Honeymoon recs- Mexico and/or the Caribbean
- Thread starter wcc31
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Chad PDC is pretty much perfect. any different places there, all beautiful. bbdk can elaborate as well, but we absolutely loved The Royal PDC.
Also, I know you all are just now married, but Zika is something to really consider as well.
Also, I know you all are just now married, but Zika is something to really consider as well.
While there is definitely a ceiling when it comes to mega resorts, you pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to AI, in terms of the quality of the resort (read: the clientele you will be sharing your week with) and especially the food/drink.
A good deal is one thing, and they can be found on even the nicest properties -- but don't go anything less than 4-4.5* on the popular travel booking/review sites, and do your research (I find the TA (and other) Travel Forums to be the best place, as opposed to the actual reviews) Use the search function, and you'll find endless conversations & comparisons about any resort you are considering.
If a resort is $900 or whatever for a week including flight, there is a reason. (b/c it's ****, and you will be surrounded by **** people)
A good deal is one thing, and they can be found on even the nicest properties -- but don't go anything less than 4-4.5* on the popular travel booking/review sites, and do your research (I find the TA (and other) Travel Forums to be the best place, as opposed to the actual reviews) Use the search function, and you'll find endless conversations & comparisons about any resort you are considering.
If a resort is $900 or whatever for a week including flight, there is a reason. (b/c it's ****, and you will be surrounded by **** people)
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Secrets resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean are very highly rated (also higher end) and adults only. FWIW, the Mexican peso has lost 17% of its value against the dollar since the election and is expected to drop further. So your dollar will go further in Mexico than in most of the other places that you are looking.
http://www.secretsresorts.com/?_ga=1.103887424.1311242606.1484337103
http://www.secretsresorts.com/?_ga=1.103887424.1311242606.1484337103
Friends had a wedding in playa del Carmen and I thought it was great, can't remember name of resort though sorry.
We did our through sandals grand Antigua. It was fun, but for whatever reason I didn't think it was that great. Food was very average, but overall it was still really fun, didn't have to plan anything, and was beautiful. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I know that didn't think it was amazing.
We did our through sandals grand Antigua. It was fun, but for whatever reason I didn't think it was that great. Food was very average, but overall it was still really fun, didn't have to plan anything, and was beautiful. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I know that didn't think it was amazing.
Check Trip Advisor for reviews. Not sure what your price range is but can recommend Excellence Playa Mujeres, Excellence Riviera Cancun and Secrets Silversands and Secrets Maroma Beach. Excellence tends to be a bit more of an upscale crowd, usually older, while Secrets SS tends to be a little younger. Secrets Maroma is pretty chill, nice play.
Full disclosure, the Yucatan Peninsula has been hit hard by a seaweed epidemic and some portions of the beaches feel it harder than others. Biologists attribute it to the chemical that was used to clean up the BP oil spill. There are several articles that can be Googled that talk about it. That said, just know that going in.
Once you've settled on a resort, check out www.vacationexpress.com. I've used this website before to book trips and it's legit. What's nicest, is that they offer charter flights direct to Cancun out of CVG. My overall advice is to do research and spend some money on the trip. There are some great deals on all inclusives but there's a saying that's used in my field which is "garbage in, garbage out." So $800 per person for 7 nights might seem like a great deal, but you'll be eating food that has been washed with Mexican toilet water.
Full disclosure, the Yucatan Peninsula has been hit hard by a seaweed epidemic and some portions of the beaches feel it harder than others. Biologists attribute it to the chemical that was used to clean up the BP oil spill. There are several articles that can be Googled that talk about it. That said, just know that going in.
Once you've settled on a resort, check out www.vacationexpress.com. I've used this website before to book trips and it's legit. What's nicest, is that they offer charter flights direct to Cancun out of CVG. My overall advice is to do research and spend some money on the trip. There are some great deals on all inclusives but there's a saying that's used in my field which is "garbage in, garbage out." So $800 per person for 7 nights might seem like a great deal, but you'll be eating food that has been washed with Mexican toilet water.
Cabo is unreal, but going AI definitely isn't the play there -- you'd be missing out on what makes Cabo so great.
As mentioned, if you are doing AI, it really doesn't matter what country you go to, as you most likely aren't going to leave your resort anyways except for an overpriced & generally awful "excursion" -- so the resort is important, but not really the location/country.
...which is why we love The Royal in PDC -- it's the best of both worlds. Huge AI resort, but also right in the middle of a cool town, and you can venture out for walks, shopping, cheap eats/drinks, endless beach bars along 5th Ave, etc -- and never feel like you're 'trapped' on a resort for a week. Not a great beach though (but fine) if that's your thing.
