Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Cap Juluca Questions,Questions,Questions

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You're welcome for the honest reply earlier. I forgot that we did eat at George's once for lunch. I had a seafood salad that was EXCELLENT. My husband wanted the lobster roll, but they were out, so they gave him a shrimp roll instead (they did inform him of this). It was so-so. I don't want to make it sound like the food is horrible at Cap - it's just that we had better dining experiences elsewhere. My mom and sis were there last year and loved George's - ate there every night for dinner and just ate some sort of grilled seafood everynight. Again, I must re-iterate that overall Cap Juluca itself is great. The villas are wonderful as is the breakfast and housekeeping staff. The beach is pristine and the amenities are nice. We enjoyed the solitude. The gym, although small, has a very good assortment of Cybex weight training equipment as well as free weights and some (a bit aging) cardio equipment. My suggestion: rent a car and drive to Shoal Bay one day. The beach is beautiful and there is more snorkeling over there because of the coral. If you don't want to snorkel, you can go on a glass bottom boat - I think it's like $15 to do that. We did neither - we walked down to the far end of the beach where it was empty and enjoyed the beach all to ourselves for almost 2 hours - then headed to Scilly Cay for lunch, beers, and rum punch!

To Kel: May be an eyesore to you, but to me it's a slice of heaven.

Ummmmm.....I'm not sure what the problem is with the aerial views of cap Juluca and the 'marching down the beach' thing. This is a beautiful resort in a beautiful setting. Did you want green mountains (with their humidity and bugs)? Go to Jamaica or St. John. The aerial photo is a great depiction of the beautiful beach and water, and points up the fact that CJ is not a condo-style place with all the units piled on top of one another. And there's no adjacent development of other businesses, etc. If you people think this is 'overdeveloped' or whatever your problem is, you need to head for the South Pacific or rent a private island on the out islands of Turks/Caicos/Bahamas, etc. CJ is a great set-up.

if the green eyed monster hadn't bit some of you jealous folk or if you had visited the resort you wouldn't be posting such nonsence. CJ is lovely, the restuarants get varying reports and they last two times I tired to return to CJ it was booked. So it must be so terrible that people are flocking there while other hotels are nearly empty. It's a matter of choice and personal prefernce and everyone's is different.

Sandy, want to re-phrase that in English? Psycho-babble is kind of hard to interpret. Did you forget your meds, or why else would green-eyed monssters be following you??

Sue, don't kill the messenger, but that is an actual aerial shot of Cap J....amazing how different it is from the retouched brochure type of picture isn't it? Anguilla is very dry and scrubby, and Cap is a monstrosity to some who prefer a more natural setting instead of a cookie cutter approach. If you check out the Anguilla board on Caribbean On Line you will find plenty of negative reviews about Cap, although many more positives than negs. Even so, it is an exceptional resort, and I wouldn't hesitate to send my elderly parents there. Hopefully more places like Cap will be built on islands with lush natural tropical foliage and excellent snorkelling and diving.

To: Sarah I enjoyed your report very much. I noticed you stayed in one their pool villas. We have reservations in July for CJ and have booked the pool villa. Which one did you stay in? Anything I should know about before we leave? Did you love and do you feel it was "worth" the $$.

Oh, now I get it. The complaints are coming from the "Lonely Planet" type travellers. It's the revolt of the tree huggers. While I agree that conspicuous human development can ruin some great natural areas, you must admit that many of the nearby islands on which resorts like Cap Juluca and Grace Bay have been built remain undeveloped....they're perfect for the naturist longing for solitude and granola. And resorts like CJ and GB have hardly ruined the entire islands on which they've been built. They're not exactly Atlantis of the Bahamas. Get off your Greenpeace perch Damian/Tomm/Kel. If you don't like the development, then vacation elsewhere. There are plenty of alternatives which are unspoiled. But you'll find yourself in the minority here at Fodor's. Try the Lonely Planet boards if you want to commiserate with others of your kind.

Couldn't agree more with Jack the Ripper. If it was natural beauty we wanted, we'd go to the rest of the Carib to wallow in the jungle. But the idea of ice cold towels and sorbet delivered by "beach attendants" who will spritz you with Evian makes us giddy, so Cap is THE place!

