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Carlisle Bay broke the mould of Caribbean tourism when it opened in 2003, turning style and design in the area completely on its head. The traditional Caribbean, the bright tropical colours and gingerbread, and the generally over-easy atmosphere, were sidelined and in their place came something with more metropolitan sophistication. Carlisle Bay is the creation of British hotelier Gordon Campbell Gray (of the stylish and fashionable One Aldwych in London) and it marks something new for the islands. It will appeal to a discerning and savvy traveller, partly for its newness to be sure, but also for the timelessness of its tropical setting, which is all about encouraging you to relax. Which Carlisle Bay is ideally designed to do – the hotel is exquisite and has a wonderful atmosphere of tropical cool and calm.
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KEY FEATURES
| A fairly large Antiguan hotel at the leading edge of Caribbean style. Eighty two extremely stylish suites, full-service spa, two restaurants (one Asian), large pool, library with internet connection, private cinema, Kids Club, nine tennis courts, watersports, gym, personal training, yoga and Pilates. |
STYLE
| The cutting edge of Caribbean style (in a distinct break from high Caribbean pastel), sleek but calm, with a touch of Asia |
CLIENT PROFILE
| Wealthy travellers with an eye on fashionable places |
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Carlisle Bay was always intended to be a departure from the Caribbean norm. Created by Gordon Campbell Gray, working with London-based designer, Mary Fox Linton, the hotel is intended to offer a level of style and service to which today’s well travelled public has become accustomed elsewhere, but which has left the Caribbean marooned over recent years. Carlisle Bay is certainly immensely stylish and radically different from anything else in the Caribbean at the moment. Of course the intention is still to bring out certain timeless aspects of the Caribbean – the tropical beauty and tranquillity – but in a new way. What Campbell Gray calls ‘contemporary luxury on the beach’.
The difference is obvious form the moment you set foot in the hotel. The usual Caribbean busyness and frou-frou are gone. The gingerbread filigree has disappeared and there isn’t a bright red parrot in sight. The words ‘you’re welcome’ won’t be repeated remorselessly at you each time you say ‘thank you’ either. Out have gone the traditional Caribbean colour schemes, the explosions of primary and pastel on bright whites and creams. Instead Carlisle Bay is made of muted tones, faint greens and lilac on light grey, dark furniture, all just occasionally off-set with a shock of colour. There are touches of the Far East about Carlisle Bay (though the intention was not simply to recreate an Asian resort in the Caribbean) but most importantly there is a distinctive sleek and lean style.
The base colour is a mid grey. (In catalogue terms it is rubidox and it was mixed especially for the resort). It reaches throughout the hotel, from the entry walkway to the balcony balustrades and window louvres in the bathrooms. Even the gravel on the drive is grey. It sits soothingly next to the greens of the grass and tropical trees. Furniture is made of dark woods, there are whites and off-whites in the upholstery and walls, and the staff are dressed in lilac. But the grey predominates, right down to the pelican that sits and ruminates on the sun-bleached jetty. It is intended to be soothing and it works. Versace looks like a scar on this place.
Carlisle Bay is located on Antigua’s southern coastline, in a broad, steep-sided bay, between the sea and an inland mangrove lagoon. You approach down Fig Tree Drive (the lushest part of the island) and then, just as you arrive in the village of Old Road, you turn into the gates, along the alley of grey gravel, grass and date palms. You enter the hotel by a grey wooden walkway over a lily pond, where torches flame over the water at night.
The foyer is a large pavilion, with separate sitting areas around its walls, strategically positioned clusters of low wooden armchairs and sofas with white covers. The air filters through the louvered windows standing on angled pegs. At one end is the Reception and at the other you find a piano next to the bar, and opposite them the hefty carved Indonesian doors of East, Carlisle Bay’s oriental restaurant. Beyond the bar the pavilion opens out onto the pool, which is grey in colour and is surrounded by greenery. To the side of the pool is the cinema and beyond it you come out onto the beach and to the bedrooms.
But the principle exit from the foyer is straight ahead, past the reception desk. You walk immediately into a small pocket of greenery with night-flowering plants, frangipani and night jasmine. It is lit at night with steely light, the strength and tone of moonlight. But then to one side, playing through the branches, you see a glinting pastel fluorescence. The light from the library shelves, back-lit in fluorescent pink, green and blue. Walk on and you come into the large beachfront bar and dining room, Indigo on the Beach, which is set in a tall, open-sided structure of dark wood.
