Caribbean Travel Thread

[Anastasis 23475]

6 hours ago, Jhawk said:

Yeah but supposedly the one is better with their finances than the 12.  He said it was like $75 a pop and they brought the coke.  Hookers down there don't even know their own value.  His wife spends like she is $8k a month and he is traveling all the time so I bet he only gets it in a few times a month.

yeah, we're gonna need some pics of the 8k cooze. 

[Dontshootrude 374]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

The latter. They just lock those bedrooms.  You will have it all.  

There are some nice ones with good values that are just one bedroom. Or two. 

What is wrong with winair?  I see flights from SanJuan through them for sub $300.  

 

Also, what are the grocery store options?  I'd probably rent a villa and would be interested in cooking a few dinners to save money.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

22 minutes ago, Dontshootrude said:

What is wrong with winair?  I see flights from SanJuan through them for sub $300.  

 

Also, what are the grocery store options?  I'd probably rent a villa and would be interested in cooking a few dinners to save money.

There is a good one by the airport called Marche U.   And one in Gustavia right on the way in from the airport roundabout.  And another in Lorient. You can get good stuff.  You just kind of have to stop and buy a little from each.  There is a fish market right when you come into Gustavia near the public parking area and where the ferry stops.  And a great meat market in Marigot.  The good thing is the island is tiny.  You can go from one end to the other in 20 minutes top. So if you are staying somewhere in the middle, most stuff is 5-10 minutes away at most. 

When we were there for two weeks during thanksgiving last year, we cooked or picked up pizzas to eat at villa probably 5 nights.  It’s nice opening the door and letting the kids swim while you cook dinner and listen to music with a cocktail as the son goes down.  Every villa will have a charcoal grill and most also have a gas grill.  Go buy fresh fish from the fish mongers and steak from the butcher.  You can eat very well cooking. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by Johnny Sack

[Dontshootrude 374]

21 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

There is a good one by the airport called Marche U.   And one in Gustavia right on the way in from the airport roundabout.  And another in Lorient. You can get good stuff.  You just kind of have to stop and buy a little from each.  There is a fish market right when you come into Gustavia near the public parking area and where the ferry stops.  And a great meat market in Marigot.  The good thing is the island is tiny.  You can go from one end to the other in 20 minutes top. So if you are staying somewhere in the middle, most stuff is 5-10 minutes away at most. 

Awesome.  And thoughts on Winair?

I've found a number of great options on Airbnb as well that are very affordable.  I think this is where the wife and I will spend our 10 year anniversary.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

21 minutes ago, Dontshootrude said:

Awesome.  And thoughts on Winair?

I've found a number of great options on Airbnb as well that are very affordable.  I think this is where the wife and I will spend our 10 year anniversary.

You will love it.  Winair is fine. It just costs more than Saint Barth Commuter from Saint Marteen.  

I had no idea they flew from San Juan to Saint Barth.  That could be a great option.  But if Tradewinds is close in price, take it.  It’s like flying private.  

[Johnny Sack 8397]

I’m going back in either November or March for at least a week.   Hit me up if you’re going either.  We can meet up at Le Select for a ti punch.  The owner Marius who is in his 90s is awesome to sit and talk  to if he is there.  

Le Select is allegedly the inspiration for Cheeseburger in Paradise.  I’ve heard yes and no on that.  But Buffet stops there every once in awhile when he’s on the island. And is known to play a song or two. 

[wild_turkey 3166]

I've found a number of great options on Airbnb as well that are very affordable.  I think this is where the wife and I will spend our 10 year anniversary.

Wife and I did our 10 year in St Barth. Now it’s a yearly thing and we are ruined on any other Caribbean destination. Just booked our 2019 trip earlier this week.

Johnny Sack has a lot of good recommendations. We need a dedicated St Barth thread.

