First of all, I am a planner. I planned this trip to Peter Island Resort in the BVIs for nearly a year and all of my expectations were exceeded! We had a fabulous time. The staff are very personable and they really do make it a point to know your name. Three people that we spoke to at least once a day were Benji (Tours and transportation around the island) - he's awesome, Jean (Dining) - super sweet and as perky as a cheerleader, and Sandra (General manager) who was very helpful and accomodating.

We were staying during the Holiday season, which was extremely pricey, but well worth it. We really didn't have much of a choice since our Anniversary was 12/30. We either had to pay the Holiday prices, or go when it wasn't our anniversary. I was afraid I'd be terribly disappointed for the price @$1250 per night for the Oceanview rooms, after taxes and service charges). But I really thought it was worth it. We stayed in the Oceanview Rooms, as the Beachfront rooms (@ $1600/night including tax and service) were booked a year in advance. We had the second set of oceanview rooms from the point, which was excellent for lots of reasons. You have an undisturbed ocean view (from balcony/patio) and a marina view (from the back door/deck) the closer you are to the point. Now the closer you get to the lobby area, you will have more trees/ the library/pool, etc. in your way, but you can still see the ocean. I actually think the Oceanview rooms are better in lots of ways than the beachfront rooms. That is, if you can get past the point that the bathroom doesn't have a jacuzzi, like the beachfront rooms.

The bathrooms are completely fine. No, the bath is not luxurious. But there was plenty of room for toiletries and there are double sinks. It was all perfectly clean and I never thought twice about it.

From reading literally all of these reviews, I felt that we were going to be staying in some slum in the Oceanview rooms. Not at all the case. 1) They've got gorgeous views (try to book closest to the point which would be rooms 129-130 (lower level) and 131-132 Upper level for the last "house", or as you get to lower room numbers you get closer to the lobby/pool/restaurant area. 2) They are right next to the lobby/pool/restaurant/boutique/marina (for snorkeling/scuba gear). My father, or someone else who needs limited walking, would have preferred room 101, the lower level closest to the lobby/restaurant/pool/boutique, because there would be very little walking needed.

And you really do have to refrain from taking the golfcarts all the time which run constantly just so you can get some exercise from all the awesome food. The walk from the Oceanview rooms to Dean Man's beach is no more than 5 minutes, up a slight hill, but nothing terrible. And it's a beautiful walk with gorgeous plants and awesome views of the marina. Everything except the beach itself is near the oceanview rooms. The beachfront rooms even have a little bit of a walk (maybe 150 yards) to Deadman's Grill. That only serves lunch and dinner and while the food is awesome there (excellent Ceasar Salads with grilled shrimp, ribs, as well as portabello mushroom pizzas). It's still not as nice as Tradwinds restaurant (Superb lambchops, fillet mignon, fresh fish, etc.) with awesome views and right next to the Oceanview rooms. Every dinner was at least $200 (remember that it's included in the price of the room). So our thought was, let's enjoy the upscale restaurant every night rather than getting a pizza, since we've already pre-paid. We saved the pizza and salads for lunch. Yum!

Men do have to wear a collared shirt and closed-toe shoes in Tradewinds. But I don't think I ever saw anyone wearing a sports jacket, except on New Year's Eve. Most of the time men were wearing collared golf shirts with slacks. I wore sundresses and nice resort wear to dinner.

New Year's Eve was a lot of fun. There was a huge Seafood buffet that literally had any kind of seafood you could want including a great variety of caviar. Live music was excellent and the Pirate theme party and favors were a lot of fun.

The spa is truly not to be missed. We had a couple's hot stone massage in the couple's suite and it was fantastic. They even have a swedish massage shower in the room which has like literally 30 jets and I don't even know how many shower heads. We stayed at the spa for about 5 hours. We had our massages, had lunch there, enjoyed the pool (sans children - not allowed at the spa at all), sunned, used the ocean-front jacuzzi, strolled through the coconut grove garden and basically just melted away in the serenity of it all.

