All inclusive recommendations?

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Hi CP'ers,

My family is looking to take a long-awaited vacation somewhere tropical and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations? We were looking for a place with a great beach, good food and a down-tempo pace...and not super expensive...

We were going to go to Holguin Cuba to a place called the Sol Luna y Mares but Ike took care of that...

Any recommendations?

[Coach]

Punta Cana Dominican Republic. Unless Ike hit that too I dont know....but its awesome there

[missdpuck]

I've never been to Costa Rica but it is very popular with South Floridians. Apparently it's very inexpensive,great food, friendly people,beaches nicer than Florida's and stuff for the kids too. Two of my buds are moving there for the slower pace. AS for South Florida it will start getting expensive the middle of next month, but because we are trying to attract tourists there should be some decent deals. South Beach and Ft Lauderdale are what they are... those places get old real quick IMO. But some of the lesser known places are cool..like Hollywood beach or Lake Worth..quaint. But as for tropical...it is but people around here like Costa Rica because it's more primitive, of course one of their favorite pasttimes is gliding through the trees on a one of those rope pulleys...whatever you call it. As for the islands(Bahamas, etc) they've never excitied me because they are like S.Fl. but the Atlantis Resort is something to see..but not cheap unless you get a deal, which is likely in this economy. Have fun wherever you go.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Last year my g/f and I went on our first all inclusive trip to Mexico. We stayed at the Sandos Caracol resort which is about 45 mins south of Cancun. We paid something like $1300 each and the resort was quite nice, beaches were nice and the food was pretty good. The buffets were pretty big and we loved the Italian restaraunt. Rooms were nice too, they have villas all over the place and there was about 10 rooms to each villas. Nice grounds, close to other activities.

Overall not a bad place. For free, you can get yourself upgraded to the VIP club (go figure) which gets you a nicer room with a hottub and access to other places on the resort.

Overall I was impressed for the price paid.

[killer_carlson]

the all inclusive in Costa Rica was a step below the less expensive all inclusives in Mexico.

Costa Rica is an awesome vacation place, especially for eco tourism, but I would be reluctant to recommend it for its all inclusive (based on the one we went to)

[smeaton]

You should have a look at Aruba, went there last fall. Fantastic food and beverages. Definatley worth a look

[SeeGeeWhy]

http://www.tripadvisor.com

Great resource for up to date reviews.

[ricosuave]

in my and fellow travellers experiences, try to stay at a minimum 4 star all-inclusive. the food quality drops off quickly below that...

[HockeyKhan]

In January I went to Mexico for the first time. It was difficult trying to figure out where to go, there are so many good places. We told our travel agent we wanted a place with 5 star facilities and food, but with 3 star clientel. A place with a great beach and a variety of restaurants, and clean airconditioned rooms, but a place we could horse around in the pool without people getting pissed off.

The Agent booked us at the Rio Caribe in Cancun. It was exactly what we were looking for. Most people there were Canadian, and had been returning to this hotel for years, always a good sign. They said you can never really go wrong by staying at one of the "Rio" hotels, they have them all over.

[tvp2003]

On a related note, how much would one expect to spend on one of these all-inclusive deals? On aircanadavacations.com, they have last minute deals that work out to $1,890.38 for two people to Puerto Vallarta, 7 days, including taxes, etc. Similarly, Honolulu is $1,869.90. How does that compare with other travel agencies, etc?

Also, any tips on where to find the best deals for things like all-inclusives and cruises?

[Dion]

http://www.atlantis.com/

[Tilley]

Originally Posted by Dion

http://www.atlantis.com/

Atlantis is not the best value for the dollar. Don't get me wrong; the Mrs. and I went for a week last summer and it was amazing but it was very pricey.

I've also enjoyed an all inclusive in Puerto Vallarta. Great experience.

[prarieboy]

Originally Posted by fotze

Probably more of a function of the resort than the country.

I would bet my life that in every single sun destination you can get either vile or amazing food and drink.

