My fiance and I are in desperate need of a vacation. We can only spend $1000 total (air/hotel). Help! We want a beach vacation for 4 nights/5 days. We are leaving from New York and want to go over Memorial Day Weekend. Is this possible? Oh. We cant go to Puerto Rico - my family lives there and will be more visiting with relatives than vacation.

I know this is a carribean board, but since airfare is generally cheaper to Florida, how about the Keys?

Usually the cheapest prices are for Nassau (Bahamas), Montego Bay (Jamaica), and Cancun (Caribbean coast of Mexico).

I would check package prices that include air and hotel. We have booked these through orbitz.com and expedia.com and there are many other websites, such as vacationstogo, site49, lastminutetravel.

Your budget is tight but this is off-season and I think you can find something if you're not too picky.

I would check Negril Jamaica. Go to www.negril.com & post there. I have seen very reasonable deals on places to stay & also some airfare deals mentioned. If you want to relax but stll have fun then this might be what you want.

Coincidentally, just noticed that cheapcaribbean.com has 4 nights at Club Ambiance (Jamaica) for $499/pp including air from NYC. Not sure which dates it's available, or what taxes etc. might be added.

I would also look into the Dominican Republic - Punta Cana. I've never been but a friend of mine and her boyfriend just came back and loved it! They stayed at the Sunscape Grande. I have seen rates online and in newspapers that seem quite reasonable for the resorts in that area. Good Luck! - Susan

go to www.travelzoo.com and look under Vacation Specials and click on Caribbean. You will see a lot of good deals. One that struck me was for Travellers in Negril - $299 including air for 3 nights - not sure that is out of New York but it is worth a call to Atlas Vacations to find out. You will also see the Club Ambience one noted above. There are deals to a lot of places but you will have to act fast. There is also a 7 night trip to Puerto Plata from NY through Funcaribe for $582 each - maybe you could get within budget on a 5 night there.

Wanda check out applevacations.com go to sizzling specials. I see AI in your price range for Dominican Republic. Not sure about the Memorial Day weekend time frame. Is usually priced higher on Holiday weekends. If there is any flexibility there these prices could be good for you and fit within your budget.

As mentioned by others, the common budget choices in that range are:

Bahamas
Dominican Republic
Cancun

You can get the best rates by waiting till the last minute (which this pretty much is!)

Good luck!

Both American and Air Jamaica have sale prices on/limited number of seats for travel until 23 June when tix bought by tomorrow/14 May. The Ritz Carleton/Jamaica just outside MoBay is also running a 3 night special for around US$590 now. cheaptickets.com and travelzoo.com as well as wimco.com might be good starting places.