Bhrubin: I definitely understand your concerns, and if we weren't taking a little one--where the extra space and a big pool help--it'd be much less valuable.

We opted for the Seychelles to pair with a "Great Migration" safari (which we felt was the best place to start and to take our young son, and where HE wanted to go after watching Planet Earth) and the airfare situation proved easy with miles. But otherwise, I'd probably just bolt up in a small house on Gorda if those weren't those mitigating factors.

I'm certainly not royalty nor do I need isolation, but there are those that do.

BigFoot: I'm not sure if you're traveling with children yet (if you do get ready for your budget to explode!) but I would choose the Brando over the FS as a parent. Having been to the St. Regis which is about the same as the FS, which itself also has cheap furniture, there are others who would value low density environments rather than constantly walking on long planks to the OWB with hoards of honeymooners making their 4 day pilgrimage to Bora Bora.