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Adults Only All Inclusive Resorts

June 8th, 2010

There are a few possibilities when talking about going to an adults only all-inclusive resort. Most all-inclusive resorts were designed for families with young children, however there are an increasing quantity of adult only all-inclusive resorts.

However, there are also adult only and family nude all-inclusive resorts, especially in Europe and Australia. If you are searching for a nude adult only all-inclusive resort for your vacation, you will probably have to go abroad to destinations like Greece, Italy, the old Yugoslavia area or Australia.

Most people in the USA, the UK and northern Europe would find sharing a nudist beach with children uncomfortable in these ultra-PC days, but nudist beaches for adults only can be good fun. It is best not to be shy, however some people find it helps to go to a nudist beach alone while others feel more at ease in the company of adult friends. Couples often find adult only nudist beaches exotic, erotic and romantic.

Locating adults only all-inclusive resorts is not complicated with the power of a search engine and the Internet on hand. However, if you want to try nudist adults only all inclusive resorts in the USA, it could be problematic. This is because nudity is a controversial topic in the USA.

If, however ‘by adult only’, you simply mean to imply over twenty-one year olds only, then you will have a lot more luck. There are hundreds of non-nudist adults only all-inclusive resorts, hotels and cruises around the United States, Hawaii, the US Virgin Islands and everywhere else in the Caribbean.

Adult only all-inclusive cruises are very widespread. Cruising is not really suited to children. There is not enough room and they can get into severe trouble or even drop overboard unobserved until it is too late. Adult only all-inclusive resorts are excellent, if you like living in a chalet or cabin.

In between these two limits of fine living on the all-inclusive vacations front are the all-inclusive hotels. Plenty of hotels, but far fewer resorts, do put age restrictions on who can reside there. The Club style holidays are good examples; ‘Club 18-30′ is well-known, but not all of its venues are all-inclusive.

If you are still thinking about nude adult only all-inclusive resorts, you might find it simpler to unearth a selection of topless beaches. These are two a penny in Europe and elsewhere, but in the united States and the some of the Caribbean, you may be able to join a private beach that allows this style of costume.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Saint Croix – The Largest Of The US Virgin Islands

June 8th, 2010

Saint Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands although the capital city, Charlotte Amelie, is situated on St Thomas. Saint Croix itself has two towns Frederiksted (pop. 830) and Christiansted (pop. 3,000). The name of the island derives from the earlier Spanish name given by Christopher Columbus in 1493 – Santa Cruz or ‘Holy Cross’. As Santa Cruz, Saint Croix gets a lot of mention in swashbuckling stories of pirates and buccaneers sailing on the Spanish Main.

The population before the Europeans got there was Arawak and Carib and they had probably been there since about 5000 BC. After 1493 the population of the Caribbean got involved in a 100 years war with the Spanish and the type of people living on the island altered forever.

Saint Croix has been owned and therefore predominantly occupied by the Spanish, The British, the French, the Dutch, the Maltese and the Danish all of whom had slaves and plantations

The slaves were manumitted in 1848, but many chose to stay on Saint Croix. Descendants of slaves still live on the island. The total populace of the island is now roughly 60,000.

English is the official language and is the most commonly spoken, although there is also some Spanish, French Creole and Virgin islands Creole, also known as Crucian, which is spoken by most inhabitants in informal situations.

This Hispanic segment of the Crucian populace is mostly of Puerto Rican lineage. The US bought Vieques from Puerto Rico during the Second World War and evicted its inhabitants. Many moved to St Croix because of its similarity to Vieques. These people have integrated well, but also kept a few of their old customs. They usually speak a mixture of Spanish and Crucian English in a distinctive form of Spanglish.

Continental Americans make up about 13% of the population and mostly live on the eastern side of St Croix. Arab Palestinians are also a sizeable minority owning most of the petrol stations and supermarkets on St Croix. Other modern immigrants have moved from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Philippines.

There has been some tension between immigrants and those calling themselves ‘real Crucians’, but it has largely evaporated because of to intermarriage. There have been attempts to define a ‘real Crucian’.

The matter seems to have been sorted out when in 2009, the recommended U.S. Virgin Islands Constitution voted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention proposed three definitions of U.S. Virgin Islanders: “Ancestral Native Virgin Islander”, who have ancestral ties (and their descendants); “Native Virgin Islander”, who were born on the island (and their descendants); and “Virgin Islander”, who are any United States citizen who has lived in the territory for five years.

