Reviews (3)

One of my favorite travel guides ever.
This is one of my favorite travel guides, ever, period.Even though this book is aimed at sailors, it has plenty of helpful information for land travelers too.Plus it has a lot of information I've never found in another travel guide.The best example is this.One beautiful night as we sat on our terrace enjoying the 180 degree view of the southern skies, I turned to my travel partner and said, "Did you print off those star charts so we can identify the southern cross?"His response. "Uh oh, I never got around to that."
Too many adverts
Doyle's info was very good and the color arial photos and mini charts are very usefull. The book is 9 inches by 6 inches and has 400 pages, however if you were to remove the advertizments and touristy photos you would probably end up with about 275 pages of usefull info.

Rare combination of useful advice and humor
As a frequent user of cruising guides, I appreciate how rare is the combination of useful, detailed advice and a sense of humor.Chris Doyle does it here, and every traveler (or prospective traveler) to theGrenadines should get this guide.It's not just for sailors. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel    3. Sailing    4. Windward Islands   

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Caribbean islands    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies   

Reviews (2)

Forgotten jewel splashed to pages
Great book. No supercover, do not search, and that begins the style. I do not agree, that book displays the misery, serves regime, and that is something expected to be admired by 'leftists'.
A serial killer in the cover?
A wonderful book, marred by efigy of serial killer in the back cover. What a shame. The book is also peppered with photographs which are clearly the choice of an ignoramus who admires Castro and Guevara, without realizing that the beautiful ruins of Havana are their handiwork. Face it, Cuba was destroyed by the so called revolutionaries who terrorized a prosperous country and trasformed it into a Fourth World nightmare.
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Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Design - Decorative    3. Pictorials    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Cuba    7. Residential buildings, domestic buildings   

Reviews (65)

This was a fun read!!!
It is obvious that Chris Santilli has a great sense of humor.She takes a lot of the mysticism away from what one would expect while visiting Hedo II.
Hedo Newbie
A great quick start guide to making your trip to Hedo more enjoyable and more efficient.It was very fun reading.

Like being there all over again!
This book was very informative and really details what the Hedo vacation can be.The storys from the guests were very funny.I truly felt like I was back at Hedo while I was reading this book.I can't wait until my next Hedo vacation. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (25)

The lovely tourists
I had to read this book for a Multicultural Literature class at my Uni, and, far from being informative, all it did was fill with me a contempt of my own. I am not a racist by any means, but when confronted with such a bitter, snide voice as the one Kincaid displays, I find myself unconsciously getting defensive. When she says, "you are a tourist; you are ugly," I find myself saying, "Fine, I'll keep my money and let you trade with seashells and beads." Kincaid is a master of the self-fulfilling prophecy: she says Antiguans are so oppressed and so downtrodden and so angry, and rather than doing anything to help it, she's exacerbating it by using such a bitter, over-the-top voice.
A Small Mind Writes A Small Place
A major failing of this essay, which claims to be non-fiction, is Kincaid's sole reliance on her own memories of Antigua.As an eye-witness, Kincaid has the chance to provide a unique perspective on the issues of slavery, corruption, tourism, colonialism, and SIDS (small island developing states).Yet, she ruins this chance, in my opinion, with her complete disregard of any perspective other than her own.
An island paradise
Antigua, an awe-inspiring vacation spot for Europeans and North Americans, takes on a different aura when discussed by native Jamaica Kincaid. Ms. Kincaid describes how the Antiguans feel about the tourists who visit: ugly people. Ugly because they invaded, then brought slaves to work for them so they could become rich while ignoring the needs of those who made them wealthy. Ugly because of what they've done to the island and the people who live there. Jamaica talks about the corrupt government and the hand that North Americans, British, Syrians and Lebanese play in that corruption. She describes how England paved the roads the Queen of England would travel when she visited, but left everything else in poor condition. Ms. Kincaid also mentions the drug dealers that the government ignores and those who build ugly condos for the wealthy and rent business space to the government who should be building their own space.
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Subjects:  1. Antigua    2. Antiguan novelists    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Description and travel    6. Fiction    7. General    8. Kincaid, Jamaica - Prose & Criticism    9. Literary    10. Novelists, Antiguan    11. People of Color    12. Women   

Reviews (1)

