Cheeca Lodge & Spa

We had an excellent stay at Cheeca over the weekend following Thanksgiving. The resort has beautiful grounds and exceptional service. The good: The location is right in the middle of Islamorada, so very convenient to many restaurants and activities. The resort is set back from the highway and is very quiet. I never heard any road noise. The grounds are beautiful and well maintained. The resort is behind a gate, so once you are in, you have access to all amenities without further hassle. We had their lowest level room, which was spacious and had a nice enclosed deck. We had a view of trees and plenty of privacy. The beach and pool had plenty of loungers and most of them had the option of shade. It's great that you don't have to pay extra for shade. The fishing was fun, but the birds get very aggressive. Also, some guests took the resort fishing poles back to their rooms, denying others from using them. The dock can get crowded at peak times. The bartenders were friendly and the tiki bars have a nice view of the ocean. The check-in staff were great, and overall the service was first class. Even the guys grooming the beach were exceptionally friendly. The meh: This was not a surprise to us, but might be to some. There isn't much of a true beach area. The water doesn't look very inviting for swimming and there is very little in the way of beachy soft sand. The room could use a little maintenance. The faucet handle fell off in the shower. The AC was very noisy. The lagoon is pretty but has a lot of noisy machinery that could disturb some guests. If noise is an issue for you, ask for a room away from the lagoon. The annoying stuff: The pools close at sunset. In late November that means 5:30pm. This is ridiculously early. The kids activity room closes at 6pm. Why? The room is inside and enclosed. There are video games, board games, etc. Who are the kids going to disturb after 6pm? What are the kids supposed to do in the evening? As noted above, they can't swim. The kayaking is not available if the conditions don't allow. While the resort can't control the weather, the morning we tried to kayak only had a light breeze but we were still turned away. This was very frustrating. Overall: I would likely stay here again if we found a good deal, but I would really encourage the resort to extend the hours of the activities. When you are out all day exploring the Keys, it would be great to sit in the pool or hot tub at 8 or 9 pm for a quick soak before bed. For families with young kids, the pool hours would be a deal breaker for us in the future.

Great Location, Amenities, Restaurants , Golf View rooms Outdated and with poor maintenance, not a good value for your money.

We hadn't been back since the hurricane. This is still the best place to stay in the Keys. Still our go to place any time in Florida keys.

We so enjoyed our stay at this resort and plan to return. My favorite part is how impeccably maintained the facilities and grounds are kept. The food in the restaurants was also perfection. I only had 1 moment where the resort missed the mark. This was the Thanksgiving Dinner, our last meal during vacation. It was a very pricey meal for 4, we knew this when we made our reservations, but given our dining experiences thus far, we assumed they would hit a home run. The food was typical very nice buffet food but at double the price. We rated this meal a C+ as the quality just wasn’t there. We were very disappointed as we expected a much grander experience but it only proved a buffet is a buffet. Pass on ANY “special” buffets and just order off the menu. Lesson Learned. Again, loved the resort, location, restaurants, grounds, golf course, amenities, pools, beach, guest adventure equipment, live music at night, and best of all the tiki torches lit at night throughout the property. We will be back!

This is one of the best places to stay in the Florida Keys and THE best place to stay in the upper Keys. Food, Pool, Atmosphere, Service A+++