My wife and I are trying to decide on a long weekend in the caribbean, and as of now, have our sights set on Jumby Bay. We are looking to get away to a beautiful beach and just decompress for 3 or 4 nights. We are not interested in any activities for this trip except relaxation - beaches, spa, and great food.

Has anyone been to Jumby over the past year? Is it worth the steep prices? The whole 'private island' feel really appeals to us. Thanks for your input!

Just got back. Still love it.
Great place to decompress.

Penny,

What now?! Jumby is closed for 12 months for a huge renovation!! I guess it will go on my 2009 list. Any suggestions....cap juluca, la samanna, guanahani...what do you think? Never been to Anguilla.

When is Jumby supposed to close for this renovation? We're booked there for July 2008.

Yes, Jumby is closing for a big renovation. I think they will close
sometime in June. They are keeping
some of the private villa rentals open.

We always combine Jumby and Anguilla
in the winter.

I would recommend CJ over La Samanna.
Anguilla is a special island--so quiet. Stayed at La Sammanna years ago--it does not come close to CJ.

Happy to answer more.

Thanks very much for the heads-up about Jumby closing. They are closing in June. We had already paid in full for a July stay! If anyone else is booked after June, please get in touch with the resort. They are working with us to stay at a different Rosewood Resort, but if I hadn't read about this here, I don't know when we would have been contacted regarding our reservation.

IRabbit, I hope you have a great vacation whever they rebook you, but I have to say it seems pretty shoddy that you had to find out about Jumby's closing here. Let us know where they rebook you--I hope you get comped an upgrade at the very least!

its funny that i havent logged on in awhile, today i decided to browse around and learned about jumby closing. we were scheduled for late june with our two kids...my travel agent confirmed that an email was sent out yesterday and was about to call me today.

we too liked the way it looked, having passed by last august on the xtreme powerboat, which is a fabulous tour around the island with a very kool staff. too bad....there's always next year i guess !!

we were staying in hermitage bay alone for the first half and our kids were scheduled to meet us at jumby for the remainder of our trip. we just decided to stay the full 10 days at hermitage....alone for a few nights, with the kids coming along later on.

i thought it would have been nice to experience what looked like a beautiful, nature-filled oasis !!

either way, antigua is pure bliss and we cannot wait to go back.

alison

I just had an email from Jumby this morning that they are closing on June 6 for a multi-million dollar renovation. It appeals to me too, but I haven't been there.

Thanks, ejcrowe. I guess someone would have contacted us - not sure if a travel agent was involved, and if not, my FIL might not even know his own email address! He had already purchased air tix, and the rooms were paid for, and I understand he is being reimbursed for everything, and we may end up at Little Dix. Which is fine with me, although I'm holding out hope for Caneel, lol.

It's surprising to me that Jumby would have taken reservations this year (fairly recently, too) with such a major renovation planned. Oh well!

In all fairness to Jumby Bay, the decision was only finally made this week. The hotel is only mangaged by
Rosewood. It is owned by Jumby Bay
homeowners association.

Perhaps Jumby had an emergency renovation situation as we've had here at home since September. Of course, I don't think squirrels get into the walls in that part of the world, but who knows, lol.

My only problem with all of this is that these reservations were made last month. I find it hard to believe that Rosewood was unaware that a renovation was planned at that point. But - miscommunications occur, it's not especially troubling us, and if we end up at Caneel or Little Dix, I'll be delighted!

Rosewood did know it was in the works-
but not 100% it was going to happen.
There was suppose to be a final homeowners association vote when we were on the island the end of January,then it changed to the end of Feb.
It was not sudden but a meeting of
the minds!

Squirrels, now thats a real problem.
Good luck-we had them in our Yankee
gutters.

I have been to Caneel a few times,
and LDB only once. Either one is
lovely.

Jumby's renovation will be interesting. They will be knocking
down the Pondhouse, and I think
do free standing rooms like the courtyard suites or Rondovels. Also
an oceanfront infinite pool and
spa building.

As long as they keep it low key,
we will be back!

Yes, the squirrels were a problem! One roof, some raised ceilings, two fewer interior walls later - they won't be back.

Will post back to update our relocation with Rosewood. Been wanting to visit Jumby Bay for years; I guess it will happen later rather than sooner!

Thanks for all the info everyone, and sorry for the threadjack.

Thanks for the update - my husband and I were planning a return trip so I logged into fodors tonight to see if penny was still around (she was invaluable when we planned our honeymoon there in 2004).

Looks like we'll have to consider other options for our trip, we were hoping to relive what was a fantastic trip this summer.

penny do you still prefer cap over other places in anguilla? We were also looking at Cuisinart.

Thanks again to all for the Jumby update. I hope it has the same "feel" after the renovations, we absolutely loved it.

Hi August,
Thank you so much for your compliments. Its so nice to hear!

Anguilla is one of our favorite islands. Its all about the island,
its special dining places, the beaches and its people. I have to say my heart is with Cap Juluca, as it has a more intimate feel than Cuisinart, but Cuisinart is a beautiful hotel, stayed there when it first opened.

Another place we stay in Anguilla is Covecastles. It does not have
all the amenities of the above, so it really depends what you are looking for. Its a small villa resort.

There is something magical about Jumby. We just came back from
Jumby and Cap Juluca. We will be
going back to Anguilla in April
to Covecastles.

Thanks so much, Penny. We'll have to look into CoveCastles now. I have a feeling we'll be happy at a place with an intimate feel as you mentioned with Cap. That is one of the things we loved about Jumby - we didn't feel like we were at sterile hotel or "resort" in the traditional sense.

Found an article in the Antigua Sun with details regarding the changes at Jumby: http://www.antiguasun.com/paper/?as=...8&ac=Local
It's great to hear of a company that is taking care of its employees during this type of transition.

I am probably the only thirtysomething out there who isn't excited about the WIFI and flat screens. One of the appeals to Jumby when we went was that it felt cut off from the "rest of the world" - with Internet access only in the small computer room and no televisions in the rooms. I am sure these updates will appeal to a larger demographic, but I hope it doesn't change the feel of Jumby.

I would not recomment La Samanna. We did not care for it at all. It's way to over priced.
I would however strongly recomment Anguilla is you want to decompress. I recommend the Cuisinart very, very highly. It is our favorite place in the world!

August, thanks for the link. The employees at Jumby are very special--
many of them have been there for years-long before Rosewood. I think it will remain low key. Time will
tell.