Luxury without poverty?
 

I am planning my honeymoon and would like a Carribean island where we will not be in our luxury accomodations in the midst of poverty of the locals. Thanks to previous posts, I have found St. John, but am not sure that the Westin will be private enough for our honeymooon, and not sure if Caneel Bay is luxury enough for my dream honeymoon. Any suggestions?

Do you have a guilty conscience?

Suggestion is to come down to reality. There is great economic disparity between 1st and 2nd or 3rd world countries. That's reality.

If you want to hide from it, go to Hawaii.

To tell you the truth, it's not all me, my fiance grew up as a socialist. Good point though, and thanks for the advice.

You have to remember that most native Caribbeans do not put a great deal of emphasis on the type and size of their home. This is one of the reasons visitors to the islands tend to think the locals live in poverty when quite often the opposite is true. While you are apt to find what you perceive as poverty on just about every major island in my experience it is never widespread enough to spoil one's vacation. You really will be much better off consentrating on identifying an island and resort that offers more of the amenities you are seeking for yo honeymoon rather then spend time worring about seeing some basic local housing during your trip.

That said, if you want to avoid the situation altogether you might want to consider looking at renting a private villa or staying at Cotton House or Firefly on the island of Mustique which is extremely upscale (there are only a handful of locals who actually live on the island - must commute by boat from other islands). St. Barts is another very chic and upscale island where you won't see what you might deem as poverty. Another suggestion would be to check out some of the private island resorts such as Peter Island, Petit St. Vincent, Parrot Cay, Young Island Resort (to name but a few)where you'll find the privacy you are looking for with absolutely no local "poverty".

Perhaps the socialist in him should direct him to find a nice locally owned place and eat in local restaurants and take excursions with local guides. Not only could he have a very memorable honeymoon but he would leave knowing that he had helped in redistributing a little wealth.

Not Caribbean, but what about Bermuda.

Luxury without poverty is what Cayman is known for, Cayman has a per capita income higher than the USA :)

Unless you need a TV and phone in your honeymoon hideaway, Caneel Bay is understated romantic elegance. Barbados is another island with a healthy economy, where Coral Reef Club and Sandy Lane Resort are very upscale on the Platnum Coast.

Hawaii has poverty.

Hey Tom Cayman I am glad to see you posting again. Hope all is well in the Cayman Islands!
Kmainenti: I understand what you are saying. The Caribbean has some beautiful places, but some are marked with poverty before you drive through the golden gates of your resort. Not my idea of a vacation either.
Bermuda is an island that has very little poverty. It is a quaint island with good food and a british atmosphere. (afternoon tea and such). This is a spring/summer and fall destination.
Other places I would recommend are St.John, Anguilla, Cayman (when they are up and running, there is a Ritz Carlton opening there.)Another place that I am interested in going to is Barbados. Aruba was friendly and had some nice hotels (Hyatt, Radisson, Marriott) With Hyatt being the nicest. We stayed at the Marriott. It was nice too.
The places in the Caribbean that have armed guards at the resorts or it is not recommend to walk around at night, are places I scratch right off my list of places to go.

While Islands like Bermuda do have a low crime rate , they are not without crime . A young Canadian tourist (girl ) was murdered while on vacation in Bermuda . This just to say crime is everywhere , we need to be careful while on vacation and in our own backyards . Faith

I often wish that we could post our place of residence. It might help to understand how words like "poverty", "safety" could be interpreted...and better understood.

"Girlonthego", I assume you are an American. But I would really love to know if you live in an urban or rural environment, and your state.

Marion
from Maine

Hi Marion ! Faith from Montreal , born and raised in Prince Edward Island , Canada ! Definitely small town, small island , small everything !!! lol , Faith ( happy as always to see your posts )

Yes I am an american. I live in the suburbs of Richmond VA. (Not quite rural). I grew up in NJ and worked in NYC for 12 years before moving here.
Topics such as this always open a can of worms. As soon as I saw this post, I thought there are going to be a million responses to this one.
I like to go on vacation to relax and enjoy nice beaches and nice places. No apologizes for that. There are many wonderful islands in the Caribbean. Some are nicer than others. Some are more notorious for things like "armed guards and do not walk the beaches at night, etc..."(Buy any fodors book on the islands) No desire to go there. There are too many other places to go. I don't care how beautiful they are, not worth looking over my shoulder. This poster is looking for a place that she doesn't have to taxi ride through a dumpy place where all the locals live to a posh resort behind gates. I don't blame her. Who is comfortable with that? That is not guilt, that is an unfortunate reality of life. Poverty is everywhere.
There is crime everywhere even in our own backyards. But here, I know my territory. On vacation, I am there to relax.

Ah Faith :-) !


Even the thought of Prince Edward Island makes me smile...my girls ( now adults) still believe Ann of Green Gables is alive and well there.

Both of my paternal grandparents retained their Canadian citizenship and are buried in a very small town in Nova Scotia.

Small world after all :-) !

Marion

I thought there was a connection !!! Smiles and happy travels , Faith.

I have the perfect destination where poverty is non existent. The British, South Georgia island in the South Atlantic. I am sure the birds will enjoy a human meal.(LOL). HAve fun!

That type of attitude floors me, yes we foreigners go to a country and stay very well compared to locals but to shut ourselves away is WRONG! Isn't part of traveling also experiencing? Aren't meeting local people fascinating? Aren't they a wealth of knowledge?

My experience in the Caribbean has been wonderful with locals, truly charming, fascinating and most importantly hard working people. To shut out that part of your Carib vacation is wrong....then go to Ocean City and throw some sand on you and grease yourselves. If Caribbean go with some dignity and dignity to share with them, these are hard working people with much pride. Please respect that greatly in your travels.

For a socialist, Les Jolies Eau, Princess Margaret's old villa on Mustique, now sold and redone, might be just the ticket. Poverty is not in this island's vocabulary. You'll find a strange undercurrent of racial resentment on St.Thomas/St. John, tho Caneel is apart from the rest. St. Barth's would also provide the right posh.

tivertonhouse,
good info however, I find this whole topic a bit snobbish. St. Barts and Mustique are a different ball of wax.....and lets not forget Neckar Island.