We have been all over the net looking for villas -have found a few that look promising and reasonably priced-then when we looked for airfare ,we can't find anything reasonable to St John , Tortola or St Lucia-our preferred destinations. Prices outside of all inclusive type deals appear to be astronomical! Any great ideas abouthow to make a villa type vacation duo work?!!

I don't know what you mean exactly by villa, I assume a private rental, but we're going to St. Lucia in July, and got a package through Vacations Express for airfare and a mountain-view villa at the Jalousie Hilton (NOT an all inclusive package), for 7 nights for $1900 per person, tax and transfers included. That's on Jamaica Air out of Louisville. Also, our package includes a $250 food and beverage credit at the Hilton. You can get a similar price from Jamaica Air Vacations.<BR><BR>I priced it out myself and air was running about $1000 per person, and around $250-300 per night at Jalousie.

I am having a similar problem - cannot get a flight to Tortola or St John that doesn't take the whole day (from NYC) or cost $850!!!<BR>For a villa on St john i would recommend Vacation Vistas-Lisa Durgin. I rented a villa there last july from her and we were very satisfied -it was beautiful and reasonable. Good luck!!

What airport are you flying out from. Wednesdays are good days to check prices. Also time of year makes a difference. I found a $500 fare from Boston to STT for the first part of November the other day. Don't know if it is still available or not. Also not the perfect flights but a $600 savings per couple if a few good meals on STJ.<BR><BR>

If you look around you can definitely get good deals. We've stayed at Coconut Coast in St. John. It is a quaint villa right on the ocean and walking distance to town. It is very clean and has ceiling fans, tile floors, a large terrace, tv (if you care), a fully equipped kitchen, a/c (although you'll never use it if you open up the windows), and awesome views. The owners even met us at the ferry and picked up our Jeep for us. We paid $170/night for a 2 bedroom. I think a 1 room studio was around $100/night. We flew ATA direct for $449 and are flying to Grenada this fall for the same. Email me if you have any questions. — miler

Where are you flying from? We spend each each at a private home but the airfare and connections are suitable and not too expensive. You have to try and determine where your best value will be in airfare and weigh it against what a private house would cost. Many islands for us, coming from Nova Scotia, are not easily accessible. Try those that you can get direct flights. Otherwise we find all-inclusives or package vacations are the way to go.

Often USAir will run great specials out of Islip thru Philly for the NYC area. In fact, there was just a fabulous one thru a coupon in the Tax Cut Software that would get you there at about half! Don't know if you will find any leftover TaxCut software tho!! Connecting flights thru SJU are often less expensive than the direct out of JFK to STT and avoid traveling on Saturday/Sunday. Fares are often less on Monday - Thursday. Right USAir has e-specials for $127 to SJU from New York - hook up with Cape Air of AEagle (or one of the other small commuter flights) to get to Tortola or St. Thomas to transfer to STJ. Check with villa rental agencies - some do have wholesaler prices for air if you decide on one of their villas. Of the three, St. John would definately suit the bill for lovely beaches and there are some fabulous villas!!! Tortola is not one of my favorite in the BVI! Check Guavaberry and some of the other villas/condos on Virgin Gorda!! In season tho, if that's when you are looking, the prices do skyrocket!

We just returned from 9 days on glorious St. Thomas. We have always found the best flights prices & connections through www.webreservations.com (run by Sabre - what the travel agents use). You can book directly online or just look at what gives you the best connections and price and phone your travel agent and have them book for you. For St. Thomas check our www.dependablecar.com for great value & they also have a rental property which is where we stayed. It was great!