That's nice when guests can sample an exotic culture or buy and smoke Cuban cigars openly, but it also means encounters with unfamiliar electrical connections, phone service, taxes and the intricacies of travel documents. Know what the requirements are before leaving home. For example, to get into most Caribbean countries, Americans need a passport, birth certificate or voter's registration card . A passport is the best identification for reentering the United States. In the French islands, electricity is 220 volts and requires the same oversized plugs that are used in France.
Resorts can provide converters.
The telephone system is connected to France's, too. The rest of the Caribbean is in the North American dial-1 zone. Top-end resorts, such as these, have U.S. plugs in the bathrooms. Though daily high temperatures range only from 70 degrees F in winter to 90 degrees F in summer, there are fine distinctions among islands. Low, flat islands tend be arid, but those with hills and mountains get progressively rainier as the weather gets warmer.