We spent four nights at Cheeca last month. To sum up: Cheeca Lodge is a beautiful resort and if we were paying about $100 less a night, it would have been great. But for the amount of money we spent, we felt cheated. We expected the service to match the high rates we were paying, but it wasn’t even close. We will not return.

There weren’t any large, glaring issues, but there was a series of annoying small to medium ones that clearly puts Cheeca in the “overpriced” category. Some examples:

--My wife, who is pregnant, went to the spa for a massage. She was very uncomfortable during the massage and it got so painful that she started crying. The masseuse wasn’t able to help make her more comfortable, so she had to cut off the massage early and went to the changing room in tears. The receptionists there were nice and apologized, but didn’t offer her anything to compensate for her horrible experience. Didn’t offer her a nice refreshing drink, didn’t offer use of one of the many empty poolside cabanas by the spa pool for a few minutes so she could relax, and certainly didn’t offer her any money back. What really burned was that tip was included in the massage.

--We couldn’t figure out how to turn off the air conditioning in our room. We called the front desk and they said someone would call back to help. We never got a call back. We tried again, they said someone would come by. No one did.

--We were initially disappointed that breakfast wasn’t included, but it was our fault for not checking. Nonetheless, there was a cold buffet for $11 and a hot buffet for $17. Our waitress kept coming around to check up on us. We thought it was because she was nice. But a few minutes later, she gave the check to the couple next to us, letting them know that she charged them $17 on his breakfast because he took two strips of bacon. Checking up, indeed.

--I stopped in our room late one afternoon and it wasn’t made up. So I called. Someone eventually came by to make it up, but apparently decided it was late enough in the day that they’d go right to turn-down. Another night we were in the room when they came to turn down, so we asked them to come by later. They didn’t. From then on, we had them come in even if we were there—we wanted those chocolates!

--It was $55 to rent one their rarely used sailboats for an hour. We grudgingly paid it because we wanted to sail. While on the water, we spotted a spectacular loggerhead turtle. It wasn’t far from shore and he wasn’t moving swiftly so we raced back in on the sailboat, ran to the watersports shop, bought a waterproof camera, went back out and incredibly, we managed to find the turtle. We took out the camera and it didn’t work. It had expired 2 months prior. They said they’d give us a refund if none of the pictures came out. We brought back the blank negatives and asked for the $16 credit at checkout. She told us to go to the watersports shop. We firmly insisted that she do it because she had our itemized bill right in front of us. She sighed and credited our account.

--We spent one day in Key West. Came back that night around midnight. The place was deserted. Our room key didn’t work, so we had to go to the front desk to get a new one. No one was there. We had to knock on the desk and say “Hello? Anyone there?” to rouse the guy in the back who finally emerged and gave us a new key. It wasn’t 4 AM, it was midnight.

--The first night we ate dinner at the hotel. We were sitting next to a group that was complaining about their food taking too long and that when it came, it was cold. We thought they were being picky. But they were right. They eventually got the manager to come to their table and reduce the price of their meal since the service was so horrendous. Our food took forever and we were both convinced that my wife’s conch chowder was Progresso from a can. It was terrible. My butter lettuce “house” salad was field greens from a bag. After waiting forever for our main courses we tried to cancel our dinner orders but the food was on its way. It was decent, and somewhat redeemed the awful appetizers, but the length of time it took was absurd. Like most things at Cheeca, it wasn’t worth the price.

I know a lot of this sounds like nitpicking. But we’ve never felt so shortchanged. We spent A LOT of money on this trip—our last one before we have our baby this summer, and we had a great time because we always have a great time when we go away together. But didn’t make us feel like they cared whether we had a good time or not. We felt nickel and dimed. They took our money, they provided a nice facility, and that was pretty much it.

Islamorada is a truly beautiful location in the Florida Keys and Cheeca Lodge is a gem! The views and beachfront at this resort are magnificent! Enjoy lazy days by the pool or throw out a cast on the dock (poles available for rent!). A bit on the pricey side during peak season- and that is for the non-renovated room option. They certainly should continue with their renovation because the older rooms leave a lot to be desired. Although they are clean and comfortable they could use a lift! Especially the bathrooms! The staff weren't the friendliest during our stay but I wasn't too concerned because I only had to deal with them at check-in and check-out... This spot is a wonderful place to stay while visiting Islamorada!

Our family of four, including 2 teenagers ages 12 and 15, just returned from a 3-night stay at the Cheeca Lodge. As a faithful reader of this website, I was a little nervous about some of the recent negative reviews that have been posted. However, I knew from the moment that we first pulled up to the main entrance and received a warm greeting from the bellman, that we were in for a wonderful stay. I have to admit that our stay at Cheeca was nothing less than fabulous.
As many of the other reviewers have posted, the grounds of the Cheeca lodge are simply beautiful. We stayed in a renovated resort view room with 2 queen-sized beds. While not palatial in size, the room was very comfortable for 4 people. We had dinner the first evening in the Curt Gowdy lounge and ordered several lunches while at the beach. Although the service is not what I would expect at a 5-star restaurant, I felt that all of the waitstaff did a commendable job. We were on vacation and were in relaxation mode. If it took 10-15 minutes to get a lunch order, I did not find that unreasonable.
We played tennis, went fishing off the pier, used the kayaks, bikes and the fitness room. We never had to wait to use any of these resort amenities.
Although the pool was crowded, we chose to sun on the beach. We never had trouble finding a tiki hut or shade.
We took a 2 hour snorkeling trip from the resort pier with Rob and Khullen who provided us with a wonderful afternoon. We made some great memories at Cheeca and we would not hesitate to return.

We just returned from a week at the Cheeca and had a great experience! We were a little concerned after reading mixed reviews, but I am happy to report that our room (Deluxe Suite) was beautiful and clean and we had no complaints at all about the service.
The man at the gatehouse was very welcoming - our girls commented on how friendly he was. When we first got to our room, the electricity was out in the master bedroom and our safe was locked shut. We called the front desk and both things were promptly and cheerfully taken care of. We also got a follow-up call to make sure all was well.
The only complaint I have is typical of beach resorts - there don't seem to be enough chairs at the pool - and if you are not there very early in the morning to claim your space, you are out of luck for the most part. Perhaps the lodge should consider allowing teenagers at the spa pool?!