Spendthrift Shoestring

JetBlue: Barbados, Kingston, St. Lucia

Want to fly from JFK to the Caribbean in October or November for under $198 round trip, excluding taxes? JetBlue is adding three more Caribbean destinations in October: JFK-Barbados (October 1); JFK-St. Lucia (October 26) and JFK-Kingston (October 30). Taxes inflate fares a bit, but your lowest round trip fare to St. Lucia, for example, will come in under $285. (See screen grab below). I'm happily surprised by this expansion. It will be interesting to see how these routes do, how low fares remain, and the degree to which Jet Blue's further saturation of the region will affect fare pricing on other carriers between New York and the Caribbean.

Rio Guesthouse: Best Caribbean Budget Guesthouse Web Site

It's almost the end of the year, traditionally the time when best-of lists get published. If I were to give an award for good hotel Web sites, Rio Guesthouse would be in the upper rankings. The Barbados nine-room guesthouse's site is appealingly retro, with a mesh of antiquated and contemporary fonts, faded and distressed images, and funny audio accompaniments. The site includes a link to its Web designer as well. 

Best of all for us budget hunters, high season doubles at Rio's Guesthouse begin at US$51 per night, including tax and service.