TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Dinner Budgeting

We're leaving Thanksgiving morning for our first bareboat trip to the BVI in over 10 years. Our previous trips have just been the wife and I. This time we're sharing our love of the islands with our twenty-something kids. We are picking up the expenses that we would have paid for just the two of us, but the kids have to pick up their own airfare and meals. They are looking to save some money by eating most dinners aboard.
I have heard good things about the beach barbeques on Friday or Sunday at Cane Garden Bay and on Friday at Leverick Bay. Anyone know how much either of them cost? I'm wondering how many nights I'll have to dine on macaroni and cheese while they save their money for what many have described as delicious feasts.

The BBQ at the elm is very good, and the band is excellent. Seems like we spent about 25 per person for 3 types of BBQ. You can spend less if you just get one meat. We typically eat 3 or 4 dinners onboard, all breakfast and lunch on board and dine out for the remaining dinners. For a crew of 8 we provision and might spend 900 for food, beer and liquor. We don't scrimp on the dining out or At the pool bar at scrub island for example. Total cost per person including provisions, bar bills, dining out, moorings, and 1 dock fees runs about 240 to 400 per person depending on the crew dynamics. The higher price crews might have drinks, a couple bottles of wine with dinner, appetizers and deserts, we weren't trying to save Money. Not sure if it is in the budget but you might cover some of the food cost for the kids and take that source of worry out of the equation.

FYI, the dock fee at Leverick bay is about the same as a mooring ball. Call nick for a Ttol discount. We enjoy Michael Beans at leverick. Also nick can hook you up with a rental car/truck for a trip to the baths and hog heaven for lunch. Have fun.

I don't know anything about the bbq's in Cane Garden Bay, but we took our kids a year ago (20 somethings as well) and really enjoyed eating on the boat. After a full day of sailing, snorkeling & swimming they weren't in a hurry to go out. That being said, while I don't remember the exact $ amount, the jumbie BBQ was one of our pricier dinners of the week (although that could very well have been all the painkillers we drank from the bar that night too!).
You might consider leaving the kids on the boat one night and having a "mom & dad only" dinner out at a special place!

Many folks here poo-poo the idea, but others do as we have done, too. We bring a cooler with some frozen meats and some pre-cooked, frozen meals. This can be aggregated over some time, within anyone's normal food budget. When chicken "parts" are on sale, when pork chops or pork tenderloin is on sale, bingo. It is all fair game and grillable, and when it comes to provisioning on island, you fill in the sides at that point. Make a good sized potato or pasta salad.

Over the course of a charter, there is a good chance that you'll have one " dinner time" when the weather makes it nasty to dinghy ashore for dinner and everyone is happy to have a hot meal aboard. If you have a " stash" of chili, pulled pork, or beef stew, you are way ahead of " macaroni and cheese".

I don't recall how much the BBQ at Elm cost, but it is reasonable and the music is fantastic. Friday night BBQ at the Elm, then over to Quito's for music and dancing. Makes for a fun night.

We also bring a cooler of meals with us each year. We check this cooler like a piece of luggage. This allows us to prepare meals ahead of time, makes for no fuss meals on the boat.

We bring frozen meat for the grill; marinated, seasoned and ready to put on the grill.

I also bring prepared taco meat, we have taco's one night, the leftovers are good for taco salad, nachos, or more tacos

We have also brought homemade spaghetti sauce with meatballs. Quick meal, just heat up the sauce and boil the noodles. Great for a rainy night, or any time.

I have two 20 somethings also, I am familiar with their idea of a meal when they are paying for it vs when I'm paying for it LOL! if they want to try a few dinners ashore and not break the bank, most dinner menus have rotis, burgers etc ...or have them eat some happy hour cheese / crackers/ finger foods etc on the boat and then have an appetizer ashore for their "meal". Just some ideas to squeak in some more diversity for them and you.

We arrive the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We'll be a crew of 4 on Leopard Island Fun. We enjoy having most of our meals on board, Nothing like watching the sunset with a glass of wine off the back of a cat. Cooking and grilling onboard is so relaxing. We bring down marinated meats, chicken and fish. What boat on you on? Maybe we'll see you.

