Island Vacations and your experience

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

my girlfriend and I are looking to book a trip for next winter, and these are the islands were considering: St.Lucia, Punta Cana, Turks and Caicos, Hawaii, Antigua, Bermuda, Costa Rica. I would love to hear your experiences, where you stayed, excursions, food, weather, etc. Any help is appreciated! All inclusive with spa preferred. Go Cowboys

Places not considering: Bora Bora(price)Maldives (price) Jamaica (dad and bus were held hostage before) Fiji (price) Cancun (been to twice) Aruba (wind)

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Went to St Thomas US Virgin Islands a couple of summers ago and I loved it.

Stayed in a smaller family owned resort called Bolongo Bay. Beach right outside the rooms, pools, bar and restaurant(s) right on the beach...got the all inclusive package so got all the drinks I could drink and three meals a day without paying beyond the package. The package also contained a catamaran trip to buck island to snorkle where the turtles are and an evening catamaran trip around he islands.

Not the high end type of resort like some might want, no spa but I did enjoy it and it was somewhat dated. But it was a nice small area and it was never over crowded like Magan's Bay beach was when we went there. Oh..and the taxi's on the islands were crazy crazy crazy expensive with a one way price that was just way out there IMO There was five of us in our party, we got in a van from the airport and they crammed in about five other people in the van. They went to drop off each person(s) at various resorts on the island and Ours was just a few miles from the airport and the price was somewhere between $50-$100. I don't remember the total but we were all shocked.

Either way it is a nice place for a decent price (with the all inclusive as meals and drinks could have been really expensive)...I just wish we would have got to go to more beaches and St.Johns and St. Croix but the cab rides were just too expensive and nobody wanted to drive so we did not want to rent a car.

http://www.bolongobay.com/

Like I said...the rooms are dated and this place is not a High End place with spas and stuff...but the beach always has room, you get a couple of boat rides with the package we got, you got to places to eat, a great bar on the beach, various water toys free to use, you can snorkel right there off the beach (loved seeing turtles and each day there I would watch a smaller (1-2 foot) barracuda that would hide by a big rock. Got lucky found a conch. They also have a day during the week where they gather the guests on the beach and throw out bottles of rum in the bay while the guests are looking in a different direction. Once they have done that the guests go out with masks and find the bottles of rum. You find a bottle you get to keep that bottle. Just a fun little activity.

Loved that place just because it was so peaceful and did not have to worry about it being crowded. Spent plenty of time drinking drinks at the bar or snorkelingin the bay.

 

[Rockport]

my girlfriend and I are looking to book a trip for next winter, and these are the islands were considering: St.Lucia, Punta Cana, Turks and Caicos, Hawaii, Antigua, Bermuda, Costa Rica. I would love to hear your experiences, where you stayed, excursions, food, weather, etc. Any help is appreciated! All inclusive with spa preferred. Go Cowboys

Places not considering: Bora Bora(price)Maldives (price) Jamaica (dad and bus were held hostage before) Fiji (price) Cancun (been to twice) Aruba (wind)

Probably just the girl friend. Guys will do most anything for a slice. Let her pick the place out with you just nodding your head. Trust me, it will be a better trip for you.

 

[Longboysfan]

Or a cruise out of PuertoRico.
Everything included - well except drinks.
You hit some spice islands to the south.
Try Royal Caribbean. Floating hotel.

 

[Longboysfan]

Bermuda is not a winter resort place. Best there is from May till end of September.

 

[DFWJC]

St Lucia was fun.
My wife loved it too.
the place was called Body Holiday le Sport

I've also done many surf trips to Costa Rica, but that was much more of a roughing it type trip.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

we did hawaii beginning of last year...just prepare your wallet if so...i tried to do it cheap for my wife and I and it was still $7k...though we were there for 2 weeks.

 

[BlindFaith]

Grand Cayman is awesome. Some of the best snorkeling and diving you can find. The entire island is surrounded by a reef. Lots of other stuff to do as well.

