Travel Agent - August 6, 2007 - (Page 30)

Destinations Caribbean & Bahamas Bahamas’ Grand Isle Resort & Spa Luxurious villas in Great Exuma are perfect for families, couples BY JOE PIKE jpike@questex.com he Bahamas hasn’t been a secret for a very long time. But there are properties in this destination that many clients never heard of and would be pleased that their agent told them about. Grand Isle Resort & Spa (www.grandislevillas.com) in the very quiet and spacious Emerald Bay Resort is one of them. Travel Agent recently toured the community of luxurious ocean and golf course villas located within the 500acre Emerald Bay property. Sitting on 13 acres, the 78 Caribbean villas offer excellent ocean views, a variety of water sports, a Greg Norman-designed golf course and a recently unveiled penthouse. Once its brand new spa is completed in December, it will be able to compete with some of Great Exuma’s T Grand Isle Resort & Spa on Great Exuma in the Bahamas other—and probably better known— luxury properties. We stayed in room #3103, a Partial Ocean Front Suite. The two-floor, twobedroom suite offered a partial view of the ocean, a patio, an outdoor balcony and two 60-plus-inch plasma TVs. The room is about $600 a night in the low season and goes up as high as $1,100. We loved the room, but preferred the Ocean Front Suites, which offer a frontand-center, painting-like scene of Great Exuma. We inspected room #1413, which goes for about $1,200 in the low season and about $1,700 in peak season. The best room, however, is the $5.7 million Master Grand Penthouse, which was unveiled to media, tourism and government officials when we visited. It sits on the highest point of Emerald Bay in The Bahamas. In peak season, the rooms cost as high as about $6,000 per night. We toured the 4,000-square-foot room, which is one of two penthouses the property plans to have. It has four bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a media room and outdoor balcony with views of the ocean, Great Exuma and the back nine of the golf course. The master bedroom has French sliding glass doors leading to the terrace, Continued on page 32 A Three-Bedroom Suite at Grand Isle Resort & Spa 30. TravelAgent August 6, 2007 http://www.grandislevillas.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Cover Story - Passports and Visas: What Clients Should Know About Them EUROPE: Capella Debuts Two Properties This Year LAS VEGAS: The De-Theming of Luxor HAWAII: Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea Renovates CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA: Cruising the Panama Canal Lavishly CARIBBEAN & BAHAMAS: Bahamas’ Grand Isle Resort & Spa News and Notes Meet the U.S.V.I.’s Tourism Commissioner CRUISES: Defining Regent Seven Seas HOTELS: InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore Agent Exchange Luxury Travel Expo Update Ad and Edit Index Classified Marketplace People & Places

Travel Agent - August 6, 2007

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