Mike C

We are going on our honeymoon in late May and have two options for a free stay. Le Meridien La Cocoteraie in Guadeloupe or Glitter Bay in Barbaodos. Both look great. We have never been to the Caribbean and are looking for a great first experience. <BR> <BR>Any suggestions/advice? <BR>

Karen

Hi Mike: We have been to Barbados as stops on two cruises. It is a wonderful island and from our visits it is one island that i know I could spend a week visiting. Glitter Bay is located in a very beautiful beach area. There are lots of very diverse types on beaches and you will find it easy to travel the island. Lots of history and natural beauty as well as watersports and great restaurants. One trip we rented a moke and travelled the island.Bathsheba,Cherry Tree Hill, Farley Hill, Andromeda Gardens, Codrington College and the Anglican Church (what a view) as well as Bottom Bay and Crane Beach and the Barbados Hilton for sunset. It is really easy to make your way around the island. On another trip we went snorkling at Folkstone and to Paynes Beach. The shopping is good but pricey. It would be a great honeymoon spot. Have been to Martinique which is similar to Guadelope as for as having a French flavour. I think it would be extremely helpful to speak French if going to Guadelope. I have never heard any positive remarks about Guadelope or Martinique but I really enjoyed Martinique anyway. Have a great holiday and a wonderful wedding.Karen

michael

I have not been to Guadeloupe, but I have friends who were there and they hated it for a variety of reasons. These are people who travel the Caribbean a lot, and they had major problems with Guadeloupe. They were robbed massively to begin with and found corruption rampant. They also found the service in restaurants and other places to be impossible. I have been to Barbados and can attest to the beauty and gracefulness of that island. That's where I'd head of the two. <BR> <BR>Good luck!

April

I'd have to agree with what's already been said. I also have not been to Guadeloupe but stayed at the Meridien in Martinique (where I had my first and best planter's punch) some years ago. It was very nice but speaking the language would have helped, both at the hotel and out. Without it we felt a little isolated. Many people apparently dislike the French islands but I am not one of them. However, whenever I think of Martinique I get a slightly melancholy feeling. <BR> <BR>Barbados, on the other hand, seems like light-hearted good fun! I can't imagine having a bad time there (even though, come to think of it, I did get mixed up in a riot at a cricket match). For a honeymoon and a first-time visit, I would definitely choose Barbados, west coast.