Christianity, in the form of Protestantism is the main religion, although the Hispanic community is Roman Catholic. There are also small groups of Jews and followers of Rastafari, Islam.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Vacationing With Your Dog In St Croix

June 3rd, 2010

Whether you would rather clear mountain air or the ozone-rich, salty air of the sea, you can find places to take your dog for a walk that are very pleasant, even when you are on holiday. If you are a nature lover and a dog lover, you could choose a vacation destination with nature and your dog in mind.

City-bound hotel holidays or long, driving holidays are not very enjoyable for your dog. If a dog is going to be at home all day, he would prefer be in his own home all day. Likewise, with driving. He might plead to go the mall with you in the car, but doing a coast to coast run in a hot fortnight in June, is not really what he is all about.

Therefore, if you are planning a vacation that you think your pet would not really enjoy, why not do him and yourself a favour and leave him behind? Leave him with a dog-loving relative or friend or board him in a kennels that you have checked out well yourself.

There are literally hundreds of boarding kennels in operation in every state and often there are thousands. Most of them are good, some are outstanding and the owners of some could do with a stiff talking to. I put my dog in one once that I had not checked out well enough and went away for two weeks. When I got back four hours early, they were not ready me and my dog was dirty and forlorn.

I felt awfully guilty and my dog would not ’speak’ to me for a week. Really! No eye contact, no tail wagging, would not always come when called, no happy running about, just a hang dog expression for seven days. She must have felt that I let her down badly, which of course I had, by not researching the kennels.

A fantastic place to take your dog is St Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The US Virgin Islands are literally part of the United States of America and you can go there without a passport, with your US dollars and with your dog.

Not every hotel allows animals just as in mainland USA, but there are loads that do. There are also package holidays that will take you and your dog from the airport to the island hotel and back again all for one price.

Of the four main islands in the US Virgin Islands, St. Croix is most likely the best choice for going to with a pet dog, because it is less heavily populated than the other islands and is by far the largest.

The hotel or resort will probably not provide feeding dishes, bedding and toys but they will surely have a store where you can buy such things. It is perhaps not worth bringing your own either unless you have a large suitcase and a decent weight allowance. Food for your dog will also be extensively available on the island, of course.

St Croix has a variety of types of landscape and plenty of activities to take full advantage of them. There are gorgeous tropical beaches just right for swimming or playing in the waves; there are the undulating plains of the old plantations, which are perfect for long walks and there are hills, mountains and rain forest to explore with your dog too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Elite Caribbean Cruises

May 27th, 2010

If you enjoy travelling and visiting new places, I recommend a cruise. I have cruised the Mediterranean and the Baltic and my next cruise will be a Caribbean cruise. I am really looking forward to it. If you have never been on a cruise, start saving up now, because it is opulence like you have never imagined before.

Never having been on a Caribbean cruise before, I do not know how much the various Caribbean islands differ from one another, so I do not know how varied that cruise would be. However, I have cruised the Med and the Baltic and woken up to a different country every day and in both of those seas and every country is very different from its neighbours.

On our Baltic cruise we left from Southampton and cruised to Gothenburg in Sweden. From there we went to Helsinki and Leningrad (in those days). On the way back, we called into Copenhagen and the Tivoli Gardens. None of those countries was in any way similar to another or even Britain.

Similarly, my Mediterranean cruise left from Minorca in north eastern Spain going east to Sardinia and then north along the southern coast of Europe. Italy, France and Spain. The second week of the cruise left Minorca again and went to Sicily and then south along the northern coast of Africa including Malta.

The luxury on a cruise is almost indescribable to someone who has never been on a cruise. There is no standard higher than five stars, but the cruises I have been on offered superior levels of luxury than any five star hotels I have stayed in anywhere in the world.

Food and shore trips play a major part of cruising. The food is top notch with no mistake. Breakfast on a cruise liner is better than most Americans and most Europeans have for dinner. Whatever you want from prawns to steak, from exotic fruit to porridge. Lunch and dinner are even more sumptuous.

Shore excursions are well organized too. They include a ferry from the cruise liner to the land and then a coach trip by a local firm to the destination, which could be an historical site or a shopping mall. Most cruisers go on these trips, but some would rather stay on board and take advantage of the lower number of passengers and the free food.

I went on every shore excursion and thoroughly enjoyed each one. The excursions are usually pricey though, but you are part of a trapped audience, so what can you expect?

I thoroughly recommend a cruise holiday to any and every one. You should go at least once in your life, but do not leave it until late in your life because you will want to go again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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An All-Inclusive Hotel Or An All-Inclusive Resort?

