Ocean Club

Ocean Club

The saga of this elegant 58-room hotel began in 1939 when a wealthy Swedish industrialist bought a small estate on Hog Island in the Bahamas from Edmund Lynch, co-founder of Merrill, Lynch and Company.

Hartford's first move was to have the name of Hog Island changed. In 1962, he succeeded in persuading the Bahamian legislature to rename it Paradise Island. Then he built a 52-room hotel on the Shangri-La estate. A restaurant, first class marina for 65 yachts, a solarium, and an 18-hole golf course were among the improvements. The Ocean Club, as he renamed Shangri-La, lost money and was sold in 1966. After several different owners, the hotel was bought by Sun International and opened in 1995 after a 7.5 million dollar renovation.

The furnishings of the Ocean Club include careful reproductions of European antiques. Rooms are decorated with carved furniture, lots of chintz, hand-painted stenciling and bright, soft colors of yellow, peach, and gold. All accommodations have expansive balconies or patios, central air conditioning, indoor and outdoor ceiling fans, mini-bars, safes, and 27-inch televisions.

The Ocean Club has three restaurants, as well as the Hartford Lounge, named after the original owner, Huntington Hartford, who used his fortune to fashion the resort into an exclusive hideaway for the rich & famous in the 1960's.

The Beach Bar & Grill, open for cocktails and lunch, overlooks picturesque sandy Cabbage Beach, and offers light American and Bahamian cuisine.

The resort's famous Versailles Gardens, with their statues of such luminaries as Napoleon's Josephine, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, David Livingstone, the Faust legend, and Cecil Rhodes, many carved in Italian marble, were carefully preserved and enhanced with meticulous landscaping.

Recreation includes: Tennis at the resort's Paradise Island Tennis Club (nine Har-Tru courts), complimentary bicycles, table tennis, water skiing, Aquacat sailing, kayaking, snorkeling, and scuba diving lessons at the nearby Atlantis.

Paradise Island is three hours by direct flight from New York City and 45 minutes from Miami. Convenient service from most major U.S. cities is available. The Nassau International Airport is 30 minutes from the resort. The resort can arrange limousine service from the airport.

Paradise Island
Bahamas
U.S. Reservations: 904-288-0036

The owner Wenner-Gren renamed the property Shangri-La and continued to make improvements on his island hideaway (which was enjoyed purely as a private home for his wife and friends) until 1961. Only months before his death in 1961, Wenner-Gren sold Shangri-La to a neighbor. The initial contract was written on the back of a menu after an excellent meal accompanied by fine wines. The neighbor, owner of a small piece of land and a modest house, was Huntington Hartford II, grandson to the founder of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P).

The Ocean Club has 58 guestrooms, including four suites and five, two-bedroom villas. The Deluxe guestrooms and suites offer ocean views and the Superior guestrooms and suites have garden views.

The suites have handsome double doors from the bedrooms opening onto the living areas. Bathrooms are appointed with imported marble, tile vanities, bidets, bathrobes, scales, irons and ironing boards, and customized soaps and toiletries. Guests are treated to maid service three times a day.

The Ocean Club's premier restaurant is the Courtyard Terrace, considered one of the most romantic restaurants in The Bahamas. Crystal and silver sparkle in the moonlight on linen-draped tables around the hotel's gracious courtyard pool and fountain.

Huntington Hartford purchased this magnificent 12th century French cloister from William Randolph Hearst, the wealthy publisher, who had imported it from Europe and then stored it (in pieces) in Florida. It took Hartford's experts more than a year to re-assemble this beautiful monument to European art because they had no plans to work from.

The resort's large swimming pool overlooks the beautiful Versailles Gardens and French cloisters.

A wide variety of gift and specialty shops, including a host of duty free stores offering exceptional buys on liquor, perfumes, crystal, watches, and linens, are located in downtown Nassau, just minutes away, or at nearby Atlantis' Crystal Court Shops.

2005 Daily Double Rates - January 2 to February 16... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $725. Ocean View $825. Garden View Suite $1,280. Ocean View Suite $1,375. Garden Cottages $1,390. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $1,025. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,995. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,000. Four Bedroom $6,000. February 17 - February 20... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $725. Ocean View $825. Garden View Suite $1,280. Ocean View Suite $1,375. Garden Cottages $1,390. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $1,055. Luxury Beachfront Suite $2,055. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,500. Four Bedroom $6,500. February 21 to March 19... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $725. Ocean View $825. Garden View Suite $1,280. Ocean View Suite $1,375. Garden Cottages $1,390. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $1,025. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,995. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,000. Four Bedroom $6,000. March 20 - April 23... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $725. Ocean View $825. Garden View Suite $1,280. Ocean View Suite $1,375. Garden Cottages $1,390. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $1,055. Luxury Beachfront Suite $2,055. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,500. Four Bedroom $6,500. April 24 to May 30... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $725. Ocean View $825. Garden View Suite $1,280. Ocean View Suite $1,375. Garden Cottages $1,390. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $1,025. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,995. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,000. Four Bedroom $6,000. May 31 to June 29... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $475. Ocean View $575. Garden View Suite $775. Ocean View Suite $960. Garden Cottages $975. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $760. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,395. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $4,500. Four Bedroom $5,500. June 30 to July 4... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $525. Ocean View $625. Garden View Suite $825. Ocean View Suite $910. Garden Cottages $900. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $810. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,500. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $5,000. Four Bedroom $6,000. July 5 to August 31... "Hartford Wing" - Garden View $475. Ocean View $575. Garden View Suite $775. Ocean View Suite $910. Garden Cottages $900. "Crescent Wing" - Luxury Beachfront $760. Luxury Beachfront Suite $1,395. "Ocean Club Villas" - Three Bedroom $4,500. Four Bedroom $5.500. Minimun stay requirements of two to three nights apply to weekends. Add 12% resort levy. A two night deposit is due 7 days from reservation date. The cancellation policy is 14 days prior to arrival. All major credit cards accepted.

Reservation Information