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At last it's time for my review of Calala Island. I never thought I'd travel to a private island off the coast of Nicaragua for vacation, but when World of Hyatt points became redeemable here, I couldn't say no.
In the previous installment I shared the rather memorable journey to get from Managua to Calala Island (which involved planes, cars, and boats), and in this installment wanted to write my review of this unique private island resort.
Calala Island is a private island with just four rooms, and is very expensive when paying cash. Rates vary significantly seasonally, and start at $1,650 per night in low season, to $3,400 per night in high season, with a three night minimum stay no matter what.
We were staying March 7-10, and the cash rate would have been $2,800 per night for those nights.
Calala Island is affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) of the World, and Hyatt has a partnership with SLH, which is why it's possible to redeem points here.
Calala Island has just four suites - one master suite and three junior suites - and two of those junior suites are bookable with points at any time.
Calala Island is a Category 8 World of Hyatt property, meaning a free night here costs 40,000 World of Hyatt points. The same three night minimum that applies for revenue stays also applies for points stays.
I value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents each, so to me that's the equivalent of paying ~$600 per night.
That may sound like a lot, but when you consider that this is truly all inclusive (and even includes transfers to & from Managua), I'd say that's a steal... especially in comparison to paid rates here.
Even if you're not a Hyatt loyalist, earning points with them can be pretty easy. In addition to being able to earn World of Hyatt points with The World of Hyatt Credit Card ( review), you can also transfer over points from Ultimate Rewards.
See this post for everything you need to know about earning Hyatt points with credit cards.
Whether paying with cash or points, the hotel markets itself as being "ultra all inclusive," so what all does that include?
What isn't included?
I have to be honest - I don't at all understand the economics of this island. Even if this resort were booked to capacity year-round with people paying the full rate, this is a mystery to me. I get that labor costs are low in Nicaragua, but I still imagine the entire operation must cost a fortune to run.
Realistically, though, the hotel isn't booked out year-round with people paying full price:
I guess I mention all of this as a compliment of sorts. Throughout our stay I kept asking myself "how on earth do they make money?" because they really go all-out to make the stay special, and they don't nickel-and-dime you, or anything.
I don't know if this is a passion project for the owners (who are from the UK), or what...
Anyway, on to the review...
After our boat ride we finally arrived at the hotel, where we had quite a welcome reception. The resort employs about 25 people, and about 20 are on the island at any given point. Just about all of them greeted us - they were playing music, and had fresh coconuts waiting for us.
The general managers, Claudia and Leon, were also there to greet us. They're both from South Africa and have quite some stories, as they've been running remote island resorts for many years. They're also pretty new to this place, as they just moved here from Mozambique a few weeks ago, and had never been to Nicaragua prior to moving here.
Oh, one other fun detail - there were no other guests on the island at this point. That's right, we had this whole place to ourselves at this point. Holy eff. This makes your average Maldives resort look like Grand Central during rush hour (pre-COVID-19), by comparison.
Claudia and Leon proceeded to give us a detailed rundown of everything we'd need to know about our stay. The below map gives you a good orientation of the island, and I'll get into more details about each of the amenities below.
Calala Island map
Just to share some very basics about the orientation of the island:
The island is tiny - you could walk along the outer part of the island in about 10 minutes. There are also paths through the center of the island.
Path through the center of Calala Island
Path around Calala Island
Path around Calala Island
Calala Island helipad
The GMs pointed out that if we wanted exercise we could try to set new records for speeds around the island - someone has run the whole thing in well under three minutes, and kayaked around the island in about seven minutes. The island doesn't have a gym.
We were in one of the three junior suites (which they call cabanas) - specifically Kakabila. Let me say upfront that the rooms as such are nothing to get excited about. They're not particularly luxurious, and they're quite small, especially when you consider the price tag.
Calala Island junior suite exterior
The suite had a comfortable king size bed with netting.
Calala Island junior suite bedroom
There was no real sitting area in the room, though there was a padded bench between the bedroom area and bathroom area.
Calala Island junior suite bedroom
The bathroom area didn't have much separation. It featured double sinks, a partitioned off toilet, and an outdoor shower.
Calala Island junior suite bathroom
Calala Island junior suite bathroom
My biggest complaint about the room was the toilet - it barely flushed. Like, even if you peed you needed to flush twice. I get the logistics are probably challenging of running a resort here, but that seems like something that they should be able to work out.
Calala Island junior suite toilet
I loved the outdoor shower.