May 19th, 2010

If you are planning to go on vacation this year, how are you thinking of doing it? There are several alternatives to explore, if you begin planning early enough. There are the self-planned, ‘I will find a hotel when I get there’ style; there are cruises and there are package vacations.

The self planned is for those without children and is more bold. Cruises are wonderful, if you like being on the water more than being on land and there are the package holidays, some of which are all-inclusive package vacations.

If you choose a vacation package, you have the alternative of looking for an all-inclusive resort or an all-inclusive hotel. There is not much to choose between them, if you are going alone or with your spouse, but if you are taking children, the all-inclusive resort is the one for you.

This is because all-inclusive hotel rooms can be on the small side and if you have a small child or even children with you, your room will soon become overcrowded and suites are more expensive. An all-inclusive resort, on the other hand, will normally provide accommodation in the form of cabins or chalets, which are designed with young families in mind.

You do not want to be staying on the 12th floor of a large hotel with toddlers, because either they have to stay in the room until you want to go out, in which case they might get grumpy or they might learn how to get out and wander off in the hotel. A chalet, however, will necessarily be on the ground floor, usually be in clusters, so that you can help keep an eye on each other’s kids and may even have a small garden with a fence.

Whether you go to an all-inclusive hotel or an all-inclusive resort really depends on whether you have or can put up with children. If you have children then a resort is for you, if you do not like children’s racket, then you would be better suited to an all-inclusive vacation in a hotel.

Once you have selected your type of all-inclusive package vacation, the rest is plain sailing. Actually what is all-included in these type of hotels and resorts can vary quite widely, so you should make sure you know well in advance. Cost is a good clue. If one resort at the same location is much cheaper than the others, look into it more warily before booking.

Often the disparity will only be in degree. For example, an all-inclusive hotel or resort may offer the free use of diving equipment, but when you read on it might restrict that to non-mechanical diving equipment, so you only get a mask, snorkel and flippers. Others may only have ten sets of equipment – first come first served.

However, having said that, most all-inclusive package vacations are incredible deals. They include your transport to and from your home town to the destination, which depends on you and where the resort is of course. For St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands transport could be by cruise or flight – you must settle on that at the outset. Having to travel 500 miles to Orlando by bus or train with three young children may not be much fun.

When you arrive there, they almost always include all your food and snacks and all soft drinks, tea and coffee, beer and non-branded spirits. An all-inclusive will also include all charges to on-site entertainment. That means the, pool, the club house, pool, snooker, table tennis, the gym etc, and access to any private beach attached to the hotel. It will also include night time shows usually.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Honeymoon On St Croix, USVI

May 17th, 2010

After your wedding day, your honeymoon is one of the most memorable times of your life and so must surely count as one of best holidays you will ever have. It is the beginning of a new life with the person you love. As such it is a good reason to visit somewhere you have always wanted to go, somewhere very special.

One of the most popular places for people to go to on a honeymoon is St Croix, The US Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is the first preference for many newly weds for several reasons: the romance, the people are happy and welcoming, the sand, sea and sunshine, the food and the music. St Croix in the US Virgin Islands is one of the most well-liked destinations in the Caribbean islands.

St Croix has beautiful beaches and that perfect tropical climate that is so appropriate for a wonderful honeymoon. The hotels and the island’s inhabitants love to take care of newly weds and go out of their way to make sure that the honeymooners have the time of their lives – a holiday that they will remember fondly for ever.

Expense is always a factor when one is planning a honeymoon in the Caribbean, but you need not be too worried on that front. A honeymoon on St Croix need not be costly and as it is only 1,300 miles from the USA, so travel costs and travel time are low.

You will not have trouble finding somewhere on the island to suit your desires. However, St Croix is a popular honeymoon destination, especially for Americans, so it is worth booking your honeymoon holiday as early as possible in order to secure the reservation that you want.

There are three main types of places to stay: a hotel, a vacation rental or a holiday home. The difference between a vacation rental and a holiday home is that the former is a condo or villa purpose built for holiday makers, whereas the holiday home is actually somebody’s house who has let it out for a short period.

When scheduling your honeymoon, you should think about when you will go away. It was traditional to leave for the honeymoon after a short reception on the day of the wedding, but many couples delay their departure date nowadays. Over the last few decades, it has become the norm to hold an extensive reception hours after the wedding, often at night. This will often go on until midnight or later, which makes leaving for foreign climes quite difficult. A hangover is not a good travelling companion either.

