V-Flyer

Hi All,

I've finally had my arm twisted and have to look at a Caribbean jaunt in November, rather than the usual Far East/Florida.

Could any of you help / advise on the following?
Is it better to book as a virgin hols package or flight / hotel separately (will be UC) , we wont be able to use any miles this time.
Best time to book...Summer Sale? Think I've just missed the winter one!
Best island for a first time trip for `just' over 50 yr olds happy to laze / read / eat / drink - not necessarily in that order
Finally any fave hotels?

Many thanks in advance for any hints and tips you can offer

Hello selbyk,

We go to the Caribbean every November. Purely because it coincides with our wedding anniversary.

When we look at booking, if we aren't using reward flights, we cost up a combo package holiday with the main Travel Agents and then drill down the price. The last few times we've gone with rewards flights and booking the hotel via Kenwood Travel. Our last visit to Antigua (and the absolutely wonderful Nonsuch Bay) was about 25% cheaper through Kenwood than as a package or direct.

I would start looking now and book when you see a good price.

My top visits would be:
Eastwinds, St Lucia.
Nonsuch Bay, Antigua.
Turtle Beach, Barbados.

Eastwinds is without a doubt a piece of paradise in itself, add in all that St Lucia offers and it's perfect. Nonsuch is fantastic hotel if you want good food and lazy sunshine and although it is off the beaten track it had enough for us to do for 2 weeks. If you like sailing you will LOVE this resort. It has AMAZING accommodation.

We've also been to Grenada - a fantastic island with glorious beaches and a fascinating history.

Good luck in what you chose, I'm sure you'll get lots of recommends on here.

Edit - just to add, if you want to drill the price down further, you could price your UC flights from an Ex EU airport rather than the UK. There is a dedicated thread on here about Ex EU flights. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=287783&hilit=ex+dub

Thanks marshy!,

Thats great advice, really appreciated.

Antigua was original first choice and Nonsuch sounds great, I'll check out all your recommendations.

I'll let you know where we book

Cheers

Some pics of Nonsuch to get you in the mood

The restaurant.



One of the three pools.



View from the bar.

Think I'm hooked already!

I do concur with Marshy11 and recommend Antigua- I tend to go early December because of commitments in November and can recommend Gally Bay and Blue Waters. All depends on your budget.

We use travel agents when it's on Sale and use either Letsgoto or Best at Travel - both are good with great service and have done UC with both

Thanks Tom,

I'll check those out too!

I travel regularly to Barbados (1-2 times a year) and I look at both packages and booking independently. My last few trips I have booked flights and hotel separately using Travel Republic for the hotels, purely and simply because they were the cheapest.

One thing to bear in mind is by doing this you need to pay for the flights upfront. Travel Republic don't require payment for the hotel until a few weeks before travel though and we got our booking for May for a £1 deposit in December. You can also cancel for a small amount (£40 or £100 I can't remember), so if we have a change of plans or we find the same room cheaper then we can change our accommodation easily.

Thanks LucyLu,

Thanks for that. I generally book hotels and flights separately, worth a look at Travel Republic.

Ta

I've used BestatTravel and TravelRepublic in the past. However I'm a total price tart when it comes to the caribbean because I know what I want and it's really just a commodity to get as cheap as possible. So, a few others you might want to look at:

Kenwood Travel
TravelBag
Destinology
BA Holidays (yes really! They have been cheapest on one occasion for a hotel only booking)
Holiday Gems
Barbados Ambassadors
Blue Bay Travel

Blue Bay is who I booked with this year for Barbados (hotel and transfer) and they came out £800 less than BestAtTravel.

Thanks ratechaser,

More good advice, I'll let you know the outcome

We have always booked through Virgin Holidays as it's worked for us.

Can't recommend Antigua enough though. Galley Bay is amazing we were married there almost 11 years ago and returned for our 10th wedding anniversary last year and it was even better than we remembered. Also look at Cocobay have been there twice and it's a lovely hotel.

