RollTide_Houston

So my fiance and I are planning a honeymoon for mid July 2016. I have been to many islands in the Caribbean (DR, Bahamas, Jamaica, Caymans, USVI) but she has not. I am trying to chose and island that is not super touristy and can offer good resorts, good selection of food, good snorkeling, and good views/water. We do not care about shopping, nightlife is not a huge points but we would like to be able to get a drink or two some nights, a casino would be a plus for me. Obviously many islands fit these descriptions so I have narrowed the selection down to about 5 islands below. Please give me your opinion of which one(s) you think are best for the things I have described.

Budget: $7700 for 7 days, including airfare. Have a little wiggle room if need to up budget.

Turks & Caicos: This is in my top two. Seems to not be super touristy, looks to have awesome water, beaches, and snorkeling. Very pricey. Is the food good here, are there a good amount of choices that are easily accessible? The landscape scenery seems to be average as the island is flat and semi-arid.

St. Lucia: My other island tied with T&C for top choice. Mountains and rain forests make this island very appealing and my fiance is in love with views. Seems to be prettiest island landscape wise. Water seems to be pretty but maybe not on level with T&C. Have read the snorkeling is good, is it as good as the others on this list? I read food is good but limited options as resorts are isolated and getting around is expensive as taxi is only option. Also very pricey. Seems my biggest beef is how you are stuck at your resort and have read alot of them gouge you and good is average. Exploring the beauty of the island seems hard/expensive because of topography and roads. Thoughts?

Antigua: Have not done as much research on this island. Seems to be a decent middle ground of alot of islands. Good beaches, easier to get around, average selection of food, selection of casinos, and direct flights. How are the resorts? I have the read the snorkeling is good. How is the beauty of this island compare to others on my list? Is this place as pricey as the other?

Grenada: My fiance likes it because she is obsessed with waterfalls. I know it is a lesser known option since its independence from Great Britain and civil war. Do not know much about this island. Price? Beaches? Snorkeling? Resorts? Food?

Places we will not consider: Caymans, Jamaica, Bahamas, Aruba, St. Martin, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Martinique.

I appreciate your thoughts!
Hunter

RoamsAround

First, you mention that you were considering 5 islands but only listed 4 in your question. Do you have a "specific" 5th option?. If so, please let us know which one.

One of your main desires seems to be snorkeling. If so, of the islands you mentioned the Turks & Caicos (I assume you are looking at Providenciales' Grace Bay where 95% of the resorts in the T&C are located) has the better snorkeling - both walk-in and boat access. Antigua has very little walk-in snorkeling and the boat access sites are just OK but certainly no where near as good as in the T&C's There's only a limited amount of snorkeling off of St. Lucia and since it's a very big island you have to do some serious research if you want to stay at a resort that's nearby. Simply put, no one goes to St. Lucia for the snorkeling. I can't comment on the snorkeling off Grenada as I've never snorkeled there but based on what I've seen while visiting that island there's probably not a lot to choose from.

If snorkeling is a high priority for you then you might want to look at St. John (USVI's) or Virgin Gorda (BVI's) as you find some of the best in the Caribbean on those islands and it will outpace the snorkeling on any of the islands on your list. Both of these islands have a great combination of beautiful light golden sand beaches lapped by calm bright turquoise waters, a decent collection of restaurants and a variety of very good to excellent resorts. The only thing on your wish list that they lack is a casino. You should give them careful consideration.

RollTide_Houston

RoamsAround, Thanks for the input! It seems that you bring a good perspective from the snorkeling point of view. I would like the snorkeling to be good/great but if some of the other criteria are met then I could compromise if the snorkeling was not incredible. After alot of research it seems that you cant beat the virgin islands for snorkeling in caribbean (Brit or US). I would consider the BVI but from what I have read they are super expensive and do not have alot of option for resorts and food. But maybe I am wrong, are they more expensive than T&C or St. Lucia?

RoamsAround

I think you are mistaken about the overall "expensiveness" of the USVI's and BVI's vs. the T&C's and St. Lucia. Like most destinations they have their share of very upscale resort properties but they also have a wide choice of more budget friendly options. You should have no difficulty finding plenty of very nice resorts in your $7,700 price range during July throughout those islands.

A honeymoon is a pretty special event and you'll want to spend it on a special island. Others may disagree but to me, Antigua doesn't have that "special" vibe. It's a grade "B" island (good but not great) - you want a grade "A" or A+" island for your honeymoon. That's why I recommended St. John (USVI's) and Virgin Gorda (BVI's) in my earlier reply.