Therefore, you may want to put your going away date off until two days after the wedding, although I think that flying out on the wedding day is still the best idea. If you choose a holiday home or a vacation rental on St Croix, you will need to make all your own arrangements for getting to the airport, flying to St Croix and getting a taxi from the airport to your place of stay, so I recommend that for this, your first visit to this beautiful island, you take a package holiday, which will take care of you from your local airport to your hotel on St Croix and back again.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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St Croix Of The US Virgin Islands

April 15th, 2010

Saint Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands, which lie 1730 miles east south east of Miami and 93 miles west of Puerto Rico. This section of the Virgin Islands has belonged to the United States since 1917 when they were acquired from the Danish government for $25m in gold to safeguard American coasts from German U-boat attack.

At the time, it was feared that Germany would conquer the islands and construct submarine pens there in order to harass American supply shipping, which was vital to the allies in Europe during the First World War.

The US Virgin islands is a cluster of about 60 chiefly uninhabited islands, the four biggest of which are called St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island. (By the way, ‘Saint’ is pronounced in the English manner). The Islands’ residents, however, have other names for these four which are Twin City, Rock City, Love City and Small City respectively.

Christopher Columbus landed there on November 14th, 1493, but there is evidence of human habitation on the island going back to 5000 BC. In fact, the Arawaks and the Caribs made up the islands’ populace, before the Europeans arrived.

Possession of St Croix and the other Virgin Islands changed a great deal over the following centuries, but it became famous to many people as Santa Cruz, which is its Spanish name. As Santa Cruz, St Croix featured prominently in 17th and 18th century stories of pirates and buccaneers on the Spanish Main.

In fact, after Spain first took control of the island, it changed hands seven times; having been Spanish, British, French, Maltese, Dutch, Danish and now American. The residents of the US Virgin Islands are now US citizens and carry US passports. They also use the US dollar and US laws.

St Croix was an agricultural powerhouse in the Caribbean until the 1960’s when the local government decided it was time to industrialize. The island is now home to HOVENSA, one of the largest oil refineries in the world.

There is also a large distillery, the Cruzan Rum Distillery, which used to produce rum from sugar cane grown on the island. Sugar cane, or its extract, molasses are now imported from the Dominican Republic to make Southern Comfort and Cruzan Rum. Diageo is arranging to build a distillery there too in order to produce Captain Morgan Rum.

Inhabitants of the island call themselves Crucians. However, there is a great deal of debate about what constitutes a ‘real Crucian’. Many say that a Crucian is someone who was born and raised on St Croix, while others claim that descendants of the slaves that the Danes brought over in 16th and 17th Centuries are the only true Crucians.

Many Crucians can track their ancestry back to Puerto Rico or other Virgin islands as the sugar cane industry attracted a lot of migrant workers in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. There was also an inflow of down-islanders (ie from other Caribbean islands), as the residents say, after the industrialization of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s as tourism and oil became more central to the economy.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Vacation Rental Property

April 11th, 2010

If you are thinking of buying a vacation rental property, there are two things that you can ultimately do with it. Some purchasers of vacation rental property aim to live in it most of the year round themselves and others aim to rent it out for most of the year. There is no doubt that vacation rental property can provide an outstanding income stream.

However, there is a huge difference between vacation property rental and residential property rental. This has to do with the fact that holiday makers are not inevitably looking for the same amenities in a vacation rental property as they are in a home.

One item that does influence the desirability of both vacation rental property and residential property is location. However, a good residential property for a young family may have to be near to schools and other services and for older people being near a school is more of a hassle.

Similarly with vacation rental property, you have to know your target market. You have to discover the answer to the question: why do people come to this location? And then buy a vacation rental property that matches the highest volume profile.

In this way, you will never be short of tenants and you will be sure of high rents too. For example, some people might go to the Caribbean island of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands for the diving opportunities it presents while others may want to explore the tropical rain forests. However, younger travelers might not want to go far from the only largish town on the island, Christiansted, so that they can take part in any nightlife happening.

One thing that everyone requires is security. The person who rents your vacation rental property will want to feel safe. That is secure from falling masonry and rickety stairs and secure from burglars. That means that your property should be well lit both internally and externally and have sturdy doors and locks. Windows should be lockable too.

It is a good idea to present a kitchen like the one a family would usually expect at home. So, an American kitchen with American style appliances for American families, if they are the people you are trying to appeal to. Again, you will have to study the typical visitors to where you want to buy a vacation rental property. A younger family may eat in at night, an older one may never eat in at all. The kitchen should be well-equipped, furnishings should be comfortable and recreational gear should be provided too.

