ALadyNCal

I would suggest St. Vincent + The Grenadines, specifically the Tobago Cays. They are highly regarded in the charter business. It is beautiful, there is snorkeling and scuba, and it is (to my understanding) out of the hurricane belt, so you would have excellent weather in September. It would be an ideal location for the private charter.

I used to have friends who had spent several months sailing in the Caribbean and thought the Tobago Cays were as good as it gets.

You can probably fly to Barbados or Grenada. I know there is a cruiseline that has small ships that sail this area weekly, and their itineraries are RT from Barbados. When I flew to this area, I flew into Grenada.

Here is a link that describes the Grenadines and all the individual little islands.
http://nicely-dunn.com/st.vincent.html

Here is one crewed charter link -- Although the catamaran is only 45', it has 5 cabins w/private baths. It is also close to your budget -- $11K. That is probably for a week, so maybe it would be less for a 5-day charter.
http://www.grenadine-escape.com/page...Catamarans.htm

This is a $9.6K charter. It is a 58' Catamaran, but only 3 cabins.
http://www.sailing-adventure.com/bar...eus.php3?ID=78

Those are just a couple of sample charter vessels. If you chose this option, it would just require a little mor research for a yacht that perfectly suits you.

One of the luxury resorts in this area is Palm Island. You might consider a 3-night charter of the the Tobago Cays and 2 nights at Palm Island's resort. You won't find "the masses" there!
http://www.palmislandresorts.com/sit...=15&islandID=4

Here is a link with other resorts in the Grenadines to consider --
http://stvincent.wheretostay.com/property.html

I think this would make a memorable vacation for everyone

Definitely "away from the masses"!

estnet

Maldives? Over the water bungalow can be quite private and really a lovely experience for the type of get together you have planned. I stayed at Club Med (kani) which would not suit your needs, because of the "resort" part - the room itself would, but there isn't an option for room service so you couldn't have the privacy you seek.

I have friends who have stayed (and raved) about the Four Seasons (Huura I think). There are quite a number of resorts (each one is on a separate island) some quite large and some which just might fill the bill.

Another thought is Thailand. You could rent a house of villa someplace like Hua Hin or Phuket well within the price range I would think and could probably have staff as well. There are many hotels that have individual bungalows with some degree of privacy (the Sofitel in Hua Hin where I believe The Killing Fields was partially filmed) which although a large hotel has a feeling of elegance and tranquility.

obscure2k

Why not go for Richard Branson's private island? It was good enough for Princesss Diana.
http://www.vacationidea.com/articles/necker_island.html

Mvic

Thanks everyone, there have been some really good suggestions. I should clarify that time frame is October.

GG very nice place thanks.

IB this is a possibility. Casino is not important, we really don't gamble. Though looking for something the next level up from most of the these properties.

Sosa and Leona, I like your thinking. Interesting and different suggestions. These trips sound like a lot of fun to me and the type of trips I would normally take. Good point about the beach though he works so much that he doesn't often actually get to get out on the beach itself even though he lives yards from it, crazy I know but par for the course with a workaholic.

HighG, that looks like an awesome place but geographically out of bounds. If there were no restrictions geographically we would be probably be going to Bora Bora.

tehg, www.ed-hamilton.com is a great site for boat charters. That unusual villa rentals site is awesome and though I have done some scouring on the net it has properties that I have not come across before. Some of those places make my budget look pretty pathetic though LOL Anyone have $170K spare, I now know of a nice place you can go for a week! Still there are places in our price range that are really quite spectacular.

ALady, thanks. Lots of good info in your post though I think a moorings 62 ft cat trumps the ones you listed. Palm island looks good but still a resort even if not crowded, we would all have to get seperate suites and it just isn't like all sharing a house with private pool on the beach. A resort would be OK as in the case with peter island where you can have a house within the resort (too bad PI it was out of our budget and also not beach front).

estnet, again Maldives is great but not geographically feasible.

Obscure, my brother has been to necker island and couldn't stop talking about it for about a month. Again way out of the budget unfortunately otherwise an inspired suggestion, thanks.

It is hard coming up with a front runner with so many great suggestions but as there has to be one I would say that tehg is the one to beat with his www.unusualvillarentals.com even though no specific properties were recommended.

tinkybelle

I see you only want a few days-so I suppose a trip to Australia would be out of the question but thought that maybe one or 2 of the 7 natural wonders of the world-
the Great Barrier Reef and Ayres Rock may have been in the budget.
I just did a 4 day cruise on the reef explorer out of Cairns.
Not terribly expensive.
Lots of time to talk
Reasonably comfortable small rooms.
Not luxurious at all but it did get one onto the outer reef.
In one snorkel we saw reef sharks and stingrays and very large turtles and fish swim right past us!Not something that most people see every day.
There were lots of families of 4-6-seemed to be having a great time.
Very good food for a small ship and heaps of snorkling time.

