Especially Suited For A Luxurious Intimate Getaway.
- House12500 sq. ft.
- Sleeps: 18
- Bedrooms: 9
- Bathrooms: 9
- Half Baths: 2
- Min Stay: 2 nights
The Crimson Orchid Inn offers both a jungle and bay view.
Bedrooms
Owner
Stephen Honeybill
- Languages:
- english
About Stephen Honeybill
I am a native of England that like many of my fellow countrymen have traveled the world. By the age of 26 I had settled in upstate New York, but continued to travel in my public television career. After retiring at 55 from my first career I started my own small construction company. By 2010 I decided that life was to short to work all hours and so started investigating opportunities overseas. Having traveled to a number of countries in Central and South America previously and understanding the difficulties of blending into their cultures, I was heartened by my discovery of Belize. People understood me (I speak only English) and I discovered a culture that was an amazing blend of all the different cultures that have been melded together of centuries. The Queen of England still adorns the money and business, banking, legal matters, politics and the TV is all English. I had come home to a place where the weather is always great!
Stephen Honeybill purchased this House in 2012
Why Stephen Honeybill chose Orchid Bay
I landed on this property by boat after crossing the Bay of Chetumal from the Yucatan Peninsular one November day in 2010. It was love at first sight! At the time the casitas (small homes) were under construction and therefore I couldn't even stay the night, but the seed was planted. After a subsequent trip a month later I decided to jump in with both feet. Within 6 months I had broken ground on The Crimson Orchid Inn, which today I now run as a unique, and growing more luxurious by the day, Bed & Breakfast with a rooftop bar. Many of the casita and other home owners have entrusted me with renting out their home-away-from-home when they are not fortunate enough to be here. This gives me the opportunity to meet a wide cross-section of fascinating travelers thereby giving me a view of the rest of the world without even having to live with 'the madding crowd'.
What makes this House unique
The cooling breezes of the trade winds make the rooftop terrace and bar a wonderful place to relax by day or night. The Crimson Orchid is just a 2 minute stroll from the Tradewinds Bar & Grill, the infinity edged pool, the beach in front of that, and the calm shallow waters of the bay. We are surrounded by jungle therefore see all sorts of wildlife including foxes, coatimundi, parrots, dolphin, manatee, and assorted wild cats.
Amenities
Featured
- Internet
- Air Conditioning
- TV
- Washer & Dryer
- Children Welcome
- Parking
- Accessible
Bathrooms
- Bathrooms: 9, Half Baths: 2
House Rules
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Parties/events allowed
No smoking
No pets
Children allowed
Max guests:18
Cancellation Policy
100% refund if canceled at least 60 days before arrival date. 50% refund if canceled at least 30 days before arrival date.
1 Review
Very nice resort. Great beach and pool. Many many bugs. Dog lives at Inn.
We stayed at the Crimson Orchid Guesthouse over Christmas 2013.
We were a large group of four families, so we basically filled most of the guesthouse rooms.
Overall, I can summarize our stay as a good and enjoyable one, but I feel I have to portray the good and the bad aspects of the guesthouse for future vacationers.
The guesthouse: The rooms and bathrooms are very nice and comfortable, and the common living spaces are very nice and pleasant. There are plenty of DVDs to watch on a big screen TV. There are very convenient washers and dryers that can be used. The distance to the pool and beach is very short. Stephen, the guesthouse owner/manager, let us use the kitchen facilities.
One major item that put a big damper on our stay was that Stephen has a dog and the guesthouse is his home. If you are a dog lover this is not a problem as the dog is very friendly and cute, but if you have members in your group who are allergic or are repelled by the odor, or have small children who are afraid, this is a problem as the dog takes preference to the guests.
Unfortunately Stephen does not take any actions to lessen the mosquito situation (which is very bad). It would be easy to put plug-in repellants in each room, or provide coils for outdoors, but nothing is provided so consider bringing it from home. Even if you try very hard not to let mosquitos into your room, they are bound to get in so you need something.
I would also recommend that you set the days that you rooms will be cleaned at the beginning of your stay. We were promised the rooms will be cleaned twice during our weeks stay, but they were only cleaned once. The second one occurred on the evening before our last night.
Another item worth mentioning is the internet connection. For some members in our group wi-fi was very important but when we arrived it turned out that it was not working properly. Stephen did work with us to find an acceptable solution, but you may want to inquire beforehand if this is important for you.
To Stephens credit I must say he was very helpful in providing us with information regarding car rental, driving routs, places to visit, etc.
To summarize, the guesthouse has lots of potential, as long as you are aware of and address the items listed above.
The location: The location is beautiful and the resort is well planned and very comfortable. Very bad access roads that make day trip a big hassle. Many many biting bugs. Bring long sleeved clothes as repellants do not help.
My dog is a well behaved, people friendly and intelligent puppy that is rapidly learning the ways of the world. He made friends with everyone very quickly, adult and child alike. The only issue was that one adult was afraid of all dogs and so he was kept away from her.
Mosquitoes are found across the U.S. and Canada and are of little note here in Belize except for about two hours after the sun sets or in the Jungle. Despite being told that light attracts all bugs flying around in the early evening, care was not taken to close doors when lights were shining in the rooms and in consequence, those bugs that were around were attracted to the lights. A major contributory factor was the number of young children under the age of 10 that continually ran around. It should be noted that Belize was subjected to lifetime record amounts of rainfall during and well beyond the normal rainy season last year which contributed greatly to the bug population. As the weather dries out the bugs disappear.
Map
Orchid Bay is a peaceful, gated community located between the jungle and the placid waters of Chetumal Bay. It's position right on the bay offers the early riser the opportunity to watch sunrise over the jungle. Tropical days and nights are almost equal year round. The sun sets over the end of the bay in a myriad of colors that tug at the heart strings each day. By night you can enjoy the dark non-light-polluted skies from the rooftop bar at the Crimson Orchid Inn whilst sipping on an ice cold refreshment. During the northern winter-spring see both the North Star and the Southern Cross above the horizon and the Milky Way.
We are located approximately 12 miles from the conservative Mennonite community of Little Belize. You can step backwards in time 100 years as you travel through this agricultural community that covers 100 square miles. Small tours are also available in one of their traditional carts pulled by a pony.
We will arrange tours of Mayan city ruins - Lamanai, Altun Ha, Xibalba-the Mayan underworld in the caves of Actun Tunichil Muknal (Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre), boat or 'puddle-jumper' trips to the Cayes and the reef, cave tubing, and much more.