Leverick Friday night jumbies cost around $35 pp. that was last year price as best as I can remember

Thanks all for your comments. There are a lot of good ideas to share with the family.
It sounds like the beach barbeques are within our (and our kids') budget. We will hit at least one of them.
On our previous trips, without the kids, my wife reminded me that she was on VACATION and did NOT want to cook dinners. Hot dogs in the galley and chicken on the grill were my responsibility. With the kids along, we plan to eat half(?) of our dinners aboard. We do plan to split up for at least a couple dinners for budgetary reasons and just to get a break from each other.
We haven't settled on a menu that meets everyone's taste and dietary preferences yet. When we get that out of the way, we will choose whether to bring our food, pre-order provisions, or buy as we go. I may be back with more questions later. :-)

Breeze,
What kind of cooler do you use? Hard- or soft-sided?
We've got a medium-sized Coleman hard-sided cooler and I'm trying to picture how it might be treated by the baggage handlers. Probably needs a strap to secure the lid?
Then there's the issue of getting it home afterward. I am absolutely certain that my wife or daughter is going to find something for me to buy to fill that big, empty space on the trip home. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

jagmansr,
We'll be a crew of 5 on a 40 foot monohull, "Nine Dragons", flying a Red Wings flag.

www.polarbearcoolers.com
Use ttol for the promo code and get 20% off.
Great coolers, meat still frozen upon arrival to boat. Many here on the forum use them. I purchased 2 solarbear models.

Hardsided cooler. We also used a strap, and yes, TSA opened and checked it, and replaced the strap. No Issue.

Coming home, we used the cooler for dirty laundry, and it was where we also tucked a couple of bottles of Pussers rum. Again, no issue.

Most of the charter companies will give you a few bucks for a used cooler if you don't want to bring it home.

Our cooler didn't have wheels, but we found it would sit nicely on top of my duffel which does have wheels. Easy. We wheeled it up to EIS from Trellis, as some of our crew were staying another couple of nights.

I Am a big fan of the polar bear coolers mentioned above. We have owned several for at least 10 years. I checked the 48 can size many times and we like it so much, we take it along even when we don't take food because villa coolers are usually junky.

I can vouch for the quality of the product, ours get used hard. We use them weekly to transport food to or put cabin and it as overflow storage. They hold ice for a weekend if you keep it zipped and out of the sun.

Polar Bear rocks!! Carry on, never checked after passing thru the security belt.

We'll look for you. We check two bags coming down. A duffle bag with dry goods and a polar bear cooler with frozen and things like cocktail sauce, cheeses, cold cuts,,,, etc. heading home we check one bag with the polar bear inside the duffle with whatever we have to full it.

Then it was DEFINITELY the bar tab that got us that night - ha ha!!
Another big polar bear cooler fan here - we bought 2 when they had a buy one get one free sale a few years ago. Use it boating all summer long up north here!

I'm Hoping for a polar bear cooler sale soon.

My birthday is this Friday.
Just saying...

We always take a igloo Max Cool wheeled cooler. Pay about $50 at Target, keeps everything frozen for several days before we get on the boat. Once on the boat we transfer the meat to the freezer and use this cooler to chill beer. Works better then most coolers you get from the charter companies.

Most charter companies will pay $40 for it at the end of the trip, so we never bring it home.

Again just sayin..Polar Bear can't be beat and you bring it home!!

For transporting food the Polarbear is probably the most convenient and cost effective choice.
I bought a Polar Bear cooler for my CRC house sitting trip in August. It did keep 30 pounds of tightly packed steak and shrimp frozen solid for 3 days but not such a good job with ice and drinks. Filled with about 15 pounds of ice and 12 previously chilled beers it only lasted about 30 hours in shade. Almost any hard cooler would do better than that.

So WHY did it take 30 hours to drink just 12 beers?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

So glad to hear that others are also bringing in coolers of food! Several years ago when I first inquired about bringing food through customs, I was met with many derisions and admonishments about the great onshore dining establishments (which I was already aware of, thank you) I was actually scolded! I ignored the naysayers, and for the past several trips, I have planned menus for all breakfasts, half lunches and dinners, and especially on-board appetizers. Our last crew of 12 really appreciated the planning and sheer enjoyment of easy meal prep for gourmet meals at budget prices. We freeze most items in ziplocs and pack them in sturdy (think Omaha Meats) styrofoam coolers that we can leave behind. And we still eat out 4-5 lunches and 4-5 dinners on shore without breaking the bank. It requires some planning, shopping and meal prep ahead of time, but for me it's a no-brainer to enjoy the vacation of a lifetime!