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Best Caribbean Vacation Deals: Best Deals on Caribbean Hotels, Resorts, and Apartments

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Best Caribbean Resorts: 2011 Best Resort List

Best Caribbean Resorts: 2011 Best Resort List

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If you want to know which resorts are the very best in the Caribbean, this is the page for you. Instead of creating yet another opinion on the best Caribbean resorts, instead we decided to research what the top travel sites consider the best and aggregate the results for you here. What you see here represents the consensus best Caribbean resorts from the web’s foremost authorities. If you want only the best for your Caribbean vacation, any of these resorts should satisfy your taste.

To compile our consensus list, we examined the “best lists” of the following 8 travel sites:

Forbes Traveler
Travel Channel
About.com
Gayot
Travel + Leisure
Caribbean Travel + Life
Islands Magazine
Conde Nast Traveler

In this article, we decided to limit the resorts to only those that had received top marks from at least three publications.  Each of the top resorts are ordered based on the number of times they appeared on the best list of one of the aforementioned publications.  The number in parentheses next to each resort is the number of publications that ranked it as a top resort.   The best caribbean resort, Caneel Bay, was listed as one of the best resorts in the Caribbean in 7 of the 8 sites we researched.

Without further adieu here is the list of the best Caribbean resorts.

    1. Caneel Bay – St. John – (7)

Caneel Bay

    1. Sandy Lane – Barbados (6)

Sandy Lane Pool

    1. Peter Island Resort – British Virgin Islands (6)

peter-island-resort

    1. Cap Juluca – Anguilla (5)

cap-juluca1

    1. Four Seasons Resort Nevis – Nevis (5)

(c) Four Seasons Nevis

    1. Half Moon Golf Tennis & Beach Resort – Jamaica (5)

half-moon-resort

    1. One&Only Ocean Club – Bahamas (5)

One&Only Ocean Club

    1. Parrot Cay – Turks & Caicos (5)

parrot-cay

    1. Malliouhana Hotel & Spa – Anguilla (4)

malliouhana

    1. Anse Chastenet – St. Lucia (4)

anse-chastanet

    1. Little Dix Bay – Virgin Gorda, BVI (4)

little-dix-bay

    1. The Reefs – Bermuda (3)

the-reefs

    1. Jamaica Inn – Jamaica (3)

jamaica-inn

    1. Curtain Bluff – Antigua (3)

curtain-bluff

So there you have it, the 14 best resorts money can buy in the Caribbean.

So how do you find a deal at one of these resorts?

First, start by using the resources on this site.  You can find a deal by browsing our Caribbean vacation deals page, or by simply searching for one of the resorts in the search box on this page.  For example, you could try a search for Four Seasons to see any current deals.

If that doesn’t yield anything you can always try the resort website.  All the links above for the resorts will take you directly to their specials page – if they have one.

One final option for deals at these upscale resorts is to try Luxury Link.

Best Caribbean Deals – How You Can Find Them

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So you want to know who has the best Caribbean Deals?  Well, when it comes to Caribbean deals we think we have more deals than anyone.  Here’s our page full of Caribbean Deals if you wan to check for yourself.   However, we don’t have every deal to the Caribbean on that page, so if you can’t find what you want there, what should you do?

For starters, probably the smartest thing to do is to use our Caribbean deals search page.  This customized search, will let you search more than 25 of the best Caribbean travel deal sites at once. Try a search for a resort name or an island and see for yourself.

What if you still can’t find what you are looking for or you just want to see even more deals?  Well, if you want more, here it is.  Each of these sites has deals to the Caribbean, and the links below take you directly to their deals pages.  If you want to know who has the best deals, the answer to that question is, it depends. We did a comparison of vacation packages, at several sites and the results vary widely.

If you will stop at nothing to get the best deal, you have to do some searching.  Hopefully this list will help you out.

