Find Cheap Caribbean Vacation Packages
Caribbean vacations are those that take place on the islands or the countries that surround the Caribbean sea. The Caribbean islands are a chain of 7,000 small or large islands that stretch approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} between the Gulf of Mexico in North America and the coast of Venezuela in South America. The territories and countries in this region were settled by the Dutch, English, French, Spanish, and other European countries, so the people speak a variety of different languages today. Many of the islands' economies depend upon tourism from cruises, hotels, scuba diving, sailing and more. This is a great region to look for vacation deals if you live in Southern Europe, North America or South America, because you can find seasonal deals for vacation packages. This article will tell you how to find cheap Caribbean vacation packages.
Contents
Steps
Planning Caribbean Travel
- Decide how you want to travel. There are Caribbean vacation packages available through cruise lines and flight and hotel combinations. Airlines, travel aggregate sites, like Expedia, Cruise lines and Caribbean-only websites all offer vacation packages to the Caribbean, but they are separated into cruise and vacation package (air travel) sections.
- Decide what part of the Caribbean you would like to visit. There are usually considered to be 3 different regions to visit in the Caribbean. The prices will usually be higher the farther that you travel away from your home country.
- The Western Caribbean is also sometimes called the "Greater Antilles," and it includes Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Outside of the islands, it also includes the Eastern edges of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Costa Rica that abut the Caribbean Sea.
- The Eastern Caribbean region includes "Lesser Antilles," the eastern chain of Caribbean islands that run from Anguilla to Barbados. Other well known Eastern Caribbean islands include the Turks & Caicos islands, Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.
- The Southern Caribbean region is usually regarded as the "ABC" islands, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. These islands sit just above the top portion of Venezuela, and the continent of South America. These islands are part of the Lesser Antilles, but they are often separated from the Eastern Caribbean islands on cruise and vacation sites.
- Schedule your vacation according to the Caribbean seasons and carnivals. In general, the wet season is June through December, and the dry season is January through May. Book your trip outside of peak travel times, in order to get the best deal on vacation packages.
- Take note of carnival season in the Caribbean, which is the week-long celebration right before the Catholic observance of Lent. Although the celebration is traditionally in February, some Caribbean islands have also scheduled their carnival to take place in May or June to encourage tourism. These are peak travel times, and hotel and flight prices will be consistently higher.
- Take note of hurricane season in the Caribbean, which usually takes place between June 1st and November 30th. You are taking some risk when booking during the hurricane season, so check into the cancellation policies on your travel package. You can often find better deals during hurricane season than you can at other times of the year.
- You may find that prices spike during cold weather months in Europe and the United States. Most Caribbean cruises take place during this time.
- Look for Caribbean packages to countries that speak your language. In general, France offers better deals to French Caribbean islands, and the UK offers better deals to British islands. Although many of these islands are independent today, there are more flights from these countries to familiar islands.
- The French Caribbean islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and the French half of St. Martin, use the Euro. Vacation packages to these islands from the United States or other North or South American countries are likely to be more expensive than trips to other countries that use the Eastern Caribbean dollar or other currencies. The islands of St. Barts, Anguilla and the Grenadines are considered getaway islands for celebrities, so they are usually more expensive as well.
Booking Caribbean Travel
- Go to GrouponGetaways.com, if you would like to travel this year and you are open to traveling anywhere in the Caribbean. GrouponGetaways is an affiliate of Groupon that advertises deep discounts on vacation packages, as long as a certain amount, such as 10, are purchased, and you purchase them within a 24 hours to a week of when they are advertised.
- GrouponGetaways offers a large amount of vacation packages to the Western Caribbean region. However, there are some restrictions, so read the fine print before you purchase. Most of these deals do not include airfare.
- Go to an aggregate travel search engine, such as Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, Priceline or Orbitz to look for a specific Caribbean destination on a specific date. The advantage of these sites is that they allow you to mix services from different airlines, hotels and car rental agencies, which can reduce your price, layovers and purchases.
- You can also click on the "Last Minute Deals" section on each of these sites, and they will show you prices that have just dropped for travel within the next month. Choose either the Caribbean regions if you are looking for a cruise, or choose the specific destination in the drop down menus, to look at the last minute deals that are being offered.
- Visit a Costco or go to Costco.com to find vacation and cruise packages to the Caribbean. If you already have a membership to Costco, they may provide excellent "all-inclusive" offers to Caribbean islands, or good deals on cruises.
- All-inclusive is a vacation package term used when all meals, and even some drinks, are paid for in your package. An all-inclusive package is ideal for families or people looking to stay in a resort for most of their stay. It is not recommended for people who will want to do a lot of sight-seeing and eat at local restaurants.
- Comparison shop, if you want to go on a cruise. You can look directly on the cruise line's websites, on airline websites, on travel aggregate websites and on cruise deal websites, such as cruises.com, vacationstogo.com or cruisedeals.com. After choosing the region of the Caribbean that you want to travel to, you should make a chart to show how much flights are to the cruise departure port, the cost for the cruise, the cost for excursions and whether the site features an on-board credit.
- All of these sites offer good Caribbean travel deals, depending upon the time of year, the number of cabins they have available and the agreements they have with the cruise line. Make sure to at least check the cruise ship's website before you go with a cruise deal website. They often offer better perks or upgrades for booking directly. You may also need to call the cruise company to get last minute pricing.
- Go to CheapCaribbean.com or Caribbean-on-line.com to look for hotel and flight vacation packages that are centered around the Caribbean. You can list how many adults, seniors and children you have in your group, so that you can customize your package. Compare these prices to what you see on a travel aggregate site, and make note if the packages are all-inclusive or not.
Tips
- Before you book, check to see if you have travel insurance on your credit card. Some credit cards provide lost baggage coverage, emergency travel coverage and other benefits. If you do not have travel insurance, consider getting it from an outside source.
- Always book travel arrangements with a credit card. If an airline, hotel or other service goes out of business, you are likely to be protected and get your money back. If you purchase a trip with cash, check or a debit card, you are not guaranteed a refund in case of bankruptcy.
- Go to Caribbean-on-line.com or TripAdvisor.com to do detailed research about the Caribbean and its islands. If you are unsure about a cruise destination, or a last-minute deal destination, do some quick research to see if it is a good place for you or your family.
Things You'll Need
- Travel dates
- Credit card
- Hurricane cancellation policy
- Travel insurance
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