The Ritz Carlton Amelia Island is heaven on earth!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Week at the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island, located just 40 minutes from the Jacksonville Airport. Everyone was extremely nice and helpful.

Upon check in we were given a customized piece of chocolate, a unique salt blend (created especially for us for our food to take home) and two complimentary glasses of champagne to celebrate our anniversary. Tip-let the concierge know it’s your anniversary, they treat you really well if you do!

The Ritz Carlton is affiliated with Marriott properties and we were lucky enough to cash in points to have a 5 night stay in an oceanfront balcony room. Weather was perfect, about 68-70 degrees each day with sun in the morning and partly cloudy in the afternoon.

The overall facility was beautiful. It’s quite large with golf and tennis available. All rooms have balconies and ocean front rooms. Three restaurants, a spa and fantastic shopping including Southern Tide, Lilly Pulitzer Signature Shop, and the Ritz Carlton Signature Shops.

Salt, is their high end restaurant, 4 star rated by AAA, and it is well worth the money. We celebrated our anniversary here and were greeted with a customized menu if we desired. We were served by no less than 6 attendants during this dinner. It was fantastic. Best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had. They also ask when you order dinner to order souffles as they take 20 minutes to cook. A truly memorable experience. Other restaurants include COAST, which serves 3 meals a day, and has take out coffee and pastries and a Pub. There is a restaurant by the pool also however they just closed for the season on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Everywhere we ate on the property was excellent.

ritz2 — Parrot Amelia greets you on your way to the pool with HELLO.

I’ve listed below various photos of the property. They have a very expansive children’s program especially during the holidays and it seems many families come here especially for that. For example, Santa will come to your room and tuck your child in and read a bedtime story.

The beach is beautiful and a walk on the beach is warranted. They do bonfires at night with smores, a fun activity. We did not use the SPA. It seems very expensive. We used the Omni Spa, which a review will be forthcoming. The Gingerbread Boat Amelia is posted in the photos below. It’s the largest handmade gingerbread boat in the United States. It’s quite a site!

The pool and jacuzzi are fantastic. Pool is heated and felt like a bathtub getting in. Jacuzzi is very large and felt great. They also have an indoor pool and jacuzzi located right off the main pool space.

No self parking; all parking is Valet which is kind of a downside. They do charge a resort fee which covers nominal things including a can of tennis balls and a tennis court for use daily with rackets. We did not use the tennis facilities. There is no pro shop to speak of other than a reservation clerk. We used the Omni tennis program and I’ll write a future review as well.

Our room was beautiful. Large bathroom, huge bed with comfortable bedding and a balcony with ocean views. Espresso machine in room with complimentary water bottles each day. Quiet hallway and housekeeping was great each day. We did only receive our turn down on the last night which was disappointing as it gives you a daily run down of the next days events each evening which would have been nice to have.

We hope to return one day back to the Ritz. A great spot, and very relaxing!