WWK

RollTide_

Hopefully Blamona, the T&C expert will answer this, but to respond to a few of your questions:

Grace Bay in Provo has one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, and that includes Greece!

We go almost every year, and love it because of the stunning long beach, some of which is remarkably empty, especially early-mid morning.

There are lots of good restaurants on the island, though food is pricey at the more upscale ones.

Some resorts like SEVEN STARS are close to restaurants, the big supermarket, town, etc. For others, you will need a car since taxis are insanely expensive ( about $10 per person each way).

WWK

I forgot to mention that one reason we keep going back to T&C is that it's an easy non-stop 3 hour flight from the East Coast. Not true of some of the other islands mentioned above.

RollTide_Houston

Roams,

Thanks for the honesty and getting to the point, I like your style. What you said about Antigua was exactly what I was looking for. For people that have been to these places to differentiate them by what they offer. Since I have not heard anyone rave about Antigua since doing my research and due to your comments I think I am ready to take Antigua off the list. After looking today it seems the VIs would still be doable for us. However since I have been to the USVI before I was leaning more towards the BVI. Would you recommend staying on Tortola or Gorda? Seems like if we want restaurant selection Tortola is better?

WWK,

Thanks for the input. You are like the 7th person to say T&C is their favorite destination. I can tell from the picture its beaches are gorgeous and the water is incredible. However I have a pretty high standard for beaches since I grew up in Destin, FL. We have sugar white sand. Being from the coast you learn from a young age that the real action actually happens in the water and on the boat, the beach gets a little boring after a while haha. Hopefully we can file a nice resort on Provo that has an ocean view. The premium resorts I looked at were pretty super pricey for next July but I didn't look that long. Still deciding whether to do all inclusive.

WWK

RollTide,

Provo has sugar white sand, too. But if you're bored by the beach, you might want to look at another island with more action like St. John, for instance. Provo is very quiet, except for water sports.

Some resorts to check out that aren't as pricey: THE SANDS, WINDSONG, OCEAN CLUB WEST.

All of the resorts have ocean view and most come with kitchens, so you can scale back food costs by eating breakfast/lunch in your condo/resort.

Also many resorts offer summer deals of some kind. But it's probably way too early now to figure out what those will be.

RoamsAround

First, to put thing in perspective, I live in the Caribbean and have visited well over 25 different islands, many of them multiple time.

While Tortola is nice, my favorite island in the BVI's is Virgin Gorda (Note: No one refers to it as just "Gorda"). I first visited there some 30 years ago and have been back many, many times since then. Also, to put your mind at ease, Virgin Gorda has plenty of restaurants, not as many as Tortola, but more than enough for you to have lunch and dinner at different places every day of your week long honeymoon.

You should also be aware that on this forum there are a lot of T&C enthusiasts but I'm not one of them. One visit was enough for my spouse and me, we will not be going back. Provo's Grace Bay is indeed spectacular (11+ miles of sugar white sand) but the island is flat, arid and scrubby which is not to my liking. For us, an island needs more that just a pretty beach. We also found the locals lacked the friendliness that we found on other island.

The biggest difference between the beaches on Provo vs. the ones on Virgin Gorda come down to color of the sand - white on Provo vs. light gold on Virgin Gorda - and the "size" and number of the beaches. On Provo, the main beach is Grace Bay which is 11+ miles long. There are a couple other beaches around the island that are somewhat remote and devoid of any "facilities".

There are many more beaches on Virgin Gorda but they are are smaller "cove like" beaches that vary in size from a few hundred feet to about 3/4's of a mile in length. IMO, the beaches on Virgin Gorda are more "picturesque" being nestled among hundreds of naturally growing palm trees and other tropical plants and vegetation, which you really won't find on Provo (much of the vegetation at the Grace Bay resorts is man-made landscaping, not natural growing plants).

Have fun selecting your honeymoon destination.

RollTide_Houston

Roams,

Thanks for the in depth info. After discussing with my fiance we are now very much considering the BVI. What is the most economical way to get to Virgin Gorda? Is it to fly into Tortola and then take a boat to Virgin Gorda?

In regards to T&C I will have to agree about the landscape. My fiance is very much into the topography and vegetation on an island. She wants to do some onshore excursions and places like T&C do not really offer that. Outside of the Virgin Islands is there anywhere else in the Caribbean you would recommend?