 

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

Thanks everyone

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Turks & Caicos is great if you want the beach resort experience and would be a really good place to take a girlfriend. It's a small island and there's not a whole lot to do there, but that's kind of the idea.

Costa Rica doesn't have the greatest beaches, but they have everything else. There's tons of cool stuff to do especially if you're adventurous and are willing to drive in a foreign country.

Put Jamaica back on your list. 7 mile beach is the greatest in the world, there's lots to do excursion wise, food is great, and the people and culture are fantastic.

 

[Plankton]

my girlfriend and I are looking to book a trip for next winter, and these are the islands were considering: St.Lucia, Punta Cana, Turks and Caicos, Hawaii, Antigua, Bermuda, Costa Rica. I would love to hear your experiences, where you stayed, excursions, food, weather, etc. Any help is appreciated! All inclusive with spa preferred. Go Cowboys

Places not considering: Bora Bora(price)Maldives (price) Jamaica (dad and bus were held hostage before) Fiji (price) Cancun (been to twice) Aruba (wind)

I can recommend a couple of really nice places, but they are expensive:

Lighthouse Bay Resort - Barbuda

• This resort has only 10 rooms, and resides on a 17 mile long pink sand beach. To get there, you have to take a small plane from Antigua there, and then take a boat ride across a 2.5 mile wide lagoon to the resort. The island harvests lobster, so you can't get fresher lobster anywhere. They personalize menus for your stay. When my wife and I went there (in 2009), we were literally the only people there. It was amazing - the best place that I have ever been to by far.

Peter Island - British Virgin Islands

• The island is owned by the head of Amway. Private island with a spa situated right on the beach. Multiple beaches on the island, and a very hilly place if you like hiking and exploring. Good, varied menu from day to day. We went in 2004, and would go back if there weren't so many other places to go to.

Grace Bay Club - Turks and Caicos

• We have been there multiple times. Just a beautiful resort on Grace Bay, one of the nicest beaches that you will ever see. Food is not all inclusive, but you can get a meal package. My wife loved the spa there. T&C has some of the best snorkeling that you can find anywhere.

We are going to the Bahamas twice this year - first, to Long Island (one of the out islands) and later in the summer to Cat Island. We really enjoyed Eleuthera and Staniel Cay when we went, so we expect this to be great as well.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Turks and Caicos for me.

All Inclusive and enjoy.

As one said it is expensive.

 

[Tabascocat]

You really can't go wrong with that list except for Bermuda or Hawaii. Bermuda isn't all that great and Hawaii isn't a remote location in the Caribbean, not to mention quite a bit more expensive.

My vote goes to Turks, loved that place.

 

[bark]

Or a cruise out of PuertoRico.
Everything included - well except drinks.
You hit some spice islands to the south.
Try Royal Caribbean. Floating hotel.

Did this one . We hit almost all of the places the op was asking about . Particularly liked antiqua and st Lucia

 

[basstapp]

I loved Hawaii, but it's super expensive. I would advise not staying on the touristy islands.

Roatan was my favorite island I have ever been to. Granted that was a cruise, but we had a blast while we were there.

 

[Tabascocat]

I loved Hawaii, but it's super expensive. I would advise not staying on the touristy islands.

Roatan was my favorite island I have ever been to. Granted that was a cruise, but we had a blast while we were there.

Visiting Roatan next month for 10 days of diving. One of the few places in the Caribbean that I haven't been to, looking forward to it.

 

[basstapp]

We went to private island for 6 hours - British family owns it. Private beach, kayaks, diving, double decker deck diving into a lagoon and best of all fresh shrimp, lobster and steak fried rice. Magical

 

[Doomsday]

Grand Cayman is awesome. Some of the best snorkeling and diving you can find. The entire island is surrounded by a reef. Lots of other stuff to do as well.

I spent a week on the Grand Cayman Island and it was by far the best vacation I ever took. Just amazing!

 

[Tabascocat]

I spent a week on the Grand Cayman Island and it was by far the best vacation I ever took. Just amazing!

The Caymans are awesome, been to all three islands a few times. But, for half the money, Cozumel is my favorite with better diving.