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Cayman islands, anguilla, or st. thomas?
Has anyone been to any of these destinations? Likes or dislike? Trying to decide on somewhere to go in November and I don't know anything about any of these places.
Re: Cayman islands, anguilla, or st. thomas?
Only been to Cayman, it was a cruise stop, and my H and I were so not impressed - hugely busy commercialized port and 7 Mile Beach was not what I always dreamed it would be...it was jam packed and more like a public city beach. But that's our experience, I'm sure there are some much better areas on the island to check out.
I know St. Thomas is awesome but Anguilla is on my dream list, supposed to have the most beautiful beaches in the world, and lots of them! I'm a beach person
I have been to all 3. Here are my thoughts.
1. Any reason you ruled out St John? I'm partial b/c we got married there but it is a million times better than St Thomas but you do have to fly to STT and take a ferry and there are fewer hotel options (there are 2 large hotels there & both offer a direct ferry service or there a public ferry too.) St John is awesome.
2. St Thomas would be my last choice of these 3. I think it is too touristy in some ways and not resort-y enough for my own personal taste but it has a lot of large hotel options, is easy to get to and if you're into shopping & jewelry and that stuff, you may like it (though if you go to St John you can take a day trip. But from St T you can also day trip over to St John & a number of other places too).
3. Anguilla- we stayed at Cap Juluca for our honeymoon. It was beautiful & fabulous (this was in 2004). There are a lot more hotels there now than when we went I think but if you can swing it to stay at one of the higher end ones, go for it. It is peaceful, luxurious, quiet, the people are so so friendly, etc. (though flying in I was having a panic attack that it would not live up to expectations b/c we came from mountainous lush St John & Anguilla is FLAT and brown & dry but the beaches are amazing). Can day trip over to St Martin if you want. Drawbacks are for ppl who like a more happening atmosphere w/ nightlife, shopping, etc (I don't but I will say it was a little too quiet for MH's taste) .We did a super fun snorkeling trip to swim & go eat at Scilly Cay ('silly key') on a boat that only had 6 of us on it plus the guides and had a total blast. I think there might be a swim w/ dolphins place on Anguilla (we made the mistake of taking a ferry from St John to Tortola to do that- i do not recommend for a whole bunch of reasons...). If you go to Angilla, read "A Trip to the Beach" beforehand, I wish I had.
4. Grand Cayman- I will disagree a little with the pp. If you stay on 7 mile beach you are not staying near where all the cruises go (that area is cheesy and crazy and just a whole bunch of jewelry stores & tourist traps although fun for a couple hrs if you want). The tourists do come down to 7 mile beach and Grand Cayman in general is much more built up/developed than a lot of other islands but the pros for that are there is more accessibility to different things you may want/need. It is more commercial than St Thomas but in a different more US oriented way (which can be a pro or a con...)Fun daytrip is to swim with the stingrays. We really enjoyed it there, I think it was MH's favorite caribbean island after St John (mine was Anguilla). You can snorkel right off your hotel beach on 7 mile beach which is pretty cool I think. Food is very expensive there at the higher end restaurants (most island are but it seemed moreso there) and if you don't rent a car, cab fare will eat you up. I would like to go back there but would prob rent a car and also potentially do a condo if I were to bring my kids. One thing we loved is that we flew direct from NC and left our HOUSE at 7am and were on the beach by 1pm. It was awesome.
GL! You'll love wherever you go I'm sure.
wow! Thank you! Helpful info. We hadn't ruled out St John and after doing more research last night and this a.m. it seems like a lot of people do prefer st. john over st. thomas.
If we do Anguilla it would be the CuisinArt resort. Do you know anything about it? St. thomas would be at the ritz and after looking at the 2 resorts on st. john I'm torn between the 2.
I've also included Secrets Maroma Beach in the mix. We've never done an AI and it is where I originally planned on going before I decided to expand my search.
I feel like I keep narrowing it down only to add another place to the mix. Now I'm looking at Nevis as well. It so hard. I want to go see them all.
Hmmm well Cancun is a whole other ballgame than the others IMO. I would go to all the others over Cancun but that is me. I'm not a fan of AI but I have gone to one (also in Mexico) just to see what it was like. I like to go out to eat at different places too much LOL. (Also isnt Nov still technically hurricane season?)
