Do Caribbean island vacations cost more than places like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket?

[Anonymous]

Try a cruise out of NJ or FL. Great way to see the Caribbean at a more affordable price.

[Anonymous]

It depends. The Caribbean is nice, but imo it's not a can't miss destination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try a cruise out of NJ or FL. Great way to see the Caribbean at a more affordable price.

Try this, out of Fort Lauderdale. You can get inexpensive fights to FLL.

But you’ll likely be about $1,000 per person for the cruise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Try a cruise out of NJ or FL. Great way to see the Caribbean at a more affordable price.

Cruises are sky high right now. No way is OP taking 5 people on a cruise for less than $4000.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

Where the hell are you staying in MV or ACK for only $3850 for a week? Tiny rooms at the dumpy little inns start at $400-500+ per night in the summer. House rentals start around $10K for a week and go up quickly from there.

Nowhere in the Caribbean will beat the unicorn deal you have in MV/ACK.

[Anonymous]

I would not start with Turks and Caicos. It was not my favorite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands. I’ve heard Turks and Caicos is lovely for instance. We typically spend a week in MV or Nantucket but drive up not fly.

What is the average week stay on a Caribbean island?

Way more expensive in the Caribbean. Lodging is at least 1k/night and food is expensive b/c many things are imported. We spent 10k on Spring Break just lodging and eating.

So did we, and we went to Florida for 5 nights. It’s very hard to get nice lodging for under $1000 a night ant peak times and that’s not even luxury. If you went to the Dominican in the summer, it’s probably cheaper than Nantucket.
Also depends on what you choose to stay in. Quaint cottage or big beautiful house. There are plenty of houses that rent for $12-$15k a week in Rehoboth. You could get pizza and fries for dinner or have a $500 dinner. Too many variables.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

For reference, I just booked the Avenue inn in Rehoboth for five nights during the week in august. It’s more than that for one hotel room op. So, I think your vacation sounds very reasonable and not fancy at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

Where the hell are you staying in MV or ACK for only $3850 for a week? Tiny rooms at the dumpy little inns start at $400-500+ per night in the summer. House rentals start around $10K for a week and go up quickly from there.

Nowhere in the Caribbean will beat the unicorn deal you have in MV/ACK.

That's what I was wondering. For us the Caribbean is cheaper than MV (we do both regularly) because of the cost of our house on MV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

Since you have to fly 5 people to the Caribbean, I'd say no way is the Caribbean cheaper (or even the same price).

Some back of the envelope math for you OP.

5 people x $500 per plane ticket = $2500.
7 nights x $200 per night = $1400 lodging.

You're already at $3900, and that's the low end of Caribbean options.

$200 a night for loving for 5 people. Are you crazy. Any decent AirBNB for 5 people (i.e. 3 bedrooms/2baths) is going to be at least $600 per night.

AND $200/night all in with fees/taxes would be like a $140/night. What kind of dump would that be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

Where the hell are you staying in MV or ACK for only $3850 for a week? Tiny rooms at the dumpy little inns start at $400-500+ per night in the summer. House rentals start around $10K for a week and go up quickly from there.

Nowhere in the Caribbean will beat the unicorn deal you have in MV/ACK.

This was my thought. I'm not convinced OP is giving us the full picture of their vacation budget. $3850 total budget (lodging, transportation, food, activities) for a week seems extremely cheap for MV/Nantucket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you all! This is good to know. Family of five. We usually do not spend more than approximately $3,850 total including lodging, rental car, ferry, and food. We aren’t fancy dinner diners but spend most of our time lounging on the beach.

My household never could afford to travel growing up, so I have never been to any of the Caribbean islands.

You either go in December or have a family hook-up because just lodging in Nantucket is more than that in the prime season.

[Anonymous]

Op here. For those asking - We’ve always gone in Summer, outside of Summer, we went one time to MV for Memorial Day. We stay 5 days for either. Hotel in MV Vineyard Harbor Hotel is always reasonable even in summer. On Nantucket, Beachside has been great. We travel with snacks to eat in the room. On Nantucket, we would for example eat at Downyflake for breakfast/lunch. In MV we would buy pizza or grab Vineyard Jamaican beef patties or chicken patties for lunch and dinner. We don’t spend much on food at all. The entire day is pretty sedentary at the beach. I’m sure that is boring to many people but are kids are one activity types that like to do one thing for the day and stick to that during vacations. We aren’t going on excursions or other activities but still have a great time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try a cruise out of NJ or FL. Great way to see the Caribbean at a more affordable price.

Cruises are sky high right now. No way is OP taking 5 people on a cruise for less than $4000.

Perhaps.

My family of 6 has cruised a lot. You tend to get the cheapest price if you book way in advance OR when they run specials like third person is half price.

Also: the smaller and midsize ships tend to less expensive.

Remember: your cruise includes all meals, snacks, etc. Plus entertainment. It’s a very affordable vacation imho.

Tampa has a port that is super easy to navigate (and hotel prices for the night before you cruise are reasonable).

Take a look at Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. For those asking - We’ve always gone in Summer, outside of Summer, we went one time to MV for Memorial Day. We stay 5 days for either. Hotel in MV Vineyard Harbor Hotel is always reasonable even in summer. On Nantucket, Beachside has been great. We travel with snacks to eat in the room. On Nantucket, we would for example eat at Downyflake for breakfast/lunch. In MV we would buy pizza or grab Vineyard Jamaican beef patties or chicken patties for lunch and dinner. We don’t spend much on food at all. The entire day is pretty sedentary at the beach. I’m sure that is boring to many people but are kids are one activity types that like to do one thing for the day and stick to that during vacations. We aren’t going on excursions or other activities but still have a great time.

Ok so you're staying at the Vineyard Harbor motel which is what 200-280 a night even in summer. This is not what DCUM envisions as vacation. We go to cape cod and stay st a $800-900 a night house because i want to be walking distance to beach with a room for me snd one for the kids and maybe another if friends or inlaws come and a large kitchen living space in case it rains all day. In the Carribean even PR we stay at beachfront hotel which is at least $500 a night since i like a nice pool and gym.
So if you can get cheap flights, you can do a cheap carribean place as clearly youre ok with a non fancy room.