Best all inclusive resorts?

[viva la ben]

This resort is smaller than the supersized sandal resorts in Jamaica. It is a Sandals property so I think you can take a day trip to the other resorts.
It was a nice inexpensive place right in the middle of 7 mile beach....I had my honeymoon there 11 years ago.
http://www.grandpineapple.com/resorts/g ... sort-home/

[count2infinity]

i would call you a fair weather fan, but i'd rather have blue water than black and yellow water.

[Letang Is The Truth]

yea i have been looking at a few mexican resorts in cancun/playa del carmen and a few in ixtapa and the value is pretty strong

stay clear of cancun if you want to explore and get a taste of Mexico, head more south,, playa del carmen is very nice, but very touristy as well. I've backpacked across the Yucatan a couple times and have found the area around Tulum very nice. It still had an authentic Mexico feel that wasn't too commercialized unlike the north and the beaches are amazing. Our honeymoon stay was in Tulum and we didn't stay at an all inclusive resort. We stayed at Los Lirios and at the time we did have to rely on spanish to get by a lot. If I could do it again, I'd probably look into a all inclusive resort in that area. The ruins of Tulum are simply amazing and it's a great hub for travel. Merida and Valladolid are beautiful towns that I highly suggest checking out, I also recommend looking into staying in Merida for a night, it has a wonderful cultural life. Chichen Itza, Tulum, Palenque, Uxmal, Xel-Ha Coba are all world class, hell any of the ruins are incredible. starting to ramble, sorry...

i have found some nice resorts in playa del carmen that seem pretty secluded

banyan tree mayakoba

Spoiler:

rosewood mayakoba

Spoiler:

i will check aht tulum

[Letang Is The Truth]

but they arent all inclusive

[eddysnake]

yea i have been looking at a few mexican resorts in cancun/playa del carmen and a few in ixtapa and the value is pretty strong

stay clear of cancun if you want to explore and get a taste of Mexico, head more south,, playa del carmen is very nice, but very touristy as well. I've backpacked across the Yucatan a couple times and have found the area around Tulum very nice. It still had an authentic Mexico feel that wasn't too commercialized unlike the north and the beaches are amazing. Our honeymoon stay was in Tulum and we didn't stay at an all inclusive resort. We stayed at Los Lirios and at the time we did have to rely on spanish to get by a lot. If I could do it again, I'd probably look into a all inclusive resort in that area. The ruins of Tulum are simply amazing and it's a great hub for travel. Merida and Valladolid are beautiful towns that I highly suggest checking out, I also recommend looking into staying in Merida for a night, it has a wonderful cultural life. Chichen Itza, Tulum, Palenque, Uxmal, Xel-Ha Coba are all world class, hell any of the ruins are incredible. starting to ramble, sorry...

i have found some nice resorts in playa del carmen that seem pretty secluded

banyan tree mayakoba

Spoiler:

rosewood mayakoba

Spoiler:

i will check aht tulum

no doubt, I was talking about the surrounding area if you want to explore. It is Very very nice (and expensive). The town around tulum was much more laid back, small town, not real touristy (although that could have easily changed as bigger resorts were popping up around that area), a lot of nice restaurants on the beaches, the town itself was a one street drag with authentic shops on both sides, which was nice, but you could cover everything in a couple days.

[thepittman]

I'm heading to the Hard Rock in Punta Cana, I'll let you know.

[DropEmJayBird]

Just did Aruba about 2 weeks ago - very blue water. There is one all-inclusive on the island (maybe more), but plenty of food choices there that we felt it was dumb to tie down to an all-inclusive. Drinking is more expensive though - island makes you feel you are at the states - everyone speaks english and 99% of things are in dollars.

[cheesesteakwithegg]

My wife and I went to the Grand Bahia Principe Ambar in Punta Cana for our honeymoon. It was really nice. The resort itself had 4 or 5 hotels on it, and we were at the adults only one. This was nice because we were able to go to all the restaurants / pools / etc throughout the entire resort, but no one could come to ours since it was the adults only section. Highly recommend something like this if you want to relax. We went to the one pool were families were staying, and it was a much different atmosphere than at our end of the resort. This was in 2010, but I want to say it was about $4K total for the both of us, 7 nights, and that included airfare.

[mac5155]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

[eddysnake]

i will check aht tulum

Not sure what exactly you are looking for, when we stayed for a week, I'm not sure if I ever saw more than a handful of people on the beaches which was amazing for us, it was very private, relaxing, laid back, but you had to travel if you wanted to get out (this was also in September). Either way, I highly suggest stopping in and checking out the ruins there. The most incredible view is swimming in the blue water and looking up at these ruins from the 13th century, breathtaking (just don't go skinny dipping there, got in an interesting bind with the local/police that cost me a camera...)

[Letang Is The Truth]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

i dont think so

[mac5155]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

i dont think so

OK, I didn't think so either, but thought maybe I was going overboard.

