeymoon; be it by hike, by boat or by shuttle. And breathe in the vibe of what Caneel Bay once was. The entire staff was a breath of fresh air, the service friendly and prompt and it felt like we had never left that place and time that now feels like so long ago. So many of them had joyful stories of working at Caneel Bay Resort themselves or stories of their family members who had carried that torch before them. It was sentimental, to say the least.
You will be met and guided through your day by former Caneel Bay staff, our hospitality experts. For far too long, it was too quiet here without the genuine “welcomes,” the knowing smiles of the crew, some who celebrate 30 years as a part of the Caneel Bay team. The magic of Caneel Bay is not just in its surrounding beauty, but in its soul, which is made up of the people of St John. Come see familiar faces and let them shepherd your perfect day. – Caneel Bay Beach Club
This looks beautiful.
Its a true shame that their pricing is so high, they have priced out most people. This would be a $200+ per person day, just for beach access. Sad to ruin a lovely beach .
I don’t like it.
Looks great!! Fun for everyone no matter what age. Congrats on the new adventure.
The entire Honeymoon Beach is a public beach National Park beach (while on Caneel Bay property, as the other Caneel Bay beaches) and I question whether the “Beach Club Area” can prohibit anything from being brought in by dinghy or hiking in from Lind Point, and placed anywhere, on this public beach.
From a long-time Caneel guest and St. John resident
Cocktails better be wonderful for that price!!!
Caneel had a good run but GLAD they may not return!! And $800 for a cabana. OUTRAGEOUS!!
As beautiful as it is…I will miss the local vibe and eco tour experience of Honeymoon. The good old days…before shiny resorts starting taking over. I am sad to see what Honeymoon as become.
Agreed
Horrible commercialization to bring in the Instagram “Influencers”.
This is outrageous to see this cash grab happen here. I get this creates Jobs on the Island and that’s a great thing, but this “resort” inside the National Park is what detracts from it. Even Mariott is at least outside the VINP boundary.
Thats what makes cinnamon and maho so special. They integrate into the natural area and have an eco minded approach. This is boasting ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous’. All I can say is please do not drop a hotel/resort on this area and add in as many modern amenities as possible for those willing to pay.
A side note to this establishment:
Before this was open or rather as it was preparing to open in Nov., I witnessed a man sit on one of the wicker loungers that had been cabled up for storage/deployment. He was simply putting on his shoes to leave for the day. A woman came by and told him he couldn’t sit there and had to leave. The guy was putting on his shoes to leave. It was obvious. Its not like he was taking advantage of anything, the place had not even opened yet. Judge for yourself.
Eco Tours had the right idea before this place.
I clicked on the link to their webpage, my lord, don’t they have a proofreader? Or were the multiple misspellings intentional? My favorite was “paper gods … are not permitted at all.”
Yes I agree this is pricey $$$, I thought from being a visitor for many years and reading all that has happened to Caneel that our interest was to give it back to the Islands like any other Beach so all people could enjoy this area and keep it clean.. sounds like someone is trying to exploit what is left available as Caneel..
just a thought ..
Styles
I have been experiencing St. John my way for 40 years and I intend to continuing doing so, no frills.
This extravagant experience may appeal to those with money to throw around. .
Simple is good.
I know time goes on but that’s a little much for us. We’ll prob hike down, spend most of our time down the beach but we will def contribute by purchasing a drink or two 🙂
$600 for a cabana? A room for a night at Caneel Bay cost less! F this. Get the resort back up and running ASAP and throw these shysters out.
Maybe cut down in PLASTIC!
Hopefully this over-priced resort area doesn’t take up the entire beach. I’d like to see a map showing where the “Caneel Bay” area is, and where the free public portion of the beach is.
Wow. $800 for a cabana? $800? This is absolutely outrageous. At least when the previous operators were running the beach, cabanas were $150-400 depending upon size. $800 is total garbage. The owner operator should be embarrassed by these rates
Thank goodness for Cinnamon, Maho, Francis, Jumbie, Oppenheimer……………..
We’ll miss you Honeymoon!
The prices and restrictions are absolutely ridiculous. For visitors coming from the states we’ve already spent a small fortune to get to STJ then to have these high prices slapped in your face is a travesty. There are plenty of other beaches to enjoy the island.
This makes us feel so sad! We LOVE Honeymoon Beach and have been hiking there with our chairs and cooler for many years to spend the day. I’m sure if we try that now we will be looked at as second class citizens! Doesn’t sound like fun.
My husband and I stayed 6 weeks before hurricane at Caneel. It was 450 a night with the most amazing buffet breakfast and anything you wanted cooked to order. Fresh juices everyfruit you could possiby want eggs benedict, omelets etc while everlooking Caneel Beach. ZoZo’s at night for dinner and amazing snorkeling from Scotts Beach Honeymoon etc. Oh I miss Caneel and can’t imagine what those people must be thinking 800 dollars for a cabana…
Dear Honeymoon Beach: suggest you correct your typo of beach chair rentals for $25 an hour. Surely you meant $25 a day. Thank you.
We visited Honeymoon twice, in February 2023 and February 2024. Although the beach is still beautiful our experience was very different. We noticed immediately upon arrival that the beach was much more crowded than the previous year. As we were setting our towels to sit on, a woman who worked at Caneel came up to us and told us to “be respectful!” This was uncalled for. We weren’t loud, and we weren’t in anyone’s way as we selected a place behind others near the tree line because the high tide was coming in. We also weren’t part of the Caneel Beach Resort, as noted because we had no bracelets. She picked on us because of that. Look, this was rude. Honeymoon is a public beach. We hiked through the National Park on the Lind Trail to get there. We were quietly laying out three beach towels and she told us to be respectful?! It was not needed or appreciated. Caneel does not own this beach but they act like they do. We had the right to sit anywhere we wanted – she told us we couldn’t lay further down into the sand because “people” would be dragging their rented chairs into that area! We weren’t even near where she pointed but I guess she thought we were “eyeing” the larger swath of beach. Although we love Honeymoon, I hope this pricey resort and the entitlement of those who are running it don’t ruin it for visitors. We had no problem with anyone else – just the resort employee.