[phdhorn 6224]

22 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

I would strongly consider St. Barth or Anguilla.  I like St. Barth the best.  You can check out villas on Sibarth.com.

https://www.sibarthrealestate.com/sibarthrealestate/

Last November we went for almost 2 weeks and stayed at Villa Bikini.  It was perfect for us since we had our kids.  And was in the perfect location and the price was very fair.

https://www.sibarth.com/our-villas/bkn

How many people are going?  Just you two?  If so, you may want to consider a hotel.  We went for two weeks for our honeymoon and stayed at Eden Rock and Le Toiny, two of the nicest hotels on the island.  And while they were awesome, I kind of felt like we did not get our money's worth.  St. Barth is a place you really don't spend a lot of time at the hotel or resort.  It is a small island with 20+ beaches.  So the typical day would be wake up, have breakfast, go to a beach some where there are maybe 10 other people on, either picnic on beach for lunch or got to a restaurant, go back to a different beach in the afternoon, come back and swim, get ready for dinner, go to dinner, come back and screw/sleep.  So besides sleeping, screwing and showering, we really weren't at the hotel much.  You are at the beaches, shopping, renting a boat, exploring the island, etc.

My point is that when we went back two years later, we stayed at a much cheaper hotel (Le Village in St. Jean) that cost less than half of the others.  It was still plenty nice and truthfully I had just as good of a time.  But if money is not a big concern, Eden Rock and Le Toiny are two I stayed in that are perfect.

Even if it is just you are your wife, you can rent a 1 bedroom villa.  They all will have a pool and daily maid service (except Sunday).  Now we exclusively rent villas.  I like waking up and running to the bakery for croissants (which will cost you a grand total of about $5 for breakfast for two).  Having my coffee while watching the sun rise.  And the privacy.  Having a pool right there to swim in while the wife gets ready for dinner.

St. Barth is not a place to go if you need casinos, golf, or shit like zip lining.  It is a small, beautiful island with beautiful people.  There are a handful of beaches that have bars on the sand (actually now I think it is 4 -- St. Jean, Shell, Lorient (Eden Rock put something there recently), and Gran Cul De Sac.  St. Jean has 3 or 4 now.  Nikki Beach is my favorite.  You can go there for lunch and it starts off tame.  The music steadily gets louder as the afternoon progresses and people get drunker.  Or you can go to Saline, Gouverneur, or Colombier where you can find a spot where no one will be near you for 100-200 yards.

You will need a car.  They aren't expensive.  And driving is fun there.  You will learn the island quickly.

Also I recommend going in Mid October and to Mid December.  Weather is perfect.  Almost no chance for hurricanes.  And that is the low season price wise.  If you go from Mid December to Mid January, that is silly season.  Prices on accommodations are 5x more and the island is crowded with regular people and all the celebs.

February to June are also great times to go.  But given the price of low season, I love late October to Mid December the best.

My favorite restaurants are Santa Fe, Eden Rock, Eddys, Le Tamarin, Le Gaiec (at Le Toiny), Shellona, Le Repaire, Mayas, and La Langouste.  Vietnam is also good and a great value.

If it is just the two of you, try and book early on one of the cheaper flights on Tradewinds from San Juan to St. Barth.  They fly you in on a Pilatus and it is almost like flying private.  I only do that if it is me and the wife, because it is more expensive than going through St. Marteen.  But much less of a hassle. Only customs you have to wait for is in St. Barth, which is a joke and takes two seconds.  Saint Marteen can be a big delay and the airport is in a tent right now due to hurricane Maria.  I think the building is supposed to open soon.  But flying to San Juan and taking a tradewinds flight is so much quicker and easier.  Otherwise you have to get up early, fly from Houston or Dallas to Charlotte or Miami, then connect to St. Marteen, then take another flight or boat to St. Barth.

If you fly to St. Marteen, try and book early through St. Barth Commuter.  It is much cheaper and much better than the other air option -- Winair.  Or you can take the Voyager Express.  It is cheaper than both but takes 45 minutes instead of 10 and the schedule isn't as good (the airplanes leave every 20 minutes or so).  The flight into St Barth is fun.