Short and Sweet
I walked into this book knowing virtually nothing about Cuba, and this book did an excellent job of providing a short overview of modern Cuba. The history begins with the war for independence from Spain, and proceeds through all of the revolutionary movements, through to Castro's takeover, the Soviet relationship with Cuba, and Castro's changing policies. I found it very enlightening, a quick read, and well worth an afternoon! I would have given it a higher rating if it had more unique information, but it keeps the readers interest, and gives a reasonable overview of the politics and economics of the country. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Caribbean & West Indies - Cuba    3. Caribbean & West Indies - General    4. Cuba    5. Cuba - History    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Latin America - Central America    10. Revolutionary    11. American history    12. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    13. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies   

Reviews (1)

Perfect for trip planning
At 800+ pages, this is too heavy to lug around, but it's perfect for planning a trip and deciding where to visit. After you've planned your itinerary, I suggest buying a more specialized LP (Lonely Planet) guide to take with you - a small price to pay for a successful vacation.
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Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Caribbean Area    3. Guidebooks    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Caribbean islands    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (3)

PassPorter's Field Guide to the Disney Cruise Line
This book was a personal account of experiencing Disney Cruise Line.I really liked reading the reader's tips from past cruises and plan to use several during the planning and on the actual cruise.This book actually helped change my mind about some of the excursions having heard real comments from others who had taken them.

Very detailed and complete book
I love this book. It is very detailed and seems to cover every aspect of cruising with Disney. The book has information on the deck plans, fleet history, cruise budgeting, lodging, car rental, checking in, dining, dress, packing list, ports of call, ship activities, debarkation, and much more.
Don't buy any other WDW cruise book
My first Disney Cruise Line trip was in December.I bought this book just after I'd reserved my stateroom, and thanks to the info in Passporter, I realised I'd made a mistake in my choice of room and was able to change it in time.
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Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Cruise lines    3. Guidebooks    4. Ocean travel    5. Reference - Cruise Guides    6. Travel    7. Travel - Foreign    8. Voyages And Travels    9. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies   

Editorial Review

On a vacation with the family in Barbados, Mel and Bob Blanchard (of the Vermont-based Blanchard & Blanchard specialty foods company) stumble upon a tiny restaurant/shack on a Caribbean beach:Read more

Reviews (66)

Arrogant is right - and not really up front either
Hipkat and ActionJunkie have summed it all up perfectly.Nothing else to add.Oh.Yes there is.I happened to be in a bookstore way back when this book was released and the Blanchardss were speaking.I pretty quickly observed they were quite charmed with themselves.I didn't stay to listen long.The book was passed to me by a co-worker.Couldn't finish it.

Self Indulgence - The Blanchard Way....
I read this book and while I thought it was interesting during the first few chapters, it quickly turns into a self indulgent tale of "look how much money we spent and all that we went through to live in Paradise".
Finally! a Cure for Insomnia...
I bought this book because I heard the Blanchard's on NPR talking about their experience and thought it would be a fun to read about 2 very appealing things; running away to the Caribbean and opening a restaurant.
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Subjects:  1. Anguilla    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Caribbean & West Indies    5. Description and travel    6. Essays & Travelogues    7. General    8. Restaurants    9. Travel - General    10. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (4)

Colourful Cuba
This is a great coffee table book of good quality.The colour photographs are excellent, accompanied by descriptive text.I bought it out of a sense of curiosity of how the more affluent Cubans might live.Unfortunately, as it turns out, I don't generally share their taste in design or dark furniture, but don't let that put you off an excellent and informative book.

Astonishing
Cuban Elegance is an astonishing work. That Michael Connors and Bruce Buck were able to navigate the bureaucracies to get to Cuba and to the subjects of the book; astonishing that with an admitted paucity of research material they were able to craft a book that reveals the wealth of historic artifacts in Cuba.
Beautiful photos and fine writing about Cuban furniture
This book is the first comprehensive review of Cuban furniture from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century.Connors and Buck, the author and photographer, spent months touring Cuba and doing detective work to gain access to relics of past eras.Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Cuba    3. European    4. Furniture design    5. Furniture, Colonial    6. Interior decoration    7. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/South America    8. Travel - Foreign    9. Architecture / Interior Design    10. Furniture & cabinetmaking    11. Interior design   

Reviews (1)

Fodor's is the best...
I am a big supporter of the Fodor's books - for my money, they are the only travel guides you need.Fodor's Caribbean is a good case in point.This book is for two kinds of travelers: those who already know what island they are going to, and those who want to go to the Caribbean, but are unsure which island(s) to visit.
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Subjects:  1. Travel - Foreign    2. Travel    3. Caribbean islands    4. Travel & holiday guides    5. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies    6. Caribbean & West Indies    7. Travel Guides   

Reviews (35)

Go Chris Santilli
Fortunately, I am lucky enough to have Chris as my ENGLISH professor at Elmhurst College this semester!! The book is a must for traveling to Jamaica's famed resort. Chris is the best.

