ISLAMORADA, Fla.
-- Five years ago, during a drive from Fort Lauderdale to Key West,
I stopped for lunch at the Cheeca Lodge, Club and Spa, a Florida
Keys oceanside property. I vowed to return one day for a longer
stay, and this fall, I made good on my promise.
I arrived at the
edge of night. A sentry stopped me well before I got to the hotel,
checked my identification and radioed my arrival to a bellman. I
continued along a driveway of interlocking bricks lined by copper
coach lamps that light the way to a porte cochere.
Inside the main
lodge lies a country club-styled lobby with a wood-beamed ceiling,
wood-paddle ceiling fans and enormous plants. This cozy area opens
onto the propertys fine-dining restaurant, Atlantics Edge, and the
indoor/outdoor Ocean Terrace Grill.
The hotel was
midway through a multimillion-dollar renovation slated for
completion in 2006; $30 million already had been
invested.
Included in the
renovation are 203 guest rooms, including 59 rooms in the main
lodge, 64 suites and private villas, deluxe beachfront bungalows
and the George Herbert Walker Bush Presidential Retreat, a suite
that includes mementos donated by the former president.
Cheecas grandest,
the Bush suite has a master bedroom with a king bed, a master bath
with a Jacuzzi tub, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a
second bath off the living room and a private, screened balcony
that runs the length of the suite. It also offers connecting rooms
on either side to make it a two- or three-bedroom suite.
The one-bedroom
suite is available at rates ranging from $349 to $589 per night,
off-season, and $629 to $799 per night during the high
season.
The main lodge
includes some oceanview rooms, and most have large, private
balconies. Rates start at $275 per night.
Lodge
accommodations have been refurbished in West Indies dark mahogany
and neutral fabrics. Bedding is luxurious, with upholstered
headboards, pillowtop mattresses, bolsters and satin bedspreads.
Each room has a 42-inch plasma TV.
The bathrooms are
the real star of these lodgings, however. The layout features
double doors made of mahogany and etched glass. In rooms with an
oceanfront view, the doors, when open, provide sightlines from the
tub to the sea.
Bungalows offer
spacious, one-bedroom accommodations. Each has an enormous bathroom
with shower only, parking below the unit, a screened-in balcony and
a spiral staircase leading to a private beach.
Several other
buildings were converted into luxury studio, one-, two- and
three-bedroom condominiums, with the first phase of 92 units
already sold.
Prices range from
$350,000 to just under $1.3 million dollars. The condos are
available for rent. Rental rates per night during the off-season
range from $300 to $700, and peak-season rates are $400 to
$800.
Services include
a dedicated concierge and private butler as well as the option to
join a private membership club.
The Cheeca Clubhouse will be a members-only
facility and will include a bar/lounge, library and dressing
rooms.
A dining room for
club members and their guests, with an adjoining lounge, will be
located adjacent to the Atlantics Edge.
Away from the
main lodge is the 5,000-square-foot Avanyu Spa, which has a number
of day packages from which to choose and a variety of individual
treatments. Wellness activities are included in the daily resort
fee.
A fitness center
and weight room includes Cybex, Precor and Ivanko equipment; a
25-yard lap pool with private poolside cabanas ($69 a half day and
$129 a full day includes a refrigerator stocked with beverages,
plasma TV and dataports); a waterfall lagoon with its own island
where fitness classes are held; and a sun deck built over the
water.
At night, the
deck is lighted from underneath -- very romantic.
To book, call
(800) 327-2888 or visit www.cheeca.com.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to [email protected].