Review - The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos

September 3rd, 2021

Enroute:

After an 18-month hiatus of international travel, your boy finally made it outside the US of A. For my grand (re)debut, we decided to (re)visit Turks & Caicos, where we’ve been exactly two years ago for Labor Day Weekend too. While it didn’t scratch the itch of long-haul flying (at all), I at least got to go through passport control 😤.

The Ritz has only opened since June of 2021, so it was a no-brainer to test it out. Turks & Caicos is an interesting island in that it doesn’t have a cruise ship port, and its formation from corals as opposed to volcanoes made possible its immaculate waters and powdery sand. The archipelago consists of many islands, and the main destination most travelers would reach is Providenciales. The territory hosts both Amanyara and COMO, but rather inconveniently both are quite inaccessible for a long weekend. COMO required a boat transfer, while Amanyara was an $120-taxi away from everything else. Therefore the majority would probably stay somewhere along Grace Bay. We stayed at the Grace Bay Club on our last trip. While the hotels on the island were perfectly fine, I think you mostly come here to enjoy the ocean. The service on these Caribbean islands, well, you know how it is.

One frustration with visiting Turks & Caicos was getting approval to travel. The requirements as such weren’t laborious - Covid test, proof of vaccinations and all that standard stuff. However, nobody would actually review and approve it unless you call to harass them. I can’t tell you how many people were freaking out at the airport check-in counter. We were lucky to have utilized the chat feature on the Marriott app, so the front desk at the Ritz was able to harass on our behalf.

Turks & Caicos as a destination is quite expensive. Good hotels normally start from $500/night pre-tax in off season, which includes September as it’s prone to hurricanes. Our rate at the Ritz was around $700 for a basic room. We booked the Marriott STARS rate, which offered $100 credit, daily breakfast and other perks. Like most islands, the taxes were quite steep, so in total you’re looking at about $1,000/night. Prior to check-in, I saw we had been upgraded to an oceanfront room, which was appreciated.

Flying into Providenciales couldn’t be less effortless. We booked the direct flight from JFK on Delta for a mere 9,000 miles per person and de minimus taxes.

Check-in:

An hour after deplaning we were land-side and hopped on a shared taxi van to the Ritz. Fare was a flat $33 for two people to and from most places in Grace Bay, and the ride took about 15mins. As soon as we pulled up to the hotel portico, the bellmen came over to carry our luggage and brought us to have a seat at the check-in desk. We were offered a welcome prosecco or rum punch. Not that I was expecting, but it would have been nice to get a cold towel.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Check-in

I want to stress that the hotel was perfectly nice, but I just didn’t get a sense of luxury. My partner, who’s normally not very astute in this kind of things, commented how the hotel reminded him of a Hyatt Place. I was like, first of all, rude; second of all, you’ve never been to a Hyatt Place? To be fair, you shouldn’t expect these Caribbean Ritz to be upscale to begin with, watch this fallout at the Ritz Aruba a few years ago… Rather unfortunately this seemed to match our experience at this hotel, where people were under the impression that it’s socially acceptable to bring their own JBL to the pool. Did I mention this hotel has a casino?

Back to check-in, the associate was friendly, and a manager-looking guy came over to say hi and supervise as well. However, every interaction felt awkward and not very organic. For example, they would ask questions such as “is this your first time on the island?” or “are we celebrating anything special?”, and there would be no follow-up to the questions, which created an uncomfortable vacuum of silence. Another example would be that they’d start with being attentive and chatty and would then ask you if you needed anything else, but as soon as you request a coffee refill or something trivial they would transform into a different person who suddenly lost all cordiality. It’s not the most straightforward thing to describe but the vibe was definitely off. In our observations I’d say this is pretty common on many of these islands, so this isn’t intended to be a judgment factor on this particular Ritz.

A few minutes later, we were escorted by another front desk agent to our room. She briefly pointed at where things were and was friendly enough.

Unpack:

The first impression of the room was generally positive - spacious and bright. Similar to the lobby, the décor didn’t feel high-end. Admittedly it’s quite a challenge to do island chic well. It’s an intricate balance between feeling modern and maintaining a sense of place. What was bizarre to me was that it must have been exceptionally pricey to develop such a project, with it being the tallest structure in all of Turks & Caicos and also housing a casino. However, the whole operation just felt incredibly cheap. The toilets were unbranded, the beach chairs had no cushions, the minibar wasn’t stocked, free breakfast had a $4/pp service charge, Covid test wasn’t complimentary, and beach totes were for sale only. While all minor on their own, in aggregate the corner-cutting diluted the experience to that of a Sandals resort. Oh, my bad, I forgot Sandals is all-inclusive.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room

Upon entry, to the left was a sizable bathroom, highlighting a soaking tub, dual vanity and a rainforest shower. Although not a fan of the marble countertop, I quite liked the backsplash for the tub, which resembled a water feature at a nice spa.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bathroom

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bathroom Toiletries

Credit when it’s due, the hotel did offer full-sized Diptyque toiletries, which is respectable (I’ve since realized that Diptyque is now the standard toiletries at Ritz, but at the time of writing it just began to transition from Asprey). These had seals on them, but I chose not to go down this rabbit hole on my vacation…

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bathroom (maybe new) Toiletries

Opposite from the bathroom was a closet, where you would not be finding a beach tote.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Closet

Moving on to the bedroom, there were a mirror and a dresser, where you’d find a Nespresso machine and a mini-fridge. Since the bed faced the sliding doors, the TV was mounted on the wall in the corner.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Dresser

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Coffee Machine

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Coffee

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Fridge

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bottled Water

The hotel provided two branded water bottles which they encouraged guests to reuse and take home. I like the concept, but I think there were only three floors that had water stations so in reality I never used them.