Rent a boat one day.  It is not that much.  We use Jicky Marine and rent a center console inflatable.  Boating around the island with a cold Presidente and the music going is fun and there is a small island 10 minutes away by boat that has a cool beach and you will likely be the only one there.  You can also go to Colombier, which is an awesome beach that you otherwise half to hike 30 minutes to, and just hook up to a mooring ball.

I have been to a lot of places in the Caribe.  St. Barth is my favorite. The people are great.  And you don't have a lot of the riff raff other islands have with the cruise ship crowds.   And given the island's demographics and wealth, has come back from Maria much faster than anywhere else.  I was there just two months after Maria and they had most of it cleaned up.  The 5 star hotels were not open, but they will all be open by this fall, I believe.

Wow, thanks Johnny!  I passed this onto my wife.  Yes it's us 2, and although we know about the high vs. low season, our anniversary is early July, maybe we can do a late June stay to save $.  This is great stuff!

You and the few others so far, have some rep.  This is helpful!

[VABuckeye 2472]

You could also sail the BVI.  It's amazing and you get to hang out on multiple islands.  I believe you can do the same on St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  We're in the beginning stages of planning a trip there in February or March.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

1 hour ago, phdhorn said:

Wow, thanks Johnny!  I passed this onto my wife.  Yes it's us 2, and although we know about the high vs. low season, our anniversary is early July, maybe we can do a late June stay to save $.  This is great stuff!

You and the few others so far, have some rep.  This is helpful!

I think low season is Middle June to December.  I went in July 4 years ago.  Island was less crowded than it is when we normally go - October and November 

Edited August 16, 2018 by Johnny Sack

[G650 14263]

December to March is the high season for most of the Carib. Oct-Nov and April-May is shoulder.

[Dontshootrude 374]

4 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

I think low season is Middle June to December.  I went in July 4 years ago.  Island was less crowded than it is when we normally go - October and November 

Thanks for the information. This is extremely helpful.

 

Airbnb has a ton of great options as well.

[wild_turkey 3166]

8 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

I think low season is Middle June to December.  I went in July 4 years ago.  Island was less crowded than it is when we normally go - October and November 

We go the first week in June each year. Crowds have never been a problem. Quiet beaches, low traffic, easy to get reservations at any restaurant.

We ate at Bonito this past trip and Paris Hilton and her crew were dining at the table next to us. You occasionally get that, but never crazy and crowded like it supposedly gets in high season.

[wild_turkey 3166]

21 hours ago, Dontshootrude said:

What is wrong with winair?  I see flights from SanJuan through them for sub $300.  

I wasn't aware Winair has flights from San Juan. I think that must be a new thing and thanks for the info. I've only used St Barth Commuter myself, but I'm told from other people with a lot more experience that Commuter is much better than Winair. If you're doing St. Martin to St. Barth, then it probably doesn't make a huge difference because it's a 15 minute flight. I would just lean towards Commuter if all else is equal.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

You could also sail the BVI.  It's amazing and you get to hang out on multiple islands.  I believe you can do the same on St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  We're in the beginning stages of planning a trip there in February or March.

We did St . Maarten, St. Barths, Anguilla and then St. Maarten for a second couple days by Sialboat.  It was the trip of a lifetime till we got to visit S. Africa with our kids.

[RPM 26322]

Placencia is nice. I know the guy that owns Barnacle Bill's. Small resort with 2 cabanas right on the water in Maya Beach for about $100 a night. His wife runs the excursion booking and can get anything you want. 

[Landomatic 3813]

Cross posting from the T&C thread.  Pretty much the only way I can describe it was...damn near perfect.  Here's my way too long report back:

Resort

Stayed at Gansevoort which, from everything I saw, was the right call for us.  It was a little bit isolated from the run of other places that were kind of on top of each other.  Felt a little more exclusive.  Everything about the property was spot on, at least for us.  Everyone knew us by name almost immediately and went out of their way to make everything great.  Lots of "happy anniversary" from everyone starting with the guy who got us at the airport to the very end.  Easy property to navigate, everything was close without being crammed.  And just the right amount of people...not too big and not too small.  A few kids but not too many, the demo was pretty much 30-40 something couples without kids.  It was expensive, but I was expecting that.  No big surprises in billing at all which is always nice.  Every single person who worked there that we interacted with throughout the trip was awesome and all came to give us hugs/handshakes and tell us how much they appreciated us when we were leaving.

