December 12, 2008

CARIBBEAN | CURACAO

Conquering Curaçao

By Judy D'Mello

The Caribbean’s sleeper island is ready to roar.

view map

Having been invaded by the Spanish, British, French and Dutch, Curaçao would now like to be invaded by North American tourists. Until recently, American visitors here have largely comprised of cruise ship daytrippers and divers (the island is famous for its seafloor drop-offs and coral reefs). Yet, with the island’s first full-service resort in 15 years, the opening of Renaissance Curaçao on December 15 signals a new breed of chill-out digs for the Dutch West Indies.

The waterfront property is set within Rif Fort, the historic gateway to Curaçao’s UNESCO Heritage capital of Willemstad — aka Amsterdam-in-the-tropics. Located next to the aptly named Mega Pier (where mega cruise ships dock), the hotel’s focus is in fact solely on families and couples who stay a while. In addition to 237 upscale rooms, a spa center, a six-screen cinema and a freshwater infinity pool is the hotel’s centerpiece: a second-floor “Eternity Beach,” pumped with Caribbean water, buffered by white Curaçaon sand and swaying palm trees.

Also targeting families and honeymooners, the Lodge Kura Hulanda recently added a stylish Tree House Mansion (pictured) to their beachfront resort on the island’s secluded West End. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom treetop hideaway (think: Swiss Family Robinson finds buried treasure and hires a decorator) comes with flatscreen TV and air-conditioning as well as African skins and a Balinese bridal bed.

Meanwhile, on the southeastern side of the island, about 20 minutes from downtown, Hyatt is constructing a 350 room Hyatt Regency, slated to open November 2009. Set within the Santa Barbara Plantation — a 1,500 acre resort community with a 120-slip marina, Mediterranean-styled villas and an 18-hole Pete Dye golf course — the Hyatt will showcase Colombian tiled roofs, Indonesian wood shutters and limestone floors, mined from onsite quarries. All of which is in keeping with the transcontinental feel of Curaçao, whose natives are fluent in English, Dutch, Spanish, and the creole language of Papiamento.