Bernard Burt's Best: Water Works

Water Works

Cooking Up CuisinArt Resort

Anguilla, one of the islands in the British West Indies, is better known for musical jump-ups and the tony Cap Juluca Resort. However, cuisine and wellness appropriately highlight the ninety-three-suite CuisinArt Resort & Spa. Its water-based hydroponic farm provides fresh vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers year-round. This half-acre state-of-the-art facility is housed in a specially designed greenhouse where you can learn about hydroponics from one of the world’s foremost authorities, Howard M. Resh.

Cooking classes add to the fun; create your lunch during Wednesday sessions for $25. Under the direction of French-trained chef Denis Jaricot, formerly head honcho at Truffles in Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel, dining at CuisinArt is a multi-cultural experience. The menu features everything from filet of bison to succulently prepared sea bass. In November, you might meet Mr. Jaricot’s godfather, French master chef Paul Bocuse, at Mediterranean-inspired cooking classes.

Watersports, walks on the beach, a freshwater swimming pool, and the Venus Spa ensure relaxation. Delicious homemade sorbets are served and attendants offer cooling sprays of Vichy water. Escape from the sun and heat at the Venus Spa, where veteran director Kathleen Eggleston (Babor Institut, Palm-Aire) created a menu of sea-salt scrubs and seaweed wraps. Fashioned after a Greek island retreat, this three-story whitewashed oasis offers massage, reflexology, hot-stone therapy with polished sea stones, and a Rusk Salon for hair and nail care. CuisinArt’s suites have terraces overlooking the sea and vistas of St. Martin in the distance. Opt for a solarium suite: sunbathing au naturel in absolute privacy. Candles flicker romantically in the Italian marble bathroom, where the tub for two offers an aromatherapy soak. The Sea of Love week-long package for two persons costs $3,100 through December 16. (The resort is closed Sept. 3-Nov.1.) For more information call (800) 937-9356 or visit www.cuisinartresort.com

Sail the Seven Seas

Set to launch this winter, the first Canyon Ranch SpaClub at sea aboard Cunard Line’s new flagship Queen Mary 2 links London and New York on trans-Atlantic service. And in the summer of 2004, she’ll star at the Olympics! Canyon Ranch will be on two decks, with a thalassotherapy pool, and cafe.The 2,628-passenger liner docks in Athens to serve as a floating hotel during the Olympic games in Greece. For more information visit www.cunard.com. Also, Judith Jackson’s third Sea Spa for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises is aboard the new 700-passenger Seven Seas Voyager inaugural season of Mediterranean and Baltic voyages. For more information visit www.rssc.com. Despite stormy seas created by Carnival Cruise Corporation’s acquisition of P&O Lines, the launch of Princess Cruises’ exclusive Lotus Spa concept aboard their 2,600-passenger Star Princess was a success. Conceived by the line’s director of spas Jeffrey Kohl, the Asian-themed Lotus Spa is operated by Steiner. For more information visit www.princess.com. Can’t afford a million-dollar condo on the ResidenSea? Book one of the eighty suites for individual cruises and enjoy Swiss Clinique La Prairie treatments. For more information visit www.residensea.com. Join renowned fitness expert Sheila Cluff onboard the six-star Crystal Harmony for an autumn cruise and upon return enjoy a free two-night stay at Cluff’s northern California spa, The Oaks at Ojai. This eleven-day voyage sails from Costa Rica on October 16th, transits the Panama Canal, and visits Caribbean ports. For more information call (800) 777-6540 or visit www.sterlingtravelinc.com. Also, this fall, set sail for less than $100 a day aboard Windstar Cruises’ tall-masted Wind Surf. Fares start at $1,343 for the fourteen-day non-stop voyage from Lisbon, Portugal, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With a full-service Steiner spa, the 308-passenger Wind Surf has the classical look of a sea-going yacht, personal service in two gourmet restaurants, and an extensive fitness program. For more information visit www.windstarcruises.com.

Catch Wisconsin Waves at Kohler Waters Spa

Nestled in a factory town devoted to building better baths, The American Club gained a new star with the opening of its Kohler Waters Spa. Close to Milwaukee’s spectacular new Museum of Art, Kohler emphasizes sybaritic design. Soothing colors, mosaics, and textures of stone, glass, and wood envelop you in a watery world of stress-releasing pleasure. The centerpiece of the Waters Spa is an atrium pool and waterfall, where you can swim laps under a ceiling mural of puffy clouds and birds. Each of the twenty-one treatment rooms is designed with mood-enhancing decor, exotic tubs, and lighting that changes with the season.

Catch waves in the Tsunami grotto, an invigorating seventy-five-minute combination of bodywork and hydrotherapy ($155). After soaking in an infinity tub with water overflowing the edges, buckets of water made me feel like an aquanaut caught in tropical tsunami waves. Enjoy another water-borne experience in the Watsu pool: floating in the arms of your therapist for finger-pressure massage.

Now a 289-room five-star hotel, Kohler offers all of the five-star amenities. The signature restaurant, The Immigrant, features Wisconsin seafood and Kohler “Purelean” beef, served in small rooms decorated with folkart from countries that supplied artisans to create Kohler bath and toilet fixtures. Guests have free access to a fully-equipped fitness center, The Sports Core, that offers indoor tennis and swimming, plus an outdoor pool and cafe. Kids can stay fit at the day camp.

Accommodations are anything but rustic. You have a choice of bath styles in several buildings. Stay at the Carriage House for direct access to the spa, complimentary breakfast, and concierge service. If you feel inspired to create your own spa at home, the Kohler Design Center next door has museum-quality exhibits on the art of bathing.

For more information call (800) 344-2838 or visit www.kohlerwatersspa.com.

Take the Waters in Tuscany

The thermal springs at Terme di Saturnia Resort flow into state-of-the-art beauty treatments at Saturnia’s new Institute of Thermal Medicine and Scientific Cosmetology. Italy’s most modern well-being center opened last spring under direction of Dr. Nicola A. Fortunati, M.D. The seven-day fitness and anti-stress program includes a medical checkup, massage, and hydrotherapy bath.

Classic “cures” at Saturnia start in a vast pool fed by volcanic springs. Entering the sulfurous water from locker rooms, blobs of black plankton swirl around you. This is Saturnia’s trademarked bio-alga, blended with mineral-rich mud for facials and body wraps, and marketed at cosmetics boutiques worldwide.

New this summer: cascades and pools form a waterpark for day spa guests. The recent expansion of Hotel Terme di Saturnia added rustic lodges, but the original stone buildings offer the best views and direct access to the pool and treatments. Prices for a week with full board start at $821. For more information visit www.termedisaturnia.com

Herbs from Tuscany parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme take on new meaning when their essences are infused into personal skin care treatments fatto a mano (made by hand) during spa retreats in a hillside villa near Sienna. Scheduled this summer and fall, a personalized seven-day Tuscan Yoga Retreat can be arranged through Wimco, the Italian villa rental firm.Your private chef prepares heart-healthy cuisine, and massage therapists visit several times during the week. Priced at $825 per person (based on participation of six villa guests), the program includes guided trekking, daily morning yoga, and guided movement sessions followed by dinner with music. Excursions to medieval Siena reveal holistic lifestyles: “It’s from experts in this region that we draw resources for our villa guests in Tuscany,” says Wimco VP Janis Gordon. Rates are from $6,000 per week in three-bedroom villa (slightly higher through September) plus the costs of the program. For more information call (800) 932-3222.