Kid-friendly, pet-friendly, pocketbook-friendly, The Tradewinds Island Resort at St. Petersburg Beach is undergoing a multimillion-dollar facelift this summer/fall that will enhance its value even more.
This lively facility with the slogan "Just Let Go" offers the opposite of Boca Grande entertainment and that's OK for both sides. It would be too loud, too crowded and too, too much here on Gasparilla Island while the resort fits in nicely on the kitschy strip along St. Pete's Beach where the garishly pink Don CeSar Beach Resort presides. Don CeSar's color scheme is so bright it's visible from space.
This is the offseason at the more traditional Tradewinds, which makes its most money and charges its top room dollar from February through August. That $300 March room you rented for spring training or break now costs just north of $100 and thinning crowds mean the trademark Tradewinds service is enhanced.
Article Photos
Nice architectural touches such as this fountain enhance the Tradewinds Island Resort ambiance.
The three-story blue High Tide Slide dominates the shoreline and anchors the new Splash Island Water Park. It's a lot of fun but it's not there for aesthetics. That's about it for the drawbacks.
This is a great place to have simple fun along 25 acres of shoreline with seven swimming pools, including one adults-only, spa and fitness facilities, golf, volleyball, paddleboats, tennis, fishing and shopping. If you want more variety there's a sister resort within walking distance. But you will have no real reason to leave Tradewinds Island Resort because it's an all-in-one vacation.
Just the food is reason to celebrate every mealtime. There isn't a clunker among its eight restaurants, eateries and taverns.
Fact Box
Tradewinds Resort at a glance
Where: St. Petersburg.
Directions: Take Interstate 75 to I-275 to St. Pete Beach.
Rooms: 584 deluxe guest rooms, including 165 now under renovation, 377 hotel and parlor rooms, 200 suites and six penthhouses.
Pools: Seven
Restaurants: 8
New: Water park
Contact: (866) 587-8538 or (727) 363-2212 or go to JustLetGo.com.
Short-Sweet bottom line: Terrific service, outstanding recreational value. A bustling resort filled with activities means the noise level can ratchet up during the day. Food is mouth-wateringly good throughout. Great beds, clean rooms.
Some of the more memorable meals: We had an excellent blackened grouper sandwich with french fries crisped on the outside and mashed potato-like inside at the Flying Bridge Beach Bar; a superior breakfast buffet at Bermuda's Restaurant; and one late-night bout with "nuclear wings" at Beef O'Brady's doused with ghost pepper sauce. But we saved our last night out for the best.
The intimate 16-table Palm Court Italian Grill is a star that would shine among the best competition.
Although my Italian was shaky, I ordered the carpaccio di Manzo appetizer, which featured a pounded carpaccio (thinly sliced raw beef) with Cipriani dressing and a black truffle salad. Not recommended if you don't like sushi or tartare, its steak equivalent, which I love. Cool and tasty.
My bride, Amy, had the Napoleone di Ravioli di Pisello Grnachio, which took longer to write than eat. An outstanding concoction of spring pea and ricotta in ravioli pasta with roasted red and yellow pepper salad accented by warm lump crab. Mmmmm.
We asked for salad to be interspersed between appetizer and entree. I stayed with cool on this 90-plus degree day and was rewarded with a well-done Caprese salad (Insalata D'Inverno to Italians) with sliced tomatoes topped by balls of fresh mozzarello, basil and a colorful, flavorful balsamic syrup.
Amy's insalata di spinaci was another summer salad of baby spinach, pickled red onion, gorgonzola, sliced pecan and bacon vinaigrette, a New Orleans standard. Too tasty.
The best was yet to hit the table.
My New York strip was a slab of tender beef, done a bit more than the ordered medium rare, topped with tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese and cherry balsamic with perfect asparagus spears on each side. Outstanding.
Amy's bloody tenderloin with rainbow chard, truffle-whipped potato and morel mushroom sauce was creative and flavorful.
Half the entrees had to go home for breakfast because we were out of room. But we weren't going to leave without carryout dessert, too.
My strawberry cheesecake was confection perfection but her chocolate lava cake with homemade ice cream, fresh strawberries and chocolate straws was the definitive sweet-tooth delight every chocoholic craves.
Check-in and checkout experiences can color any visit and Tradewinds makes it easy to slide in and out. The checkout was especially well-executed with baggage handlers coming to your room at your call to load your car. Since we had run up no extra room charges to sign for all we had to do was leave the room key cards on the table, stroll to the car, tip the valet (who had left two cold bottles of water in the car for us. Nice touch.) and drive off to watch the Rays sweep Boston. But that's another success story.
Short-Sweet bottom line: Terrific service, outstanding recreational value. A bustling resort filled with activities means the noise level can ratchet up during the day. Food is mouth-wateringly good throughout. Great beds, clean rooms.