I think the key is the price, things you can do out of the resort (if you want to leave the resort). You'll never know about the food until you get there. The place I went to had great reviews for the food, my wife loved the food (and she is picky) but for some reason the buffet which was ridiculously stacked, kinda grossed me out. Also, the corona on tap was gross. If you are not overly picky you cannot go wrong, go with the cheapest but best reviews you read online.

The cheap ones are cuba, domenican and jamaica and most of mexico, once you start going to the other places like St. Lucia, Aruba or other islands you start to pay more (unless you are in Toronto). The say Domenican and Jamaica are the most sketchy but who knows.

I picked the paradisus in mayan because it was well reviewed, 5 stars (depending where you look) and a 15 minute drive from the airport. I didn;t want to spend another 1.5 hours on a bus after a long plane ride.

We stayed next door to the Paradisus a couple years back and would definatly stay there if we brought the kids along.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Hi CP'ers,

My family is looking to take a long-awaited vacation somewhere tropical and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations? We were looking for a place with a great beach, good food and a down-tempo pace...and not super expensive...

We were going to go to Holguin Cuba to a place called the Sol Luna y Mares but Ike took care of that...

Any recommendations?

A few questions, is this your first all inclusive? How many kids, what ages?

Just a few tips about Cuba, excellent choice but expect slower service than most other countries, food won't be something to get overly excited about, and if you are used to say Mexico 4 star resorts, a Cuban 4 star will seem like a step down.

But its a great place to go, just have to be people who appreciate the fact the people are under an embargo and of course their famous charm and friendliness makes up for anything you could find to complain about

I loved Punta Cana, went to Barcelo Bavaro resort, its HUGE so theres lots of quiter spots if you want to chill, and of course areas where there is a lot more going on. The beach there was simply stunning.

If the Mayan Riviera is an option, Barcelo Maya is an amazing resort, again its HUGE and has such an amazing beach. Barcelo often gets to pick the first building location in new resort areas, you can see that if you visit a few of their resorts. Lots of choice for food, lots of little nice pubs that close at 10pm, and 1 disco thats up till 2am. I know those Canadian ladies were murdered there, but I can tell you a huge group of us went 8 months after and the security there was beyond good.

Costa Rica I wouldn't recommend, unless you are big into ECO tourism, a lot of the resorts are far from cities or anywhere you can take trips to. Its very rocky and often near steep cliffs. Its more a pool destination than somewhere you go for a beach.

As for pricing, depending on the age of your kids, consider resorts that offer deals for kids under 12, etc.. If you have a very set date to take this vacation, I'd probably book in advance, it will cost more but you will get what you want; last minute deals are really nice but often you have to be able to go without much notice or have real nice flexibility in your job to do it, hard with a family.

Costs wise, search out deals online, but it couldn't hurt to visit a travel agent like Flight Centre or something similar, just be up front that you have been shopping for good packages online, so they know up front to give you a fair price.

Try to make sure you get a package deal, if you package deals on expedia you have to take care of transport to/from airport/hotel and that isnt cheap nor is it easy/fun to do.

Make sure you have excellent travel insurance that includes interruption, cancellation, medical.

Use online websites to get an idea of the hotels you narrow down as your final choices, but remember even great resorts have bad comments. Its always slightly skewed by the infamous difficult traveller, and people are always more likely to post if they had anything go wrong over those who loved their stay.

There is a website for the Barcelo Maya, which is run by people who visit the place yearly: http://www.unofficial-barcelo-maya.com/site/

Hope that gives you some help.

[Ashartus]

Food quality is often more a function of the location than the specific resort in my experience, largely due to availability of ingredients. I've found that the food is generally really good in Mexico, while on some of the smaller Caribbean islands the food may be well prepared, but there just isn't the same variety and quality of ingredients.

Of the all-inclusives I've stayed at, probably my favourite was the Club Med in Cancun, with a nice beach, great food, casual atmosphere and plenty of activities, but that was before the hurricane hit it (it used to be an adults-only Club Med, but when rebuilt was made into a family resort). If you're looking for someplace fancy that's not the best choice though.