Hello all. I have never traveled in November (being a teacher), but since we missed our summer trip, we are planning an island trip for Thanksgiving week. We have been to the following islands in favorite order, some, numerous times: Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Barts, St. Martin (french side), Guadeloupe, Aruba and Bahamas.
How would St. Lucia, Barbados or
compare?
I am open to suggestions.
Please help!!!!

What is it about the islands you've visited that you liked? Or disliked? Which of the Bahamas did you visit (Nassau is one thing, Out Islands completely another)? What are you looking for out of your vacation?

If you point us in the right direction, we'll be able to give you more useful advice.

Great points! Love the lushness and quietness....I know, call me a nerd!
Like good restaurants and good food, but snorkeling for DH, is a must. I would love, at that point, to kick back and have a beer and just watch the world go by....
I (personally) don't care for St. Martin due to the huge boom of visitors any longer... Sorry!
As I said, DH likes to snorkel. We have a river place and I drive the boat...not a water person.
I am looking for just an awesome place to explore and sightsee with a great beach.....Not picky! But, over populated places and/or Americanized do not appeal to us.
Any thoughts?

Have you considered St. John?

Or the BVI's?

Given your interests, I would suggest Grenada -- if you are willing to undertake the somewhat challenging journey to get there. It's lush, dramatically beautiful, welcoming and has a vibrant local cuisine. There are a number of gorgeous beaches with different personalities -- from classic Caribbean creamy sand to dark grey sand with stands of palms. You can be as active as you want, or not, with lots of hiking and exploration available. It's well off the beaten tourist path, with a laid-back ease.

Grenada....I have looked at that before. so we are on the same wavelength! Any suggestions about where to stay? I don't have a budget, yet, so throw anything at me. Also...how easy is it to get to from Virginia?

Have considered BVI's or St. John, too! Any recommended places to stay there????

Oh, is it Gre-NA-da or Gren-nha-da????

We've traveled to Grenada from Maryland, and it's messy. The most "conventional" way is to get to SJU somehow (which has become more difficult with AA route revisions), and then take American Eagle down to GND. Because of long connections, this is usually a full day's journey.

Air Jamaica also offers service to GND; once upon a time, that included a flight out of IAD, but now I think you will need to go through JFK. Painful, to be sure.

As for places to stay, it really depends on what your budget is, and what kind of place you want to stay, and whether you require a beach. For our last visit, we stayed at True Blue (see report here: http://islandtime.homestead.com/Grenada06_01.html), which we really enjoyed -- but it doesn't have a beach. If I were planning a trip now, and I were feeling like splurging, I might consider La Luna (beach) or Belair Plantation (no beach). For a really island-y experience at a reasonable price, would consider La Sagesse. Truth be told, I need to plan another dozen trips to even begin to scratch the surface of all I want to do and try!

As for the BVI, I've been there many times as well, but always as a sailor. If you were interested in sailing, I could point you in the right direction, but I'm less helpful for land-based visitors. The best site for real BVI expertise is the BVI forum at www.traveltalkonline.com.

Oh, and it's gre-NAY-duh.

Yeah, we need a beach!!! I will have been with 7 year olds for 3 months!!

Hi iw. I heard that starting sometime in November there will be a direct AA flight from Miami to GND. Where in Virginia will you be flying from? We've flown IAD-SJU-GND, in which you get a very long layover in SJU. However starting September, there will no longer be an IAD-SJU flight. When I looked at flights for Sept/Oct, it is coming up as IAD-MIA-SJU-GND. We've also flown Air Jamaica from BWI. When we went it was BWI-Montego Bay-GND. They've since changed it and I think they now stop in Kingston instead of Mo'Bay.

We fly out of Richmond, if the rates are good. We've been known to also fly out of Dulles or Raleigh, NC.

Hey fellow Richmonder
We fly out of RIC so I know how long the travel day can be.

We are looking at some islands for a spring break trip. I am thinking of Curacao or St.Thomas/St.John as possibilities. We want beach and good snorkeling.

Easy flights are Puerto Rico, Aruba, Cayman Islands, and Bermuda.

We went to the Cayman Islands last June 07 and it is a great snorkeling island. The water is beautiful and the sand is soft and white. It is not a lush island, but it is a place to park yourself on the beach and relax. It is a more americanized island, but it is quiet.

St.John is supposed to have the most beautiful beaches and very good snorkeling and is quiet. I have read that Caneel Bay has the nicest location on the island. The Westin will have lots more kids.

Bermuda is beautiful,but it shows average highs in the mid 70's for daytime in November. So, beaching it will be iffy. If you went to Nisbet on Nevis and liked it, their sister resort is The Reefs on Bermuda.
Good luck in your quest.