We had one of the bigger/more expensive rooms with a full kitchen and right on the water.  It was amazing, but if I had it to do over again, I would just take the cheapest room they had.  People say this a lot, but this was one of those trips where you're literally only in your room to shower and sleep.  Wake up every morning, go grab free breakfast, hit the pool/beach, go to dinner, sleep, repeat.

Food

Tried to take as many of Surly's suggestions into account as we could.  We pretty much took everything day-by-day and relied on Surly and the concierge as we had nothing planned (by design) heading into it other than riding horses on the beach...more on that later.

First night was Da Conch Shack.  They had a live band and it was recommended to be fun on Wednesdays.  It was fun.  Service was slow which just got us wound down enough to realize what "island time" really means.  Food was good, party was awesome.  We closed it down, met some awesome people and had a blast.  Found our new driver for the rest of the trip...more on that later.

Next night was Thursday night Fish Fry which we could walk to from the Gansevoort.  We showed up a little too late for this and by the time we got there, all the lines for food and drink were way too long so we didn't stay long.  Cool vibe though and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  We were starving so we headed to Mango Reef which was a great speed.  It was quiet but didn't feel like anything else on the island.  It looked onto a marina, food and service were great.  I'm guessing it was just quiet because everyone was at the fish fry.  Heard it was rocking most other nights.

Walked on the beach to Somewhere Cafe for lunch on Friday.  It was probably the only thing I was a little disappointed in.  The view was cool, but we found the food to be very average.  Everyone else seemed to love it so maybe we just ordered wrong.  It wasn't expensive though and the drinks were pretty good.

Friday night we decided to stay on property and eat at Stelle as we were slightly over served at the pool all day.  Plus they had a DJ and we were told it would be a fun night.  It was.  And honestly, it was about as good of a meal as I can remember having in a while.  The food was amazing and once again, cool vibe and lots of fun hanging out with people we'd been meeting throughout the trip...more on that later.

Saturday was kind of the special "anniversary dinner" night so we went to Coco Bistro, which was...very special.  Hard to get in on late notice so we had our concierge pull some strings and boy did she.  Went with some new friends we met throughout the week and had an awesome night.  We were greeted with a "happy anniversary" right away and quickly whisked off to their VIP area.  For privacy reasons, I won't talk more about this, but it was pretty special.  Food was great, service was great, scene was beyond great.  I even rolled the dice and ordered a steak.  Who the hell orders a steak on a seafood island?  It was way too expensive (beef was the most overpriced food on the island everywhere we went) but I was assured it was great...although I had my doubts if they even knew what a great steak was.  It was actually as good of a steak as I've ever had.  They appreciated it when I told them that since I was from Texas.

Activities

The only things we did were ride horses on the beach through Provo Ponies and an island boat tour through Island Vibes.

The horses were awesome.  We did a private tour (nobody else in our group - not cheap).  They let us run them on the beach just because we're experienced horse people and you walk them right out into the water which was badass.  If we hadn't ridden much or it was our first time or something, the group thing would have been fine.  In other words, I wouldn't do private unless you're really experienced with horses.  I highly recommend Provo Ponies...they did a great job.  Apparently you need to book them at least a month in advance.  Several people we met were bitching because they couldn't get in.  Our guide was really cool which kind of made it and he was also a really badass photographer.  I just handed him my phone and he spent most of the ride taking pictures of us and he got some amazing photos.  He was also a damn good DJ...more on that later.

