scubafrog869

Don't know where to start...Celebrating 1 year kidney transplant for my husband and his only request is he wants to hear steel drum music! We are hoping to go February 2017 for 1-2 weeks. Best suggestion that is not cruise ship crazy, nice beaches right outside hotels and relaxing? Not into buffet type meals due to transplant. Open to just about anywhere! Thanks in advance!

RoamsAround

You can find steel pan music on about every island but the realty is you won't find a resort/hotel/beach bar that has it every night. Most places that have on-site entertainment rotate the type of music they offer. One night it might be steel pan, another might be a local singer and another night they might have a dj playing recorded music or perhaps even kareoke - you get the idea. There's also a chance that the resort you are staying at may not have steel pan music during the time you are planning to visit even though the had it the prior week in which case you might have to venture off resort to find the type of music you crave. There's a good chance, however, that if you stay at one of the more popular resorts on any island you'll have at least one night with steel pan music.

Now, if you want to avoid "buffets" then you probably want to stay away from the lower tier All Inclusive Resorts as all you can eat buffets are their stock and trade. Instead stay at non-all inclusive resorts, hotels or inns and plan on taking some or all of your meals at off-resort restaurants. If you do this no reason to even see a buffet let alone eat at one.

Avoiding islands with cruise ship crowds in February isn't to difficult - simply eliminate the islands (usually the larger and easier to reach islands) frequented by cruise ships and concentrate your research to the smaller islands.

Now to help you narrow your search it would help if you told us where you'll be flying from and what budget range (in terms of dollars - not some nebulous term like "affordable" or "won't break the bank") that have set aside for your trip. Let us know how much you are willing to spend for airfare and how much per night you are willing to spend for accommodation and finally what you have available for food and activities.

Islands you probably want to look at that don't have many cruise ships include Anguilla, St. Barth's, Nevis, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Providenciales and Grand Turk (both in the Turks & Caicos), Grenada, Dominica, St. Vincent, all of the Grenadines, to name quite a few.

scubafrog869

Thank you for your response. That's a start! We'd fly in from Detriot, Mi. Haven't set an actual budget yet. Thinking no more than $500 a night for hotel. That's the only thing we're trying to keep a budget on. Not too worried about airfare cost or meal money. Haven't gone scuba diving since 2008 due to his health issues. Might consider if Dr's clear him. Mostly looking to chill and enjoy warmth that time of year!

Lanmen

I agree with roams around. Most islands have steel pan music. I would actually recommend looking to see which island is celebrating carnival in February because this is the time Steel Pan music is really big on the islands with pan orchestra competitions etc. So a lot of traditional music is played during those times. I know right now each island celebrates Carnival at different times of year but I'm not sure as to what month each island celebrates it. Trinidad I would say is biggest for carnival and steel pan music (I actually think the steel pan originated from there), so you can look at that island. St. Lucia is also big on carnival and steel pan is big there, but their carnival is in July.

Now if you're more interested in chilling, snorkeling, diving, pristine beaches etc. Then I recommend somewhere the Grenadines. This place is amazing to both chill and explore. It sort of reminds of me the Maldives or Bora Bora. Tiny island spread out, crystal clear waters, just amazing. Did a day trip there on my St. Lucia Vacation and I just LOVED it. These photos doesn't even do ti justice but you can take a look here to see:

https://www.facebook.com/Serenitytvl...84079404996505

But that I think is as far my knowledge on this topic goes. Hope it helped.

scubafrog869

Beautiful! Thank you for the suggestions too!

leekb

Trinidad's carnival is the 27 & 28th February and Panorama (national steel drum competition) is 25th February. Steel drum/ pan did indeed originate from here (it's our national instrument). YouTube should have lots of videos about what you can expect.

As for the beautiful beaches, that'd be in the sister isle- Tobago, however not Trinidad. Perhaps a combo of both islands?

Pretty sure every Caribbean island will have some sort of steel drum entertainment.

Congrats to you and your hubby- health is something that should be celebrated.