Get for newbies
I went to Hedo for the first time this year and was glad to learn more about the resort before I arrived. highly recommended!

what a boring book!
We didn't finish the book because we found it completely unerotic and asexual. The author tells you for instance to bring safety pins to hold your toga in place and to bring toenail polish because the sand on the beach will wear it off. Wow!!! The stories told are all childish fun, but there's not a single one titillating. Puritan lack of sexuality. Boring.
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Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel - Foreign    3. Travel / Hotels, Inns, etc.    4. Guidebooks    5. Hedonism    6. Hedonism II (Resort)    7. Hotels Inns etc.    8. Jamaica    9. Nude beaches    10. Nudism    11. Resorts    12. Sex   

Reviews (2)

Another excellent entry in the Then and Now series
If you have an interest in the architecture of Havana and want a taste of what might welcome you if you visited there, this book is for you. Archival photos primarily from the early 1900s are matched with modern photos on the opposite page. It's nice to know there is a movement on now to save some of these historic gems and we get to see restorations. If you want to learn about politics, Cuban culture, or the countryside, you need to look elsewhere. This is about the history of the buildings, and by extension, the people who used them. The only improvement I would suggest would be to supply an approximate year with each of the old pictures.

It does not show anything
I have a small booklet called "Remembering the Cuba we left" with color pictures of Cuba during the 1950s, it is old and I suppose long out of print, it does not contain that many pictures, but the pictures of Havana and the rest of the country are really good. Some were shot from the sky; others captured the life and people walking through the city, buildings, nightclubs, parks, monuments, countryside, etc. I have searched for more of these same pictures and others like them and have not been able to find them. They truly capture what Cuba was before the revolution. No other, not only Caribbean nation, but many Latin American nations didn't even come close. It was the 3rd best economy in the American continent after the U.S and Canada, and followed closely by Argentina. By 1958 Cuba was the most immigrated Latin American country, with the largest European emigration, and more Americans living in Cuba than Cubans in the U.S. Havana even had a China Town.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Architecture    3. Caribbean & West Indies    4. Caribbean & West Indies - General    5. Cuba    6. Description And Travel    7. Earth Sciences - Geography    8. Havana    9. Havana (Cuba)    10. Historic sites    11. History    12. History - General History    13. Pictorial works    14. Science    15. Science/Mathematics    16. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies    17. Sale Books   

Reviews (16)

Well worth the money!
Wow!This is a really great book.We're going to Sanibel Island for the first time and couldn't find any travel books that would give us the lowdown on where to go and what to do - until this book!It gives you a "must do" intinerary if you are planning on staying 3 days, 4 days, etc.It also includes tips for shelling:when to go, where to go and a comprehensive guide to help you identify what you find. I really enjoyed this book and it's now packed in my suitcase ready for the trip.

All the Info You Will Need!
We had the best vacation EVER thanks to this book! Even when our flight was postponed, this book gave us a few options of activities in Fort Myers on the way to the airport.Who would have thought Sanibel/Captiva had so much to offer.The authors share ever bit of important info and more.Have Fun!

A must for new Sanibel visitors
I thought I was fairly familiar with the Sanibel Island area, but this book definitely gave me new insight. The author definitely "knows her stuff" and has written a very informative and interesting guide. Anyone visiting Sanibel (especially first-timers) should definitely get a copy before they go. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Reference - General    3. Travel   

Reviews (3)

Very Good But IMHO Not THEE Best
Fodor's listed the usual sites/sights and some that were unique to this book. It's good, it's comprehensive and thorough with I'm sure few to no errors, but personally I found I liked Frommer's guide just a little better. But there's nothing lacking in Fodor's, onlya personal preference.

Fodor's Travel
I travelled to Grand Cayman, and the information was accurate and up-to-date for all the places we visited.