What is it with Antigua?

We were married there 21 years ago and have returned many times in the interim, but not least at specific 5, 10, 15 and 20 years to the dot with some in-between dates to suit!

marshy11 wrote:What is it with Antigua?

We were married there 21 years ago and have returned many times in the interim, but not least at specific 5, 10, 15 and 20 years to the dot with some in-between dates to suit!

I really don't understand this attachment to where you married. I have never felt the need to revisit Woking.

pjh wrote:

marshy11 wrote:What is it with Antigua?

We were married there 21 years ago and have returned many times in the interim, but not least at specific 5, 10, 15 and 20 years to the dot with some in-between dates to suit!

I really don't understand this attachment to where you married. I have never felt the need to revisit Woking.

I too have never felt the attachment to Woking. I've not been and hopefully that won't ever change.

Well, been too busy last few weeks to get this sorted and started digging into prices today, can't believe the difference between BA and Virgin upper.
BA £3656 / Virgin £4762. Can't justify a 30% difference to stick with virgin on this one.

As for accomodation really like the looks of Coco bay but none of the correct room available.

Looks like skegness

Patience on this route does seem to get rewarded...!

We've flown LGW-ANU for the last 4 years and have never paid more than £1600 each for UC. Our flights for next January set a new record low at £1495 each.

...the prices seem to fluctuate wildly...but do always return to a sensible level fairly often throughout the year...well, that's our experience anyhow.

Selbyk, you might want to check prices again today...a BA sale seems to have motivated a similar drop from VS, the total price of UVF returns for two in Upper is £800 cheaper today than yesterday and, bizarrely, over £1600 cheaper than it was on Wednesday! Airline pricing, don't you love it?

And I looked at Coco Bay on Antigua which seemed a good deal, with Upper flights, via Virgin Holidays. However I was put off by two things, the two tier AI and the hotel's inability to respond to an e-mail request for information about it. Such a little thing creates such a poor impression. So, and it probably would always have been, my beloved St Lucian home, East Winds, it is for me.

Have fun wherever you go.

I've just come back from a week at the Turtle Beach Hotel in Barbados and can highly recommend. I flew PE both ways (first row, so plenty of leg room) and the service, food, seats were excellent.

Wow, that was a quick drop.....time to get serious,

Thanks for the advice

Traveller2 - We are Turtle Beach bound in 3 weeks, its been a good couple of years since we were last there (did Oceans 2 and Sapphire Beach on our last couple of visits) and I am hearing good things about the ice cream parlour

SelbyK - A huge Barbados fan and would recommend the island in a heart beat!!!

Me too, been 29 times since 1989. Love Barbados, it gets under your skin

Well finally booked.

Tried direct with Hotel/Virgin, Travel Agents etc and best deal was with V Holidays shop (not online) as they knocked 10% off!
They even had an UC seat in the shop to try....no need, got the T-shirt luckily!

So Coco Bay, Antigua in November it is for total chill out!

Thanks for all your help and comments,

Time to start loading the kindle

Great choice! I spent 10 days in Antigua last December, right before Christmas (prices were not biting in that period of the year). It was a great holiday: really quiet, beautiful nature, the ocean, time to read my few books I had downloaded and never had a chance to read at home. Morning view from our villa in Antigua

Borolap. The ice cream parlour was wonderful. As you opened the door, the cold air hit you and it was very welcome! The ices were delicious and there was a good variety of flavours.
Needless to say we visited it quite a few times.

One thing to be aware of at Turtle Beach at the moment is that there is massive construction work going on next door at Sandals. Although it doesn't really impact on guests at Turtle Beach, you can sometimes hear the building work and see massive cranes.

We had a lovely holiday but oh dear, the weather was pretty dire. I know it's the start of the rainy season but when we were there two years ago at the same time (at the Sea Breeze), we only saw a shower one afternoon. This year, one day was a total washout and it rained heavily on at least three other days.

Hope you have a great time. Enjoy the ice cream!