Okay, my husband and I have narrowed our 2nd anniversary vacation down to two places: The Big Island or Barbados. Very different, and on opposite coasts, so I'd love your opinions. If you think someplace ELSE would be better, let us know!!!

Our priorities:

-- Great beaches
-- Lots of natural beauty
-- Good pool
-- Ability to order drinks either to the beach or pool
-- Nice, romantic, luxury resort
-- Other things to do besides sit by the pool (water sports, hiking, exploration)
-- Good restaurants
-- Some nightlife, but doesn't have to be great. A few bars and good restaurants will do.

Here are the pros and cons as we see them:

Big Island (staying at Fairmont Orchid): Never been on the big island, but have already been to Kauai once and Maui twice. We're flying from California, so it's a much shorter flight, and we only have a week to relax and take our vacation. We both have such stressful jobs, our one week is at a premium. There's a lot to do on Hawaii, and we've never seen a volcano. And it's a lot less expensive, given the ridiculous airfares to Barbados right now. Very romantic, but the Big Island is kid friendly, so it makes me wonder if we could just go there with kids later?

Barbados (staying at Fairmont Royal Pavilion): It looks so romantic! We've never been to the Caribbean, and we haven't gotten to travel much. We were both very poor our whole lives until recently, so while all our friends were traveling or studying abroad, we weren't. Never been to (continental) Europe. Never been anywhere, except the UK and Hawaii. We're itching to go somewhere new. BUT, the flights are *ridiculous* right now ($800-900 each) and we'd spend 2 days flying. All in all, we figure the Barbados trip sets us back $1000 more than Hawaii-- Is it worth it? On the other hand, we've never seen clear water like in Barbados, we love waterskiing, and the night life sounds awesome.


OKAY-- TELL US WHERE TO GO!!!!!

bump.... please help!

Barbados is very nice, but it sounds to me like you would prefer St. Lucia. It's probably the most beautiful Caribbean island. It has a little bit of everything.
Mountains, rain forest, volcano,waterfalls, and beautiful, romantic resorts.

One of my favorites is -

http://makeashorterlink.com/?H32012218

There are many more. Here is the official St Lucia Tourist Board site -

http://www.geographia.com/st-lucia/index.html

I apologize for throwing in another option and possibly more confusion, but if your choice will be Caribbean, I would suggest St. Lucia.

I meant one of my favorite resorts is

Aloha luke,

Tough choice ... I adore Hawaii, but also love Bbds... we travel to both regularly.

Barbados has much history and is a great island for sightseeing... the Bajans are a wonderful, friendly people... it is a great island for mingling with the locals and exploring from top to bottom. The water here is NOT condusive to snorkeling, so when you say "clear water" I'm not sure if you're referring to getting out & snorkeling. The USVI are more suited for that.

On the other hand, BI is also wonderful for exploring... you simply can't do it all in a week, so to go back w/ family is really feasible. BI is beautiful, lush and barren all at the same time. Wonderful snorkeling, and it might do you well to read some of the recent trip reports that have been posted re BI.

If you can get over to Hawaii easily and inexpensively any time, I would vote for Barbados... it's a special anniv and how fun to check out someplace new...

They're both wonderful... maybe you just need to flip a coin & go for it! ><

Live in California .. only a week .. stressed out; IMHO Hawaii is the obvious choice if only for the short flying time. Save longer flights/trips for when you have the time to enjoy them

How badly do you want to waterski on really clear water, then go out and boogie at night, if only for five full days??? Or would you rather go to the Big Island (it's so different than the other Islands, it really will be *different.*) and stay at one of the top resorts on the Kohala coast for four nights and then sleep in one of the wonderful B&B's or Inns at Volcano for a couple of nights? There's so much on the B.I. that is historic, beautiful, fascinating....... I can't believe you'd be disappointed there. I'd go for Hawaii but that's just moi!;-)

Hey, everyone,

Thanks for your input! We've decided to put off the Caribbean until we have more time, and just really enjoy all 7 days of our vacation by going to the Big Island for the first time! I booked the Fairmont Orchid. Now if I could just find some reasonably priced flights... I'm so bitter that they are so high right now ($700+ from California!).

Any thoughts or suggestions for our trip would be great!

I know you've already made your decision, but it makes me wonder why so many people in California go only to Hawaii, when there's a great big wonderful world out there with so many different choices.
That said, have a great trip, and think about going farther afield next time! I don't think you'd regret it!

I think the reason a lot of people go to Hawaii from CA is the same reason we've decided to go. If you don't have a huge long vacation, it's nice to not have to fly very far. Californians have a much longer flight to Europe, the Caribbean and so on. The east coast is such an easier jumping off spot. Also, it sounds from many "Caribbean v. Hawaii" posts that it's the rare poster who prefers the Caribbean. Hawaii really is so beautiful, that with a short vacation, we just decided to not deal with spending 2 days flying.

We will definitely be going farther next year. We are planning to take 3 or 4 weeks and take our first trip to continental Europe.

I live much closer to the East Coast than the West Coast and will still choose Hawaii over the Caribbean every time! As for the rest of the big, wide world out there - it ain't Hawaii, baby!

I'm a westerner who prefers the Caribbean over Hawaii. There's nothing wrong with Hawaii; we've been several times and have really enjoyed it. But we like smaller hotels and less touristy destinations and the water in the Caribbean is just unbelievable. We go the the out islands of the Bahamas every year (not the Caribbean but the same wonderful water) and another Caribbean destination once a year if we can manage it. That said, the travel time to the Caribbean makes Hawaii seem like a better destination if you only have a week. I think 10 days is required to do the Caribbean justice if traveling from the west coast.

frankie you have to put lukesaunt's question in context. Out of a 7 day trip she'll lose 2 whole days getting to/from Barbados. And Barbados will cost a lot more and is not a more worthwhile destination than the Big Island.
Lukesaunt asked the exact same question on the Caribbean board and most everyone suggested Big Island over Barbados.

Orangetravel cat, what do you mean when you say the water in the Caribbean is unbelievable? How is the water better then Hawaii or anywhere else ?

Try http://www.hawaiianair.com/
Not sure of your schedule tho' .....

Rusty,

I believe orangetravelcat was referring to the water in the out islands of the Bahamas, which is the clearest water I've ever seen... soft turquoise blue, very very clear...

From our experience the best water is in Grand Cayman and Aruba. Hawaii is great and we will be going there again in the summer but for clear and calm water the the above two are better.