Help me do it right!
 

Hi All.
I am a single mom with a 17 year old and 13 year old daughter. My 13 year old is developmentally delayed and has a wonderful disposition. She will go along with anything, as long as she get to watch her DVDs at some point in the day. My 17 year old loves the beach and has been asking to go to the carribean for years. We live in Westchester County, NY. I am trying to decide if it is practical to plan a vacation to the carribean for Feb or April, how expensive will it be, where is the best place to go, how long should we plan to stay? Would I be better off in Florida? Your opinions and advice will be treasured!!!

you don't mention whether you and the girls have passports. if not you are limited to puerto rico and usvi.
feb is high season so no matter where you go it will be more expensive than if go after april 15th. as i assume you are traveling around school vacation times after the 15th may not work for you.
i have not been on pr except at the airport so can offer no help there.
i have been to st. thomas,usvi twice and like it alot.
you've given no indication of your budget so it's hard to offer resort ideas. wyndham sugar bay is all inclusive which might be good for you. their beach is not huge and gets deep fairly quickly but does have some snorkeling. secret harbour is all condo units. all come with full kitchen which could save you a bundle if you cook part of the time - especially bfast and lunch (burgers can run $9-15 in some places). their restaurant the blue moon cafe is very good and beach bar is fun. kids love this beach. it's farily wide and long enough so they can get away from you but not so you can't watch them at all times. very good snorkeling at this beach. a very nice and comfortable resort!
other places you might consider include bolongo bay or sapphire beach resort.
the town of charlotte amalie is lots of fun for shopping and walking around.
coki world is a great marine park. kids/you can pet and feed rays, sharks, turtles, etc. they have snuba, a sub thing, and a cool underwater tunnel to go through.
a day trip by ferry to st. john might be fun for you too. takes about 35 mins. great beaches and snorkeling.

if you have passports you might look into an all inclusives on domican republic where as of today they have stunning beaches (hoping they survive dean).
or look at the maya riviera coast of mexico - south of cancun in the playa del carmen area - loads of wonderful all inclusives and hotels. tons to do: cenotes, atv jungle tours, snorkeling, zip-lines, ruins, marine eco-parks - x-caret and xel-ha, and gorgeous beaches.
both dom. rep and mex are known to be cheaper than many islands. mex is again in the path of dean.
the caymans for example would be a convenient flight for you but are pretty expensive. also in the path of dean.
and i'd just like to say that islanders Love and treasure children. i suspect that where ever you choose locals will go out of their way to make your youngset feel safe and welcome.
expedia is an easy to use info source for this. you can put in just the flights first for prices. then add the hotel search.
kayak.com is another good site for airfare search.

and no to your last question. the caribbean is always better than fla. no offense floridians!

Virginia, thank you for so much information. I will be checking it out today!

I agree that April is a good time to go. Prices in most resorts and villas go down by mid April and you can usually get a good price for airfare. You also will worry less about weather ruining your travel plans.

It would help posters if you could give an idea of what you might spend per night on lodgings and any special interests you children have.

I think that if I were traveling alone with my children, I would pick a spot known for safety, that is easy to get to, and right on the beach. Although we have not been to Grand Cayman, that might be a good choice since it is considered a very safe island and has many accomodations along 7 Mile beach including condos. The beach is supposed to be beautiful and there would be enough excitement to keep your 17 year occupied. It is known to be a more expensive island.

The Virgin Islands are great. I don't know St. Thomas well so I can't comment on that. I do love St. John which is quieter and has so many beautiful beaches. There are 2 main resorts, The Westin and Caneel Bay. The Westin is a good choice for families but it only has an OK beach so you really should drive around the island or take expensive taxis to explore its beautiful beaches. Caneel Bay is located on 7 beaches, some essentially private, but it has no TVs in the rooms for the children and it is very expensive, as the whole island is. There are also many villas you can rent and Gallows Point condos in Cruz Bay, the main town on the island. This island may make you trip more complicated since you need to take a ferry from St. Thomas to St. John, you may need to rent a car and the driving on the left hand side can be tricky on the island. The Virgin Islands are nice since the beaches are beautiful and you can take ferries or day trips to explore other US or British Virgin Islands.

We are visiting St. Croix, USVI this April. It is less talked about on the boards. We plan to stay at the Buccaneer which is located on 3 beaches, has a golf course and tennis course and is known to cater to families.

Other resorts my family stayed at and enjoyed are:

Atlantis - Nassau, Bahamas - This was our first trip with children to the Caribbean. It's a huge resort with fantastic marine life and aquariums, water parks and swimming with the dolphins. I personally prefer smaller resorts but we had a great time and the kids loved it.