CuisinArt is supposed to be great and when I was in Anguilla, that & CJ were pretty much the 2 top spots. In photos at least, they seem very similar. YOu can always go over to CJ for dinner one day and check out it too!
Nevis never really appealed to me, St Barts & Nevis just seemed SO expensive & not my scene as a result. I like luxury but I don't like pretentious.
The Ritz on St T is supposed to be great. Again I personally just prefer ST John b/c it is so lush & beautiful & not touristy and it has GREAT restaurants and a fun little 'town' and things are super easy to get to. Caneel Bay is the more 'luxury' resort, I haven't been (we got married at the Westin) but I am sure it is beautiful. The Westin will ahve more families & stuff I would imagine. We like to stay at Starwood resorts in general (b/c we like them & we like getting the points) & were very happy with the Westin but then again we had 60ppl along with us. The beach at the Westin is not that great tho to be perfectly honest, but one of the great things on St JOhn is renting a car or taking a cab to the differnet beaches & areas around the island. Also a really fun activity is renting a 'dinghy' (inflated motorboat) and driving it around the island- you can get them right at the Westin. Tons of fun day & boat trips too.
Good luck...!!! It really depends on what you're looking for & what you like to do on a vacation. A lot of ppl like St John b/c I think it is a happy medium between laid back resort feel and still having some nightlife/things to do on the island or you can go to St Thomas if you really want to do the shopping type stuff. I think considering flight length, layovers, etc is important too, at least for me.
But enough about that
.
If you decide to go to Mexico, I HIGHLY recommend Secrets Maroma!
I'm heading to Anguilla next week for the second time. Love it. Last time we split our trip between Cap Juluca and Cuisinart. Cap Juluca was wayayyy better than Cuisinart. This time we are doing a split between CJ and Viceroy.
I've been to St. John and stayed at Caneel Bay. Difficult for me to explain. LOved the island. And I really did love Caneel because the beaches are amazing, it has an interesting vibe I can't put into words. Loved how every morning there would be deer and donkeys that come right up to you on your deck (Scotts Beach cottage area). That said, I don't think I want to return because the rooms at Caneel suck beyond belief. They are teeny tiny, the closet is IN the tiny bathroom, the shower stall is straight out of summer camp with old crank out windows, and I couldn't escape the feeling I was in a remake of Dirty Dancing. I did love it there, but for the price, those rooms should be so much better. The Westin is filled with families with kids, and I heard the beach is man made, so I wouldn't suggest that.
We love Mexico too and have been about 4 or 5 times. If you can swing it, Maroma Resort and Spa is my favorite resort of all time. It is unique, and comfy, and luxurious without being stuffy, and the food is fantastic. The best food I've had at any resort. I can't say enough about this place.
This post actually sounds obnoxious, like I'm bragging, and I don't mean it to. I just want to give you an idea of what I'm basing my opinions on....and keep in mind, I"m in my 40s and we don't have children so we splurge on vacations instead. Hope this helps.
I've been to Anguilla and Grand Cayman. I don't think that St. Thomas is in the same league because it's much more crowded/commercial. You could consider St. John though like others have said.
Anguilla is my favorite though. We stayed at and loved CuisinArt (and we went to all the other major resorts to check them out as well). I would highly recommend it. The beaches are incredible, the resorts are great for quiet luxury, and the restaurants are so yummy. I don't need nightlife at all so that wasn't an issue but the island is very laid back and calm in case that isn't what you are looking for.
It's hurricane season for the entire Caribbean/midatlantic through end of november.
Maroma beach isn't in cancun. It's about an hour south.
Dh and I are in rm and cancun every December. We live it. I'd choose pretty much any place over st Thomas. It's my least fave island.
Yeah true re hurricane season, it just came to me as I was thinking about Mexico.
Regardless of being IN cancun or not, I still would go to the others before the Cancun/yucatan area of Mexico & an AI, JMO and preferences. However, Mexico is often the easiest and cheapest (from flight standpoint, not hotel) to get to so that is a huge pro in my book.
Brayden (5 1/2) born 12.28.06
Hailey (4 1/2) born 2.25.08
Taylor (8 Months) born 12.26.11
Brayden (5 1/2) born 12.28.06
Hailey (4 1/2) born 2.25.08
Taylor (8 Months) born 12.26.11