us virgins islands or puerto rico?
 

planning a family vacation for my husband and I and our two adult kids, 18 & 21. this is last minute. My passport has expired so we are limited to US territory. We would like a laid back, not too fussy atmosphere, great snorkeling off the beach, and some fun activities. (caves, ruins, fishing trip). there are so many hotels/resorts in PR it is hard to narrow it down, and VI looks like mainly beach activities. we will have 3 full days wherever we are, budget around 3500.00 for flight and hotel. going Columbus day weekend.

You are probably going to have to make a compromise:

More and better "walk-in" snorkeling in the USVI's than in Puerto Rico.

More historical sites and better rain forests to hike in Puerto Rico.

Deep sea fishing about the same in both places.

Have you priced out airline tickets yet? That may have a big impact on where you go and how much you have available for your hotel and meals. You don't say where you are flying from but generally it is less expensive to fly to San Juan than to St. Thomas.

With only 3 days you'll want to stay in or close to San Juan if you pick Puerto Rico or stay on St. Thomas if you choose USVI's (unless you can get a non-stop flight to St. Croix) in order to maximize your available time.

we have priced out plane tickets, and with package deals it is within our budget. hadn't thought about st. croix. do you have any suggestions in any of those three places?

If you are getting a "package deal" it would be better if you told us what hotels/resorts are available in the "package(s)" you are considering otherwise many of the places we might suggest could be out of your price range or simply not available to you, besides we don't know how much you have left in your budget after the price of the airline tickets.

Two Hints:

1) For info on hotels go to TripAdviser.com - use the "More" dropdown menu to select "Forums". Click your way to the island you want to research then use the "Jump to more specific forum" link to further narrow your search. Once there click on the "Hotels" link and you can find listing for all the hotels in that city such as San Juan or island if St. Croix or St. Thomas. You can sort by price/ star rating, etc. You'll find hundreds of reviews for each hotel. Pay particular attention to the ones available from your "package" vendor.

2) Consider staying in a rental condo - many offer similar amenities as a resort yet you'll have a multi-bedroom apartment instead of a single hotel room - perfect for families. Cost will be about the same as some hotels/resorts. You can also research those on TripAdvisor - use the "Vacation Rentals" link. Of course, these would only work if they are available to you from your "package" vendor or if you wanted to forego the "package deal" and go it on your own.

USVI and Puerto Rico are like comparing apples to oranges.

For your criteria of "We would like a laid back, not too fussy atmosphere, great snorkeling off the beach, and some fun activities." I would go with St. John, USVI. For your limited travel days, you will probably get the most of your vacation staying in Puerto Rico. Look at the El Conventoin downtown San Juan.

I don't think you are going to find exactly what you want in those locations with those limited days and budget. Any holiday weekend will be crowded and prices will go up. Compromise will be essential.

Columbus Day is actually celebrated as "Puerto Rico-VI Friendship Day" in this neck of the woods! :-)