ANN RUPPENSTEIN
It feels like a scene straight out of White Lotus. As we approach Palm Island Resort & Spa, the dock is lined with a group of staff members waving in anticipation of our arrival. After stepping off the boat, the team greets us with cold towels and colourful welcome drinks topped with tropical flowers.
“When you arrive at Palm Island, we are all there waiting for you,” explains Alex de Brito e Cunha, COO of Palm Island Resort. “When I ask guests what they want to do today, the first answer is always nothing — we have no plans. But we have a lot of things to do if they want like yoga, fishing, sailing, we have a beautiful boat called The Pink Lady, we have two catamarans. Palm Island has 25 rooms and four villas. We only have five beaches for 43 rooms.”
Accessible by boat via a 10-minute ride from nearby Union Island, the adult-oriented all-inclusive resort in the Grenadines takes a little more effort for your clients to get to than a typical Caribbean resort, but it’s worth it. The property isn’t your typical Caribbean resort.
Set on a 135-acre private island, Palm Island Resort & Spa offers a range of accommodations across five room categories. For luxury clients, a showstopper is the new Seahorse Villa spread over 4,000 square feet. First time guests typically stay a week but once they’ve experienced the property, the average length of stay increases to 10 days.
“Palm Island is the place to go and stay a little bit longer than five days,” he says. “We aim to make sure that everyone enjoys the Caribbean, enjoys Palm Island, enjoys St. Vincent.”
Rather than viewing the upcoming opening of new resorts like Sandals Saint Vincent as competition, de Brito e Cunha says it only helps to create more awareness of the archipelago as well as increase connectivity to the destination — and opens the doors for split-stay opportunities.
“We’re very supportive of all the new products coming in St. Vincent because it’s a beautiful island which is still the way it was when I fell in love with the Caribbean 35 years ago,” he says. “There are a lot of natural and protected beaches and the ocean is beautiful.”
New to the resort, Katie Rosiak, general manager of Palm Island Resort, says clients can now officially get married on site. Along with a complete spa and fitness centre, Rosiak says the on-island offering includes performances by musicians and special events and activities.
“On Tuesday nights we do movies on the beach,” she says. “That’s very popular.”
There are two restaurants on site, Sunset restaurant, open for lunch and the occasional private dinner, and Royal Palm, which is open for breakfast and dinner. (We recommend the lobster sliders for lunch.)
In terms of day trips, she says a visit to the Tobago Cays and Mopion Island, a sandbar with a single thatched umbrella, are popular options for guests.
“When we go to the Tobago Cays, instead of having lunch onboard, we go to an island and they cook fresh fish. It’s like a Robinson Crusoe moment,” she adds.
To make it easy to get around Palm Island, guests can travel around by bicycle or by golf cart. For those seeking the perfect Instagram photo, there are many unique sites set up across the island ranging from a boat-shaped plunge pool to tandem water swings in a secluded cove.
“We have so many returning guests,” she says. “It’s complicated to arrive here, it’s a long day of travel, but once you arrive you don’t have to lock your door.”