Patrick

I originally sent the message below to Mike C personally, but I decided to post it instead. Perhaps it will inform others. Again, these are just my personal, subjective impressions of Guadeloupe, but I think they are not completely skewed, either. <BR> <BR>I have never been to Barbados, but I did visit Guadeloupe for 2 weeks back <BR>in 1992 or '93. Fellow travelers and friends whose opinions I respect have nothing but good things to say about Barbados. I intend to make it one of my next stops in the Caribbean, which I have traveled extensively (with the glaring but soon-to-be remedied exception of Barbados!). <BR> <BR>Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Guadeloupe. It was the worst <BR>trip I have EVER taken in my 34 years. In fairness, I am sure there are many who have had a decent time on Guadeloupe without any troubles, and my opinion is colored by what happened. My friend and I rented a villa (known as a "Gite," an otherwise recommended option in other French locales), and it was burglarized <BR>during our stay. The people of Guadeloupe were almost uniformly unpleasant-they had a seriously malevolent attitude (and I am a person who tries to socialize with the local population and who respects foreign cultures, most definitely not the stereotypcial pushy American tourist). I assure you, these attitudes were not provoked. Of course, we met some nice islanders--they just seemed in short supply! At every beach, one had to be vigilant against the constant danger of having personal effects pilfered from your vehicle or beach bags. Often at an <BR>empty beach, some menacing fellow would suddenly show up and choose to <BR>annoyingly hover around us, waiting for us to leave our stuff unattended--believe me, I'm not paranoid. (However, as a result of this experience, I am now an advocate of traveling lightly, particularly in the Caribbean where basics are fine, and of course one should always be careful with one's belongings wherever he or she is.) Guadeloupe has high unemployment (at least when I was there), a crime/drug traffic problem, and a somewhat unstable political situation-many locals do not like being part of France, though they'd be stupid to secede-they are hugely subsidized by the French government. (These facts were given to my by the local gendarmes when I filed my burglary report, and echoed by a local businessman whose hotel I stayed at for the second week.) I admit the roads are impressively good, but who cares? Besides the burglary and these issues, there were a lot of other hassles and attitudes that made this a trip one never to forget-for all the wrong reasons. <BR> <BR>You also need to speak decent French, because the locals speak Creole, a <BR>form of French patois that is often quite different from French. It's <BR>almost a double-translation. Very few people speak English, even in resort areas, and those who do generally speak broken English. Even my travel companion, who speaks fluent French, also sometimes found it hard. (I again note that it's not that we were rude American tourists trying to force people to speak English that resulted in our bad treatment--like I said, we try to be very respectful and friendly in all places/cultures we visit. We love France and have never experienced the snubs that apparently some Americans do in France. I'm telling you, this was a bad experience.) <BR> <BR>Services, such as money changing (the local currency is the French Franc) <BR>are inconvenient. Lines at banks are long and slow. The bankers also <BR>take a lot of long siestas and the weekends off. This was around 1993, <BR>perhaps they have ATM's now, I don't know. Credit cards are generally accepted at many but not all places, though. <BR> <BR>Your posting asked about the Meridien, too. I did visit the Meridien when <BR>I was there. I looks like a comfortable self-contained resort, and some <BR>of the staff does speak decent English. The service was fine, we just stopped by for cocktails. It's also well-guarded, a necessity on this island, but not one I, for one, can welcome. Who wants to stay on a compound? There were also a lot of families with kids, something you may not want on your honeymoon, but they were OK. It's also an older resort, and I am certain there are better places on Barbados. I also visited Guadeloupe's Club Med-it was a lousy older facility on a lousy beach, crowded with Europeans (I have nothing against Europeans, or anyone else, just not crowds of them sharing the beach!) <BR> <BR>If you do go to Guadeloupe, you might try visiting the two small islands <BR>offshore, which sound like they have better beaches and a better <BR>atmosphere: Les Isles des Saintes, and Marie-Galante. I missed these on my visit. Someday, very far <BR>in the future, I may go back to check them out. If you're spending the <BR>money to stay at the Meridien, however, you probably won't make it to those islands. <BR> <BR>There are two pretty beaches on the north east coast of Guadeloupe (particularly Anse des Salines), but there are islands with many more and better beaches. I didn't like any of the other beaches. If you're into hiking, the western half of Guadeloupe is excellent for that. It has a big rain forest, volcano, etc. I didn't get <BR>to explore the western half too much, but I did more or less circumnavigate it. Beaches are no good on the western half (called "Basse Terre"). (In case you didn't guess, I'm a "beach person," beach quality may not matter as much to others.) <BR> <BR>The cuisine on Guadeloupe is most excellent, as one might expect from a <BR>French island. The service is another matter entirely-awful and extremely <BR>slow, even for the laid-back Caribbean. (I generally went to private restaurants and small inns to eat--I prefer that and staying in villas to all-inclusive resorts, as I get to see a lot more of an island and its culture. The service at the Meridien is probably pretty good.) The shabby service really got me upset, which is the opposite of how you're supposed to feel in the Caribbean. If it's the French experience you want, you'd be much better off on St. Martin or St. <BR>Barthelemy (St. Bart's) than Guadeloupe, particularly for your first visit <BR>to the Caribbean. Both have better beaches, better services, better <BR>people, and better facilities. I suspect Martinique is too much like <BR>Guadeluope, but I could be wrong. (Again, the extensive rain forest on Basse Terre may be a big plus for nature lovers and hikers--though Dominica offers that too, in more prisine abundance, from what I've read.) <BR> <BR>I am sure that Barbados would be an excellent choice, especially for your <BR>first visit to the Caribbean. That is my recommendation. <BR> <BR>Again, you'll need to make your own decision, my impressions are obviously <BR>affected by the burglary, though I still feel many of my criticisms are <BR>valid and objective. I just don't think mine was an isolated misfortune. Hope this was of some help to you, and have a great honeymoon, wherever you go. <BR> <BR>Sincerely, <BR>Patrick Hughes