The boat tour thing was probably the best value of the entire trip.  There were about 20 people as part of the group which was a little touristy so that kind of sucked, although we met several very cool people on it.  It was like $90 per person for 4 hours.  We went from the resort to snorkel to another little island where they made fresh conch (literally cracked open the conchs and served it fresh right on the island) to another spot to swim.  On the way to snorkel, a dolphin followed us forever and he actually hung around and swam for a bit while we were snorkeling.  I was one of the fist off the boat just because of where I was sitting so I swam with him for a while, close enough to reach out and touch him.  Pretty cool for being in the wild.  And to top it all off, the whole thing was pretty much all you could drink.  Compared to everything else, this was a hell of a deal.  The dolphin definitely made it, but even without him, it would have been well worth the money.

Bars

The only actual bar we went to was Sand Bar after Coco Bistro on Saturday.  It was rocking but I heard from several people that the bars kind of all depend on what night it is and what time you get there.  Our tour guide from the horses was the DJ and he was really cool once again.  He also informed us that he was the DJ at the fish fry on Thursday.  That whole area (I believe they called it uptown) was a really cool part of the island that I wish we'd have found earlier.  We just stopped in the one place for an after dinner drink but you could walk around to lots of different places and everything had a really cool vibe.  Would have made for a really fun night had we been prepared for it.  Danny Buoy's was across the street and lots of people talked about going there.  The other place I kept hearing about was Infinity Bar, although it wasn't in that area.

People

Probably the best part of the trip was all the amazing people we met.  I don't know if we just got lucky or if these types of places attract like-minded people or what...probably a combination.  Every day at the resort we pretty much felt like we were friends with everyone by the end of the day.  And the next day would come and some would check out and some new ones would check in and rinse and repeat.  Met a few that I have no doubt we'll stay in touch with for life.  It's always fun to meet people on trips anywhere, but I don't ever recall meeting this many who were all really great.  Only met a couple people who sucked the whole time which is rare because most people suck.  Also met a couple professional athletes and another famous person who were a little guarded at first, but once they realized we were treating them normal, they all warmed up very quickly.  It was pretty clear that they come to T&C to just be treated like a normal person and get away from the spotlight for a while.  The culture of the whole island is to pretty much treat them like everyone else.  Not everyone abides by that clearly, but it seems most do, especially the locals.

General

Generally speaking, it was just a very easy place to travel.  Now that Southwest goes there, it was just a quick connection in Fort Lauderdale and we were there.  Left Dallas about 6:00AM and we were pretty much checked into our hotel and laying by the pool by about 3:00PM.  Two quick easy flights which were fairly inexpensive and one time change is nothing for an international trip.

All of the creature comforts of home were very well established, yet there was no question we were in a foreign country.  Although we didn't use them much, our phones worked great, our wifi worked great, TV got normal channels, plugs were normal, didn't have to mess with an exchange rate or fight through language barriers.  Pretty much everything that you'd want to be Americanized was, but not much more than that.  They drive on the wrong side of the road, but even most of the cars had the driver on the left like here.

Every place we went was an easy 5-10 minute cab ride.  Cab (which was more like a van that held several people) was about $20 everywhere from what I could tell, but we met a private driver with an Escalade who was only $25 the first night so we used him for pretty much everything going forward.  We just kept him on speed dial and he showed up whenever we needed him.  Very reliable and a lot nicer than a cab.  Super cool guy too and was able to help recommend a lot of things and give us lots of tips and info.  It was like having a private guide for the whole trip.  If anyone wants his contact info, PM me and I'd be happy to give it to you.

We found everywhere to be just the right amount of really chill without being too sleepy while still having lots of much more party feel places if you wanted to take it up a notch.  Just about a perfect balance top to bottom.

Overall, it's the first vacation I've ever been on that I really wasn't ready to leave and I can't want to go back to.  Might need to become at least an annual trip.  Only complaint is that we didn't stay at least a week.

[phdhorn 6224]

Update from a month or two ago:

Inspired by a friend of mine who went down to the Caribbean to help his 2 friends sail the islands back to Ft. Lauderdale (4 week sail), we've been looking into the barefoot type cruises.  I've always wanted to do one of these, but the industry took pretty much a TKO in the 90's and early 00's after a ship was lost in Hurricane Mitch (and it was full of problems before that).  So I sort of just forgot about it.