[npv708]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

We spent about 9k total when it was all said and done. About 7k on air, room, and board for 10 days in Hawaii, 5 on the big island, 5 on Maui.

We've been looking for a few day trip in May for something in the 1k range, I've seen a lot of good deals on cheapcaribbean.com

[Digitalgypsy66]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

i dont think so

OK, I didn't think so either, but thought maybe I was going overboard.

No, that's what I spent 9+ years ago. Sigh. I need to go do something like that again for 10th this year.

[blackjack68]

$5000 is a little pricey in my opinion. Especially the Caribbean in June.

But, it depends on when and where you are going.

Keep in mind that you aren't in the room that often so paying crazy dollars for a higher level room is money that can be saved.

Check TripAdvisor or the like on what people think of the value of concierge rooms at Sandals.

I'd also look into the Couples Resorts in Jamaica. Super-inclusive like Sandals.

My favorite resort isn't as nice as it used to be but still ok. Breezes Grand Negril...and you can skinny dip there without losing your camera to the federalis. Clothed beach and a secluded au natural beach.

Now if you like big resorts with lots of marble and such, my brother just did Grand Palladium in Jamaica and us looking to go back in March or April with just the wife.

[Kraftster]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

We drove cross country and probably spent about that. I think that's definitely reasonable.

[thepittman]

Is $5k a ton to spend on a honeymoon?

My sister is having a Destination wedding, so EVERYONE in the wedding is having to shell out these costs. I've already told her what I think about the whole thing, I almost told her I'm not going. It's damn near $3500 for my girlfriend and I to fly there and stay at the resort.

[mac5155]

I'm paying 20k for a wedding, no sympathy from me lol

[Letang Is The Truth]

but how much do your siblings have to pay to go to the wedding?

[Serenity Now]

Went on a honeymoon to Sandals Grande St. Lucian at the end of October. While a little pricier than other Sandals, especially airfare, St. Lucia was an amazing island. It had the beaches, but also is a volcanic island, so there was rainforest and mountains and such. We ziplined through the rain forrest (fun as hell), took a land and sea tour (went through the mountains and had a short hike through botanical gardens to a waterfall, stopped at a market, went in the volcanic mud springs, had a local meal, then took a boat tour back), did some snorkeling, etc... cost us a little under $6k for the week, airfare included.. but $800 or so of that was in excursions... no tipping at all, so that was nice... good selection of places to eat and booze... nice beach (though a little narrow) and beautiful water.... the resort is on a penninsula with an old fort on a hill on the end that you can hike to and take in the view... I highly reccommend it... you get the best of both a beach resort and rainforest activities

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I had my honeymoon at Sandals Royal Bahamian. It was really nice, the food was pretty good, and you could also make a day trip to the Atlantis Resort for casino, water park, and swimming with dolphins. The Royal Bahamian doesn't have as many activities as some of the other places, but it still has snorkling. I can't remember how much we spent exactly, maybe $5 max including airfare. We only spent a week there.

[Letang Is The Truth]

Went on a honeymoon to Sandals Grande St. Lucian at the end of October. While a little pricier than other Sandals, especially airfare, St. Lucia was an amazing island. It had the beaches, but also is a volcanic island, so there was rainforest and mountains and such. We ziplined through the rain forrest (fun as hell), took a land and sea tour (went through the mountains and had a short hike through botanical gardens to a waterfall, stopped at a market, went in the volcanic mud springs, had a local meal, then took a boat tour back), did some snorkeling, etc... cost us a little under $6k for the week, airfare included.. but $800 or so of that was in excursions... no tipping at all, so that was nice... good selection of places to eat and booze... nice beach (though a little narrow) and beautiful water.... the resort is on a penninsula with an old fort on a hill on the end that you can hike to and take in the view... I highly reccommend it... you get the best of both a beach resort and rainforest activities

is there crap to do on st lucia?

[llipgh2]

is there crap to do on st lucia?

My friend Veronica honeymooned there. She and her hubby LOVE St. Lucia. Both have said it's their best Caribbean vacation ever. They've been to a few other islands, and always go back to St. Lucia.

[shmenguin]

i spent about 3 times as much on the honeymoon as i did on the wedding

[Tomas]

I don't always drink all-inclusives, but when I do, it's viewtopic.php?f=5&t=54042&p=1753342&hilit=couples+tower#p1753342 .

FWIW, we met people from various other Jamaica resorts (Sandals included) on one of the excursions, and they all were quite jealous of us when we described the level of "inclusive" at Couples.

I believe that Couples website has special honeymoon deals. In addition, since the above "Tower Isle" is the cheapest of all Couples resorts, I would absolutely not be afraid of their "Secret Rendezvous" program. Basically, you book the stay at an "unknown" Couples resort at a discount, and they'll tell you which it is just a few days before your arrival to Jamaica.

That being said, the Costa Rican option (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57270&p=2174255&hilit=couples+tower#p2174255 ) beats any all-inclusive by at least 0.65 light year, IMO.