Caribbean Holidays

hiroftm

hiroftm

Striker
Looking to book up somewhere in the Caribbean next year for me and the misses. I've never been there before or been on holidays in years!

Who should I be using to book for such a holiday and does anyone have any recommendations for places to go? Should I go all inclusive?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 


Me and the mrs no went to Aruba this year, was fantastic. Wouldn't consider AI there as the choice of food is unbelievable. Expensive for drink like so you need to find the happy hours
 
hiroftm said:
Looking to book up somewhere in the Caribbean next year for me and the misses. I've never been there before or been on holidays in years!

Who should I be using to book for such a holiday and does anyone have any recommendations for places to go? Should I go all inclusive?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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as a first time, antigua, right mix of people , not to american(if at all) easy to get to, guaranteed beach/sun
 
hiroftm said:
Looking to book up somewhere in the Caribbean next year for me and the misses. I've never been there before or been on holidays in years!

Who should I be using to book for such a holiday and does anyone have any recommendations for places to go? Should I go all inclusive?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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Yes, go all inclusive, beware the hurricane season.

Done the Dominican Republic the last two years and was very good.

One thing i will say, look for a hotel with plenty to do and the option to use other hotel facilities, otherwise you will get bored silly.
 
jonboy said:
Yes, go all inclusive, beware the hurricane season.

Done the Dominican Republic the last two years and was very good.

One thing i will say, look for a hotel with plenty to do and the option to use other hotel facilities, otherwise you will get bored silly.
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Would 2 weeks be too long or would 10 nights be a better option do you reckon? I've been having a look and some of the resorts have many pools, 20 restaurants etc. so seems to have plenty to do, but like I say I've never been before.

Which travel agents should I be using?
 
hiroftm said:
Would 2 weeks be too long or would 10 nights be a better option do you reckon? I've been having a look and some of the resorts have many pools, 20 restaurants etc. so seems to have plenty to do, but like I say I've never been before.

Which travel agents should I be using?
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kuoni are good iirc expedia can be good also
 
hiroftm said:
Would 2 weeks be too long or would 10 nights be a better option do you reckon? I've been having a look and some of the resorts have many pools, 20 restaurants etc. so seems to have plenty to do, but like I say I've never been before.

Which travel agents should I be using?
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I would do 2 weeks mate, you will enjoy it, if you do your homework and check out the reviews on the likes of trip advisor. The most important thing is to get the right hotel.

Depends on your budget mate, we have done the Dom Rep the last two year for £3500 for two adults and a child, but to be fair that's budget with Direct Holidays, all be it school holidays.

If you want up market greedminds advice is always good, i'm led to believe.;)
 
I think £5k is a bit out of budget at the moment mind. I was thinking something more along the £3k mark for the 2 of us...

I'll check the hotel/resort before hand, I just don't want to go into a travel agent and for them to have my pants down!
 
hiroftm said:
I think £5k is a bit out of budget at the moment mind. I was thinking something more along the £3k mark for the 2 of us...

I'll check the hotel/resort before hand, I just don't want to go into a travel agent and for them to have my pants down!
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Depends when you can go mate, we have to do school holidays so we get screwed like.

You should get something decent for the two of you for £3000 like.

Check it out online and ask the travel agent to do better.
 
I would recommend Curacao but you would be looking at flights or a package from Amsterdam. Relatively safe, good restaurants and bars, nice beaches, casinos and will never forget the 'farm' :cool: . Flying from the UK then I would go for Barbados, again relatively safe and lots of good bars and restaurants. I wouldn't touch Jamaica - if you must, go AI. Flying from France then St. Maartin is really nice, much quieter than the other islands but less touristy.
 
jonboy said:
Depends when you can go mate, we have to do school holidays so we get screwed like.

You should get something decent for the two of you for £3000 like.

Check it out online and ask the travel agent to do better.
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Thats whats worrying me mate, with her being a teacher we are restricted to the summer hols so I was thinking of making it August to go for my birthday as well... It might be a touch out of our price range but I really hope not!
 
hiroftm said:
Thats whats worrying me mate, with her being a teacher we are restricted to the summer hols so I was thinking of making it August to go for my birthday as well... It might be a touch out of our price range but I really hope not!
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Ah, the wife is as school administrator and my birthday is in August,
best of luck mate.:lol:
 
If you want to save a bit of coin I think Royston has a recommendation of a good hotel in Majorca.

Love the Caribbean me, been to Bahamas and Cozumel multiple times, Barabdos, Puerto Rico ...

One thing to remember is you are almost guaranteed beautiful white sand, clear turquoise water and sunshine no matter where you go, so then you need to ask yourself what you want to pay for beyond that?

Each island is a bit different usually depending on who colonized it, so that will affect the food, lingo etc.
 
Went to Secrets resort, Montego Bay, Jamaica in January this year. 5 star all inclusive resort, booked online through British Airways website, that was only around 3500. Absolutely fantastic !!!!
 
hiroftm said:
Thats whats worrying me mate, with her being a teacher we are restricted to the summer hols so I was thinking of making it August to go for my birthday as well... It might be a touch out of our price range but I really hope not!
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I would recommend Barbados. Especially the south coast, and in particular St Lawrence Gap, which is where all the main night life is. If you go at the beginning of August you'll hit the Crop Over Festival which is cracking.

BA normally do good deals for holidays and have regular sales. I wouldn't go AI either as there's plenty of bars & restaurants from cheap to 'f***ing how much!?'.

Also bear in mind that June to October is low season and also hurricane season. Although I wouldn't let that bother you as I think Barbados has been hit twice in 50 odd years.
 
Go to Grenada. Beautiful. Hire a car (they drive on the left) and spend lots of money cos they need it.
 
Cuba. I did a fly-drive (with a driver - there aren't many road signs, so local knowledge helps) starting in Havana, down to the Bay of Pigs and along the south coast, finishing up in Santiago. Brilliant trip.

I also like Curacao and Bonaire, down the bottom of the Caribbean, close to Venezuela. Very Dutch, very little rain. (Though having said that, the most terrifying landing I've ever experienced was in Bonaire in a KLM MD11 coming back from Ecuador. We made three attempts to put down in the middle of a thunder storm. When we finally made it, we aquaplaned down the runway and slithered off the end. Had to be towed back onto the taxiway.)

Dominica is beautiful if you like tropical mountain resorts. Not much in the way of beaches. Good whale watching off the coast.

Not so keen on St Lucia or St Vincent.

Guadeloupe is too industrial for my liking.

For beaches, it's got to be the Bahamas. I had a great week here a few years back: http://www.tiamoresorts.com/
 

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