Which Caribbean Island?

[Hidden_Mickey]

OK, so DH has agreed to take me to an island for my 40th Birthday!!! So the next question is which island should we go to? We went on a cruise for our honeymoon and went to Nassau for a few hours and I loved the beach but I said next time we are staying on land, not a boat. So finally we have a next time in the works, but we don't know what island to stay on. I would like it to be a safe, stable country (not Jamaica), with quiet beaches. We are taking the kids with us (12 and 9). I've heard that Aruba is nice. What do y'all think? Is there a resort that you recommend? TIA!

 

[CowboyCO]

OK, so DH has agreed to take me to an island for my 40th Birthday!!! So the next question is which island should we go to? We went on a cruise for our honeymoon and went to Nassau for a few hours and I loved the beach but I said next time we are staying on land, not a boat. So finally we have a next time in the works, but we don't know what island to stay on. I would like it to be a safe, stable country (not Jamaica), with quiet beaches. We are taking the kids with us (12 and 9). I've heard that Aruba is nice. What do y'all think? Is there a resort that you recommend? TIA!

If you want quiet, romantic and perfect, I recommend The Jamica Inn. It is in Ocho Rios. The most perfect stretch of private beach I have ever seen. See my sig below. It is old world elegance.

 

[PatsGirl]

Hands down, St. John! Tying for second place would be Barbados and Antigua. In both Jamaica and Aruba you are pretty much stuck at your resort with little island stuff to do, although I do hear that Aruba is beautiful.

St. John has lots to do and I've always felt very safe there. You can ferry to St. Thomas for a day trip (you'd most likely fly into there anyways) and major shopping if that's something you like.

 

[Irin997]

I vote for St. Maarten. It was absolutely beautiful, clean, and you get to go to both French and Dutch countries in one island, lol.

I loved Barbados too but that could have been because I went swimming with sea turtles. Best experience ever!

 

[PatsGirl]

Yes, St. Marten would definately be in my top 5 as well, lots to do and probably cheaper than my first 3.

 

[Miller1412]

I'd vote for St. John as my first choice. If you can, take a day cruise to the British V.I., we went to the baths at Virgin Gorda, it was very cool.

Second choice, Barbados. You can swim with the sea turtles and snorkel some shipwrecks, very cool.

 

[MoniqueU]

With Kids Beaches Turks and Caicos

I also love St. John a lot but I think it is more of a better spot for adults.

 

[mickeyboat]

Another vote here for St. John.

 

[jel0511]

I also love St. John a lot but I think it is more of a better spot for adults.

I'd have to disagree with this point. We take our kids EVERY year to St. John and have a fabulous time! The Westin is a very family friendly resort, whereas Caneel Bay is not. The most family friendly accomdations on St. John is renting a private villa. You usually have your own private pool and have a full house at your disposal, which can help with meal costs. We usually eat breakfast and lunch in and always eat dinner out. Check out:
http://cateredto.com/ http://vacationvistas.com/ http://www.vivacations.com/
some of the reputible villa management companies on St. John. You do have to fly into to St. Thomas and take a ferry over to St. John as there is no direct flights into the island. If your flight comes in at a good time, it takes about 1.5 hours (the ferry only runs every hour on the hour) to make it over to St. John. It is completely worth it!!!! I've also been to Aruba, while the beaches and resorts are beautiful, there is really nothing else to do there. Whereas St. John is more of an adventure being able to explore the island.

 

[Darcy03231]

My picks, in order, would be:

1. St. Vincent/Young Island www.youngisland.com
2. St. John
3. St. Lucia
4. St. Kitts
5. Turks & Caicos

With children I would also consider St. Thomas. They have some beautiful beaches and there's lots to do. DH and I find it a bit too commercialized for us.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

So far Aruba is my favorite Caribbean destination, but I haven't been to too many, yet. We stayed at the Renaissance. They have two hotels, one in the marina for adults only and the other is across the street that is for people with kids. The selling point for me is their private island. I LOVED it!!! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures

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We will be going to Punta Cana in 10 days. Never been there before but everyone I talk to who has, loved it.

I can tell you that Punta Cana was a lot cheaper than Aruba AND we're staying at an all-inclusive resort.

Good luck in your decision and have a great time wherever you decide to go!

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

Thanks everyone.... bumping for the noon crowd

 

[Piecey]

If my DH didn't give me any restrictions, I'd go to Bora Bora.

It's on my bucket list!!

 

[DisneyBlonde]

Our favorite Caribbean islands are St Thomas and St Kitts. Grand Caymen comes in closely behind.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

Hi. Aruba is a really beautiful, gorgeous island, and what we liked about it is it is clean and safer feeling than many others we have stayed at, so would recommend that first. Does not have the extreme poverty that many islands in the Caribbean have. Barbados we liked also. We loved Grand Lido Negril in Jamaica, but the island itself feels really unsafe and has very extreme poverty and had a couple of bad experiences off of the resort. We did not care for St. John that much. I hear Turks and Caicos is absolutely gorgeous but have never been. We really want to do St. Martin next trip, but have never been either, but hear is really beautiful. Anyway have fun!

 

[Jestocost]

I'll cast a vote here for St. Croix, the forgotten island in the USVI. We did Christmas there in 2007 and here was my view for much of the week we spent at the Buccaneer.

Barbados also is spectacular.

 

[Kimickey]

I would like to throw my 2 cents in an say Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. One word 'Beautiful"!

 

[LoraJ]

I've cruised all over the Caribbean. My favorite stop was Dominica. Gorgeous!!! And everyone there is so friendly.

http://www.dominica.dm/site/index.cfm



Our least fave was jamaica.

 

[frndshpcptn]

We are actually deciding right now between St. Thomas and Grand Cayman...anyone have a suggestions as to which we should go with?

We are in our early 30's, no kids, reasonably well-traveled, going for 4 nights.

Thanks!

 

[almacdonald]

We've been to:

• Cozumel (not technically an island, but Caribbean!)
• Puerto Rico
• St Thomas
• Dominica
• Barbados
• St Lucia
• Antigua
• St Kitts
• Jamaica

Our favorite, by a long shot, was Jamaica. It's a beautiful place. It gets a bad rap but we felt very safe whenever we left the resort. I likely wouldn't go to Kingston on my own but Kingston is quite far from the major tourist areas of Negril and Ocho Rios.

As a previous posted stated, Dominica (not Dominican Republic) is also a very beautiful island but i'm not sure you can actually fly there and I don't know if there are any AI's. It's still very natural around the majority of the island.