Hi all, I'm planning for a honeymoon in February and is set on an island in the Caribbean. However, I've never been to any of them and want to know what's the difference among all of them or are they pretty much the same stuff?
I went to Cancun this past April, but am looking for a place with less bars and clubs and more nature such as forests, waterfalls, or lagoons. There are lots of websites for deals and packages out there, but few that actually describes the locale, so I figured to see if any members here can chime in based on personal experience. Thanks ahead of time.
So many islands so much difference. I found Grenada to be a beutiful island, and there is of course the island that my gran comes from Nevis. I found Grenada to be very laid back (like so many of the islands) but not as busy as say Barbados or Jamaica. Plus Grenada has the forests, waterfalls and lagoons. And is the spice island and smells great.
Culebra Island Located 1/2 way between Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico nature reserve, wide sandy beaches. Off the beaten path but not isolated. Enjoyed it very much.
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Posts: 4725 | Location: Reggio di Calabria, Italy / New York United States | Registered: July 12, 2007
Not an island, but we went to the Playa del Carmen (our resort, The Grand Palladium, was actually 30min south of PdC) area in July and it was very nice. It was vastly different than Cancun, where I am told you can get away with speaking no Spanish, and it is very Americanized (according to my wife who did a semester abroad there.) We were at a resort where most people (staff and guests) spoke languages other than English, and it was not very Americanized at all.
Posts: 502 | Location: Missouri | Registered: July 01, 2008
Do you golf Bo? If so there is a great all inclusive resort in The Dominican Republic called Casa De Campo that is great. The restaraunts and all of the top shelf liquor is included. The rooms are 1st class and the service is 2nd to none. The week before we were there Bill and Hillary Clinton were there. Many other celebraties visit often but it is not really that crowded or expensive. I would highly reccomend it
Posts: 886 | Location: The Middle of California | Registered: November 07, 2007
There are US Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands. Dutch Islands. Independents. Places that are not islands such as Venizuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Belize, Colombia, Panama.
Most expensive are the BVI's. (Grand Cayman, Turks & Cacaos)
Nicest are the Dutch (Aruba, Curico, St. Maartin)
Most shopping USVI (St. Thomas and St. John)
Most boring (to me) Tortola.
Have you considered a cruise or an all inclusive resort?
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Posts: 9556 | Location: New York City | Registered: May 02, 2002
If you like sailing, chartering in the BVI is one of the best experiences that you can have. The Drake Channel provides excellent sailing nearly year-round, and if the larger Islands are not your cup of rum, there are many smaller islands where you can find your own private beach for the day. We charter with The Moorings out of Tortola.
The beach at Peter Island is a favorite, and is accessible by ferry from Tortola if you aren't sailing; one does not have to be a guest at the resort (which is an excellent experience in itself), and we have found resort personnel to be gracious and welcoming whether you are a patron or not. Dead Chest-- from which "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" comes (the sea shanty Dead Man's Chest) -- sits right across from the beach at Peter Island.
Also, the Bitter End is fun, and if you're not a sailor, you can learn there. For that matter, non-sailors can still charter either a fully-crewed boat or one with a captain via most charter companies.
Finally, the Baths on Virgin Gorda are a natural phenomenon that everybody should see if they're in that part of the Caribbean.
Enjoy yourself!
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My favorite place in all the world -- well, my favorite island, anyway -- is Anguilla.
The island has both the most exquisite beaches and by far the best food in all the Caribbean. No night life (not much, anyway), no shopping, no casinos -- that's all a 25-minute ferry ride away in Marigot on the French side of St. Martin. Anguilla is all about vegging out on the beach or in a hammock under the beach palms, picking a restaurant for dinner, having a snifter of Pyrat Cask 23 (made and bottled on the island) and a cigar before turning in.
You can do it in luxury, or you can do it on the cheap -- villas in all price ranges can be rented. But if you love being pampered, Cap Juluca has it all.
St. Bart's, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba ... all are easy day trips from Anguilla, too. It's a British overseas territory -- the literacy rate is virtually 100% and the grinding poverty that's often evident off the tourist paths on other island isn't to be found. Anguillans really like us. They do drive on the wrong side of the road, though.
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Posts: 4016 | Location: Boston | Registered: April 16, 2005
Bo, I noticed in your original posting you listed alot of things in terms of nature. Dominica is the number one place in the caribbean with this in mind. It is the exact opposite of what people think about with the caribbean. Just agriculture, produce, rivers, natural springs, rain forests,etc. I'll put it like this: I grew up in the USVI, and Dominica is one of the places that we looked at as being "backwards" because it was so underdeveloped and undercommercialized (if that's a word) compared to ALL of the other islands. Do the research and you'll see.
Posts: 20 | Location: Georgia | Registered: June 16, 2008
