So Many Islands, Only One Vacation, Please Help
 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!

With the NYC cold, snow/rain, and transit strike, I've been trying to think about my next a vacation destination for the last week of April. I had wanted to use airline miles for maybe Hawaii but that is out of the question this late in the game and it's to expensive to do it ourselves.

That's why I am writing to you, the Caribbean experts. My husband and I have never been to the Caribbean and this vacation seems like the great time to start.

My only problem is that I have no idea which island to go to. Can anyone suggest anything? We would love to have a place, maybe similar to Hawaii, with the mixture of lush greenery, nice beaches, and mountains/volcanos. We like to snorkel and other water sports, hike, explore the land, and of course sunbathe. We were also hoping to spend maybe $500 on a flight from EWR, LGA, or JFK and to pay anywhere from $150-250 for a hotel. We are not into all inclusives as we like to find our own places to explore and to eat.

I would be very appreciative if anyone can help with my dilema.

St. John, USVI, which is very popular on this board.

You could fly into St. Thomas for $500 from JFK, then take the ferry to St. John.

You could rent a villa and it would probably fit into your budget.

Go into the "Destinations" section in the orange fodors toolbar, and select the Caribbean, then St. John. Read the overview and then ask some questions if you are interested.

You can probably find $500PP R/T (or close to it) airfare from EWR to Providentiales in the Turks & Caicos), San Juan, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. All of these, except Provo, will give you the nice beaches, lush greenery and mountains you seek. The Dominican Republic and Jamaica will have the greatest choices of resorts in your price range.

aa has direct to t&c on sundays at about 1k for two. we just stayed at a place called royal west indies and enjoyed our time there. we where there at a time when the kids are not on vacation from school so it was very quiet, and a great beach. check the prices for the spring they all add 20% to the room price. we stayed in an oceanfront for 245plus 20%.

I'm told the sands and ocean club are
are also in the same price range.

There are a couple of choices that come to mind.

Puerto Rico has it all. Easy and cheap from NYC. Rainforest, mountians a wide choice of hotels. Also two extremly lovely off shore islands in Culebra and Vieques, both with great beaches.

Also Grenada, St. Lucia and Tobago are lush islands. As is DR and Jamaica.

Thanks for the suggestions. St. John and St. Lucia are definitely on the list. I was recently talking to a coworker about St lucia, who stayed at a Sandals resort. She said that they were told not to travel outside the resort unless with a tour due to the conditions in other parts of the island. I know that there will be areas with poor people and that not every place is safe. It's true in the Caribbean as well as NY. Hey, I work in the Bronx.

So is it really that bad? Is it true or are the AIs saying that so you stay at their resort? Or is this just someones opinion.

I am concerned since I love renting a car and exploring someplace for myself.

Take a look at Stonefield Estate Villas on St.Lucia .... This is in the most dramatic area near the pitons etc. Mostly I've heard it's the actual driving thats really scary , the roads are bad etc. A lot of people say to hire a driver here . I have never heard anything about not going off the resort for St.Lucia .

Myvote is for St.Lucia also it a mimi Hawaii...(D) :)

Although St Lucia does have dark sand, small cove type beaches, it is so beautiful, we could overlook that. We have been to St Lucia twice and never felt unsafe leaving the resort. We did a lot of day trips while we were there and went out for a couple of dinners. We stayed AI at Sandal's but were not there much, so don't think that is the route for us anymore.

The driving is hairy on St Lucia and renting a car was not for us, but some people seem to like it. It is so easy to hire a taxi for the day or do an organized excursion that we did not feel it was necessary. The roads truly are steep and winding with very little if any guardrails. Castries is very congested. We would rather enjoy the scenery than have white knuckles. You can also do a day trip to the Grenadines from there which was fantastic or a day trip to Martinique. The Grenadines really fulfilled our gorgeous beach fix.

If you like more isolated with the best scenery, the southern part of the island (Soufriere) is where to look. If you like a little more in the way of restaurants and bars, Rodney Bay Village in the north is the place. Castries, the cruise ship port is not as pretty. I think if we return, I will be looking at Rodney Bay, with walking distance to restaurants, shops etc and day trip to Soufriere. I have read that Soufriere can be a little "rough" around the edges in town, but we were only there during the day with a taxi driver that we liked alot and definitely looked out for us.

Thanks for the suggestions. After doing more research. I am leaning towards St Lucia, US or British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, and St Martin. Can anyone recommend a place to stay at these islands that is nice, with a nice beach, pool, and $250 or less price range? Also what would be the best airfare coming from the northeast?

You may want to check out Long Bay Resort on Tortola. Rates start around $225. Tortolla is a great island with a good mix of nice beaches and lush greenery and mountains. Views are gorgeous. And it is relatively laid back and not too crowded. You can also do day trips to Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke which is a lot of fun.

Thanks mnag. That sounds good. Is it too much to think that you can stay on Tortola and visit St John as well as the other BVIs? Can you even do that? Can you fly into BVI or do you take a ferry from St Thomas?

We were in the same frame of mind that you were....so many islands and 1 vacation. So we chose to do an Eastern Caribbean cruise and visit San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antiqua, St. Lucia and Barbados. If you opt for St. Lucia, contact "cosol" at [email protected]. His eco tour sounds just fantastic. We sail in 8 days. This is our first cruise and we wanted to go to so many islands, thought this would be our first intro to which island would be best to return to and stay a week or so. Good luck!

Have you considered Costa Rica? I know it isn't in the Carribean but we recently had our best vacation ever there. We saw an active volcano, visited the rain and cloud forest, relaxed in hot springs, flew over the treetops on a zipline, and swam in the Pacific ocean. The wildlife and flowers were amazing. The people were friendly and it was the adventure of a life time for my family.

Kat6688: That sounds like a great cruise. I've also never been on a cruise. We are still considering it. My parents recently went on their first cruise (itinerary: PR, St Thomas, and St Martin, I think I am missing another island). They loved it and said that we would also. What cruise line are you taking and for how many days? I haven't found a cruise itinerary that went to all those islands. Plus, we only have 7-10 days for the vacation.

wanatrvl: Our vacation May 2005 was to Costa Rica. We too did all of the activities that you mentioned. We loved it. It was such an interesting and exciting trip. That's definitely that kinds of things that we are looking for in the Caribbean if possible.

We went to Tortola for our honeymoon. We stayed at Fort Recovery. It is not as resorty as Long Bay REsort (no tennis courts etc). But is affordable and located centrally. We rented a small villa on the beach and they come and cook you dinner in your vills a few times during the week. There is also yoga on the dock. It is a nice option for those on a budget.