Open Road's Caribbean With Kids [Paperback]

Paris Permenter (Author), John Bigley (Author)

Book Description

Series: With kids | Publication Date: April 1998

Husband-wife team Permenter and Bigley combine their experience as travel writers, Caribbean experts and parents to help readers discover the best places for families to enjoy island fun. An assortment of family-oriented resorts are reviewed, from lavish Club Med all-inclusives where kids can learn to scuba dive and sail, to campgrounds on St. John where children can track wild burros, to hotels featuring sandcastle building contests, extensive babysitting services, and special tropical arts and crafts projects. Plenty of activities away from the resorts are offered, from visiting children's museums to climbing waterfalls to enjoying a thrilling submarine ride at 100 feet below the azure water's surface. Special sections include travel planning for families, health and safety, packing for kids, and unique activities for kids, such as St. Croix's Buccaneer Hotel's "12 Days of Christmas" programme featuring a live visit from Santa and his reindeer, or Puerto Rico's Hyatt Regency's environmental and cultural camp programme for kids and parents. Nearly 30 islands are covered with more than 500 resorts, attractions, restaurants and transportation details featured, all with an eye toward children and supervised activities and programmes. Also featured is a bibliography for young readers to introduce the region to them from preschool picture books of Jamaican folk tales to teen novels such as "The Cay".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You're taking a vacation, and you're taking the kids--and the latter needn't cancel out the former. The Caribbean has long been a vacation favorite, but there's much more to keeping the kids happy than just packing the ubiquitous bathing suit, shovel, and pail. Caribbean With Kids knows which resorts and seaside inns welcome children, have programs planned for them, and provide them with the chance to play with kids their own age, while you and the spouse explore more adult pleasures. The guide also opens the door to activities the whole family can enjoy together, such as hand-feeding hummingbirds in Jamaica, snorkeling with stingrays in Grand Cayman, swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas, and exploring caves in Puerto Rico.

This is, however, not just an entertainment primer; it's a full-fledged guide book. Along with all the child-related activities there are the necessary details on passports and travel agents, when to go and what to pack, transportation around and between the islands, recommended children's books, and island food. There's also a chapter on each island, featuring arrival and departure information, lodgings, shopping, what there is do to, and practical stuff like currency, electricity, Web sites, and tourist boards.

Paris Permenter and John Bigley know kids, know parents, and know the Caribbean. They make it as clear as the Caribbean Sea that a family holiday doesn't have to be an oxymoron. --Stephanie Gold

About the Author

Paris Permenter and John Bigley are the authors of Open Road’s Best National Parks with Kids and Las Vegas with Kids from Open Road  Publishing. The couple's other guides include Gourmet Getaways, Adventure Guide to the Cayman Islands, Adventure Guide to the Leeward Islands, Caribbean for Lovers, CitySmart Austin, Texas Getaways for Two, Day Trips from San Antonio and Austin, The Alamo City Guide, and Texas Barbecue, named Best Regional Book by the Mid-America Publishers Association. Paris and John are also frequent TV and radio talk show guests. They write a monthly day trips column for FIESTA, the magazine of the San Antonio Express-News, and are the proprietors of the popular romantic travel website lovetripper.com.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Open Road Publishing (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883323827
• ISBN-13: 978-1883323820
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,259,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book helped us plan a great summer vacation!, July 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Open Road's Caribbean With Kids (Paperback)

My family just returned from a week-long vacation in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We used Caribbean with Kids to help us select the resort and, when we were on the island, to help us select some activities away from the hotel to enjoy. The honest look these writers give of the islands is refreshing and helped us feel good about leaving the resort and getting out and enjoying Jamaica. Our kids learned more about the islands thanks to a section on children's books which helped them know more about what to expect and to look forward to the vacation. We're already using the book to look for a destination for a Christmas trip to the islands!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars .....Yikes! Doesn't include (east coast) Mexico!!, September 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Caribbean with Kids (Paperback)

I rather did not like this book - I think I did a better job researching online, through travel agents, brochures, and family travel forums. There were a number of Caribbean destinations not mentioned in the book. Moreover, the information that was there seemed like abstract info. after my research. I was definitely disappointed that Cancun, Cozumel, and the Riviera Maya of Mexico (all hot spots for family travel and on the Caribbean Sea) were not included - obviously, if you are trying to research all options of where to go in the Caribbean, no stones should be left unturned.
Bottom line - this book is maybe okay if you are not looking at Mexico at all, but if you're online and have a little time to look - invest some time. There is more complete info. out there.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars .....Yikes - Doesn't include Mexico (east coast)!!!, September 30, 2001

By 

LisaLisaPHL (East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caribbean with Kids (Paperback)

I rather did not like this book - I felt that I did a much better job researching places online, through travel agents and brochures. Moreover, I was a bit disappointed that it didn't cover the east coast of Mexico - Cancun, Cozumel, and Mayan Riviera - all on Caribbean Sea and hot spots for family travel!!
What I did read was basically abstract info. that I had already gotten online - especially through family travel forums. I found that there were also some destinations missing from this book (that I had heard about elsewhere).
So, this book is maybe okay if you are not interested in Mexico and not a heavy price to pay (to lose?) but just not too complete.