stevento1

We'd like to get away for Thanksgiving, somewhere in the Caribbean, and looking for advice from Fodors community.

The resort I'm looking for should have the following qualites:

- elegant, luxury hotel on an island easily accessible from NYC;

- small, under 50 rooms, no all-inclusive hordes;

- private accommodations with pool (swimming pool preferred, plunge pool accepted) with enough privacy for nude sunbathing;

- some entertainment at the hotel or nearby.

Budget: would like to keep it under $1,000/day including dining if possible.

I';m not looking for clothing optional resort, but some of that flair would be welcome

Thanks!

virginia

these offer some of what you're seeking - well at least the pool
round hill on jamaaica (the villas)
jade mountain on st. lucia
ladera on st. lucia
banyan tree mayakoba south of cancun
viceroy on anguilla
jumby bay on antigua
cap juluca on anguilla

would you consider private villa someplace? perhaps something like this house on provo in turks & caicos http://www.tcvillas.com/callaloo_cottage/
you would need a car, but still well under your budget on a small island with excellent but pricey restaurants.

jamaica, mexico & barbados villas normally come with staff (incluidng cooks) if you don't want make beds, etc.

sharona

The Spice Island Beach Resort on Grenada offers accommodations with private pools. And Caribbean Airlines offers non-stop flights from JFK on certain days. We just stayed here right before Thanksgiving last year. The weather was great if not a bit hot, and the water was very warm and beautiful. We really liked Grenada and we'll definitely return. And the SIBR is a lovely, well-run resort. Most of the rates are either half-board (breakfast and dinner) or all-inclusive so take that into consideration when you look at pricing. There was usually some entertainment at the resort every night or you could walk down the beach to a couple of beach bars.

You don't really need a car if you stay at SIBR unless you want to go off exploring on your own a day or two. We took an all-day private tour with a wonderful local guide, Mandoo, and I definitely recommend something like this if you don't rent a car. Grenada is beautiful with lots to see.

stevento1

Thanks so much for your replies!
With exception of Ladera, everything else seems quite a bit above the $1K/night budget. Would really like to stay below...if not possible, we'll have to move up, but I thought $1,000 was generous enough

sharona

Private pool rooms in a resort are usually very expensive. Perhaps you should look into renting a villa with a pool. St. John and St. Barts have lots of villas to choose from and many, if not most, of them have pools. You can easily rent a very nice villa with a pool for well under $1,000 per night.

FrankS

Consider Oceans 2 in Barbados http://www.hotels.com/ho369502/ocean...-all-barbados/

Nobody uses the rooftop pool, and its nice

blamona

Your budget is not generous in Caribbean for a private pool in a resort. Quite the opposite. Especially if you want a smaller resort. The smaller the resort, the pricier.

Everything in Caribbean has to be imported in, so it's very costly. Discounts at AIs happen because they cater to masses, so the costs lesson. The more privacy you want, the mire it's going to cost you.

What you're looking for will be at the more expensive islands anyway, (anguilla, St barts, etc) keep in mind food will cost you quite a bit too, thinks $200 daily per person for 3 meals at those islands )

So to reinforce what everyone else said, private villa.

stevento1

<<blamona on Apr 7, 13 at 8:00pm

Your budget is not generous in Caribbean for a private pool in a resort. Quite the opposite. ....

So to reinforce what everyone else said, private villa.>>

Yep, that's what I am finding.

Can anyone suggest a good resource to look for villas? Seems that most require a week's stay.

RoamsAround

Good sources for rental villas depend on the island. Your best bet is to do a google search using topics like "Rental Villas on NAME OF ISLAND" or "NAME OF ISLAND, Villas for rent" and you'll find lots of links for both "Rental Management Companies" and individual villas.

In many instances you'll find the same villa listed with several different management companies that specialize in villas on that particular island. Think of it as a multiple listing service for villas. You might end up making your initial arrangements with a company based somewhere other than the island where the villa is located. If that's the case, don't worry, as you'll be put in touch with the local property manager who will be your final point of contact. When a villa is rented through a multiple listing service you'll generally find the rental rate for any given villa will be the same no matter who your rent from.

We've used a company called WIMCO, aka West Indies Management Company, (www.wimco.com) numerous times when renting villas throughout the Caribbean with great success but there are many, many other reputable companies. You can also rent some villas directly from the owners using VRBO.

Yes, most rental villas will require a week's stay - that's pretty standard in the industry. There are a lot of "fixed costs" that the owner incurs when renting out a villa and it simply doesn't pay for them to rent for less than a week.

blamona

Another thing to consider is Thanksgiving is usually a premium week, so it makes it a little harder to rent for less than a week that week because chances are, they'll get the week as opposed to 4-5 nights breaking up the week.

But hears the trade off - many can be found in the $300-$400 range, so even if you paid the entire week, you're still ahead of the budget! ;-)

Under sites like vrbo and Flipkey, where the majority of villas are placed, you can narrow your search by dates including minimum nights. You will find some taking 4 or 5 nights, and the search can narrow it down for you, by price and minimum nights.

Or pick an island where nudity is encouraged, such as St. Martin.

Or increase your budget if you want to skinny dip. FYI, even the high end resorts with private pools, can't really swim, tend to be little plunge pools, unless you're really able to pay such as at Parrot Cay or high end places that are similar.

If using a site like vrbo or Flipkey, make sure to check that it's listed by owner, not property manager, it will increase your chances. If you use a site like Wimco or other booking agents in this case, villa owners have to pay out 15% commissions just for them booking, so worse chance of finding less number of nights stay, they have to make up the difference.

Callaloo

If you're still considering a hotel with plunge pool rooms, both the Horned Dorset Primavera in Rincon, Puerto Rico, and Ottley's Plantation in St. Kitts have rooms with plunge pools (the ones at the Horned Dorset are more private than the ones at Ottley's -- especially with those pesky green vervet monkeys snooping around....). Both of these properties should come in under $1000/night.

wliwl

If you like clothing optional I'd suggest renting a wonderful villa on St. John. Get a pool, hot tub, and complete privacy. I love it. $1000/night would get you a pretty nice one in season.

josiesxm

How about Maca Bana in Grenada? They have pools, but they don't look huge though on the pic on their website. I think St Maarten would be a good choice for you. Easy to get to, plenty to do and could have some special deals on if you look carefully.