paula

I am planning our 25th anniversary get-away for next spring. Can someone give me some input on Barbados and/or Bonaire - what did you like or dislike about each? All inclusives on these islands? Preference for hotels? Dining options?? Thanks for your help!

paula

No suggestions or comments? Thanks anyway!

Lisa

Bonaire is great if you are into diving and snorkeling.

penny

Hi Paula-I went to Barbados several years ago. I liked all the wonderful dining options, touring the island, and the beautiful sunsets. We stayed at Treasure Beach and the beach was very nice, and you could walk up the beach to Sandy Lane and beyond. It was not all inclusive, and I would not do an all inclusive as Barbados has very nice restaurants. What I did not like is the jet skis noise, but not a real big problem. I would go back to Barbados it is a lovely island. I have not been to Bonaire so I cannot help.

paula

Thanks for the input - I appreciate it!

Caribbeanlover

Bonaire is not as lush as Barbados, yet the island is known to have the best dive sites in the world. So if you are into diving go to Bonaire. Do not expect any good nightlife or great shopping on the island, the island is home to 15,000 people and it is very quiet for the most part. Lots of arid nature and intresting place to visit such as the slave huts and little Bonaire. So if you are into quiet experience and lots of diving go to Bonaire, if you want a lusher island with more activities to do including at night Barbados would be a better choice.

Enjoy

JB

Snorkeling & quiet Bonaire
Other things
Barbados
We stayed at Royal Pavillion several years ago beautiful, plenty to see on island if you do not mind driving on "the other side" very friendly people.
Very good resturants, decent snorkeling but plenty of tourist sites.
Sandy Lane is also beautiful, Sam Lords castle is nice but too far off the beaten path

fiona

sorry, haven't been to Bonaire but was in Barbados last spring and returning next spring. We went to Sam Lords which is in a beautiful setting but as the above poster said , it is isolated. While we enjoyed SLs we are going to the west coast next year, to Club Rockley. We wanted more opportunity to get out and about at night. We intend to dine at the Cliff as it has been highly recommended but can't give you more ideas for restaurants yet. Certainly go to Oistins on a Friday night- it's a small fishing village which comes to life on a Friday- enjoy fish from one of the stalls and mix with the locals.
Personally I wouldn't go overboard with Bridgetown although it is worth a short visit. I certainly went overboard on the catamaran trip(!)- thats a "must do"- going snorkelling in amongst the most colourful fish( thousands of them!!!) and the turtles.
Barbados is a beautiful island.
Do a search on this site to find out more about the hotels and dining out - theres plenty info here. I haven't really noticed any complaints about hotels, apart from Almond Beach Village, and even then many people were writing to say that they had enjoyed it.
I hope that this has been of some help to you! Enjoy whichever you pick!

fiona

just did a search on Bonaire and it seems like there is a lot of damage sustained during hurricane Lenny and there are a few reports about rising crime- check it out yourself as there are also other web addresses given which would be helpful to you.

xxx

Paula
Have you decided which one are you going to?

xxx

is there anyone still in the building?

Andy

In Barbadis Sandy Lane is just coming off a multimillion dollar renovation, so I would go for it as first choice- 2nd choice (but a fabulous resort) is Royal Pavillion==both have great beaches ==neither are all inclusives--don;t go with all inclusives as restaurant are abundant and driving around is fine.