The bedrooms at Carlisle Bay are in two main locations. The Beach Suites (two bedroom) and the Carlisle Suites (three bedroom) line the beachfront either side of the dining room, but the bulk of the rooms, the Ocean Suites (one bedroom), are set back a little, in three-storey buildings that look over the full depth of the sand from their balconies. Here criss-cross West Indian balustrades, in rubidox grey, stand next to a huge oriental wooden urn and diaphanous white drapes. At the end of the run of bedrooms there is a watersports building and opposite it a jetty that stretches out into the bay.
The rooms, all suites, are large and their style is light and clean. They are furnished with low, right-angular pieces in dark-stained wood and light upholstered sofas. The bed is at the rear of the room, looking forward over the sitting area, a couple of steps down, and then out onto the balcony, where there is a day bed and a table and chairs. Black and white photographs, Antiguan scenes in detail, decorate the walls. There are just a few flashes of outrageous colour to break up the low-key tones. A red border to the photograph frames. A spray of pink bougainvillea. An orchid.
If the point of Carlisle Bay is largely to help you relax into guilt-free inactivity, it does that well, but Carlisle Bay does have a number of facilities in the background, including complimentary watersports, a spa and several tennis courts. It is also has a screening room for daily films and for that matter a meeting room which can take up to fifty for a reception.
When it arrived, Carlisle Bay hit the scene with a splash of publicity as something genuinely new in the Caribbean. And this it certainly is. The design owes very little to the islands, but the hotel certainly has high expectations for its guests and it has helped to bring Antigua, even the Caribbean, back into the consciousness of stylish travellers. Like any other hotel in the area Carlisle Bay has continually to battle with traditional Caribbean problems (particularly with a familiarity of service that doesn’t fit too well with sophisticated modern travel), but it is a very relaxing environment and does well by the vast majority of guests. Even the most highly strung generally manage to chill into life here. Lastly, while there is no particular pressure to dress up at Carlisle Bay if you do not want to, be aware that the people at dinner can look pretty stylish even in their t-shirt and shorts.
Carlisle Bay is a member of the Leading Small Hotels of the World. It’s sister hotel, One Aldwych, is one of the most fashionable hotels in London. |
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Beach & Swimming
Carlisle Bay is set on an extremely pretty half-mile stretch of light brown sand backed along most of its length by a screen of palm trees. The sand shelves gently into the water, which is calm and good for swimming.
There is a large, free form swimming pool. Its base colour is grey and it has a shallow ledge where you can wallow or sunbathe with your feet in the water. There is plenty of space around it for sunbathing (on wooden loungers with white parasols) and it is sheltered from view by greenery on the beach side but open to the bar on the other. |
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Sports & Recreation
There are a number of very low key activities at Carlisle Bay. Principal among these is the spa, Blue (see below). There is also a good library, set in its own glass-fronted building close to the main foyer, which contains an extremely varied selection of novels and art and photographic books (Campbell Gray asked a number of designers and acquaintances simply to name their favourite ten books), so there is plenty of interest to read. If you are part of the way through a book when you leave, the hotel is happy to send you a copy so that you can finish it. You will also find internet access in the library.
There is a 45-seat cinema at Carlisle Bay, with a film screening each afternoon (at 4pm) and evening (9pm).
If you are feeling a little more active there is a watersports building at the end of the beach in which you can arrange a windsurfer, kayak or a Hobie cat sailing dinghy. Scuba diving can be organised locally. There is a gym (in the spa building), with a very good range of Technogym equipment. Sessions can be arranged with one of the hotel’s personal trainers. Yoga and Pilates classes take place in a nearby open-air pavilion, set amongst the palms.
There are an unlikely nine tennis courts at Carlisle Bay (from a previous incarnation of the hotel, now long passed). A tennis pro is in residence, arranged through Peter Burwash International. Lessons and practice games can be arranged. One court has an omni-surface and the other eight are rubber-cushioned hard courts. Competitions are held from time to time. |
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Spa
Carlisle Bay’s spa, Blue, is set to one side of the hotel, among the tennis courts. The building has the same sleek style about it, with walls of light grey louvres and a polished stone floor, setting a suitably calm and cool atmosphere as background for the spa.