The resort was at 100% capacity the whole time we were there and we never had a problem finding beach chairs, or pool chairs. Now I will caution those of you who are looking to go to the resort and not find children....don't go during the Christmas/New Year's Holiday, or I'm told at Easter or Thanksgiving either. These are definitely family times. Lots of small children (between the ages of 2 and 10). I was sort of expecting this given the Holidays, but as we were looking to take a break from our 3-1/2 year old and 6 month old, I can assure you we didn't have to look far to at least find a toddler to fondly remind of our own children. However, I never saw small children at dinner. I think the resort encourages those guests with children to either eat at Deadman's (which would have the best menu for children anyways), or at the beginning of the evening. We generally dined between 7 and 9 PM each evening.

Oh, there was generally live music every evening, either a vocalist or steel drums. We really didn't lack for any evening entertainment. But then after all the fun we had during the days, we were generally in bed by 11:00, midnight at the latest. Never missed the TV and we were able to catch up on a lot of reading.

We snorkeled at White Bay, did the island tour, sunned on Deadman's Beach and swam in the blue/green crystal clear water. Basically, I think we did about everything except the Sunset Loop tour. We did get to see some awesome sunsets, but just never got around to doing it...wish we had...another reason to go back.

We arrived after dark to EIS, so we had to take the taxi and then were taken on the large Peter Island ferry and literally taken right into Tradwinds to eat dinner. We didn't ever touch our bags from the time we met the Peter Island rep at the airport, until the time we were in our room after dinner at the resort.

So would we go back? Yes. We're already thinking about a return trip this summer (their low season). Although I will say that the weather could not have been any better (light winds, and highs around 82-84 every day). When we landed back on the mainland, it was 42 degrees. That truly has to be the best time to go to the islands, when it's cold at home and perfect weather in the BVIs.

We honeymooned in Hawaii and have stayed at many luxury resorts in our ten years of marriage and Peter Island truly is a special place not to be missed.

Let me know if you have any questions...

Thanks for the trip report.

One of my good friends went to Peter Island this summer for her honeymoon. She loved it, and that's why I thought it was odd that it gets some atrocious reviews on tripadvisor.

She said the service was good, but then that seemed to be a major component to the complaints on TA. Good to know that either the reviews were overblown, or that the mgmt. is heeding the advice of negative posters.

ncrory: thanks for the terrific detailed report-- truly appreciated! question: can you compare Peter island to some of theother upscale Virgin Island resorts, e.g. Little Dix and Caneel? Main priority for us is terrific off-beach snorkeling and easy access to other beaches. Thanks.

So glad you enjoyed. We did too when we went.

Ncrory: glad to see you enjoyed it and things have not changed.

Poss: I’ve been to Caneel a few times and Peter Island once. As far as a comparison, they're both special places imo. Peter Island accommodations might be a bit more luxurious if you're staying in the Beachfront room; I did get to see the Ocean View rooms and would put them on the same level of Caneel.

As far as Beaches, Caneel has seven beautiful beaches which are all just a few minutes walk from each other, while Peter Island has one beautiful spacious beach (Deadmans) and one with superb snorkeling (White Bay- which you need a ride to unless you're into walking a good distance up a steep hill). Although the snorkeling at Caneel is great, I would have to say it's comparable to what you would see off Deadmans Beach, while White Bay (if you swim off the far side) has much more to see in the way of sea life.

As far as service and quality of meals, there's no comparison. Peter Island wins hands down. The staff was the friendliest I have ever been around, and the meals were terrific.

I don't think you could go wrong either place. For me it comes down to what I'm looking for; seclusion-Peter Island, getting out at night for dinner & drinks, then Caneel.

ncrory, although Peter Island has never been on my list of places to go, I fully enjoyed reading all about your trip to Peter Island. Thanks for reporting, I remember when you were researching and it is great to hear back.

ncory, glad you had such a nice time; for some reason, I thought Peter Island had a no-children policy, I got that wrong it sounds like. I know you weren't there with your children, but wondered if you would take your children, i.e. what is child-friendly or really mostly a place for adults. We don't really have any child-care options so all trips are en famille, but we try and pick places where they are truly accomodating of children and where we won't be disruptive, too (if you know what I mean!).

thanks,

Mary in D.C.

