ashley

Hello. I am going on my honeymoon next September 2003, we are staying at Little Dix for 5 days and Caneel Bay for 5 days. We have decided on a cottage at Little Dix, what is the difference between premium and deluxe? What are the "best" as far as closeness to the beach and quiet/romantic. Also in Caneel Bay we love the look of the tennis garden rooms, the big stone looks neat, much better than even the premium room- and much cheaper. Any suggetions or comments on these rooms? Is the meal plan worth the $110 bucks a day (for 3 meals), will we be spending more than that without the meal plan? If someone has a map of these properties I would love to have a copy sent to me or where can I find one? Thanks!

Diane

The differenc between premium and beachfront is that premium is only one story with what I believe is 4 rooms per building. They are on beautiful Scotts Beach. Beachfront on Turtle Bay and Hawksnest are 2 stories with 12 - 16 rooms. Beachfront rooms on Little Caneel Beach are single story, close to the main pavillion but the beach, while private is very small. The rooms on the larger Caneel Beach are single story, but there is more foot traffic about. I am not sure if these are considered beachfront or premium.<BR><BR>I stayed around Tennis courts once and found it too far from the beach. Although I enjoy walking around the beautiful expansive grounds, I really prefer just walking a few steps from my room to the beach and looking at the ocean from my patio or balcony. I have stayed at Turtle Bay, very beautiful and quiet, and have requested Hawksnest for my next stay, just to try something different.<BR><BR>If it is affordable, I would definitely recommend beachfront or premium, especially for my honeymoon.<BR><BR>I have been to Little Dix Bay only for a day trip. It appeared to be very beautiful. All units surround one beach. The island of St. John is much more beautiful then the one at Little Dix.<BR><BR>I would opt for the breakfast/ dinner plan $90. The meals are all you can eat either from a buffet or off the menu. The best thing is not having to worry about an item or meal cost. Having lunch on the meal plan ties you down to having to be there when you may want to explore the island where you can experience other unique restaurants.<BR><BR>No matter what you decide, your honeymoon will be wonderful. Much happiness to you both.

Mary

Ashley,<BR>I don't see it on the Little Dix website but the Caneel website (www.caneelbay.com) has a downloadable map of the property. It's a pdf file so you'll need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader on your computer but it is a good map that shows where all the different types of rooms are. <BR>The Tennis Garden rooms are very nice but as Diane said they are a bit of a walk to the beach. If the Beachfront rooms are out of the realm financially, I'd try to go for the oceanview. Very short walk to the beach and the wonderful sight of the ocean from your room.<BR>Happy Honeymoon!

x

If you call the resorts directly they will fax you maps of the rooms.<BR><BR>Go with the beachfront rather than the premium at Caneel. The tennis garden rooms look neat inside but they are a trek to the beaches. We had a beachfront on Hawksnest Beach and I would take that again in a heartbeat.<BR><BR>We had the breakfast/dinner meal plan at Caneel and wish we had taken lunches as well. Lunches alone ran us about $60 per day at the beach grill. <BR><BR>I'm jealous of your trip! Have a great time!

Ashley

Thanks so much for all of your replies. They helped alot! Would you recommend staying at both Little Dix and Caneel? Is 10 days at these properties too much, should we switch to another hotel instead of one of these? I have heard they are very simmilar to each other. Thoughts? Thanks again!

justgotback!

hi ashley! my husband and i just got back a couple of weeks ago from our honeymoon at caneel bay....it was truly wonderful! the beaches are very quiet and beautiful, and we found the snorkelling to be better on the resort than anywhere else we went to on the island. i think 10 days is perfect (that's what we did as well), because you have enough time to really settle into the island before you have to pack up and leave. we went on a day trip to little dix and the baths (which were awesome!), and decided when we come back to caneel in the future we'd stay a night or two on virgin gorda as well (although it seems there is more to do/see on st. john). i would get a room as close to the beach as you are willing to pay for. it's really nice looking out at the water right when you wake up and as far as the meal plan goes, we opted not to do it (as we were interested in going to town to eat in addition to eating at the resort) and we were very happy we did so....the restaurants at caneel were very good, but some of the restaurants in cruz bay were well worth the trip (such as paradiso, la tapa, morgan's mango). in addition to having more options, you will spend less.....we ended up spending far less than we had budgeted for (since we planned according to the rates caneel charged for the all-inclusive) and every meal was wonderful....i don't know anything about the restaurants on virgin gorda, though. <BR><BR>i am sure you will love st. john (and caneel!), it is perfect for a honeymoon. we did not want to leave!

Chris

You will also love LDB. We had one of our best vacations on Virgin Gorda and LDB.<BR>We stayed at Caneel Bay and LDB and I thought the rooms, service, food and atmosphere of Virgin Gorda were superior to St. John and CB.<BR>Split up your time if you have 10 days between both of the resorts

Jen

We stayed in a Tennis Garden room in late July. The room was lovely (yes, with the stone shower and all).<BR><BR>It's true it was a long walk to Scott Beach and Turtle Bay so we took the shuttle (it was really hot and humid when we were there). On the other hand, the taxi stand, the main desk, shop, computer room, dive equipment stand, and Caneel Beach are all a short walk from Tennis Gardens, whereas they would be quite a distance from some of the other areas. <BR><BR>We did not get any meal plan, as I'd heard from reliable sources that the restaurants were overpriced and not that good. We wanted to eat outside the resort (Asolare, Stone Terrace, Uncle Joe's BBQ, Chateau Bordeaux) and again, since we were near the taxi stand, it was a quick run to town.<BR><BR>So, as always, I think you need to make your decision based on the criteria that are most important. If $ is tight, go for Tennis Gardens and no meal plan (eating in town is cheaper). If you are willing to trade some $ away for extra views or convenience, you might want an oceanview or beachfront room. If you don't want to leave the resort, go for a meal plan.<BR><BR>My only disappointment with Caneel is that I couldn't stay longer! I think 10 days is perfect -- long enough for you to really relax and get used to the island ways.<BR><BR>I hope this helps.

Debbie

We went to Caneel Bay in April and I would not suggest the meal plan. The restaurants in town were wonderful. Of all the meals we ate, the dinner at Caneel was the least interesting. It is just a quick trip to town and I wish we could have gone to more places to eat. They were all so great and I had recommendations for more. Have a great time!