Planning 25th Anniversary trip

My wife and I are planning a trip for our 25th anniversary this Summer,
and snorkeling in the Caribbean is one of our options. We're currently
thinking of travelling in early May.

So for our considerations:
* Probably 5 nights.
* We're trying to keep it on a budget, about $3k, though we know with
spending money we'll probably slop over that, a little.
* King size bed
* Air conditioning
* Decent snorkeling nearby, maybe take 1 boat trip, too.
* On the ocean. (Separation by palm trees, foliage ok.)
* I've read some about places with a kitchenette, to eat 2 meals in and
1 out each day. This has some appeal.
* Night life not important - we're not party animals.
* We don't lay on beaches. We like to walk, swim, etc. Scenery is nice.

We've done some shopping on the web, and a place on St. Thomas called
Secret Harbor looks interesting, but we're open to opinions. If at St.
Thomas/St. John we'd like to see some of the historic sights, too. I
guess some visitable history is a general plus.

Dale

In article <cmqnb3x1gv.ln2@homer.edgehp.net>,
dXeXpontiusX@XedgehpX.Xnet () writes:
<snip>
Thanks to those who provided information, but between those, reading
here, and talking to friends, I've generated more questions, I fear:

1: My wife is a bit of a timid soul, in some ways. She would prefer
to stay on a decent-sized airplane, and would prefer that it have
jet engines. This could be a bit limiting in island destinations.
Lacking further information, she would tend to prefer to stay in
the US. But I get the impression that for instance, Bermuda might
well be more US-like than the US VI.

2: People here have suggested renting a car on St. Thomas. A friend
says, "absolutely not, the drivers are CRAZY!" He also talked
about all the tour buses, while people here talked about the
expensive taxis. What's the story?

3: Others her talk about how crowded the more known islands are, and
point to less-travelled places. (see item #1) We're talking of
visiting in early May. What's the crowding like, then?

4: There has also been talk of cruise ships flooding the place. Is
there a way to plan and avoid them? (time of week, month, etc)

5: I've also heard about pesky vendors on the beaches, kind of like
New York windshield washers. (Come up, start washing your wind-
shield without asking, then demand payment.)

Any other miscellaneous thoughts welcome.

Dale

> 1: My wife is a bit of a timid soul, in some ways. She would prefer
> to stay on a decent-sized airplane, and would prefer that it have
> jet engines. This could be a bit limiting in island destinations.
> Lacking further information, she would tend to prefer to stay in
> the US. But I get the impression that for instance, Bermuda might
> well be more US-like than the US VI.

Cant help much with planes tho from UK you can get to quite a range of
islands on a 747/777/airbus (eg Antigua,Barbados, Jamaica, Cayman Is,
Bahamas, St Lucia, Tobago and probably more)
From a UK perspective, the Cayman Is are very US-like.
Barbados is very UK-like.

>
> 2: People here have suggested renting a car on St. Thomas. A friend
> says, "absolutely not, the drivers are CRAZY!" He also talked
> about all the tour buses, while people here talked about the
> expensive taxis. What's the story?
On many islands the roads, the vehicles and the drivers arent very good.
Again, the Cayman Is seemed to be OK for all of the above.
We dont usually drive ourselves much tho have hired a car for a few days on
quite a few islands.
>
> 3: Others her talk about how crowded the more known islands are, and
> point to less-travelled places. (see item #1) We're talking of
> visiting in early May. What's the crowding like, then?
It used to be a really low-season time with prices going down (again, this
is from a UK-perspective). I dont think the difference is as marked now.
>
> 4: There has also been talk of cruise ships flooding the place. Is
> there a way to plan and avoid them? (time of week, month, etc)
Depends on the island; we've never been bothered by cruise ship tourists.
>
> 5: I've also heard about pesky vendors on the beaches, kind of like
> New York windshield washers. (Come up, start washing your wind-
> shield without asking, then demand payment.)
An all-inclusive resort would help here, or a hotel thats sufficiently far
from the main towns that the vendors dont bother.
>
> Any other miscellaneous thoughts welcome.
An all-inclusive might help with general 'timidity' and worries about non-US
standards.
>
> Dale

--
Rita Daggett

Regarding STT, I been visiting St. Thomas for 15 years and renting
cars, and have had no real problems driving there. The roads are
narrow and many are steep, and sometimes someone will try to pass on
one of the narrow steep curves, but for the most part, I've enjoyed
it. I've been renting from Dependable Auto Rental, a local, off
airport company and thus avoid some of the taxes the airport based
firms charge.

As for taxis, They're everywhere, mostly vans or open buses, and I
don't think that they're very expensive . They take scheduled tours
or impromptu tours or go point to point as well.

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:28:32 -0500, dale@anastasia.edgehp.net ()
wrote:

>In article <cmqnb3x1gv.ln2@homer.edgehp.net>,
> dXeXpontiusX@XedgehpX.Xnet () writes:
><snip>
>Thanks to those who provided information, but between those, reading
>here, and talking to friends, I've generated more questions, I fear:
>
>1: My wife is a bit of a timid soul, in some ways. She would prefer
> to stay on a decent-sized airplane, and would prefer that it have
> jet engines. This could be a bit limiting in island destinations.
> Lacking further information, she would tend to prefer to stay in
> the US. But I get the impression that for instance, Bermuda might
> well be more US-like than the US VI.
>
>2: People here have suggested renting a car on St. Thomas. A friend
> says, "absolutely not, the drivers are CRAZY!" He also talked
> about all the tour buses, while people here talked about the
> expensive taxis. What's the story?
>
>3: Others her talk about how crowded the more known islands are, and
> point to less-travelled places. (see item #1) We're talking of
> visiting in early May. What's the crowding like, then?
>
>4: There has also been talk of cruise ships flooding the place. Is
> there a way to plan and avoid them? (time of week, month, etc)
>
>5: I've also heard about pesky vendors on the beaches, kind of like
> New York windshield washers. (Come up, start washing your wind-
> shield without asking, then demand payment.)
>
>Any other miscellaneous thoughts welcome.
>
>Dale

In message <4LMIf.685$VI6.372@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.ne t>, Skip
Elliott Bowman <skipster@teleport.com> writes
.................
>In St. Thomas, you drive on the left, like in England. It's easy to get
>used to, especially as the wheel is also on the left same as the USA.

In Antigua and St Lucia one also drives on the left, but cars I've
rented in those places have the wheel on the right, but automatic
transmission makes driving pretty straightforward.
>
>Drivers are plenty crazy here in the USA. Orlando, Atlanta, NYC, LA, the
>Bay Area, Chicago, etc. On the smaller islands they aren't so bad; anyway,
>you just pull over and let them pass.

A while back here somebody claimed that Antigua locals drive all over
the rod - it's true, but only because they know where the potholes are.
So navigate by potholes and pass as a local.
>
>If you use a taxi, determine the price with the driver before you enter the
>taxi and remove your bags before payment, same as here in the USA. Some
>islands have standardized fares, making everything simple (still agree on
>the price first, though).

Some places you will see taxi fares posted, particularly where cruise
passengers disembark.

Mike