A lot of people like to take their dogs with them, so you might want to consider making the vacation rental property pleasant for pet owners. If the furniture is robust, massive oak or something like that, dogs will not be able to damage it easily. Plastered walls without wall covering and tiled floors are also favourable for having animals in the house. This is a definitely growing niche market for vacation rental properties

And last but not least, remember that people like to be able to keep in touch when they are away from their loved ones, so Internet access is a growing essential too. People can VOIP, so a phone is not so imperative these days. If you bear these points in mind, you can have a profitable vacation rental property where you can holiday free too.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Getting Married On St Croix

April 8th, 2010

St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean has been a stylish honeymoon destination for newly married couples for decades, because the weather there is sunny all year round and you can get pleasure from any number of wonderful vacation activities together.

Things to do include hiking, exploring, taking tours, horse riding, water sports like diving or sailing or just and lying in the sun. However, in the past few years, it has also become very popular to travel to St Croix for the actual wedding ceremony itself, not just for the honeymoon. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages to getting married abroad.

First, you have to think about who you want to have present at your wedding. St Croix is governed by American law, so you will be required to have a certain number of witnesses. You can use local volunteers but you may not be able to envisage your wedding without your family or your best friends being there.

It is worth remembering that every guest you want to be at your wedding will have to be flown to the island and in many instances, the guests will not be able to afford this trip themselves, which means that you will have to pay for all or at least some of the cost of the flight and the stay. If you cannot afford this, it may not be possible for you to have everyone present at your wedding ceremony that you would wish. The cost of a Caribbean wedding on St Croix is a definite disadvantage.

Remember also that you will almost certainly be spending your honeymoon wherever you hold the wedding and although it may be nice to have friends and family around you for the wedding, you might wish they would disappear for the honeymoon.

However, your guests may want to take a vacation while they are in the Virgin Islands, so if you want some time to yourselves, book them into a package holiday deal which will keep them occupied in order to give you some breathing space. Try to make a block booking and look for a big discount.

However, one of the main advantages is that you are already in the location where you will be honeymooning. Travel is stressful and tiring, although St Croix, USVI is less than 1,300 miles from Florida, so being on the spot for your honeymoon will save you all that.

Not only that though, your wedding will be an even more memorable event because an idyllic beach setting with a sunset backdrop is really very moving. Most couples adore the island scenery, so a Caribbean wedding in St Croix may be just right for you.

When planning your wedding in St Croix, remember that the US Virgin Islands are a legal part of the USA, so US laws and marriage laws apply there. You also do not have to have a passport to go to St Croix, although you are allowed $1,600 worth of duty free goods per person per 30 days. This can make up quite a saving.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Are All Inclusive Vacation Packages Any Good?

March 23rd, 2010

Are you thinking of going on a vacation in the near future? How do you normally go? Do you fly there and then sort yourself out or do you take vacation packages? It is clear that vacation packages are simpler and often cheaper too.

If you go DIY, you will need to book reservations on an airplane or a bus and a hotel and taxis and a car hire company. If you would rather avoid all this, you could book either a vacation package of one of the all inclusive vacation packages.

Although many vacation packages are extremely good, some people decline to use them. This can be for several reasons, but the most common are out of a of feelings of adventure, independence and snobbishness. In fact, most of the people who do not take vacation packages are younger, single people.

Married people with families are the main users of vacation packages and especially all inclusive vacation packages. There is a difference between the two types. All inclusive vacation packages are grand for families with hungry children. You know, the normal kind, who are always saying: ‘Give me a dollar for an ice cream, Dad’ or ‘I’m hungry, Mum!’.

On an all inclusive vacation package, all of these munchies and three main meals a day and all drinks are included in the cost of the holiday – hence, the name, all inclusive vacation package.

However, there is more to it than that. All inclusives also include on site games and amusements and some others as well. For example, a Caribbean all inclusive vacation package might include the use of snorkels and goggles, but it would rarely stretch to the use of aqualungs or wet suits.

Another benefit of the all inclusive holiday resort is that they often cater for families with young children. They may supply child alarms in the chalets and free entertainment for adult holiday makers in the evening and night too. The resort might also provide baby sitters and a free taxi into town.

All inclusive vacation packages are a very different deal from standard vacation or rental packages. All inclusives are more geared towards families with young children between, say five and fifteen, because children of this age eat a lot, although it is usually junk food, which typically costs a lot on holiday, but is in fact, cheap to produce. The evenings’ entertainment is also on site so that parents can be easily reached if there is a problem.

On the other hand a normal vacation package will usually provide breakfast only, so that you can go out for the day and do what you like.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix all inclusive vacations. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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