I’ve vacationed overseas plenty of places, and throughout the US, but never south to places such as US Virgin Islands, Caribbean, Cancun, etc.
I’m not too thrilled about Mexico, and I don’t want to go someplace where there’s a bunch of noisy people vomiting everywhere, I can get that anytime.
I’ve also been receiving tons of getaway packages from Daily Deals and living Social about St. Barts, St. Thomas, Carribean, Cancun that seem pretty cheap, 2 people 4 nights for between 700-1100 bucks, not including air fare but southwest is majorly cheap for that. Even Hawaii would be nice.
If you have been to any all incuslive resorts or island paradises please post pics and details.
St. John my favorite island. I have been to almost all the islands in the Caribbean and its one of my favorite. Trunk bay is a beautiful beach, you have to go. You can take a ferry from st. Thomas.
Not sure how much you’re willing to spend, but my wife and I stayed at the Veranda Resort in Turks and Caicos for our honeymoon. I would highly suggest going all inclusive no matter where you go, just makes things much easier. The Veranda was very nice, beach was quiet, weather was outstanding. And you still have your typical excursions like snorkeling out on the reefs, etc, that you can do.
Ive been to the St. Lucia, The Bahamas and Hawaii.
I can honestly say the Caribbean is not for me. Not authentic enough if you stay on the resort, too pressured and bothersome if you leave the resort (buy this buy that blah blah blah) Dirty a lot of times too. Could just be me though. I would say Hawaii has been the most pleasent tropical place ive been. So much versatility to offer, a lot cleaner and if you really need it, youre in American company lol.
That said, go even more exotic like Fiji or something, that place looks unreal (but probably 2x the cost lol).
I had the same worries as you about Mexico for our Honeymoon last year but the price was awesome compared to the rest so I decided to take a chance and glad we did. We were in Playa Del Carmen (actually right between that an Cancun). There’s basically a highway with resorts down the coast side of it between the 2 cities. It was far enough from the “party” area of Cancun but still a lot of expeditions and nice beaches since you’re close.
Resort had plenty of food options, lots of nice alcohol (all inclusive), awesome beaches, and anything else we wanted. Staff was amazing also.
I have been to bahamas, st. thomas, st. marten, cancun, hawaii, puerto rico. Hawaii was the big island but we rented a house so no real resort knowledge there. I am a member of the palace elite in cancun all the palace resorts there are very nice, all inclusive etc. Stayed at beach palace, moon palace this year. I can get pics up later of these places. Bahamas was at atlantis which is nice and huge but alot of people. the islands and puerto rico were all part of a cruise so just been there not stayed there.
been to Jamaica a hand full of times. in Negril, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay. always stayed at a RIU resort never had a bad experience. its all inclusive and theres plenty of places to go/ things to do if you wanna take a short 1-2 hour ride. climbing waterfalls, zip lining, cliff jumping etc
You don’t really have to worry about the spring break crowd unless you go during spring break.
I wouldn’t go anywhere outside of tourist areas in Mexico, but the resort areas are fine. Aruba had the most picturesque beaches, Jamaica had the best people, the Dominican was dirty with pushy people.
Fiji was amazing but big bucks. If you can swing the airfare the rest of Thailand is cheap as hell and beyond words. Its awesome.
Really, you liked the Jamaicans and thought Dominicans were pushy and dirty? I found the exact opposite. (To be fair, I’ve been to Dominican 8 times and Jamaica only twice)
I’ve been everywhere except Aruba and Turks and Caicos…~20 all inclusives under my belt. Bahamas, Jamaica, Dominican, Cancun, Mayan Riviera, Cabo, etc. It’s all about the resort you pick. There are awesome and shitty places everywhere, as well as party and quiet places. Do your homework. You’re not likely to find puking college kids unless you go to Cancun during MTV week or something…if anything I find most of the resorts far too tame. If you want a town nearby where you can go get a bit of the local experience, go somewhere like Cancun, Nassau, Playa Del Carmen, Aruba, or Puerto Vallarta, and to a lesser extent the 3 major cities in Jamaica. (You can still hit the cities, but be careful at night) Also, Southwest doesn’t fly to the caribbean.
Thanks for all the info guys, I’ve been pricing a lot of things out and through Southwest/Air Tran, roundtrip airfare I’ve found between 300-500$ which is mega cheap
I think for around 3 grand I can find something really nice
French Tahiti is the ultimate escape, but I don’t want to go until I elope (if ever)
Just booked the Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana again last week for May. we went there last year and its awesome. We have a south west credit card and use it for everything we get about 50-60,000 points a year, now that air tran flys to the Dominican its even better. free flights all the time.
Ah yes, the airtran flights are great deals if you can find an A+ coach ticket. AirTran business class definitely isn’t worth double. Still beats paying for it though
You might want to talk to a travel agent. Friends of ours used one around here for theirs and pushed us to go see her. I figured it’d be a waste of time because they have to make money so I should be able to find it cheaper online. I was wrong, it was about $100-200 cheaper going through the travel agent. Plus they have a ton of knowledge and know how to get you upgrades and the like.