But we've discovered that the industry has made a comeback of sorts, especially since about 2006-10 or so, when 1-2 companies refurbished a couple of ships.  There are 2 companies we're looking at:  the first is Island Windjammers - these boats nice 40-footers with about 12 pax.  There are about 4 different cruise itineraries, and what I really love about them is that they have a few routes to the farther, less crowded islands. One in particular I like goes to the "French Windwards".  The review in TravelAdvisor are insane good.  Definitely has our interest.  This is exactly what we'd like to do first.  Then maybe on a later trip we can find a nice little airbnb villa or something.  We want to see a few islands without the bullshit of a big cruise.  This seems perfect.

The second company is Liberty Fleet, and they have kind of a curious setup.  They go 1) mostly around Boston Harbor (mostly due to the large family/kids response) - and 2) the Bahamas.  The Bahamian cruise leaves from Nassau and is a week.

I'm much more leaning towards the Island WIndjammers, but the Liberty cruise is about 1/2 the price (about $1,300 p/p vs. about $2,600 p/p/ on the Windjammers).  But the Liberty boat is a bigger one, a Tall Ship type, with a larger passenger load. I'd prefer the smaller boat as well.  Plus the Windjammer cruises leave from a variety of ports, some of which might be a small fortune to get to.  I.e. It'll be a good deal more expensive.  But what the fuck, you only live once, right?

Anyway we'll probably book soon.  Not sure where yet.  Wife wants to do the Bahamas cruise, I told her shit the Bahamas are close/cheap enough that we could do them at any point really, it's harder to set up a Windwards/more distant trip like the Windjammers, let's do that.  We'll see.

Of course what we DON'T want to do is a big fucking bloated fatass cruise ship cruise.  Nope.  Too much tacky shit and too much Wal-Mart like for me (I've done a few, so I'm not necessarily talking out of my ass).

Anyone have any poop on trips from the 2 barefoot type companies, let me know, thanks!

[G650 14263]

My professional recommendation is that you really need to consider how close of quarters you can stand being with other human beings. 12 people on a 40 foot boat is very, very tight.

These boats are not going to be much different than Wal Mart either btw. I don't want to dissuade you, but I would strongly suggest thinking long and hard. Some people really like these, but a lot don't, and once you are there, you are there.

[VABuckeye 2472]

12 on a 40?  Are you all in bunks and hammocks?  No way I'd consider that.  We had 5 people on a 43 ft monohull in the BVI in June and I felt cramped on that boat.

[phdhorn 6224]

46 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

12 on a 40?  Are you all in bunks and hammocks?  No way I'd consider that.  We had 5 people on a 43 ft monohull in the BVI in June and I felt cramped on that boat.

Actually the 40 has 10 pax.  The other boat is bigger with 26 (plus the boats do most of their sailing at night, in port all day).  I know and expect it to be cramped.  Thats fine.

I hear you G650 but I've done a lot of looking into this, it seems perfect.  The reviews all over the place are beyond stellar.  This is exactly what we want.  IF I make a mistake then I'll just chalk it up to thesame dustbin as the  couple of thousand I've thrown away at strip clubs.  But I'm pretty sure this is exactly what we want to do.

[G650 14263]

25 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

I hear you G650 but I've done a lot of looking into this, it seems perfect.  The reviews all over the place are beyond stellar.  This is exactly what we want.  IF I make a mistake then I'll just chalk it up to thesame dustbin as the  couple of thousand I've thrown away at strip clubs.  But I'm pretty sure this is exactly what we want to do.

Yeah, no worries, just want to make sure you have thought it out, because as I say once you are there, you are there for better or worse.

I mean, I race across oceans in 40 footers with 9 guys onboard, so I'm not dismissing it. A lot of people wouldn't think it was fun though!

[phdhorn 6224]

Yeah, I may not want to do this 10 times but I always wanted to try a Barefoot type cruise at least one.  the old Windjammer was a good experience most of the time, but the family was really fucked up and battled themselves into bankruptcy.  I didn't think these existed much anymore, but apparently this company was started by some people who had experience in those cruises and from what I can tell it is absolutely run terrifically.

