The Caribbean

Thanks for your kind thoughts. No chance of catching ship just crossing fingers and toes that the insurance will cover the costs involved.Just hard coming to terms with losing a special family holiday that has been booked for months.
A Caribbean cruise is such a relaxed and fun holiday I can highly recommend it.
We thought going a day early would be fine short of camping out at airport for a few days before I don’t know how we could have avoided this disaster .
Time our town sorted out the road and snow situation.

Oh dalby! That's awful. I'm so sorry. Is there no chance you could catch up with the ship?

Oh dalby what a shame. I can imagine how disappointed you must be.

It was always my fear too that snow here would prevent us getting to the airport, and had also planned to book into an airport hotel a day early if any bad weather was on the cards.

oh.. not what friends have experienced when they have been, Sorry to hear you were disappointed..i have only heard positive feedback. Maybe I have 'cheap' friends!

Have just returned from Cuba, if you want to see it go on a cruise as the food and service is dreadful.

Thank you so much for all this help... I haven't been on for a few days so I will read carefully through. Thank you.

Caribbean is wonderful you will love it . However bear in mind winter weather here we have just lost our Caribbean cruise due to being completely snowbound even though we were going to airport a day early
Still snowbound and flight has gone. One very disappointed and upset family .

Visited many of the islands.. All have things to recommend them but, for us, Tobago was by far the best.

Do check cruise and stay out Jane 10. Its a good way to give cruising a go. If you love it you can go on a longer cruise next time. If you find it's not for you, then you still have half your holiday left to explore before you go home.

Cruise and stay sounds lovely. I'll need to check that out!

We have visited Antigua three times and it's our favourite, we just found the people to be the friendliest. We have also been to St Lucia and Barbados and have just booked a cruise for later this month visiting the Southern Caribbean to discover some different islands.

Greetings from St Lucia! I live here in the winter because my son is here with three Jack Russells and I just adore them. CraftyCat I am sorry you were not keen on this island and had a bad experience, but St Lucia is a beautiful island and people are generally friendly.
If I was coming to the Caribbean for the first time I would go on a cruise which takes in many different islands and you can have a preliminary look so you can see which you like
When my husband was alive we did quite a few Caribbean cruises, mainly with P&O or Royal Caribbean. P&O are very British but Royal Caribbean have newer bigger ships and offer good value. I hope you visit and enjoy yourselves!

I love Jamaica lovely hotels and places to visit. Never felt unsafe there.

Visited the Carribean last February. Did a cruise and stay which suited us very well. A week cruising around some of the islands then a week on Barbados.

This suited us better than a 2 week cruise. Many of the islands are very small. Mostly lovely but we found a day a shore for each was fine. Then a week on Barbados gave us plenty of time to explore this beautiful island.

Obviously on the cruise you need to be on and off the ship at given times which was fine for the one week but we liked also doing things in a more leisurely way the second week ashore.

Visited Death in Paradise set on Guadalupe. There is a narrow road (closed while filming) between the bar and the seating area at “Catherine’s bar” which is really small. Actually looks better on TV.
We also had no idea only Euros are used in Guadalupe and Martinique.

We got a really good deal at the Tropikist hotel in Tobago, all inclusive and you can stay for 7, 10, or 14 nights. We stayed for 10 and it was wonderful. We hired a car for 5 days to tour the island or you can use the local buses. It gives you a flavour of the weather, people, culture etc and you can just relax and enjoy a free martini by the pool.
Otherwise we did do a Cruise and Maritime cruise which went to several Caribbean islands and loved docking at a new island every day.

Every time I watch 'Death in Paradise' I want to visit Saint Marie but and obviously deterred by high death toll. Its nearly as dangerous as Midsummer.

Loved Cuba. We toured around and there is a blissful lack of traffic outside Havana, also of course a lack of shops or consumer goods, but we thought that was a plus. No adverts either. Also loved Dominica, although I believe it was ravaged by the 2017 hurricane and is struggling to recover. There used to be a fabulous hiking trail and they were trying to go down the eco tourism route (hardly any beaches). Its quite undeveloped. Also been to Martinique, which is basically France with sun, Antigua - lots of beaches and cruise ships and St Lucia - lots of Brits and quite crowded when we were there in February.

I would have loved to have gone to Cuba....

Grass skirts, bikini tops and some tiny paper umbrellas. You'll live on the beach and in the water so why pay for an hotel?

Have been to Tobago, St Lucia, Grenada, and Dominica on holidays not cruises. Its very true what knspol says they put the prices way up for cruise visitors. If you like nature as we do, Dominica (not the Dominican Republic) is absolutely brilliant and the people are really friendly. Otherwise, we like Tobago, Grenada and St Lucia in that order. Check wherever you want to go for seaweed before you book some beaches are having a lot of problems with it.

We returned from Tobago a little over a week ago. Of all the islands this is our favourite for a relaxing sun, sea and sand vacation. Thomas Cook does charter flights here at a very reasonable cost.
The best beaches in Tobago are in the south west corner. My two choices (depending on your budget) are Crown Point Beach Hotel (one of their cabanas) and Coco Reef. Both flank the beautiful Store Bay and are within walking distance of Pigeon Point (Tobago's most photographed beach). That corner of the island, near to the airport, also has the most eating places.
Hiring a car for a few days allows you to do a complete tour of the island and visit the numerous beautiful beaches and the rainforest.
I have visited about 20 islands and the other ones I can recommend are Antigua, Grenada, and Barbados - in that order. We only go to Tobago now as it is perfect for our requirements.
Happy to send you photos if you PM me.

Went on cruise round Caribbean last year. Loved all the Dutch buildings in Curaçao, the botanical gardens in Guadalupe and the scenery of St Lucia.

Been to the Domican Republic on 3 occasions in 1989, 2008 and 2018 for a fortnight each time. On every occasion I have become really unwell so will NOT return. Shame because south coast beaches are beautiful.

I've been to St Lucia, Barbados and Dominican Republic all the islands were very friendly. On Barbados especially we mixed with the locals and everyone was truly lovely. The St Lucians are rightly very proud of the beauty of the island. We also had a great time in the DR but you really need to check reviews of the hotel as there are some real dives but also some excellet hotels, we stayed at the Iberostar Costa Dorada which was a 10 out of 10 hotel but people staying a a nearby RIU were suffering a D&V bug

Perhaps I should add, I’ve been to about 12 Caribbean islands and honestly, apart from Cuba, I would settle for a Greek island any day.