The Ritz-Carlton, Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bedroom — The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Bedroom

By the doors were a small sofa and a coffee table. The furniture were kind of randomly laid out to fill up the space, especially the dining table. I personally don’t ever unpack into hotel drawers, but others who stay longer might feel differently.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Dining Table

Awaiting on the dining table was a plate of welcome cookies, as well as a welcome note. The cookies were like, really, really good.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Welcome Amenity

Lastly in the room was the king bed with an ottoman.

The best feature of the room obviously lied outside of it. While it’s not an unobstructed view, it was as oceanfront as hotel rooms get, given the building on the left was the hotel’s residence.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room Balcony

I LOVED the edgeless glass panes. From the balcony you could also see the layout of the resort, with the main pool to the left and the kids pool to the right. The water in Turks & Caicos just makes everything oh so worth it. It is the exact shade of turquoise you’ll find in a Benjamin Moore color chart. When you’re in bed, the view gets better.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Oceanfront King Room View

I do have one last thing to mention about the room. The sheets in the room weren’t correctly laundered. They had this sweaty odor that wasn’t exceedingly pungent, but you could definitely smell it when you buried your head in the pillows when sleeping. The duvet cover also had a black stain on it. For the aesthetics of this blog I’ve decided against posting.

Unwind:

Like I mentioned earlier, you really come here for the water, so we quickly dropped off our bags and headed to the beach. On our way down, we passed the spa and fitness center.

While we didn’t use either facilities, I can’t imagine them being all that inspiring. Past the lobby was a lounge to the right, which was as mediocre as it appeared.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Lobby Bar

The below pictures show the hotel was somewhat massive. The pools were reasonably crowded when we were there, so I could see issues during high seasons.

The Ritz-Carlton, Turks & Caicos — The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Adult Pool

By the towel hut was a rum shack. We ordered a mojito and a rum punch. The drinks on the island anywhere were noticeably potent, which I’m not complaining. While waiting on the drinks we overheard some women talking about how the Ritz had a catamaran that you could pay to get on, and it was $130 for four people with an open bar. At first the alcoholic in me was like “OMG what a steal!”, and then I realized I’ve never been on a boat that didn’t have an open bar..? Like what is the point of going on a boat then?

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Rum Shack

We posted up on the beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Seriously, how gorgeous is this??? What’s more precious is that the water is always calm.

We stayed past sunset till just an hour before our dinner reservation. I can’t stress enough how pristine the water and the beach were. It’s really worth a trip just for this.

Refuel:

For such a substantial hotel, there really weren’t many dining options. In addition to the lobby lounge where a sushi menu was served, there were Coralli and BLT Steak. I figured BLT would probably be popular with people staying at other hotels, so I made a reservation for Friday night. As it turned out, the restaurant wasn’t as busy as anticipated, and you could definitely walk in and get seated immediately.

We didn’t have high expectations after our last trip to the island. You don’t come to this part of the world for its culinary scene. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and service. Interestingly there was a significant number of Filipino wait staff. The service wasn’t refined or anything. As a matter of fact it was arguably disorganized, but it had more warmth and genuineness than normal. You can find the menu for BLT here.

Before our appetizer we were offered BLT’s signature popovers.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Bread Service

I’ve never been to a BLT before (I think they’re mostly in Trump hotels?) but this bread is everything. It’s like a croissant that had no layers. It’s buttery, cheesy, luscious and simply heavenly. It’s so good that it makes you want to say buttery in a British accent.

My partner asked about the bacon he had at a BLT before which was supposedly torched table-side, but was told that was on BLT Prime’s menu and not BLT Steak. It worked out better for our cardiovascular health since we had two very meaty main courses coming up. We restrained to just splitting a caesar salad as a starter, which came pre-portioned on two plates.

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Appetizer

The salad was refreshing and not heavily dressed, exactly what we needed before our 22-oz cowboy ribeye and braised short ribs. We ordered a bottle of red wine with dinner, which was not decanted. Well, minor deets. It wasn’t like we ordered a magnum Opus One. The main courses were absolutely fantastic, though.

The Ritz-Carlton, Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Main Course — The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Main Course

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Side

The Ritz-Carlton, Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Dinner — The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos BLT Steak Dinner

The presentation was well thought out. The short ribs were in a Le Creuset, and the waiter opened the lid when it was set on the table. The pent up steam escaped and infused the air around us with a sweet and rich port aroma. The steak came with a beautifully charred garlic and bone marrow. The blue cheese compound butter was so divine that we completely neglected the béarnaise sauce until we were almost finished. By comparison the side potato au gratin was a bit subpar, but overall it was an amazing meal.

We asked for the leftovers to go, along with some of those delicious bread. A few moments after we returned to our room, our waiter Mark knocked on the door. He apologized for having forgotten the bread and brought over more. Now that’s above and beyond.

The next morning before check-out, we had breakfast at the hotel’s other restaurant Coralli. Our rate included the buffet option, which was pretty solid. You could also order a la carte off the menu.

The Ritz-Carlton, Turks & Caicos Coralli Restaurant — The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Coralli Restaurant

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos Breakfast

On top of buffet, you could order eggs and waffles.

Depart:

Our short experimental stay at the Ritz quickly came to an end. While I’m glad I checked it out, I don’t think I’ll return here if I ever visit the island again. There was nothing catastrophically wrong with the hotel, but it didn’t have an ounce of charm. Not trying to be mean, but I feel like this property is for people who (might) have money, but don’t know how spend it other than overpaying for a brand name. For the latter portion of our trip, we moved just a few hundred yards down the beach to the Grace Bay Club.

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos

The Ritz-Carlton Turks & Caicos

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