 

On return Caribbean visits, I want to do the kind of stuff that people have said here, especially Johnny sack. Both of us wanted to do a little island hopping without those big ass cruise ships. Now that I've found that this cruise experience exists again, and is also getting great reviews, it's almost a no-brainer for us for this trip.

The name of the company is islandwindjammers.com if anybody wants to check it out.

I also looked into a smaller rental with a captain (cf. Captain Ron, LOL!), and have come up with mixed results.  This thing isn't necessarily cheap, but it seems really quality. And we're willing to spend the money to do it.

Edited October 15, 2018 by phdhorn

[G650 14263]

24 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

 

On return Caribbean visits, I want to do the kind of stuff that people have said here, especially Johnny sack.

Oh christ, please don't be that terrible.

[phdhorn 6224]

Lol, well, the guy seems to go there a lot and seems to have good advice. But I'll think about it.

Edited October 15, 2018 by phdhorn

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

no love for St Croix?  

We are heading there early December for a week.  We've never been so we're pretty excited about it.  Staying here.

https://www.inspirato.com/destinations/st-croix/residences/villa-poinciana/

 

[Chewbacca 7780]

5 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

no love for St Croix?  

We are heading there early December for a week.  We've never been so we're pretty excited about it.  Staying here.

https://www.inspirato.com/destinations/st-croix/residences/villa-poinciana/

 

This is how you humblebrag, people.  Don't tell people you're an Inspirato member, just link to one of their houses and casually mention that you're staying there.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Lulz.  Not quite a member yet but should be shortly.  Our firm has a membership and is about to get upgraded to the Corporate offering.  I should get one "gifted" to me.

 

 

[VABuckeye 2472]

19 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

no love for St Croix?  

We are heading there early December for a week.  We've never been so we're pretty excited about it.  Staying here.

https://www.inspirato.com/destinations/st-croix/residences/villa-poinciana/

 

St. Croix.

 

Eat at La Reine Chicken Shack.  It's a local place and it's great.

There's a great beach north of Fredericksted that is a national park.  It's a turtle breeding ground so it's open on a limited basis.  Open for sure on weekends.

There's a bar at the top of the rainforest that has beer drinking pigs.  Good for a laugh and it's non-alcoholic beer so no harm to the pigs.  The two pigs are treated like royalty.  They make the bar a lot of money.

The easternmost point in the United States is on St. Croix.  Good to kill a couple of hours and there are some great restaurants on the eastern side of the island.

There's a restaurant at the edge of Christiansted called Savant.  It's fantastic.  Eat there.

Edited October 15, 2018 by VABuckeye

[VABuckeye 2472]

55 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Lol, well, the guy seems to go there a lot and seems to have good advice. But I'll think about it.

What islands are you looking at for the barefoot cruise?

[G650 14263]

11 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Lulz.  Not quite a member yet but should be shortly.  Our firm has a membership and is about to get upgraded to the Corporate offering.  I should get one "gifted" to me.

 

 

 

That's a pretty sweet perk. It's a very bad value for someone to just buy though. You can get the same or better through any decent TA.

[phdhorn 6224]

1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

What islands are you looking at for the barefoot cruise?

They have 2 itineraries:

1) St. Lucia/St. Vincent and the Grenadines, includes stops in Bequia,  Carriacou, Mayreau, Tobago Cays, and Union Island.  This is definitely a "not touristy" cruise, for going to among the least visited islands.  Not the bulk touristy type thing.  This is our first choice.

2) French West Indies - Dominica, Guadeloupe, Iles des Saintes, Martinique, and St. Lucia.  A bit more "civilization' of course, but still some wilderness.

