A Dozen Ways to Skimp in the Sun

In Tobago, follow the locals to one of the many roti, or curry, shops, where a filling wrap costs a couple of dollars.

Families should also be on the lookout for resorts where kids stay and eat free.

6 Exploit tourism bureau

resources . Information is like money, and the tourism bureaus of individual islands are fonts of information. The Caribbean Tourism Organization's Web site ( http://www.doitcaribbean.com/ ) links to the sites of its individual member islands, has a link to help you find a travel agent and posts special deals. For example, the home page last week noted that the luxury resort Riu Ocho Rios in Jamaica was offering grand opening rates from $94.

Some of the Web sites of individual islands also feature special deals. St. Maarten's site, for example, holds a monthly auction. When we last looked, the top bid for a seven-night stay at Divi Little Bay Beach Resort was at $525, with just three bids offered and two days to go in the bidding.

7 Use frequent-stay points . Some people blow hard-earned frequent-stay points in places they could easily find an inexpensive room. Instead, save the points for places like pricey resorts in the Caribbean. If you don't have enough points for a stay, be aware that some chains will take a smaller number of points in exchange for half-price stays.

8 Consider the cheapest islands. If you get lucky with airfare and don't demand first-rate resort accommodations, you can work out a reasonably priced vacation anywhere in the Caribbean. But chances are you'll find the best bang for your buck in Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic for a variety of reasons, including airfare competition (and in the case of the latter two, low-priced labor). You can find great airfares to the Bahamas, too, although swimming can be chilly in winter.

9 Consider a package. Travel agencies and tour operators negotiate deals with hotels and airlines, and the results are sometimes impossible to beat, no matter how many hours you spend researching. For example, for arbitrarily chosen dates in high season, we found an Apple Vacations package for two, including airfares, airport transfers and four nights at the all-inclusive Holiday Inn Sunspree in Montego Bay, Jamaica, for $1,863. Using airline and hotel sites to price separately, the vacation came to $2,771-- a difference of $908.

A six-night stay in Montego Bay's luxury Half Moon resort, including airfare, was $3,314 for two through Liberty Travel, and $3,676 if booked separately -- a difference of $362.

Packages are available both online and in brick-and-mortar travel agencies. Although the latter began charging fees for airfares only, because airlines stopped paying them commissions, they typically don't charge a fee for a package. Find a travel agent that specializes in the Caribbean either at the CTO Web site mentioned above, or at the site of the American Society of Travel Agents, http://www.travelsense.org/ .

10 Consider an all-inclusive resort. Ninety percent of travelers exceed their planned budgets on trips, and more than half the time the overspending is for food and drink, according to a survey conducted by Expedia.com. You can avoid that pitfall at an all-inclusive. An epicure should seek out the more expensive resorts for gourmet-quality food, but even mid-level all-inclusives generally provide plentiful, varied and decent food. (Many resorts have several restaurant options, and at least one all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant is standard.) One caution: If you're a teetotaler on a diet, you might feel as if you're buying drinks and food for hundreds of strangers. Do some price comparisons before laying down a deposit for an all-inclusive.

11 Seek out small properties. If you don't need the fitness centers and other frills of big hotels and resorts, you can find on most islands attractive, charming smaller properties at a reasonable price. Grand Cayman, for example, is known for its upscale resorts. But even here, you can book a pleasant room along the water for between $89 and $129 per night (or an apartment from $119 to $199) at the Turtle Nest Inn (345-947-8665, http://www.turtlenestinn.com/ ).

Tourism bureau Web sites are a good place to start researching small properties, since they typically list every property on an island. Some tourism bureaus have made the search easy. The Anguilla Tourist Board, for example, has identified 16 "Charming Escapes," or small properties that offer rates that begin at $90 off-season and $150 in high season -- cheap compared to the island's celebrity getaways. Details: http://www.anguilla-vacation.com/ .

The budget-minded traveler is the target for the Belize Tourism Board's new Web site, http://www.toucantrail.com/ . All hotels at the site cost $60 a night or less, and all have been approved by the tourism board.

12 Veer off the beaten path. Perfectly beautiful beaches and lovely places to stay sometimes sit unheralded an hour or two away from major resort areas. They may be just as nice, or nicer, than the places you've heard about, but they are unknown because they're too small to have publicity budgets.

Find them by locating a famous resort area on a map, then running your finger along the coastline. Once you identify a town, search for it at the Web site of that country. The area immediately south of Cancun, Mexico, was once the perfect example. In recent years, it's become known and now has a name -- the Riviera Maya. Still, areas of it remain less traveled, and the farther south you go, the more true that becomes. Likewise, hit the road just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and find bargains both in hotels and villas. Sometimes a place less-traveled is just a few miles from the beaten path, such as Cofresi, which is practically in the shadow of the Dominican Republic's well-known Puerto Plata.

Cindy Loose will be online to discuss this story Monday at 2 p.m. during the Travel section's regular weekly chat onhttp://www.washingtonpost.com.