There are six treatment rooms where a range of beauty treatments and massages are on offer. These include facials, manicures and body polishes, wraps and waxes. Massages include Swedish, deep tissue, Indian head massage, and sports, stretch and back massage. The range of products used in the spa (as in the bathrooms) are by Living Nature Spa Therapy and they are blended from natural ingredients. There is also an open-air pavilion close by for yoga and Pilates. There are classes that you can join and private sessions and tuition are also available.
Juices are available through a juice bar. |
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The Rooms
The suites at Carlisle Bay are seamlessly elegant, and have the same lean and sleek air in their design as the rest of the resort. In keeping with the low key colour scheme, the rooms are all decorated in extremely light shades – lavender, peach and lilac, with a sandy-coloured tile floor and cushions. The rubidox grey also runs into the rooms to a limited extent, on door surrounds and window louvres. There are just a few slashes of colour, in the edging of the photographic prints, cushions and the bougainvillea on the balcony.
The furniture, made of dark wood, is low and generally rectangular, and was designed especially for the resort by Gordon Campbell Gray and Mary Fox Linton. There are few illustrations on the largely bare walls, a series of black and white photographic details of natural Antiguan scenes, by Jason Taylor.
The layout (of the Ocean Suites) is on a split level, with the bed a couple of steps above the living area, where there is a sofa, chairs, table and a satellite television and minibar. The living area gives onto the balcony, with a day bed and a tall wooden urn. The bathrooms, decorated with the grey of the resort, are at the rear of the rooms and have a view onto the mangrove lagoon. Loos and showers are behind frosted green glass doors and the bathroom products are by Living Nature.
All the rooms are air-conditioned and have ceiling fans for when it is not too warm to open up the room. There is frette linen on the beds. |
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Dining
There are two dining rooms in the hotel. The less formal, where all three meals are served, is Indigo on the Beach (after Indigo at One Aldwych in London). It has a delightful setting in an open-sided pavilion with a wooden floor and slim pillars supporting a high wooden roof. The tall backed armchairs are also made of wood. Around the edges stand ranks of Caribbean greenery to waist height (lit at night), allowing a view of the sea beyond. The food is simple and healthy, fairly international, and leads on grills, salads and fish.
East is Carlisle Bay’s more formal restaurant. The setting continues the hotel’s air of stylised cool and calm. You enter through carved wooden double doors from Indonesia and walk into a striking enclave of dark stained wood. Banks of dark louvres close East off from the piano bar and pool outside on one side, but on the other they admit the flickering of the torches at the entrance. The walls themselves are a washed grey. Set against all these muted tones there is a single shout of colour, in the chair covers. They are fuschia pink. As the name implies, the cuisine is Eastern, cooked by Oriental chefs and served in stylised Oriental dishes.
It is also possible to dine in your suite. A table can be laid on the balcony (or brought inside if you would prefer to be air-conditioned). In the evenings another option is to dine on the jetty at the far end of the beach – the ultimate romantic experience as the jetty is lit entirely by candlelight. Advance booking is required. Room Service is available 24 hours a day. |
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Children
Cool Kids at Carlisle Bay is Carlisle Bay’s children’s club. It is set in a purpose-built clubhouse with an indoor air-conditioned section and an outdoor area with a covered porch, sandpit, jungle gym, four mini tennis courts and a paddling pool. The club caters for children in four groups - a crèche for ages 6 months to 3 years, four to seven year olds, eight to twelve and teenagers. There are themed programmes scheduled on a two-week cycle, overseen by qualified child care specialists. Activities for the youngest children include, beach games, water play, finger painting and treasure hunts and for 4 -7 year olds junior tennis, art projects, sing-a-longs, dancing and swimming. Eight to twelve year olds can go on mini hikes, snorkel and take kayak and sailing lessons from the watersports team, as can teenagers, of course. And don’t forget of course, that Carlisle Bay has its own screening room, in which children’s films are screened (so a day’s activities on Finding Nemo or Pirates of the Caribbean would be followed by a screening of the film). Cool Kids at Carlisle Bay is open seven days a week from 8.30am-12.30pm and 1.15pm-4.15pm and is free for children over three. Babies and toddlers in the crèche incur a US$15 charge per hour plus tax and service. |
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Practical Facts
Annual Closure Dates: 30 August to 10 October 2008
Dress Code: Casual elegant
Facilities: Indigo on the beach restaurant and bar, East restaurant, Pavilion bar, Jetty bar, Blue Spa and juice bar, Yoga pavilion, gymnasium, 9 tennis courts, swimming pool, gift shop, library, screening room, Carlisle Room and Cool Kids Club
Complimentary: Full breakfast and afternoon tea daily, Living Nature toiletries, Yoga and Pilates, sailing, kayaking, snorkel gear, windsurfing, two films each evening in the Screening Room, use of the nine tennis courts and a beginners tennis clinic, state-of-the-art gymnasium
Other Services: Hair salon, room service, secretarial services, CD & DVD hire, internet access, evening babysitting service (US$15 per hour plus tax and service)
Children: accommodated in the Beach and Carlisle Suites only.