They have 2 other itineraries, 1) Leewards and 2) BVI's, but those trips stop in April (sail mainly in the high season from Oct to March/April), I think because they pull out since those islands are more in the hurricane path (the Windwards and French WI's are usually below hurricanes paths, although of course Irma and especially Maria, while not giving them a direct hit, caused a lot of damage).  But since two of the boats are sail-only (no engine), I certainly understand that.  I'm not particularly worried about hurricanes out there in early July; most Atlantic long-tracks are late July into September (Irma was a very late Aug-into September storm, and Maria did most of its damage in mid-late October).

Right now the calendar works out perfectly for the Windwards trip, June 30-July 6.  The West Indies trip leaves July 7, so it's doable but our anniversary is July 3, smack dab in the middle of the Windwards trip.  But we're okay with either.  This is more of an island-hopping thing rather than take in 1-2 islands exclusively.  That'll be our next trip, probably to the FWI's.  Neither of us are particularly in a hurry to get to the more touristy places (anything north of Dominica), although we'll probably go there before too long.

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by phdhorn

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

I haven't experienced any of the Insiprato houses yet, but the guys here say they are top notch and don't compare to others available out there.  

They do seem to offer more perks to lessen the hassle.  I'll have a better answer mid December.  

 

[G650 14263]

42 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

I haven't experienced any of the Insiprato houses yet, but the guys here say they are top notch and don't compare to others available out there.  

They do seem to offer more perks to lessen the hassle.  I'll have a better answer mid December.  

 

Better than other houses or better than other estination clubs? You can get way better stuff right up through castles if you want. I was talking about destination clubs though, they are all pretty much terrible values.

[Chewbacca 7780]

2 hours ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Lulz.  Not quite a member yet but should be shortly.  Our firm has a membership and is about to get upgraded to the Corporate offering.  I should get one "gifted" to me.

 

 

That sounds intriguing.  Any idea how much the corporate down payment was?  I don't feel like talking to a sales person.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Better than other houses or better than other estination clubs? You can get way better stuff right up through castles if you want. I was talking about destination clubs though, they are all pretty much terrible values.

I’m sure it’s a YMMV for each. I have zero experience with destination clubs so this will be my first trip. We take 2 per year and the owners use it at least once a month.

Chewy I’ll ask tomorrow what the upgrade fee is. At that level family members get the benefit without having to use the guest pass currently needed.

[VABuckeye 2472]

pdhhorn,

My first choice would be the same. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is high on our list. 

[Tailgate 3022]

We stayed on GC at #6 on this list over the summer and had a great time. Awesome private beach with beautiful water and over the top service. Will be eye balling some of these others.

https://www.cntraveler.com/readers-choice-awards/caribbean-atlantic/caribbean-top-resorts

[G650 14263]

8 hours ago, Tailgate said:

We stayed on GC at #6 on this list over the summer and had a great time. Awesome private beach with beautiful water and over the top service. Will be eye balling some of these others.

https://www.cntraveler.com/readers-choice-awards/caribbean-atlantic/caribbean-top-resorts

If you are looking for higher end stuff, there's two Amans in the Caribbean now and also Belmond La Sammana on St Martin. 

[phdhorn 6224]

Yup, we booked the Windwards trip last night on this ship:

We're piss-yched!

[G650 14263]

Try not to get hung from the yardarm.

[phdhorn 6224]

That's this thing, right?

[G650 14263]

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

18 minutes ago, G650 said:

Try not to get hung from the yardarm.

I... I don't think they hang people from the yard arm anymore...

[G650 14263]

They should.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

50 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

Yup, we booked the Windwards trip last night on this ship:

We're piss-yched!

Oooooh , gaff rigged, 3 masted schooner. Gott dayum that's perty.  We did 10 days between St. Barths and St. Maarten on a 100' modern sailing yacht back in the late 90's. The owner of Comcast cable, bought it in a silent auction. Such a blast sailing on a platform like that.  

Edited October 17, 2018 by Onboard 2.0

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

4 minutes ago, G650 said:

They should.

Fascist !!

[phdhorn 6224]

156-footer.  Just like me.

[G650 14263]

One of these days when I stop being a dumb ass that races, I'm going to get a big ass Swan to retire on.

 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Such a beauty ^^^