Caribbean Advice

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
21

I wanted to revive this thread to see where everyone has been, planning to go, etc since this thread went dormant? We have rented a house in the BVI’s beginning the day after Thanksgiving and are looking forward to much relaxation, snorkeling and rum drinking.

The next trip after that may be back to Turks & Caicos, Anguilla or Nevis.

Cheers!

22

We went to Biras Creek (next to Bitter End) on Virgin Gorda last year for my 30th. Besides from getting marooned on a deserted island for 3 hours (long story) it was a perfect trip. Food was good enough and occasionally very good, wine selection OK. If it wasn’t a pain to get to and painfully expensive, I would go back every year. The BVIs are just amazingly beautiful. Next warm weather trip is Miami…found some $190 flights from nyc over mlk weekend, can’t pass that up. Hopefully get down to Pennecamp for some snorkeling one day.

23

Only popped briefly in to Nassau (well, really Atlantis), St. Thomas and St. Maarten as part of a cruise. On St. Maarten, though, if your fancy takes you this way, there is a super liquor shop that has a pretty wide variety of single malts at very good prices and something I’ve never seen before—every product has an open bottle and is available for tasting. Indian couple run the place, the woman is quite knowledgeable. I picked up a 20 year old Glen Scotia for $120. Atlantis is interesting enough—kind of like a Vegas setup with a beach, but the aquaria and lagoons around the place add something and, though we didn’t see it, the waterslide section looks quite awesome.

24

Another thread revival. Desperately in need of a vacation. [truce.gif] I’m interested in a 4-5 day trip to the Caribbean this month, looking for the following:

  1. Nice Hotel
  2. Nice Beach
  3. Non-stop from NYC airports
  4. Good food.
  5. On quieter side
  6. Some activities, but not a major issue

Considering Barbados, St. Martin, maybe DR, others?

Willing to spend a few bucks.

25

Turks & Caicos is awesome… loved our stay there…

26

Budget? Sandy Lane Barbados would be my first choice. Not cheap. The other issue you have is that it Spring Break for a lot of the country so prices particularly airfare are going to be very high. Can you get to St Lucia direct?

George

27

St. Maarten fits the bill.

28

Any hotel recommendations based on my original post above?

29

Looks great, but a bit too pricey for what’s left as available in March. Do you know anything about Tamarind Cove Hotel?

30

Thanks. Any Hotel recommendations? Do you know La Samanna?

31

Can’t help you with Tamarind. How about Curacao? http://www.baoase.com Not sure about the food though. For food and resorts I would look at Anguilla. I don’t think you can get there direct though…

George

32

Anguilla is appealing, but no direct flights. Another time maybe.

33

We spend 2.5 days in Middle Caicos at the Blue Horizon Resort. it’s like the only nice hotel on that island. complete desolation… the beach is so quiet it was like a private beach for us…
the food isn’t going to be good (there ain’t much choices)… but 2-3 days there and you really get away from civilization.

Providenciales is where all the action is at… there are a ton of hotels there… really depends on what your budget it. Aman has a resort on there at uber prices…
We had a kid so we stayed at Beaches the all inclusive… not cheap but the food was really good (not top top tier, but plenty good enough). The room/pool are quite nice too… plus unlimited food/liquor makes it stress free. If you don’t have kids you probably don’t care too much about the AI. Anywhere on that beach will do… the beach is spectacular… not by coincidence rated one of the best in the world that’s for sure.

  1. Nice Hotel - Lots of choices. depending on budget. Nothing really truly cheap… but can go from 200ish/nite to 2000/nite :slight_smile:
  2. Nice Beach - one of the best in the world… it really is amazing
  3. Non-stop from NYC airports - i think direct from NYC?
  4. Good food. - If you do AI at Beaches, food was very good. If you do a non AI, there are some excellent restaurants on the island… u can rent a car or taxi
  5. On quieter side - again dependent on hotel, some are very VERY exclusive/remote, some are more ‘happening’
  6. Some activities, but not a major issue - basically every water sport you can imagine… not much ‘in land’ stuff that i know of like caves/mountains etc… it’s all about the beach and water…
34

Will check it out. Thanks for the detailed response.

35

Thanks George, but no direct flights to Curacao. Very long travel time.

36

Sorry thought you could get there. Fellow board member John Liotta was just at Rosewood Mayakoba in Mexico and raved about it. He has an amazing palate for food and wine so you might want to look there.

George

37

You might want to consider Grand Cayman. Relatively short flight and has most of what you’re looking for.

  1. Nice Hotel - Ritz Carlton is the best, but expensive. The Westin close by is a big but reasonable alternative.
  2. Nice Beach - Seven Mile Beach is the reason people go to Cayman.
  3. Non-stop from NYC airports - probably
  4. Good food. - Except for the French islands, you’re never really going to find very good food in the islands (maybe Anguilla, which exists mainly for food and spa type resorts). Cayman is one of the better non-French choices.
  5. On quieter side - nothing there but banks and beaches, so it’s pretty quiet. Avoid town when the cruise ships are in.
  6. Some activities, but not a major issue - if you don’t snorkel, this is a problem. If you’re willing to toodle around the island, it’s very pretty once you leave town but except for the turtle farm, there’s not much to do.

Just back from Barbados. Stayed at the Hilton - functional but a big convention type hotel. The food was much better when I was there three years ago. Be aware if you’re going that nice restaurants can be VERY expensive (for example, The Cliff with a reasonable bottle of wine can set you back US $500+ a couple).

38

Anguilla is appealing, but no direct flights. Another time maybe.

I wouldn’t count it out. Direct flight to St Martin and a half hour boat ride direct from the airport. Rental car will get delivered to your hotel. If you are looking for quiet and beauty, you will fly into St Maarten, see the wall of huge condos, and be thankful you are leaving the island. We did a 3 night trip from NYC and it was fine. By far my favorite island I’ve been to - great food, amazingly low key, tons of great beaches (all public, almost all have restaurants/bars/etc that you can rent chairs/umbrellas from). We stayed at an amazing little guesthouse/b&b.

39

Another thread revival. Desperately in need of a vacation. [truce.gif] I’m interested in a 4-5 day trip to the Caribbean this month, looking for the following:


I would recommend you look at the Rock House in Harbour Island amazing Place. Not right on beach 7 minute walk to beach would require 2nd flight from one of major Bahama airports or Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, (But so worth it).

Food is great and the island is small and quieter has a night life if you want to go seek it out at one of the after hour clubs. Otherwise get a golf cart and explore the small island.

Having been to the Caribbean since 1997 multiple times in some years this is a gem have been to many times now. Also last year Wine Store just opened at bottom of steps from Rock House which has some good stuff at least when we visited as it had only opened though so not sure now.

Another place to check out is Vieques off main island of Puerto Rico, think old Caribbean not built up but some of the best unspoiled beaches in Caribbean. Will require another 20 minute flight from Puerto Rico but again really worth it. Food not as good as Jenny at Rock House but some great little places and a great dive bar Azuls that the sunsets are not to be missed.

Feel free to hit me up with any questions and if you can’t tell I stay away from big commercial islands mostly and definitely don’t do big hotels, ymmv!

40

We liked Parrot Cay in T&C and Carlisle Bay in Antigua,