anyone vacationed in the caribbean?

[bbolte]

i'm starting to plan for my vacation next summer. it's our 20th anniversary and i'm wanting to give my wife the honeymoon we never had. so what's the best value/best place to go? don't really want a cruise. just want to fly to somewhere with a great beach and rum drinks with umbrellas. anyone been down there?

[deronsizemore]

Well I've been to Cancun and took a cuise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Honestly I don't think you can go wrong with any of the places I just named, or anywhere else in the caribbean for that matter. The only thing that I didn't like so much about Cancun is that is really Americanized (is that a word?) I mean besides the white sand beaches and crystal clear water you almost feel like you're in the US at times (I think there is even a Wal-Mart there, lol). I guess this isn't enough to stop me though as I'm going back to Cancun next summer. lol.

Good Luck

[agua]

I've been to Mount Irvine in Tobago and Isla Mujeres just off the coast of Cancun - but believe me a million miles away - its only 7km long and I think 1.5km at the widest point. Both of these I recommend :thumbs_up

I've also heard good things about Aruba - but I have never been there.

[Chris]

I've been to Jamiaca 4 times. I like it because it is one of the few English speaking islands. Negril, on the west side of Jamaica, has one of the best (according to those best beaches shows on tv) beaches in the world, certainly the nicest beach I've ever been to. If all you care about is laying the sun and having a relaxing vacation (as opposed to a activity go and do things vacation) I'd recommend one of the all inclusive resorts in Negril like Sandals, which is couples only (no kids running around). All inclusive is nice because you don't have to worry about paying for drinks or whatnot when on the beach.

http://www.sandals.com/main/negril/ne-home.cfm

[bbolte]

i had been thinking of cancun and do plan on checking out jamaica - i've always wanted to go there. thanks for the recommendations.

i'd probably like to do some snorkeling maybe, so i'll check on some of that as well.

[Todd W]

I've been to Jamiaca 4 times. I like it because it is one of the few English speaking islands. Negril, on the west side of Jamaica, has one of the best (according to those best beaches shows on tv) beaches in the world, certainly the nicest beach I've ever been to. If all you care about is laying the sun and having a relaxing vacation (as opposed to a activity go and do things vacation) I'd recommend one of the all inclusive resorts in Negril like Sandals, which is couples only (no kids running around). All inclusive is nice because you don't have to worry about paying for drinks or whatnot when on the beach.

http://www.sandals.com/main/negril/ne-home.cfm

I really enjoyed Jamica as well and have been there 3 times. I know people who have done the all inclusive thing on jamaica and they loved it. I also really love Grand Caymen (the largest island in the cayment isles), if I ever get the money I will be getting a house on Grand Caymen.

Grand Caymen has I believe "5 MIle beach" which is 5+ miles of white sand and resorts RIGHT on the beach. You can also do a bunch of things on / around hte island.. You can swim the stringrays, you can swim at the corel reef, you can go on tours ont he island and more.

Jamaica you can go diving/scuba too as well as Dunns river falls and visit POT farms if that's somethign you'd be into.

I don't think you can go wrong in Jamaica or Grand Caymen.

[Selkirk]

I took a cruise that included stops in Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, and St. Thomas and St. Maarten. If I were going to go to one place for a week, I would be most interested in Puerto Rico or perhaps Aruba. Aruba might be a bargain with the bad publicity that they've had lately.

It might depend on what you like to do. I like outdoorsy things like hiking, backpacking and biking. We rented bikes on Aruba and went hiking in a rainforest in Puerto Rico, so those were the places I liked. St Thomas seemed too American and too touristy (K-mart and Burger King -- boring to me, perhaps re-assuring to some). The last thing I want to do on vacation is go shopping for booze and cheesy junk. I can't think of one memorable thing about St. Maartin. Curacao would have been forgettable, too, except we ended up with a colorful taxi driver who took us to some of the local, non-touristy spots. We kept buying him beers, which he would drink in the car as he drove us around.

By forgettable, I mean not any different than the other islands. They all seemed to have nice beaches, cheap booze, touristy shops and bars, etc.

[KLB]

My wife and I did one of those super all inclusive vacations with Sandals in Jamaica this past spring. We absolutely loved it. I'd go again in a heartbeat if we could afford it. Sandals did an outstanding job and the resort (Sandals Grande Ocho Rios) was fantastic and we never needed to worry about anything. Basically we could lock our wallets up in our in room safety deposit box and never get them out unless we wanted to buy something in the gift shop. The only things that weren't included in our package price were off compound tours or excursions. Even the alcohol was included in the package and one is never more than a hundred yards from a bar or restaurant while on resort property. The only drawback to the trip was that it ended and we had to come back to the real world.

[masm50]

I went on a cricket tour to Trinidad and Tobago in my last year of school.

I found Tobago to be one of the most beautiful places to be with veryone there really friendly. I really really want to go back :)

Tim