Summary
I visited the Bahamas (4 nights) in February 2019 for a weekend escape from the cold weather in NYC with my wife, 2 kids (ages: 4 and 1) and one of our close friends from San Francisco with their 3 kids (ages: 8,4,2). We love going to the Caribbean in February because the weather is perfect – 80 degrees for highs and 70 degrees for lows. We specifically were excited to visit the Bahamas to check out the beautiful new Baha Mar hospitality complex and destination. The Bahamas is also only a 2-hour flight from NYC and the immigration process is very easy (they do US immigration in Bahamas on the return so you land in a domestic terminal in NYC).
Accommodations
We stayed at the brand new hospitality complex and destination called Baha Mar (which is only a 15 minute drive from the airport) along Cable Beach – specifically we stayed at the Rosewood Baha Mar. Baha Mar has several hotels (Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood), sits along a pristine beach, has several really nice restaurants, a casino, an aquarium and so much more. It did not require us to leave the property to have a wonderful visit. The three hotels are interconnected so it is easy to visit all of them depending on your needs. For example, the SLS has some of the best restaurants while the Grand Hyatt has the casino and most kid friendly pool with aquarium and high jump etc. We had the pleasure to meet Luigi Romaniello – the Rosewood hotel’s Managing Director and some of his amazing team – Ana (front office manager) and Mohamed (head butler). Our stay was fabulous and the overall destination of Baha Mar was truly great.
Select Favorites
ActivitiesWe enjoyed spend each day at the private Rosewood Pool (where we were pretty much guaranteed to get a chair) and the pristine Cable beach front at the private side of the Rosewood Beach. The complex had a number of great activities for adults including the Royal Blue Golf Club at Baha Mar, Water Sports, Tennis while also having the kid-friendly Blue Hole Jump and Aquarium at the Grand Hyatt. For a brief respite from the daytime activities, the adult-friendly T2 Cigar Lounge is a nice relaxing place along with Manor Bar and The Library for evening drinks. For a fun dolphin immersion experience, we were guided to Balmoral Island which can be reached quickly from the docks of Baha Mar – we saved that for a future visit! Of course, a staple of all of our trips is a family photo session with our favorite travel photo service Flytographer!
Dining
Our favorite restaurants and meals on our visit were at the SLS – specifically Cleo Mediterráneo (mediterranean) and Fi’lia by Michael Schwartz (Italian). Baha Mar has awesome pop-up stands throughout the property which were great for lunch – our favorites included El Jefe (mexican pop-up), SliDderrzz (burger pop-up), Scoops (ice cream pop-up), Umami Burger (burger pop-up) and Flame to Smoke (authentic bbq pop-up). Other favorites during our stay were Commonwealth (breakfast and late night desserts), Costa (mexican), Café Madeleine (dessert/coffee), DAQ’s (all things daqueris) and Stix (noodle bar)
Recommendation
I would certainly recommend a long weekend (4 nights is perfect) to Baha Mar during the colder months on the East Coast but also as an easy warm escape from anywhere. We had a great, relaxing visit and enjoyed the local hospitality, dining and activities. As with most Caribbean destinations, the hotel itself can really make or break the trip because so much of the stay (dining, activities, relaxation etc) happens there. The Rosewood, SLS and Grand Hyatt were all wonderful but the Rosewood’s exclusivity and calm while still having access and proximity to all activities made us thrilled with our choice. With the close proximity to the east coast and the short drive from the airport, we felt overall this was a great getaway and we’ll likely go back in the future! Enjoy your trip!