The definitive guide for Caribbean Travel
There are many guides available but none is as up to date or as accurate as Fodor's. For anyone planning a yacht trip or just perusing islands to find the perfect destination this is the only reference guide. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Caribbean islands    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies   

Editorial Review

Robert Polidori's Havana is a haunting city of sherbet colors and peeling stucco, grand colonial architecture in decay, and real people who hang their laundry across a lofty foyer in an old mansion. Polidori's photographs, which fill the pages of this beautiful, oversized book, appear without comment, yet it is impossible to miss the affection and melancholy of his highly personal vision. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Robert Polidori: Havana
Visceral images of a unique city, in which splendor and squalor are juxtaposed, and the past is suspended within the present, decaying yet enduring. Robert Polidori has captured the beauty and melancholy of Havana, gazing unflinchingly at the ruins and the people who inhabit them. When the boycott is finally lifted, all this will be swept away by a tide of new development, so try to see it now and use this wonderful book as an introduction and a lasting memento. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

spectacular photos
These photos are breathtakingly spectacular.As soon as I saw this book, I had to buy it.It was the first time I'd ever seen anything that captures exactly what being in Cuba feels like:as if you were witnessing the beautiful ruins of a decaying Roman empire.It's the most spectacular, cinematic misery you could ever experience.And I'm glad that someone like Robert Polidori has captured it so faithfully before it all crumbles to the ground (or gets built over with hideous concrete Spanish hotels).

Poignantly, achingly beautiful
In these urban landscapes of contemporary Havana, Polidori captures on film the spectacular ruin of a vibrant culture living on faded memories of past opulence. The overwhelming feeling I got from viewing these photographs was that these people deserve so much better than this. This work is visually stunning, but it goes beyond art. It holds up a slice of the Cuban soul for the world to see and weep for. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Architectural & Industrial    2. Individual Photographer    3. Photo Essays    4. Photoessays & Documentaries    5. Photography    6. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/General    7. Architecture    8. Cuba    9. Individual photographers    10. Photographs: collections   

Editorial Review

From Antarctica to Zimbabwe, if you're going there chances are Lonely Planet has been there first. With a pithy and matter-of-fact writing style, these guides are guaranteed to calm the nerves of first-time world travelers, while still listing off-the-beaten-path finds sure to thrill even the most jaded globetrotters. Lonely Planet has been perfecting its guidebooks for nearly 30 years, and as a result has experience and know-how similar to an older sibling's "been there" advice. The original backpacker's bible, the LP series has recently widened its reach.While still giving insights for the low-budget traveler, the books now list a wide range of accommodations and itineraries for those with less time than money.Read more

Reviews (30)

A difficult country to write a guide for
Cuba is a fascinating country with a socio-political system all its own. Things also change rapidly, especially in the big urban centres such as Havana so it must be a difficult place to write a guidebook for.
Dont buy this one ...
... the following letter was sent by us to LP after using the (then) fresh off the press LP Cuba in July 2004.We still did not hear from them.
Wait for the next edition.
This particular edition of LP Cuba will do you little good in the year 2005 and it's not necessarily all LP's fault as Cuba undergoes a metamorphosis every other day or so.So, go with another guide for more up to date information on currency and prices in general as well as legal casas.
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Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Cuba    3. Guidebooks    4. South America    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

Fascinating Portrait of a Surreal Havana
A fascinating coffee table book of orginary people and nude models in the decrepit surroundings of Havava, Cuba. No captions or explanations, just photos. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cuba - History    2. Havana (Cuba)    3. Individual Photographer    4. Photo Essays    5. Photoessays & Documentaries    6. Photography    7. Pictorial works    8. Social life and customs    9. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/South America    10. Cuba    11. Photographs: collections   

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Travel Guides    5. Caribbean islands    6. Travel & holiday guides    7. Travel / Caribbean & West Indies   

Reviews (4)

Best information for trip to the Dominican Republic
After a short visit to the D. R., I ordered this book in anticipation of my next trip there.I was surprised and pleased with the detailed information.

Complete, informative and useful
All that you would expect from a Lonely Planet Guide.Well worth buying for making a trip to the Dominican Republic.It will enable you to chose a resort to suite your taste, and to visit places that interest you.

Great insight for the off-the-beaten-path traveler
Go beyond the all-inclusive resorts to see the 'real' Santo Domingo and let the experts handle the logistics so you can experience the warmth of the Haitian people.Great resource, great research, well-done and easy to navigate. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Caribbean & West Indies    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Dominican Republic    5. Haiti    6. Travel & holiday guides