WWK

No doubt Provo isn't for every taste. We go because we love the easy flight, the beach (!), the quiet, and choice of restaurants. But there isn't much to do other than water sports.

Now about the locals: I could say the same about lack of friendliness in parts of St. Thomas, Barbados, and even Aruba. I don't think this is particular to T&C.

RoamsAround

Getting to Virgin Gorda can be a bit of a challenge but it is definitely worth the trip.

The "most economical way" may not necessarily be the "best" way. You have to look not only at the cost but also take into consideration the overall amount of time you spend reaching your destination and whether or not you feel a particular way is worth the cost differential. Generally speaking the most costly method is to fly directly into VG from either San Juan or St. Thomas and the less costly method is to take one of the ferries from St. Thomas.

The only way to determine which is the "most economical" is to actually price out the different options for YOUR specific dates of travel. Airline flights from the US (I assume that's where you are flying from) can vary greatly depending on time of year, day of week and the particular airline's anticipated passenger loads for the flights you select. Ferry schedules sometimes don't "mesh" well with airline schedules meaning you could have long waits or connections that are so short as to be problematic. For instance you may find a bargain air fare to San Juan that will help offset the cost to fly from SJU to VG and make your overall cost lower than if you flew from the US into St. Thomas and took a ferry. Or, you may find that your timing is such that you can't make the short ferry trip but instead have to take one that makes multiple stops. The ONLY way to know what works best FOR YOU is to price out the different options - there is no "pat" answer.

Personally, when traveling I NEVER, intentionally inconvenience myself just to save a few dollars. I'd rather use the method that gets me to my final destination as quickly as possible and with the least amount of connections.

You basically have the following options:

1) You can take a private charter flight from either San Juan or St. Thomas to VG. This will be the most costly option and probably be outside your budget. I mention only because it is the best, quickest and easiest way to reach the island.

2) Flying into either San Juan or St. Thomas then taking a commuter flight (most likely on Air Sunshine) to Virgin Gorda. Depending on your actual dates of travel you may find the cost for flying in VG is not all that much more than taking a series of ferries..

3) Flying into San Juan than taking a connecting flight to Tortola and then a ferry to VG. Cost will be about the same or slightly less than option 2 but will take longer. (FYI - it makes no sense to fly into San Juan and take a connecting flight to Tortola and ferry to VG so I've eliminated that option).

4) Flying into St. Thomas than taking ferry to VG. Depending on day and time the ferry might make one or more intermediate stops or you might have to take 2 different ferries. Cost will be less than options 1, 2 or 3 but elapse travel time will be several hours longer.

You can check Air Sunshine fares and schedules at: www.airsunshine.com

You can check ferry schedules between St. Thomas and VG at the following websites: http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/info_bviferry.htm

Google "Getting to Virgin Gorda" for lots of information.

Last hint: You might also want to check out the BVI Forum on TravelTalkOnLine - use the search feature there and you'll find hundreds of threads on the different ways to reach Virgin Gorda. - the subject has been discussed ad nauseum.

Hope this helps.

Jimmie

I'm adding my vote for Virgin Gorda, if you can find a way to make it work financially and logistically. It's a less touristed but beautiful island. Google image searches will help you get a sense of the beachscapes of both VG and T&C. I think VG is more different compared to Destin and will likely seem more exotic. Little Dix Bay is probably your best resort option. Lots of nice villas too, and you could always hire a cook/maid.

I went for a day trip to St. Lucia on a cruise stop and was really impressed with the island's beauty. And there's lots of waterfalls for your fiance! The problem, in my opinion, is that the resorts are either incredibly expensive (Jade Mountain, Anse Chastenet, Sugar Beach) or get mixed reviews. Can't really recommend one for you.

blamona

Obviously not 1 island fits all, so if you want the best--

Water (turquiose): Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Caymans, Barbuda, Virgin Islands, Grenadines, Out Islands of Bahamas. Avoid: St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Grenada (has some turquoise but not enough for the list) Antigua is turquoise but not same league as the list

Lushness (interiors which add to scenery and not meaning that all have turquoise water): Virgin Islands (probably most turquoise), Antigua, Grenada, St. Martin, St. Vincent, St. Lucia (not really turquoise waters)

Best snorkeling: Bonaire (no real beaches though), Virgin Islands, Caymans, Turks and Caicos, Belize, Roatan

Best Beaches: Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Out Islands of Bahamas

Most expensive: Anguilla, St. Barts, Barbuda, followed by Caymans, Turks and Caicos