Calala Island junior suite outdoor shower
Toiletries were from Proterra, and I was surprising that they were in plastic bottles rather than reusable containers, given that they otherwise have a focus on sustainability.
Calala Island junior suite toiletries
The suite had an awesome outside area, with a hammock, two bean bags, and a dining table with two chairs. It's awesome to have direct beach access.
Calala Island junior suite outdoor area
Personally I'd recommend the junior suite we got over the two to the side. That's because they have a seawall, so you can't go directly into the sea very easily from there.
Calala Island seawall in front of a couple of villas
The rooms don't have phones. Rather the way you communicate with staff is through WhatsApp, as you can make all requests through there.
Maybe I'm giving away too much here, but across the board I was blown away by how much effort the resort put into everything. The room was cleaned at least twice a day (and they were clearly paying attention, because they never knocked when we were there), and at turndown every night they would leave different treats.
The first night they left a box of cigars and some rum.
Calala Island gifts at turndown
The second night they left some luggage tags.
Calala Island gifts at turndown
The last night they left a cute sea turtle with a note that they made a donation to "adopt" a seat turtle, along with some postcards.
Calala Island gifts at turndown
The junior suite as such was fine, though definitely wasn't the highlight of the stay (and actually was arguably the low point of the experience, since everything else was so awesome).
Before my stay, one thing I was especially apprehensive about is that Calala Island doesn't have any air conditioning. All the public areas are outdoors, so this is really only a concern in the suite as such.
How bad was it? Shockingly not too bad, and I say that as someone who loves blasting AC. At night we had absolutely no trouble sleeping and found the temperature to be good.
In the afternoons it definitely got a bit warm in the room, but not unbearably so. The fact that the room has two big fans helps.
I was expecting this to be a huge issue, but for us it didn't end up being one.
I wasn't expecting this, given that we're talking about a tiny island off the coast of Nicaragua, but the wifi was legitimately fast. I knew they had free wifi, but I was expecting it would be slow or unreliable, but neither was the case.
Let's talk about the shared spaces of the island now. Calala Island has a pool and bar. Keep in mind the property has the capacity for at most eight guests, though for our stay there was at most one other room occupied, so it was just four of us (hello to the reader and his wife, who were the other guests!).
I really can't overstate the extent to which it was surreal to essentially have a private island to yourself in this way.
The pool was quite nice (though the water was cold), and had a total of six lounge chairs.
Calala Island pool
As you'd expect, service was incredibly attentive. Basically wherever you are on the island is also where the staff is, so you're constantly being offered food, drinks, or whatever.
Fresh coconut at the pool
I'm not a huge beach person, frankly, and we spent almost no time on the beach here. I'd say the beach was nice but not particularly memorable - the water wasn't quite as turquoise as some of the promotional pictures make it look (though the water is still pretty), and the island had a fairly limited amount of beachfront space.
There wasn't beach around the entire island, or anything, but rather it was primarily by the villas, by the pool, and then there was a bit of beach by the evening restaurant and bar as well.
The spa pavilion is on one end of the island, and is very well done. It was outdoors but in the shade, and hearing the waves crash during a spa treatment was so relaxing.
The massage therapist, Doris, was phenomenal, and had amazing pressure and technique. Since there is only one spa therapist, there's not an option for a couples massage, which was totally fine with us (we could use an hour a day apart, after all!).
The spa treatment menu read as follows:
Those prices are "all-in," and frankly I find them to be really reasonable when you consider how secluded this place is; I've been to some private island resorts that try to charge $300+ for hour-long treatments.
The hotel was so generous across the board as well. For example, on the last day it was raining in the morning, so Doris offered all four guests complimentary massages. There aren't many hotels that give you free massages when it's raining! Fortunately it still ended up being a gorgeous afternoon.
Calala Island has a good number of activities, all of which are included with the rates here. Here's a list of some of the activities:
Below are some of the ones we took advantage of.
My favorite activity here was a morning of island hopping. There's an archipelago of islands that Calala is a part of, known as Pearl Cays. We got on a boat to explore them, and were able to visit as many as we wanted to.
Boat taking us for island hopping
This was so much more interesting than I was expecting. Why? Because while Calala Island is the only island that's being consistently used, many of the other islands had plans at some point as well, which have since been abandoned.
A house was built on one of these islands, though that project ended up being abandoned. I have so many questions. Who is behind this? What made them decide to abandon the project? What was their actual plan for having a house on a private island?
Island hopping
Island hopping
Another island had an abandoned hotel, or rental, or something...