Travel Zoo Caribbean Hotel Deals
Priceline Caribbean Vacation Package Deals
Travel Zoo Caribbean Vacation Deals
Booking Buddy Caribbean Travel Deals
Budget Travel Caribbean Deals
Caribbean Travel Magazine Specials
Cheap Caribbean Package Deals
Continental Airlines Caribbean Featured Fares
Delta Vacations Caribbean Deals
Expedia Caribbean Vacation Deals
Kayak Caribbean Vacation Deals
Sherman’s Travel Caribbean and Mexico Hotel Deals
Sherman’s Travel Caribbean and Mexico Vacation Package Deals
Sidestep.com Caribbean Vacation Deals
Vacation Travel Mart Caribbean Deals
Tropical Travel Caribbean Vacation Packages
Apple Vacations – You need to pick where you are leaving from to see the right prices on this page.
Booking Wiz Caribbean Deals
Virtual Tourist Caribbean Deals
Travelocity Caribbean Deals
Yahoo! Travel Caribbean Hotel Deals
Yahoo! Travel Caribbean Vacation Packages Deals
American Airlines Vacations – Caribbean Deals
CheapOAir.com Caribbean Deals
Cheap Tickets Caribbean Deals
Continental Airlines Caribbean Deals
Costco Travel Caribbean Deals
Delta Vacations Caribbean Deals
Hotels.com Caribbean Deals
Hotwire Caribbean Deals
Independent Traveler Caribbean Deals
Orbitz Caribbean Deals

If we have missed any please let us know.

Where Should You Book Your Caribbean Vacation Package?

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Have you ever wondered which sites have the best prices on Caribbean vacation packages? On virtually every online travel site, you can book a package deal (Flight plus Hotel) to the Caribbean.  However, are these vacation packages really deals, and are the prices for these vacation packages relatively similar across sites?  To answer these questions we have done some research, and the results may surprise you.

In this particular investigation, we take a close look at the the differences in prices for Caribbean vacation packages at some of the best known travel sites and some of the lesser known ones.   We will follow up with another article on the difference in price between booking the vacation as a package and just booking everything separately.

Caribbean Vacation Package Investigation

Before we jump in to the analysis we thought we would give you a quick introduction to the parameters of our research.

How We Defined Vacation Package:

As mentioned in the intro, a vacation package for the most part is comprised of airfare plus hotel.  On many of the big sites, you can also add car rental.   In this example we focus on the flight and the hotel, as those are usually the biggest expenses.

The Sites We Researched:

www.expedia.com

www.travelocity.com

www.orbitz.com

www.bookit.com

www.cheapcaribbean.com

This selection of sites is representative of the market in general.  We included the big 3, a  midsized online travel agency – Bookit, and a specialty or niche travel agency – Cheap Caribbean.

Package Particulars:

This rates shown in this example are vacation package rates for 2 adults traveling from Atlanta (ATL)  to Barbados (BGI) for the week of May 2nd to May 9th (8 days, 7 nights).  We compare the package rates offered by the travel agencies listed above for 3 different destinations in Barbados:  Hilton Barbados, The Crane Resort, Almond Beach Club & Spa (all inclusive).

Results

The first thing to note is that at the time of this research, the price of just the airfare to Barbados was $605 per person, or a total of $1210 for the trip.  This rate was the same across all travel agencies.  All prices shown below are based on airfare for two adults and a 7 night stay in Barbados.

Hilton Barbados:

Cheap Caribbean $2,757

Travelocity – $2,939

Orbitz – $3,432

Priceline – $3,527 (Priceline required an overnight stay on the return)

Expedia -$3,532

BookIt – Hotel not available on BookIt.

Crane Resort:

BookIt – $1,894

Travelocity – $2,241

Expedia – $2,260

Orbitz – $2,584

Cheap Caribbean – $3,295

Priceline – Hotel not available on Priceline

Almond Beach Club & Spa (all inclusive)

Priceline – $2,711 (Priceline required an overnight stay on the return)

BookIt – $3,297

Orbitz – $3,376

Travelocity – $3,512

Expedia – $3,552

Cheap Caribbean – $3,725

Conclusion

As we alluded to in the intro, some of these results are quite surprising, if not staggering.  The variance between the highest and lowest prices were $400, $775, and $1000.  What is even more interesting is that there was really no consistency to the results.  Cheap Caribbean had the lowest price to the Hilton Barbados by almost $200, but had by far the worst price to the other two hotels.  Priceline had the cheapest price to Almond Beach Club & Spa by almost $600, but was out-priced by more than that amount at the Crane Resort.  Relative newcomer, BookIt was best and second best price at the two hotels for which they had prices.