Mvic

Very nice tinkybelle. I love Australia, was there last year though did not make it to Cairns or the reef, that is for my next trip. Yes geographically out of bounds I am afraid.

ibtraveling

MVIC-- I wouldnt rule out Grand Cayman-- they have properties that will break nay poketbook--I was giving you something that was "beach appropriate" add your own cook and butler plus private dive charters($200/person/1/2day trip) and you'll be knocking at your pricepoint. Weather could be an issue if it's early October.--

Riz Carlton Naples or new Hyatt Coconut Grove over on West Coast of Florida are two places if you want golf, sun and something USA based--

Snoopyo

Have you though about chartering a tall ship? I looked into joining one of the prearranged trips but sure you can charter one by yourself.
http://www.alltallships.com/
http://www.classiccharters.com/carib...rters_tall.htm

or from search result of
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=sl...ter+tall+ships


Also might be worthwhile to check out some of the villas and other offers at:

http://www.luxurylink.com/Home.phtml...altyMain.phtml

You can put in Oct for the month and narrow down your search by type of travel: villas, adventure, etc.

Mary

Snoopyo

dupl.

[This message has been edited by Snoopyo (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

kykate

What about Thailand? We just returned from a short trip to Ko Samui. Touristy enough to have what ever you want/need, but lots of private places. We were at the Hi Coral Cove Bungalow Resort - private bungalows, beach, hot showers and breakfast, with on site restaurant. Low end expense wise, but delightful.
Try http://www.sawadee.com for lots of Thailand suggestions.
Have fun, wherever you all go!
Kate

Mvic

Thanks IB, but you just need look at the villas on this site and I think you will see what I am talking about regarding a level up, larger acreage, finer furnishings etc and not surprisingly about twice as expensive.

www.jamaicavillas.com

Actually many of these villas are also featured on the unusualvillarental site but for some reason the prices at this site are much cheaper and after doing a bit of googling I found that the unusual villa rental site prices carry a big markup versus the same property listed through other sites. Given that I actually found the jamaicavillas site, which has much better prices for the some of the same villas as listed on unusualvillarentals site, through snoopyo's link she is currently the front runner.

Thailand is awesome but geographically not feasible, thanks for the suggestion.



[This message has been edited by Mvic (edited Mar 21, 2004).]

belle3388

One of our favourite Caribbean destinations is Curaçao. Have a look.

Have you considered Costa Rica?

birdyy

Have you thought about a safari. Perhaps something private with a personal chef etc. Lots of time to spend sitting around talking plus the excitment of game drives and depending on the location you pick - tennis, golf etc. Perhaps you could hire a professional game hunter as your guide even if you're not planning on hunting with a gun but rather a camera. If he's a workaholic perhaps he hasn't done that yet. Try this site for info. http://lodges.safari.co.za/ Accomodations range from luxury to tents to luxury tents. It might be a little further for the Chicago folks but it's not to bad for your father. I bet you could get a fabulous place for the 15K and an experience you will all remember. William Holdens safari club also comes to mind http://www.laikipia.org/mt-kenya-safari-club.htm

[This message has been edited by birdyy (edited Mar 22, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by birdyy (edited Mar 22, 2004).]

Mvic

Thanks Belle, I will take a look at Curacao. What makes it your favorite vs, any other island in the Caribe?

Yes I am considering Costa Rica. My friend went to Costa Rica Villa (see www.5stardestinations.com) for his honeymoon and was very impressed by the whole experience and the eco/canopy walks in particular. Any specific recommendations?

A luxury Safari sounds very cool but I wonder if 5 days would really be long enough especially when flying from the Chicago is taken in to account?

any007

I don't know if your father likes fishing.
I also don't know how late in the fall his birthday is as it gets rather cool in Ontario, Canada by late October.
However, if you come to Toronto, there is a large Italian population and just about 2 hrs north, you can rent a boat and do some recreation fishing.
http://www.fishontario.com/
Plus, I guess you can hit all the standard southern Ontario tourist spots like Niagara falls, the CN Tower and the many ethnic towns in Toronto like Little Italy, Chinatowns (several), Greek, Portugeuse, Jamaica etc.
It's something that is feasible for a 4 or 5 day trip. Toronto is easily accessible via direct flights from europe and Chicago.
Also, the city isn't anywhere as expensive as many of the major US and European cities.
But, they run all the major broadway shows that New York runs.