What is your favorite Caribbean destination?

If you are looking for relaxation and not a lot of travel time hard to beat St. Kitts.  A close second for me would be St. Lucia which is beautiful.

I have been to most of the islands in the caribbean (work travel) and those 2 to me exemplify the definition of serenity and relaxation.  It also helps that they are not the most popular travel destinations in the region.

I've been to Jamaica, Aruba, and St. Kitts/Nevis, all during summer months.  Jamaica was horrible, a complete dump and too humid.  The one time went in to town, my wife didn't feel safe.  So we spent the entire time at the resort.  You could not pay my wife to go back.

Aruba has a beautiful beach on the west side (which is where all the resorts are), crystal clear water and very calm.  But the rest of the island is pretty much a rocky desert.  The capital of Oranjested has some great restaurants and bars if you want to get away from the resort.  And there's a good bus system running from the resorts to the town so you don't need to worry about driving.

St. Kitts, and the little part of Nevis we visited, was an amazing experience. It seemed to be the least tourist-y place of the three, very quiet and secluded.  I don't know if it was the time of year we went (August), but the place was empty.  There couldn't have been more than a dozen families in the enormous Marriott resort we stayed at.  You'll need to rent a car or take cabs to get anywhere though. They don't have much to do, and what they have is fairly spread out.  

check out Turks and Caicos, Provodenciales- Grace Bay

we stayed here last July

http://www.atlanticbeachfrontvillas.com/

great beach, walk off snorkling over reef 75yds out, very quiet

If you SCUBA dive, I recommend Bonaire. We just got back from our second trip there. The whole island is basically a marine sancutary, so the reefs are in great shape, and you can shore dive all over the place. We even dove a reef on the recommendation of a dive shop that was not a "listed reef", and saw some cool things. I got in 16 or 17 dives within the week.

Mrs. gearboy doesn't dive, but she likes to have uninterrupted reading time, so it is a perfect trip for us. Of course, we are not on a honeymoon, so spending the day apart (except for meals) is probably more fun for us than it would be for you...

Dang no love for Jamaica. I was there in October and loved it. The cab ride from the airport was about 5 minutes, all-inclusive resort with great views, great food, flowing drinks, nightly entertainment, wonderful staff. Met fun guests who I went to the night clubs with on the Hip Strip - had a pretty amazing time.

But - that said - would like to visit somewhere else for my next beach vacay so am watching this thread with interest.

I got married on St. John last year.  So that'd be my recommendation.  

Fly into St. Thomas, take ferry over to St. John ( no airport on St John, only boat access ).  There's enough to do to keep you entertained for a week.  A good mix of laid-back island life but still having some great restaurant/food choices.  I would rent a villa ( cheaper than every all-inclusive type place ).

There's a lot of decent snorkeling around the island.  The reefs are decent, but there's some really good spots if you know where to go.  We saw a lot of marine life ( turtles, stingrays, even a manta ray and a reef shark! ).  You can do day charter trips over to the British Virgin Islands to see the Baths, swim into the Soggy Dollar Bar, etc.  There's some good diving in the area, if you are into that.

Probably the best thing about St John is that it's a lot less crowded.  2/3rds of the island is National Park.  And since there's no airport or cruise ship dock, it's a little bit off the beaten path and a bit quieter.  ( Cruises do dock at St Thomas, but since they have to ferry over to St John, most people don't make the trip, or venture very far from the ferry dock ).

Man, now just thinking about it, I need to start planning a trip back there soon.  

We have been to the Dominican Republic, specifically Punta Cana, for the last two winters.

Great place for a balance of Value for your money in an all inclusive resort, nice beaches and water, and decent enough food. Found it very relaxing the first time, this year we were at a family destination wedding, with our 4 month old in tow...not as relaxing, but still enjoyed it

I did a lot of research on Trip Advisor before selecting and I highly recommend that.

Aruba!  My wife and I had our Honeymoon there.  We stayed at the Tara Suites of Bucuti.

http://www.bucuti.com/

We will get back there one day.

Grand Cayman or St. John, although cayman is a popular cruise port where as St. John you have to ferry over to it so there will be less tourist in St. John and snorkeling/diving is awesome in St. John, basically right off the beach. Cayman has great snorkeling/diving also but will be alot more crowded. Both islands are safe to travel around. Either way, you are on vacation on an island !!!!! have a great time and congratulations to you and your soon to be wife.

skipg - 2013-01-22 8:58 AM

justinfss - 2013-01-22 6:52 PM

We have been to the Dominican Republic, specifically Punta Cana, for the last two winters.

Great place for a balance of Value for your money in an all inclusive resort, nice beaches and water, and decent enough food. Found it very relaxing the first time, this year we were at a family destination wedding, with our 4 month old in tow...not as relaxing, but still enjoyed it

I did a lot of research on Trip Advisor before selecting and I highly recommend that.

"Decent enough food" just sounds terrible...great food is usually pretty high on the list of must haves when I go on vacation!

haha, good point, the last resort we went to was the 'Dreams Punta Cana' resort, and that was a 5 star and had markedly better food than the 3 1/2 star resort we hit up before. The a la cartes where actually really good.

 It's not quite the Carribbean, but my favorite is Roatan, Honduras (Anthony's Key Resort). I got married in December, and went here for our honeymoon. We absolutley loved it! Even if you're not a diver, it's great for just snorkling and awesome dolphin encounters. Check out the website:

http://www.anthonyskey.com/

No love for Cozumel?  I liked it, but I can't compare it to anything else because it's the only place I've been in the Carribean.  We stayed in a hotel in town and drove out to the beaches.  Felt totally safe in town, other than the nuisance of people trying to sell us stuff.  But in the evening that went away and it was just locals.  Never been to a resort; it seems to me that you might as well be in Florida if you're at a resort - are you really visiting another country if you never leave the compound?

In the same area I loved the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. It's along the Caribbean sea - the resort we stayed at was excellent but there were cool excursions to do - and the history of the Mayans all around. Our resort has a little Mayan ruin hut right on the beach.  And we went to Chichen Itza which was definitely something I wanted to do. 

I've been to Dominican twice for all-inclusive and heading there for a third time in a few weeks - as someone mentioned it's great value for money.  I've been to Punta Cana and La Romana and we're booked to go to Samana.  La Romana is a smaller resort area on the Caribbean sea - it's a little calmer water than Punta Cana.  It's true the food can be hit and miss - but if you read the reviews you can usually get a sense - it tends to be 'you get what you pay for' kind of thing. 

But then I love the all-inclusive. It's a fantastic, relaxing vacation in the winter.  I

I enjoyed the day trips that we did a lot.  One trip we did the trip to Saona Island which was fastastic.  We also did the 'jungle safari' and saw a coffee plantation, typical Dominican village, went boogey boarding, etc.  Last trip we did a dune buggy tour which was super fun!

Your choice will be easier once you decide if you want the resort experience, or the actual island experience.  That will allow you to narrow down your options.

We went to Negril in August which is off season. We don't do the resort thing. Negril was really nice. But you were solicited to buy weed like every 5 minutes, literally. Not that I mind, but after about half a day of it, I was pretty irritated. After the first day we just had the "look" of don't appraoch me, and it was fine after that.

A friend used to live there and recommended it. After returning she did explain that school was about to start and they have to pay for it. August is off season so everyone is hurting for money at that time... and ya, the place was pretty dead... which was great, except that. Negril was really laid back.. we still really enjoyed it. St. Thomas was nice too. But I would also look at something more relaxing, laid back... as in not the main tourist destination packed with cruise ships next time I go.

Let's.