What is very clear from this is that you cannot count on any one site to deliver the best price, and that shopping around can save hundreds of dollars.  We should also remind you that these represent only a sampling of the dozens of online travel agents.

Reminder:

If you are currently looking to vacation in the Caribbean, we have several resources to help you find a great deal. We have tons of Caribbean Vacation Packages on our Caribbean vacation deals page. These deals are updated constantly and we are always adding to the list.  We also have a search feature to help you find deals on vacation packages.  This Caribbean vacation package search will show you some great deals on other sites.

Is a Vacation Package Really a Discount?

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You want to go on vacation and you want to get a discount. Sites all over the internet offer discount vacation packages, but are they really a discount? Well, we have done some research to try and figure out the answer. After reading this article, you will have a better understanding of discount vacation packages and where the best places are to find them.

Discount Vacation Package – An Analysis

For the purpose of this analysis we are defining a “vacation package” as a single booking that includes both flight and hotel.  A vacation package can also include car rental, but we have decided to focus on the flight and hotel portions of the package.

Vacation Package Details: Who, Where, & When?

To perform an analysis on the quality of the discount, we must first decide how many people are going, where we want to go, and when.  Our mythical trip will be:

  • A trip for 2 adults from Atlanta to Barbados for the week of May 2nd to May 9th.

To gain an even better understanding of the size of the package discounts offered, we have priced the package at three different hotels/resorts in Barbados:

Sites We Researched

www.expedia.com

www.travelocity.com

www.orbitz.com

www.bookit.com

www.cheapcaribbean.com

This selection of sites is representative of the market in general. We included the big 3, a midsized online travel agency – Bookit, and a specialty or niche travel agency – Cheap Caribbean.

Results

The first thing to note is that at the time of this research, the price of just the airfare to Barbados was $552per person, or a total of $1104 for the trip. This rate was virtually the same across all travel agencies. Also, all prices shown below are based on airfare for two adults and a 7 night stay in Barbados.

Vacation Package Prices

The Crane Resort

Lowest – $2,026 – BookIt

Highest – $3,180 – Cheap Caribbean

Hilton Barbados

Lowest – $2,721 – Cheap Caribbean

Highest – $3,818 – Expedia

Almond Beach Village

Lowest – $3,429 – BookIt

Highest – $3,786 – Expedia

Given those prices, and the widely available price of airfare for 2 of $,1104, we can price the hotel portion of the cheapest discount vacation package as such:

The Crane Resort – $922

Hilton Barbados – $1,617

Almond Beach Village – $2,325

Now, the question is, can you get a better price at those hotels without the package?  Using only the sites in our test, here’s the best price we could find each of the hotels and the discount you get by booking the package:

The Crane Resort – BookIt -$1,381 (More than the discount package by $452)

Hilton Barbados – Travelocity – $2,113 (More than the discount package by $496)

Almond Beach Village – BookIt – $2,462 (More than the discount package by $137)

The results look very convincing.  Booking travel as a package can provide you a substantial discount on your travel.  Case closed right?  Not so fast my friend.

We took our study one step further, what if you expand your list of hotel booking sites?  Well we did that, and here’s what we found.  For the Crane Resort and Hilton Barbados, we couldn’t find a better deal anywhere.  BUT for Almond Beach Village, we did find a better deal on just the resort stay.  How much better?  Way better.  We found a rate for Almond Beach Village of only $1,666 on www.gtahotels.com.  That is a savings over the best package deal of $659 (2,325 – 1,666).  That is a lot of cash.

Summary

Here is what you should take away from this:

  • From site to site, not all packages are created equal – this is clearly seen in the variance between best and worst price of the same package on different sites .   For more on this variance check out this related article on Vacation Package Price Differences.
  • At any one site, the package deal is likely to be a discount over booking the components of the trip separately.  In fact, many of the largest sites show you the discount you are getting.
  • If you really want the best deal, you need to search around.  Use the big name sites, and some of the smaller ones.  Look at this list of travel agent sites for some options.