Accommodation: 82 suites from one to three bedrooms
Room Types: All suites have a fully stocked minibar, Gaggia espresso machine, fresh fruit delivery daily, safe, hairdryer, satellite TV, CD/DVD player, international direct dialing, wireless broadband internet access, air conditioning, ceiling fan, private terrace or balcony with luxurious day lounger. Beach Suites (73 sq m / 786 sq ft) - bedrooms with a king size bed and sitting area plus a separate study or second bedroom with twin beds. Beach Suites sleep up to three adults or two adults and two children. Ocean Suites (73 sq m / 786 sq ft) - spacious, split-level, open plan bedroom/sitting room. Ocean Suites have king-size beds and sleep up to two adults. Carlisle Suites (150 sq m / 1615 sq ft) - Three double bedrooms, two with king-size beds and one with twin beds - all en suite, large sitting room and kitchen. Carlisle Suites sleep up to six adults or up to two adults and four children. |
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Rates
| | 21 Dec- 02 Jan 2007-08 | 03 Jan- 28 Mar 2008 | 29 Mar- 30 May 2008 | 31 May- 29 Aug 2008 | 11 Oct- 18 Dec 2008 | | Meal Plan | BP | BP | BP | BP | BP | | Ocean Suite 2 persons | 1,300 | 1,050 | 840 | 775 | 840 | | Beach Balcony Suite 2 persons | 1,300 | 1,505 | 840 | 775 | 840 | | Beach Terrace Suite 2 persons | 1,400 | 1,125 | 895 | 830 | 895 | | Carlisle Suite A 6 persons | 3,200 | 2,500 | 1,975 | 1,750 | 1,975 | | Carlisle Suite B 6 persons | 3,550 | 2,800 | 2,175 | 1,950 | 2,175 | All prices are in US$ per suite, per night, including full breakfast (Breakfast Plan - BP) and afternoon tea, and are subject to 10% Service Charge and 10.5% Government Tax. Please contact the hotel for single occupancy prices, child supplements (Beach and Carlisle Suites only) and meal plan options. All rates are subject to change without notice. |
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Special Offers
Carlisle Bay has a number of special offers if you stay 4 or 7 nights including: CHILL OUT at Carlisle Bay (7 nights including dinner each evening), BLUE SPA (7 nights including dinner each evening and spa treatments) and TENNIS WEEK (7 nights including dinner each evening and tennis tuition) | Per Beach/Ocean Suite for 7 nights | 03 Nov- 20 Dec 2007 | 29 Mar- 30 May 2008 | 31 May- 29 Aug 2008 | | Chill Out Week | | | | | Family occupancy (2 adults & 2 children) | 6,630 | 7,785 | 6,175 | | Double occupancy | 5,750 | 6,175 | 5,125 | | Single occupancy | 4,585 | 4,850 | 3,950 | | | | | | | Blue Spa Week | | | | | Double occupancy | 6,050 | 6,475 | 5,425 | | Single occupancy | 4,735 | 5,000 | 4,100 | | | | | | | Tennis Week | | | | | Double occupancy | 6,050 | 6,475 | 5,425 | | Single occupancy | 4,735 | 5,000 | 4,100 | | | | | | | Extra Nights Double occupancy Single occupancy | 820 655 | 880 695 | 730 565 | | Children Per child 7 nights Per child extra night | 440 65 | 805 115 | 525 75 | | |
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