El Conquistador - Puerto Rico - The island has lots of history, a rain forest, a nice beaches. This resort was about 45 minutes with little traffic from the airport. it is also a large resort. Its beach is a private island you take a 15 minute ferry to. It has a great golf course and the resort is near the rain forest.

Marriott - St. Kitts - This is the only large resort on a quiet undeveloped island. We thought the beach was lovely and uncrowded. The resort also has 3 large pools, one with a lot of activity for the teens, a golf course and casino. There are many inexpensive dining options a walk or short cab ride from the hotel. We took a guided island tour, my husband and son hiked the volcano with a guide but here are also rain forest tours, and we took a catamaran trip to the island of Nevis. We felt safe on the island and felt the people and the visitors we met on this island were very friendly.

We loved all our family trips to the islands. It helps to do your research before you go so you know where to eat, what to do, and what to expect. www.tripadvisor is a great site to check out resorts and ask questions on their forum.

Finally, although I've never chosen either option, I know my children, who are very social, would love to go on a cruise or to an all inclusive resort. It may make life more simple for you.

Here are some of the sites fo the resorts we stayed at or plan to visit:

http://www.atlantis.com/flash.aspx

http://www.thebuccaneer.com

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...-beach-casino/

http://www.elconresort.com/

http://www.westinresortstjohn.com/

Other options could be some all inclusives in Mexico. Playa del Carmen is a beautiful area. There are also many budget friendly hotels and it is a safe wonderful town. AI's to look at are Sandos and Gran Porto Real. Luna Sea and Playa Maya are good hotel choices at $125-$150 a night. Some include breakfast and food is reasonable there. Beaches are wonderful too and friendly people. I would think that you could do a trip for the 3 of you all inclusive including air for around $800 each. I son't know what airports you can travel out of...that may be the factor for airfare.

Thank you all for your kind replies. Some more info from me: my budget is tight, but I really want to take the girls on a nice vacation. It's been a few years and next year my oldest is off to college (!!) I don't think I could swing more than $800 each, but AIs or villas where I do the cooking are fine with me. I am hoping for a beautiful beach, local flavor, friendly and safe location, shopping, maybe a few sights to see...(asking too much?) I can fly out of JFK or Newark. I will be checking out all the reccommendations. Thanks again for so much help.

JFK and Newark should provide you with many options for flights and cheaper fares than Bradley where I fly out of. If you are looking at an all-inclusive, you might want to try a travel agent. They might have some good deals.

Some of the resorts that I mentioned in my earlier posts are on the pricier side, but I always manage to get a good deal and there are ways to get by less expensively if any interst you.

The Buccaneer had a special where the 5th night is free and you can get a second room for 1/2 price when we are travelig next April. Their rates also include breakfast.

If something like Atlantis interests you, you can stay at the nearby (less expensive but nice) Comfort Suites and have access to all the amenities of Atlantis. It's an arrangement they have but just double check if interested.

The St. Kitts Marriott is usually available on www.skyauction.com. Its a site where you can bid on properties usually at a reduced rate. Just make sure you read the restrictions and extra charges. Its would also make sense to see what a property goes for before you bid on one since most properties are featured fairly regularly. I've never used the site but others have recommneded calling the resort first to see if they have availability for the dates you are interested in first. I found a nice hotel in Puerto Rico on skyauction - (The Rio Mar )see below. We almost stayed there and its looks very nice. You should be able to get a direct, inexpensive flight to PR if interested which cuts down on traveling time. They also feature a number of resorts on Aruba and a few on St. Thomas. I think St. John might be out of your budget. That was the most expensive trip we took to date.

Good luck with your planning.

http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/1311664

sailingsailing try looking at Cheapcaribbean.com. Also sign up for travelzoo.com. You can get some good packages on from the websites and they will send you emails.

The Cayman Islands would be a good option for you too, with non-stop flights on Cayman Airways from JFK and Continental from Newark.. both about 3 1/2 hours.

As with the rest of the Caribbean if you can go after Easter you will get better rates.. in 2008 Easter is early, so some resorts drop rates as early as Mar 27th 2008.

Without naming specific resorts, I can give you an example of a beachfront resort where rates in April 2008 for a 1BD condo (to fit the three of you comfortably) will be under US$300 per night for a beachfront unit with full kitchen (and DVD player for your teenager).

Cayman has the reputation of being pricey, but considering that example room rate (and that is ballpark for many beach condos) plus the great fares that Cayman Airways will offer for after Easter out of JFK (likely around US$400 per person for the non-stop), I don't think we are that pricey... and we do offer high quality vacations in Cayman !

April is a great time of year to travel, weather is normally about perfect.