Best shopping: St. Martin, St. Thomas

Best Restaurants: Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts, followed by Turks and Caicos

Best beach bars: Virgin Islands, Out Islands of Bahamas

You will find fans for every island, you will find people that don't like other islands. You will find that some users love their island so much they recommend it even if it doesn't fit criteria

For example, I love Anguilla, Turks and Caicos, Virgin Islands, Out Islands Bahamas. Don't like Grenada, St. Lucia or Bequia (in Grenadines but LOVE the others) at all.

rogandgee

For a honeymoon? I strongly suggest St. Lucia. T an C definitely has the crystal clear water because of its topography and location but St. Lucia also has wonderful water. If you stay in the Rondey Bay area in the north there are several good restaurants there as well as many resorts like Le Sport, Sandals, Club St. Lucia, Royal St. Lucian and others. They are not in remote areas. If you like seclusion then you can go to Ladera, Jade Mountain or Anse Chastanet which are in the Soufriere area on the west coast. These are all outstanding. Getting around the island can be reasonable depending on your contacts.

There is also a casino in Rodney Bay.

I have a personal blog on St. Lucia that you may find of interest and which may help you decide. Go to:

https://www.travelblog.org/Central-A...og-788144.html

Good luck.

RollTide_Houston

Thanks Jimmie for your vote, it seems I am really going to try and book the BVI if all possible. Hopefully the resorts there are a tad cheaper than St. Lucia as the airfare is about $160 per person flying directly to Virgin Gorda. Since we are only going for 7 days and the fact we are flying from Houston does not really allow us to take the ferry. The flights land too late.

Roams, can you recommend your top resort choices for Virgin Gorda and Tortola?

Thanks
Hunter

blamona

For honeymoon in VG definitely Little Dix Bay, not cheap but worth the money, it's awesome!

Many places to stay in different price ranges on Tortola, and actually easy access to hop around day trips to VG, St John, Jost Van Dyke (do not miss there 3) maybe even Peter Island.

What's nice about Tortola is it's a great base to hop around easily on ferries. (and the 3 day trips have amazing beaches, some excursions even combine a couple of them in a day and stop at others for snorkeling too)

If you want suggestions, what is your actual budget? As we can be all over the place if not

If you decide to stay VG you can actually day trip to St John too. (or switch it, stay at St John more economically them day trip VG and others)

RoamsAround

Go to the BVI forum on TripAdvisor and click on the "Hotels" link - you'll find listings for just about every hotel/resort on both islands with "hundreds" of reviews.

If your budget allows, on VG stay at Little Dix Bay, it's one of the best rests in the Caribbean. Look also at Mango Bay Resort (fantastic triple snorkeling reef that runs the entire length of the 3/4 mile long beach just 150' or so off the beach), Nail Bay or Guavaberry Spring Bay. On Tortola, look at Scrubb Island, Fort Recovery or Frenchman's.

RollTide_Houston

Well thanks guys for all the input. It looks like I am pretty sold on Virgin Gorda & the BVI. After looking at Little Dix Bay it seems they are actually running some pretty good deals right now. Alot of their packages come with free pickup from St. Thomas airport, Tortola airport or Virgin Gorda airport. Since they offer free shuttle service it seems that the best best is to fly in to Tortola and have them pick me up. Its only a 15-20 min ride from the beef Island Tortola Airport to the resort. That also saves about $200 in airfare as opposed to flying direct to Virgin Gorda. Plus with the distance of the VG airport from the hotel it takes the same amount of time as Beef Island airport.

Obviously now I have to chose which room type we want and go from there. The LDB resort offers a 2/3 meal plan where you get a selection of breakfast or lunch and dinner. They also dont make you buy it for every night you are there. How is the food on the resort at LDB? I probably would get the 2/3 meal plan for 4 out of the 7 days.

Can anyone also tell me of the best restaurants on Virgin Gorda? What about ones on Tortola? We may take the ferry there one day eat on Tortola.

RollTide_Houston

blamona my budget is in the OP, $7700. That includes airfare. Believe it or not Little Dix bay has some reasonable offers right now compared to the St Lucia and T&C resorts I looked at. THey have a stay 7 pay for 5 deal right now. It is just their normal ocean view rooms but they look bigger than alot of the midlevel rooms at other resorts. I will have to decide whether to rent a car or not. My fiance wants to do some hiking in the national park so a taxi there may be expensive. I am an American but should do fine driving on the left. Genetically I am British so it should come back to me lol.