Cheeca Lodge, Islamorada

It’s been many years since my wife and I have stayed at a resort. We used to do actual vacations when our daughters were at home but since they moved out we typically base our travel around my business meetings. I had some meetings in Key West followed by some more in Miami with three free days in between. We asked some friends in Miami where we might stop for a few days and they suggested Cheeca lodge. We had a wonderful stay. We had a resort view room that was huge and very well appointed The balcony had a large round tub on it and the room was large enough to also have a large leather sectional. The grounds are beautiful with lots of amenities including an executive golf course, bikes, sunfish and kayaks, an adult pool as well as family and lots more all included in your room fee. The staff was wonderful. There is good food at the resort but we opted for dinners at two places within walking distance (Chef Michael’s and Kaiyo Grill) that were extremely nice. I can’t recommend this place any more highly. The rates for rooms on the resort view side are much lower than the water side and in our opinion a better value.

This resort was truely awesome... that's really the only word that actually clasifies it. It is a beautiful resort, right on the Atlantic ocean with many amentities. Let me tell you, the management staff is on top of their game. They service you ten fold. I started off in the Beach Bungalow room, which I do not recommend if you are like me & like ice cold air. I actually had to switch rooms & relocate to the main building to have a room that would have VERY (I must specify that I enjoy a cooler room) cool air. The main building was redone due to the fire, so it had the technology to cool me... the Beach Bungalow unfortunately did not (I originally was going for the "bungalow, rustic" type of stay, on a beautiful secluded beach, I wasn't looking to stay in a more hotel type of invironment.) Both were equally awesome with their Ocean front views... my only complaint was the window shaker air conditioner that never got cool in the Bungalow. Once Cheeca Lodge updates their "Bungalows" with good air conditioning, than they will rock too! Mgmt was quick to service EVERY complaint to relocate my family & me. Very honorable and respectful. The resort was magnificant! The staff and mgmt at all the restaurants were EXCEPTIONAL! The service was five star, they are great people from the time you pull up to the time you leave... every employee. My only other complaint.. goes to housekeeping. For the amount of money I paid... They did NOT leave my room at a five star resort level. All other service members were.. housekeeping was slack, they did not always do their job each day, they left dirty things around & did not clean up after themselves... the list goes on... The resort fee automatically covers their tip.. I NOW KNOW WHY... if it did not... Housekeeping would NEVER be tipped. One time, when I was in the room, I rec'd exceptional service. One Time!! In the room! And I was there 7 nights, 8 days!! When I checked in I was advised no one normally stays there that long... now I know why. Other than the air conditioner & housekeeping... I love EVERYTHING about this resort & I would recommend it to anyone I crossed pathes with. Cheeca Lodge has everything anyone should want in a vacation resort. Absolutley beautiful location and adorable staff that really do make you feel like you are at home. Let me emphasize that the staff when I was there from 09/11-09/19 absolutely ROCKED!!! I would go back & recommend the resort to anyone I spoke with only b/c of them.

It was a $400 per-night Club Med. If you go expecting a four star experience, you will be very disappointed.

I have never felt so compelled to write a review on a hotel before. Although the Cheeca may offer beautiful scenery and more amenities than other hotels/resorts in the keys, they are desperately lacking in so many other areas. Don't be fooled by the glass of champagne upon arrival or the beauty of the grounds upon check-in. BRIDES BEWARE- DO NOT USE THE SPA! What a joke it is to even call themselves a spa. Save yourself the hassle and stress, and make it to your rehearsal on time, make your appointments directly to Ciao Bella (which is where they ended up sending me after their employee had managed to botch everything up so badly, not to mention battling with management the day of our wedding for reimbursement. A check was finally written to us three days later only after having to argue our case and chase the manager down since there was a discrepancy and conflicting comments made between the spa and hotel employees as to what would be done to rectify the situation). Each day, the hotel ran out of towels at the pools, it took an average of 30 minutes to have our drink orders delivered to us at the adults only pool, and that is even if the waitress remembered to place our orders, (yes, this happened), nice room service attendant however the food was soggy, large hole in one of our bath towels and had to constantly leave written notes for housekeeping for certain items to be refilled such as water, coffee, sugar, creamer and soap. Shower was not clean, there were soap remnants in the shower which I ended up scrubbing myself before I would even bother to get in it. Such a disappointment for a supposedly luxury resort. I highly recommend eating and spending your money elsewhere and visiting the hotel for the scenery.

My husband and I stayed at the Cheeca Lodge we were on our Honeymoon and very pleased, the beach was gorgeous, service impeccable rooms very relaxing.We stayed in one of the Beach Bungalows which has your own private entrance to the beach from your balcony, not to mention you also have your own private beach that you and your significant other can relax and enjoy. The entire lodge is breathtaking it is definitely everything and more as pictured on there website.