Yet another island also had some abandoned bungalows - apparently this was also supposed to become a hotel, but that never materialized.
Island hopping
The last island we went to apparently belongs to a Nicaraguan general, who uses this as a vacation spot. The island had quite a bit of infrastructure, and the grassy area below is used as a helipad.
Obviously they set it all up a bit more when he visits, though frankly I was a bit surprised we were able to roam so freely, since I was expecting they'd be more secretive/paranoid.
Island hopping
The hotel had so many surprises for us, and one of those was sunset cocktails on a sandbar not far from Calala Island. It's just a short boat ride away, so about 30 minutes before sunset we were taken there.
Sandbar not far from Calala Island
How cute is this setup?!
Calala Island sandbar
Shorvin came with us and prepared our drinks, and then he and the boat captain left, and headed back to Calala. He told us to wave our flag when we were ready to be picked up.
Sunset cocktails
The sunset was breathtaking...
Calala Island sunset
This is pretty straightforward. We had a lot of fun kayaking around the island. The sea does get pretty rough if you go out much further, so I'd recommend staying close to Calala.
Calala Island kayaking
One evening before dinner we did a rum tasting. I'm not usually a rum fan, but it was cool to taste just how many kinds are produced in Nicaragua. The bartenders were also incredibly knowledgable about what they were serving.
Calala Island rum tasting
I'm not sure this qualifies as a full-on activity, but the island does have three resident sloths, and they occasionally make an appearance at ground level. The staff came and got us once they were spotted.
Calala Island sloth
Dining on Calala Island was a delight. Really you can have whatever you want whenever you want, but generally they recommend having meals during the following times:
But truly they do such an amazing job customizing the experience, and are very accommodating. They'll make you just about anything they have the ingredients for (even if it's not on the menu), they're totally flexible on the times, they're very generous with alcohol all day every day, etc.
They also really put effort into giving you a different dining experience every day:
You can of course drink wherever you want whenever you want, but in general there are two bars. There's the pool bar, where people usually have drinks during the day.
Calala Island pool bar
Then on the other side of the island is the evening bar, where people usually have drinks during the... you guessed it, evening.
Calala Island evening bar
Here's their list of complimentary house drinks:
Then here's the premium drink list, if you want to pay for different drinks:
We didn't spend a dime on alcohol here, and all of their drinks - especially the Chilean sauvignon blanc and the cocktails - were excellent.
Calala Island cocktail
Calala Island cocktail
Breakfast and dinner are both served on one side of the island, with several dining tables and some couches.
Calala Island breakfast & dinner restaurant
Calala Island breakfast & dinner restaurant seating area
Calala Island breakfast & dinner restaurant
There's also a brick oven here, which is where they make pizzas.
Calala Island brick oven
Then lunch is typically served by the pool, as there are four dining tables there under a pavilion.
Calala Island lunch restaurant
Calala Island lunch restaurant
Calala Island lunch restaurant
On top of that there are all kinds of cute individual tables with straw umbrellas right along the sea.
Calala Island lunch restaurant
We typically started our morning by ordering some coffee to the room. All their coffee is made with Nicaraguan beans, which we loved. They had some of the best coffee I've had anywhere, and it was always served in a french press.
Calala Island in-room coffee
Breakfast was the least exciting meal here, though was still good. The breakfast menu read as follows:
They even had a special coffee menu, so you could choose your beans:
Even though we already had in-room coffee, we still ordered more at breakfast, because it was that good.
Calala Island breakfast - coffee
Over the course of our stay we had the porridge, tropical fruit, granola and yogurt, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, and the omelet.
Calala Island breakfast - porridge
Calala Island breakfast - tropical fruit
Calala Island breakfast - granola & breakfast
Calala Island breakfast - smoked salmon & scrambled eggs
Calala Island breakfast - gallo pinto
Calala Island breakfast - omelet
The lunch menu was also the same every day, and included a variety of options:
The pizzas were good, which wasn't surprising, given the brick oven. We had a four cheese pizza.
Calala Island lunch - pizza
Over our stay we also had the snapper croquettes, quinoa salad, fish tacos, lobster burger, and jerk chicken.
Calala Island lunch - snapper croquettes
Calala Island lunch - quinoa salad
Calala Island lunch - fish tacos
Calala Island lunch - lobster burger
Calala Island lunch - Caribbean jerk chicken
There was a different dessert option every day, and one day it was a brownie with ice cream, and another day it was carrot cake.
