it is! The Hermitage is giving us a special -- pay for 4 and get the 5th night free! So we will spend 5 nights there and 4 nights at Nisbet. Booking Nisbet through American Express -- standard rooms are 187 and deluxe is 246 -- Is deluxe worth the extra?

These rates are without afternoon tea or dinner but I like being able to go to the different restaurants on the island. Even if I included dinner and tea every day, this was a little less than booking direct.

Question. Service is included at both places -- 10%. Would you tip extra and how much? What about the room -- do you leave something every day or at the end or at the beginning and how much?

Airfare from Atlanta is around $650 pp -- should I wait for a sale or is that about what it will be?

Thanks

Sounds like a great trip!

Re: tipping. We have tipped extra to the person cleaning the room, and to others who we came into contact with daily (e.g. breakfast waitress, front desk). We tipped at the end of the trip, and also left a group tip to be divided among the other staff. Can't remember the amount--we didn't use any specific formula.

The $650 airfare isn't bad but it's impossible to know if it will go down. I think I'd wait a bit and keep checking fares unless you're traveling on a very popular travel day.

CW

The 10% Service charge will be added to your bill at check-out.

When we stayed at Nisbet and Hermitage we left $5US per day per person for the chambermaid (we left it each morning). Needless to say we were well taken care of and well remembered on future visits. We have friends who routinely leave $5US per couple per day. I think that's a bit low for a place like Nisbet but the choice is yours.

Most restaurants on the island will add a 10% Service charge to your meal check (sometimes it shows up as both Tax & Service charge in which case it will be about 20% of your meal cost). That's usually sufficient and no other tip is required 9especially at beach bars and other casual dining spots) but some people add 5% or 10% extra at better restaurants if they feel service is extraordinary. Be alert there are a few (not many) places (Coconut Grove has done it in the past - not sure if they still do it now) that add 20% to the bill and list it only as "Tax". If that's the case it really is the 9% Government Tax and 11% Service Charge.

The deluxe rooms at Nisbett are a bit larger and closer to the beach than the standard rooms. We always stayed in the deluxe rooms and felt it was worth the price. Whether you will depends on your own tollerance for spending money.

You are wise to forego the meal plan at Nisbet - while the food is usually very good there are just too many other fine dining experiences, in all price ranges, on the island to justify eating in one place evey night.

I think the Deluxe rooms are much nicer than the Superior -- many have a long distance view of the water from the patio. Really nice separate large screened porch set up as a living room. The superior rooms are just a bedroom and a small screened porch with a patio table and two chairs.

I agree, the Delux rooms at Nisbet are much nicer than the Superior and worth the extra.

You will get excellent service regardless of extra tips, but the Nisbet staff do an outstanding job, and definitely deserve extra consideration.