Hi all. This year will be our 20th wedding anniversary. In these 20 years, we have never gone on any type of "real" vacation. Just a handful of little Friday night stays close to home & holiday trips to visit family. This year, we want to really splurge! We're planning to go the typical tropical, all-inclusive resort, probably in Mexico. We're planning to stay 5-7 days. We'd like to spend $500/night or less, all-inclusive. Preferably adults-only. We want great food, beautiful beaches, fun activities. Touches of privacy & seclusion are a big plus.
We're currently looking at the Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso and El Dorado Seaside Suites. I was really hung up on the Viceroy Riviera Maya, but It looks like we'd end up spending $1000/day to do it right. We're open to just about any suggestions to look into. It's all starting to look the same online, so personal experiences and recommendations would really help.
And if someone has a suggestion unrelated to a Mexican resort, bring it on. Maybe we're limiting ourselves too much with that one. Like I said before, we've never been on a real vacation, so we're clueless!!! Thanks!
I recommend you look at these website that sell all inclusive vacations:
Saleoffvacation.com
Redtag.com
Itravel2000.com
You can get those 5 Star places for a huge discount this time of year.
And Happy Anniversary!!!
We enjoyed Moon Palace, about 15-20mins from the Cancun airport. One of the buildings on the property was adults-only. It is a huge resort with shuttle service in case you want to get to the golf course or just to another building with a different pool or one of the restaurants. The beach isn't a good one for swimming, though. The food was very good, a big plus is that they don't require reservations for the restaurants and they don't limit how many times you visit certain restaurants. I believe they also have adults-only restaurants (we were there with kids). We booked through vacations to go, where they usually offer a credit or room upgrade. We were very worried about stomach bugs, especially with the kids, so we stayed at the resort our entire stay and were fine. The package included some excursions, including one to some ruins, but they were too far (maybe a 2-hr bus ride) for us to go with toddlers. Have fun and happy anniversary!!!
Friends of ours recently went to The Royal Cancun, All Inclusive, All Suites Resort. They said it was fabulous. They went off season and got some great deal via Hotwire or one of those booking services. They took the 3 kids with them and they all enjoyed different activities - there were plenty of restaurants t choose from, some appropriate for families, some for adults. They swam, took a trip to the Mayan ruins, snorkeled, etc. I went to Cozumel years ago - less built up than Cancun but the same water and sand! You can go to either one and still see some ruins without staying on the Mayan Riviera on the mainland, if that interests you.
I've also used travel agents, including AAA Travel service for members - they are great resources for helping you week out and sort through your options.
My all time favorite place is Aruba. It's gorgeous, the ocean is so clear you won't believe it, it's safe, the people are friendly, and the water is drinkable without getting sick.
I have been to Mexico and I liked Cozumel. But that's because I like to snorkel and scuba dive, and it has those things. I didn't like Cancun at all - the resort we stayed in was nice, but the town was not clean. And every time I go to Mexico, no matter how careful I try to be, I have stomach issues. So... while I know people who love Mexico, I'm not one of them. If you have a sensitive stomach, I would think twice. If you DON'T generally have a sensitive stomach, you might have a very different experience than I have.
I have friends who did Punta Cana Excellence in June and some friends who are there now...must be good!! It's adults only too.
We LOVED St. Thomas and want to go back for longer (it was a cruise port for us). It was just simply gorgeous. We also had friends get married there a little over a year ago. My brother is taking his honeymoon there in September, and I will try to find out where he is staying. I can tell you it is connected to Marriott somehow because my parents used their time share for it.
We were at the Hard Rock Hotel all-inclusive in Cancun in November and loved it! It might be a bit too active for what you're looking for (a lot of activities, not adults-only, fun atmosphere), but they have one in Playa Del Carmen that might be a better fit. We stopped at that one on the way to an excursion to pick up others and it's more secluded. Hard Rock offers amazing service, terrific food and an overall wonderful time. The shows at night really impressed us.