Calala Island lunch - brownie & vanilla ice cream
Calala Island lunch - carrot cake
On our last day they surprised us with a special lunch at our villa. As I said above, the amount of effort that this place puts into everything is impressive. I mean, they had to carry over the table from the dining area, they kept having to bring over food, etc.
How nice is this setup?!
Calala Island special lunch
Calala Island special lunch
This menu, as well as the dinner menus, were customized based on preferences (for example, I told them I don't eat pork).
The lunch menu read as follows:
I'll let the menu and pictures speak for themselves, other than to say that the meal was exceptional.
Calala Island lunch - amuse bouche
Calala Island lunch - starter
Calala Island lunch - main course
Calala Island lunch - dessert
Every night dinner was different. The first night we had the "traditional" five course meal, and the menu read as follows:
Calala Island dinner - amuse bouche
Calala Island dinner - starter
Calala Island dinner - bread
Calala Island dinner - main course
Calala Island dinner - main course
Calala Island dinner - dessert
On our second night they set up a barbecue by the pool, where they set up a table for six (the two GMs and the four guests).
Calala Island barbecue
The barbecue menu read as follows:
Again, I'll let the pictures of the food speak mostly for themselves. There was a beautiful buffet with the mains, in addition to a variety of canapés and a dessert.
Calala Island barbecue
Calala Island barbecue starter
Calala Island barbecue dessert
Our last night we had a special tasting menu - how cute that they set four tables, even though there are only two sets of guests.
Calala Island dinner restaurant
The tasting menu read as follows:
This meal was truly exceptional, and I found it hard to believe we were still on a tiny island off the coast of Nicaragua.
Calala Island tasting menu - table setting
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
Calala Island tasting menu
There was also a full moon this night, which was a treat.
Full moon at Calala Island
I can be a tough critic about service, but I have just about nothing but good things to say about the people at Calala Island. Where do we even begin?
First of all, having nearly two dozen staff collectively looking after four guests is unlike anything I've experienced at another hotel. They follow you everywhere, and strike the perfect balance between being attentive and non-intrusive.
All the staff here are from small villages nearby (mostly along the coastline of the mainland), and for virtually all of them, this is their first time working in "luxury" hospitality. However, across the board they're such a lovely bunch - they were genuinely friendly, welcoming, and professional. The service exceeded my expectations to such a high extent.
It was also really cool to learn about their culture. I had been to Managua a few times before, which is Spanish speaking. However, the people on the Caribbean coast have a completely different culture, and generally speak Creole at home, and learn English and Spanish at school.
Not only was it cool to learn a bit about their lives, but there was also no language barrier whatsoever - just about the entire staff spoke flawless English, and even spoke English among one another on many occasions.
The staff just went so far above and beyond in every way - from different types of dinner every night, to a special lunch in our villa, to sandbar cocktails, to free massages because it was raining, to being offered anything from the "premium" drink menu with our tasting menu the last night, to them wearing different uniforms for dinner each night (yes, this is the kind of stuff I notice), to performing live music at dinner, they went so far above and beyond.
A special shout out to the front of house staff, Shorvin, Ruben, Mike, Sito, and Henry, and the massage therapist Doris, and everyone working in the background who we didn't interact with, for making our stay so memorable.
They were all incredible, though we were fortunate to get to know Shorvin best - he accompanied us to & from Bluefields, took us on our excursions, and served us breakfast and dinner most nights. What a class act.
We had a phenomenal stay at Calala Island. Now that we've been social distancing for nearly two weeks, we probably think back on it even more fondly.
Calala Island is unlike anywhere else I've ever been, and being on an island with at most six other guests (and in our case just two other guests) was surreal.
There were some slight negatives - the suites could be more luxurious, it would be nice if there were air conditioning and if the toilets worked properly, and the transfer to the resort was memorable, to put it mildly.
However, there was also so much we loved about Calala Island - the staff were exceptionally friendly, the food was great, and this place is also as "all inclusive" as they come. The people here go so above and beyond for their guests in making each stay special, from our sunset drinks on a sandbar, to our special lunch at our villa, to our free massages due to bad weather.
I think the only experience I can compare this to in terms of attention to detail and going above and beyond is a Singita safari in Africa.
This might just be my favorite use of 40,000 World of Hyatt points ever, and I wholeheartedly recommend this place.
I still think the $2,800 per night cash price tag is steep, and for that matter don't understand the economics of this place. But when you can book two of the four rooms here with points, that's an awesome opportunity.
How does this compare to what you expected from Calala Island? And to those who booked a stay here, how does this compare to your expectations?
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