As mentioned, if you are doing AI, it really doesn't matter what country you go to, as you most likely aren't going to leave your resort anyways except for an overpriced & generally awful "excursion" -- so the resort is important, but not really the location/country.
...which is why we love The Royal in PDC -- it's the best of both worlds. Huge AI resort, but also right in the middle of a cool town, and you can venture out for walks, shopping, cheap eats/drinks, endless beach bars along 5th Ave, etc -- and never feel like you're 'trapped' on a resort for a week. Not a great beach though (but fine) if that's your thing.
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Definitely not AI, but Vieques is fantastic... and you don't even need a passport since it is in America.
Wild horses everywhere. Secluded, beautiful beaches. Good dining. You can rent a beautiful house with a private pool for around the price of an AI in other places.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/puerto-rico/eastern-puerto-rico/vieques
Wild horses everywhere. Secluded, beautiful beaches. Good dining. You can rent a beautiful house with a private pool for around the price of an AI in other places.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/puerto-rico/eastern-puerto-rico/vieques
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_R..._Sabor_Cozumel-Cozumel_Yucatan_Peninsula.html
I was here the week before Christmas. It was really nice. Snorkeling was the best I've ever experienced. Even right offshore from the resort it was good. Took an excursion in a glass bottom boat that took us to down near the southern tip of the island. Water was clear as glass. Saw hundreds of starfish, saw several barracuda, sea turtles, an eagle ray. Great trip. We did do an excursion to see Mayan ruins on Cozumel. That was a tad disappointing. Ruins there are small and not well preserved when compared to Chichen Itza or Tulum that we had visited on previous trips to Yucatan peninsula.
At the time of our booking we used Vacation Express and got 6 nights here, plus airfare, plus all transfers for just about $1100 a person.
I was here the week before Christmas. It was really nice. Snorkeling was the best I've ever experienced. Even right offshore from the resort it was good. Took an excursion in a glass bottom boat that took us to down near the southern tip of the island. Water was clear as glass. Saw hundreds of starfish, saw several barracuda, sea turtles, an eagle ray. Great trip. We did do an excursion to see Mayan ruins on Cozumel. That was a tad disappointing. Ruins there are small and not well preserved when compared to Chichen Itza or Tulum that we had visited on previous trips to Yucatan peninsula.
At the time of our booking we used Vacation Express and got 6 nights here, plus airfare, plus all transfers for just about $1100 a person.
We are doing it for our honeymoon.
I've done the San Juan / Vieques jaunt before and it is awesome, Old San Juan especially. But for the honeymoon, we are flying straight to Vieques and spending 10 days there and doing nothing but R&R&F.
How was the puddle jumper from San Juan?
Any food recs for Vieques? The last time I went was 2009 (I think) and things appear to have changed a lot since.
Scary AF, due to limited space I volunteered for the Cockpit/Co-Pilot seat. Was pretty cool once I settled down...well, actually I never really settled down. Pretty cool still, I suppose.
The best breakfast sambos ever at La Viequenese...ate there. Hard to describe, but just amazing. On this house made pressed/flaky bread.
Had an incredible Seafood Mofongo at Sabores, which is now closed -- it was in Isabel II.
We stayed at this house, (Costa Brava). Had our own private pool/bar and the host (who stays in an Airstream on property) was real life Tarzan who would go out on his surfboard & spear and bring back Lobsters each night.
He recently sold the place b/c he has Stage 4 Melanoma and is moving to San Juan to be nearer treatment.
Horses would walk up and drink out of the pool all day. Dude charged us like $500 for 4 nights...walk right down to the beach. Pretty dope.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6922133
The best breakfast sambos ever at La Viequenese...ate there. Hard to describe, but just amazing. On this house made pressed/flaky bread.
Had an incredible Seafood Mofongo at Sabores, which is now closed -- it was in Isabel II.
We stayed at this house, (Costa Brava). Had our own private pool/bar and the host (who stays in an Airstream on property) was real life Tarzan who would go out on his surfboard & spear and bring back Lobsters each night.
He recently sold the place b/c he has Stage 4 Melanoma and is moving to San Juan to be nearer treatment.
Horses would walk up and drink out of the pool all day. Dude charged us like $500 for 4 nights...walk right down to the beach. Pretty dope.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6922133
Hitting the Ritz at St Thomas in a few weeks. It's all inclusive in that I just throw down the AMEX black and say charge it to the room.
- GYEROer
- GYEROer
Great Hotel...had my wedding there. Enjoy.