Marymarra: If you don't mind me jumping in. Peter Island "discourages" children but does not forbid them. We went without our little guy (end of Sept/early Oct, 2 years ago) and the resort was practically empty (unlike Ncrory) and there were only couples (mostly honeymooners), no kids. I think it depends on the time of year you go. I'm sure during the summer and holidays, people go there with their kids. I don't know how old your kids are. Personally, I would not take my (close to 4 years old) son there. He's in that "pain in the you know what" stage (whatever happened to my perfect baby?? ) and he'd just be too disruptive in a place that tends to cater to adults/honeymooners.

caribtraveler--as I was about to post that I had answered my own question, I saw your reply; I have a pain-in-the-you-know where 6-year old--the kind of kid who while totally fun and active, is known by name by everyone in the resort in about 24 hours so we choose our spots carefully!!

I did have fun looking at Peter Island's website--it looks great!

Mary

Poss: I have only had lunch at Caneel Bay and never been to Little Dix. We've always stayed in private homes in the past (which also have ups/downs). At any rate, I would say that if 0ff-beach snorkeling is what you're looking for then Caneel Bay is probably more your speed as you can literally walk off the beaches and find great snorkeling...no need for boats. White Bay is very nice at PI for swimming, sunning and snorkeling and there are some pretty neat near-by places to snorkel/scuba: ship wreck of the "Rhone" is super close (although that might be a bit more impressive for scuba divers. I'm only a novice snorkeler and have never scuba dived. But the caves at Norman Island are supposed to be absolutely fabulous for snorkeling and they're also right off Peter Island. PI has a snorkeling/dive shop that will take you on any kind of snorkeling tour you can think of, or they can come up with an agenda for you.

I would have stayed at Caneel Bay, but 1) They were booked, and 2) Even if they hadn't been booked, for this particular vacation, I wanted a place where I would be forced to relax (i.e. no shopping, tourist attractions, TVs, etc.) I'm the type that will turn a relaxing vacation into a "let's see how much stuff I can cram into the day" type person and PI really is a place to unwind and relax.

marymarra: They do strongly discourage children and after talking with the manager of the resort, I would have to say that she led me to believe that most of the times (other than holidays), children are really strongly discouraged. Although I would definitely consider taking my children again at some point in the future, but only if I could also get my parents or in-laws to go and help tag-team baby sit. Out of respect for other guests (like ourselves), who were there to get away from cannon ball contests in the pool, none of the parents allowed their children to do anything like that. All of the children were very well behaved and most of the ones who did have children also had nannies, or grandparents. I would also say that there are no children activities planned and the menus are not toddler friendly (i.e. no chicken fingers or mac n' cheese). But PI chefs will make anything you want regardless of whether it's on the menu or not, so I'm sure they'd do something your little ones would eat. I never saw young children at dinner in Tradewinds (not sure if that's a rule, or people were just being polite), but it was nice.

So I guess, I'd only recommend you take your children if 1) they are reasonably well-behaved and 2) you either had someone who could help babysit so you could enjoy some nice dinners, or just be resigned to eating at the beach grill every night. If that were the case, I don't think PI would be worth the money.

ncrory-- thanks so much for your thougthful reply. Actually, we've been to Caneel (several times) and most recently to Little Dix-- but have never been to PI. Have also snorkeled Norman Island, etc. Was just interested in knowing whether the snorkeling RIGHT THERE (i.e. not having to go out on any excursions) is as good at PI as it is, say, at Caneel. My sense from what you say is that it is not.

yes, thank you for your thoughtful reply; after I spent a little time at their website, I realized it was a silly question! It looks wonderful.

thanks again,

Mary

POSS: maybe you missed my reply regarding your snorkeling question?

Waywardseal: thanks for re-directing my attention back to your post. I guess I'll stick with Caneel and some places on Virgin Gorda. Like the idea of not having to get a ride (White Bay) When we were on virgin Gorda (villa) last month, we'd intended to ferry over to PI-- to finally see the place and try to get a sense of whether we'd like it. But it was very windy that day, so we knew it wouldn't be a fair test for snorkeling. Still hope to see it some day.....

I just wanted to make sure you had all the information you could get; as I said, you can't go wrong at Caneel either when it comes to snorkeling.