We were forced to wait an hour for our room for "cleaning." The first morning, we started to unpack and my girlfriend found a used vibrator in the nightstand. The manager changed our room and offered to buy us dinner (only after I explained how horrible that was for us). When we got to dinner, the "on the house" dinner (which didn't have 3/8 entrees nor the first 2 wines we asked for) turned out to be "kind of on the house" when we received a bill for the alcohol (which was supposed to be included). I sent the manager an email to express my feelings of disappointment and that I had been disrespected which has never been answered. If you enjoy poor service, public health hazards and incredibly beautiful grounds, you will love Cheeca.

We stayed at Cheeca over Mothers' Day weekend. It was possibly the worst experience we have every had in a hotel anywhere in the world. The treatment and attitude from staff, from Front Desk to restaurant was terrible. We were spoken to in a pretentious, condescending manner -- and when we complained, we were treated simply as an annoyance. We travel widely, both within the US and internationally, and this was the worst experience given the price. We spent getting on for 2000 dollars and we feel literally robbed. We have many visitors from overseas who always ask us about visiting the Keys. It is very unfortunate that we will not be able to say anything positive about Cheeca. (Caveat: The car valet staff were very nice, but that is the extent of the kindness shown). You guys really need to come down from your apparent elevated sense of grandeur -- it is not a great place, and you have to do something about it. As Florida residents, we will not be looking to Cheeca again for a weekend break.

Although pricey, you get what you pay for! We were greeted on arrival with a glass of champagne and it went uphill from there. The staff could not have been friendlier. They were helpful and very professional.The accommodations were spectacular.Oceanfront lodge rooms were top-notch. Facilities were excellent. Spa treatments were heavenly,although the locker rooms could use a face-lift. All in all a wonderful experience. Would definitely return.

Just got back from a 5 day trip between Christmas and NY, just after the resort re-opened after the fire and renovations. We booked a 1 bedroom suite with a golf course view (we have 3 kids and we wanted the kitchen to make some quick meals for them, including our 8 month old). We were located in the 800 building (J), which was a walk to the main hotel. While we were fine with the location, the room itself was not worth the amount of money we paid ($400/night). The rooms are very old inside - it seems nothing has been updated in about 15+ years. A few lists of our complaints: -our view was of the golf course alright, but it was of the one hole that is not open yet because this is where they were keeping the enormous dump for the renovations. There were huge piles of debris and other construction items that were not very pleasant to look at. -the kitchens and bathrooms were very poorly outfitted - the cabinetry was all particle board that had seen it's last day many days ago, the faucet fixtures were broken or dripping, the small refrigerator moved out from the wall anytime I opened it - just disgusting! -the ceiling in the bathroom sink area was peeling and actually fell on my head when I was blow drying my hair (the blow dryers are a joke by the way - bring you own!), some of the switches for lights were not working and they were filthy with fingerprints. The turning knob to open the slats for the bathroom window was actually broken (but still sitting in the slot), so we couldn't open the window, one of the bedroom light bulbs was burned out, so I left it on the night side table for housekeeping to change - they never did - the bulb was still sitting there the day we checked out and needless to say - I never did any reading in bed. -the draperies and bedspreads were quite sub-par - again they looked like something out of the 80's. -we had to make so many requests for things that should have been in our room that were not - a pack and play for the baby, tea bags and sweetner for the coffee and tea, a room service menu, extra pillows and blankets for the pull out couch for the kids, on and on. -I tried reaching housekeeping, the conceriege and room service for over 35 minutes one day to only continue to get a busy signal. I thought that to be so odd that all lines were busy - turns out it was the phone that was broken. When I finally got through to room service - was told I could just dial 4444 - but no where on the phone does it say that. -The service was very slow at the resort and it seemed as if they did not have enough employees hired yet. We found out that about 10 called out sick on Christmas Eve, so the hotel fired them all. -We paid a resort fee of $39/day/room to include kayaks, bikes, and a few other ridiculous things - there were neve enough bikes - there was always always a wait to try to ride and by then it was the middle of the afternoon. There were never, ever enough lounge chairs on the beach. If you didn't go down at 7:30 am and get your chairs, you were out of luck! The food was average, although the sushi at Nakai was excellent - but be prepared to wait over 45 minutes before getting it. The other restaurants were very limited on choices and again the service was extremely slow. The only good thing about the breakfast buffet was you could go up and serve yourself - meaning no wait! -On NYE, they did do a nice fireworks display, but upon returning to our room with our 3 kids at 12:45 am - we were locked out. My husband had to return 2 times to get new keys. All in all, this resort was not worth the price we paid and I don't think we would ever return. The manager did give up our resort fee back as a credit and an additional $50/night credit - but it still has not changed our mind to return. Friends stayed in the main lodge and their accomodations were lovely - but the room was twice the cost as ours and I think $400-500/night is the most I would ever spend on a hotel room.

We recently stayed in December right after the renovations and it was wonderful! Enjoyed kayaking and spa services along with lounging at the pool and dining a few feet from the ocean. Staff very friendly everywhere we went.