-Chad, look into the Iberostar GRAND hotels. There are 3 in your radius:, Riviera Maya, (Paraiso) Punta Cana (Bavaro) and Jamaica (Rose Hall)
All 3 are consistently ranked Top 25 in the World on TA for All Inclusive, with Paraiso #1
http://www.thegrandcollection.com/en
-Chad, look into the Iberostar GRAND hotels. There are 3 in your radius:, Riviera Maya, (Paraiso) Punta Cana (Bavaro) and Jamaica (Rose Hall)
All 3 are consistently ranked Top 25 in the World on TA for All Inclusive, with Paraiso #1
http://www.thegrandcollection.com/en
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Our honeymoon was at Sandals Montego Bay (all-inclusive except airfare) in Jamaica. Would highly recommend. Not sure what time of year you're looking at but there are some great deals in late September and early October. Great weather there that time of year too, or at least it was for us. The only "excursion" we went on was tubing down a river with crystal clear water. Beautiful. There were others but we couldn't bring ourselves to leave the unlimited beer and food at the resort, and of course the beach. They also had unlimited snorkeling at the coral reef, and water sports like canoeing, wind surfing, etc.
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Why in tf would anyone go anywhere that makes them feel trapped? If I can't sit on my balcony and smoke a pre rolled doob and then go walk around with some locals why even leave Kentucky?
Stayed at Sanctuary Cap Cana in Dominican Republic this past November. Me and the wife loved it. Cap Cana is a gated community about 15 min from the airport. You can research but basically 10 years ago Trump and others were going to make Cap Cana an exclusive part of Punta Cana for the "rich". Well things went sour and that never panned out. So now in Cap Cana there is only Sanctuary resort and a Secrets resort that just opened at end of November. So no places to explore but that is exactly what we wanted. Stay on property, relax, drink, eat, repeat. The resort only has 175 rooms and a private beach, which we prefer this setting to the mega size complex resorts. If you wanted to walk along beach, next door to hotel was public beach where you could walk for miles. I would suggest booking early for probably anywhere you decide? I booked 6 months out and paid $2800. A month before we left I was curious and checked prices...it was 5400. We met people who booked 3 months prior and they had paid around 5000 I think.
You might want to rethink Playa del Carmen or at least bring a bullet-proof vest.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-Mexican-nightclub-dance-music-festival.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-Mexican-nightclub-dance-music-festival.html
Yeah, I have pretty much zero desire to go to Mexico anytime in the near future. What a cesspool.
We got married at the W in Vieques and just stayed for a few days afterwards. Dope and expensive AF.
If you look at Puerto Rico, Fajardo is close to San Juan and has a couple AI. The west side of the island is great too, we've stayed in Cabo Rojo before.
Vieques or Culebra are next level tho. Just not that many people there and they're absolutely beautiful.
If you look at Puerto Rico, Fajardo is close to San Juan and has a couple AI. The west side of the island is great too, we've stayed in Cabo Rojo before.
Vieques or Culebra are next level tho. Just not that many people there and they're absolutely beautiful.
Our honeymoon was at Sandals Montego Bay (all-inclusive except airfare) in Jamaica. Would highly recommend. Not sure what time of year you're looking at but there are some great deals in late September and early October. Great weather there that time of year too, or at least it was for us. The only "excursion" we went on was tubing down a river with crystal clear water. Beautiful. There were others but we couldn't bring ourselves to leave the unlimited beer and food at the resort, and of course the beach. They also had unlimited snorkeling at the coral reef, and water sports like canoeing, wind surfing, etc.
I'd recommend the other Sandals in Mobay. Sandals Royal or whatever its called. Not as much air traffic.
Make sure the place is adults only. I've taken the family to a few of the family ai's. They were awful (Beaches and Dreams). Food & entertainment were bad. I think this has to do with catering to families with kids.
If you go to Mexico, only use bottled water. I made the mistake of using tap water to brush my teeth (or maybe it was the ice in the mixed drinks). It caught up with me on my last night there. Made me miserable.
I've never done AI, so this take is ignorant, but I can't imagine that I would like it. Same thing with a cruise.
Just seems really constricting and unrelaxing.
well, you can leave and there's some very big AI place like Moon Palace in Cancun. (there's golf course and many other stuff)
However, the problem is the cost is assuming you are there full time.
When you go to cancun... if you want to party, you go cocobongo, and that's far away.
Obviously there are many other place to visit, so why spend money on AI?
We did our wedding/homeymoon in Punta Cana, DR. Tons of all-inclusives, which I highly recommend. Nice people, great food, perfect weather, not overly expensive. No complaints at all.
We went there on our honeymoon. I really enjoyed the resort and the food; however, I spent about 3 1/2 of our 7 days there having the death *****. I was thisclose to having to go to a Mexican hospital.
I'm not exactly sure what caused it, but my best guess is I drank a mudslide one afternoon, and I'm guessing they put milk from some dirty Mexican goat in there.