To Sarah: Thank you for your great report. My husband and I are going early to mid november and we are looking forward to it. We're staying in a junior suite when there. I really appreciate the food report, we are from NY and we love upscale dining (we're not snobs but we appreciate good food) I am going to take your advice and beware of the buffet and bar-b-que. In our experience we also have been disappointed with these at other resorts of the same level. It's funny because I looked at Altamar's on line menus and the prices did not seem out of line for the quality of food that it appears to be. What is the best way to get to Anguilla. we are taking a direct flight to St. Martin. What kind of plane do they use? and how long is the flight??

Oh silvia, I couldn't agree with you more. How the commoners get by vacationing places like Myrtle Beach where no one will spritz you is beyond me. How do those people survive? If no one will massage my arches before I leave the beach I get foot cramps from the lack of support walking on the sand. And having the well groomed cabana boys ogle my Beverly Hills-surgically enhanced bosom is such a hoot. We obviously run with the same caliber of people. Are you any relation to the Long Island Reinharts? Your writing style gives you away. Cioa.

Dear Marabella, What do you mean by that??

To Kim: We stayed in one of the pool villas (#16 room 4) but did not actually have the pool, if that makes sense. The pool villa has 4 bedrooms that can connect to the pool if you are renting the entire place or be locked off to allow multiple people to stay in one villa. We met the people who actually stayed in a true pool villa, and they gave us a tour. It was very nice - had a full kitchen, dining room and family room, but the bedroom, bathroom and terrace were basically the same as our room. The pool was actually larger than I expected it to be - for a private resort pool. The pictures on the website show you what it looks like. The pool villas are all the way at the end of the beach, the furthest away from the dining areas and main house. It's about a 10 minute walk to the main lobby, but we liked that. You can always have them pick you up in a golf cart if you need to get there in a jiffy. I think you can also use the golf cars yourself too. Yes, I totally think it was worth the money. My husband is an accountant, so it took a little persuading to convince him we should splurge as we were only celebrating our 1st anniversary. However, he repeatedly said over and over it was well worth it - of course we haven't gotten our credit card bill yet either :) ha ha. I guess what's important is the type of vacation you are looking for. We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and loved it, but it was a totally different vacation - there we were on the go - doing all sorts of activities. At Cap, we just wanted to relax on a beautiful beach in peace. That's what we got! Off the resort, the island itself is not lush - it's more desert-like and scrubby. For me, I have severe sinus problems, so it was wonderful to be able to breathe without grass pollen everywhere! To Kathleen: We were lucky and found fairly cheap airline tickets online ($575/each at AA.com - check there frequently as they were special internet only fares that I happened upon one day. I called American as soon as I saw the fare to hold the seats 'til I could confer with hubby and by calling they could only offer me $1000/each tickets - she told me to book ASAP because they wouldn't last long!) Anyway, we flew from Washington Dulles to Puerto Rico to Anguilla. I guess the flight to Puerto Rico is about 3.5 hrs - then it was about 45 minutes to Anguilla on a normal sized turbo prop plane - held about 30 people or so - not one of the really small prop planes. Pretty simple. If you're going to St. Martin, I think the ferry ride is about 20 minutes. We never ventured over there. Glad I could be of assistance. Personally, I've found this board to be very helpful and love to hear about other people's experiences. It's a shame one occassionally has to scroll through unnecessary posts from folks who just want to berate others. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox. All of you enjoy your trips!

Oh - one other bit of advice. Cab fares are pretty expensive. It cost us $20 round trip to be shuttled 1-2 miles to a restuarant off the resort (Mangos). Funny thing was, we got to the restaurant and asked the cabbie what we owed him. He said, "My job is not done - pay me when I pick you up - just have them call me when you're getting your check!" Never would I have heard a cabbie say that in DC!!! IF you are considering venturing off the resort, I would rent a car. We rented one from Cap which was about $100 for the 1st day - about $45 for car; $20 for license; $30 for gas). Also - there are no room keys at Cap Juluca which gives you an idea how safe the island is. You do have a inroom safe if you need it.

Sarah, thanks for taking the time to share some great information. It's nice to read a report that is formatted for easy reading, and does not sound like it's trying to impress. So many people want to bash anyone who posts any negatives, and other want to play that "my resort is best" game, but you just shared info without the head games. Very refreshing.