Vacation ideas and recommendations

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
The wife's 30th birthday is coming up in early October. I tried to get her to go to the Dixie Run but just couldn't get her to decide on that over a carribbean vacation :lol:

So, anyone have any recommendations? We'd like to satay away from islands/countries that are "questionable" with safety, etc.

We've been to Aruba, Bahamas, Cozumel, the Keys, etc.. Nothing super fancy, but it was a good time and affordable.

We are looking for a resort with the meals and room as an all inclusive. Don't need a package as I can find transportation and we don't want a resort that has all kinds of other "inclusive" trips, etc. as we'll prob. never use them. We just want to relax on the beach and drink some beers and eat good.

We'll prob. venture off and do some other activities. I love to dive, so I know I'll do that at least a couple of times. The wife loves to shop, hike, or whatever, so somewhere that is decent with that stuff too.

Any suggestions? How about resorts or online travel booking places that were fairly priced?
 
Several year ago, we went to the Bahamas on the cheap... were given a stack of Frequent Flyer miles that covered airfare & my wife ended up finding us a NICE hotel that was less than a stateside Red Roof/night (but did cost us an hour of listening to a timeshare speel :rolleyes:). We did our own daytime "trips" to the local sites/events. Lot's of time wandering thru the market or along the beaches. My favorite thing was finding the restaurants the locals frequented (as opposed to the tourista dives). Spent the evenings in the casinos (cheap entertainment & free drinks as long as you're playing) where I hit a couple blackjack hands that payed for our expenses (hotel/food/etc.)
 
Couples Negril, Jamaica. http://www.couples.com/13cn/index.html
Mini Bar in every room, free water skiing/wakeboarding, no kids, straight couples only, love this place! My wife and I will be celebrating our 5yr anniversary there August 24th-29th with 2 other couples that are close friends of ours. If you want to see Jamaica, party your ass off and relax at the same time with some cool people feel free to go with us! Flight leaves out of Charlotte around 9am that monday, we'll be on a catamaran cruisin up the coast drinkin rum punch headed to go cliff jumping by 4pm:beer:
I can put you in touch with our travel agent if you're interested, super cool guy.
If you consider Cancun, I highly suggest this place:
http://www.riu.com/en-us/Paises/mexico/cancun/hotel-riu-palace-las-americas/index.jsp
It has to be the best deal out there for what you get and you have a sister resort right next door that has a dance club and sports bar that you have rights to.
 
Jamaica sounds fun. that weekend in Aug is my 5th year wedding anniversary and I don't know what is planned yet. The couple we are planning on going with also has birthdays early October, so I think my wife is set on those days. Plus, she has already taken 2 weeks off from clinicals around that time.

Let me know your agent's name, etc., it may be easier to just get a professional to book everything, I don't have the time to research all kinds of places, prices, etc. etc.
 
i took my wife to St Croix for our 15th Anniversary.... nice, quite, secluded area with BAR and restaurant 20-30 min to great dives and shops.

more of a relaxing place than a WOOOO HOOOOO party location



http://www.carambolabeach.com/
 
My wife and I went to Hawaii on our honeymoon and had the best time of our life. I don't know how much time and money you have but I'm thinking it is alot cheaper in Oct as opposed to June when we went and the weather stays almost the same year round w/ in a couple degrees.
 
The travel time is a killer. But to me the flight is just another adventure. I'm the kinda guy that likes to get bumped at layovers for comps like food tickets, hotel for the night, and free ticket vouchers. Plus you get to spend some time in the layover city.
I flew to Denver, CO and back one time for free due to a 3 hr bump at LAX. That was a sweeeet deal.
 
tortolla BVI's.....absolutly beautiful, great diving etc etc....had to fly into usvi...then take a boat from there to the bvi's.....been divin several places in the gulf/carribean and that was by far some of the best....
 
we go to a new place each year and usually go to mexico in between. we just got back from jamaica about four weeks ago and it was good. fifth trip there including honeymoon. our top two places in jamaica are the royal plantation villas and the sundown villas. same company. great times.

don't know what your budget is but we rented a two bedroom cottage beach front on the bay side by the private villas. it was 3800 for 10 days/9 nights. airfare was around 250$ each but was a direct flight from clt to mbj and a direct return. we always take a private transport and that was 40$ each. that includes private staff for the cottages and villas including butler service, cooks, 24 concierge, transport, etc. they have a private transfer service to ricks cafe, dunns river, etc. if you slip the concierge 50$ you can get first dibs on a cabana @ ricks with bottle service, etc.

we stayed at the RIU Negril about six mos ago and it was a total shit hole. typical AI resort. they heard you in and out of places like cattle and the food (supposed to be lobster and mid level champ at meals) was sub-par. they says its a 4.5 to 5 star but its more like a 3. its also classified as a palace now. its not even close as we have stayed at the RIU palaces in two different parts of mexico.

we stayed at couples ocho but it was before they renovated to the tower isle which was in the past 12 mos and are told its much better. couples is adults only which is very nice not to have to deal with kids splashing water in your johnny blue.
the couples sans souci is one of the few AI resorts we will go too. they just know how to treat people. they cater to couples only, they serve top shelf everything, no one is trying to sell you weed every 5 min, no craptastic people trying to sell you tshirts, etc on the beach. the restaurants don't serve shoe leather tough steaks. all the meat is prime and comes from the states.

as for other places we go for the diving and to be spoiled. a lot of private places we have met people and gotten info from. we really love bonaire, costa rica, belize, st marteen, st kitts and my family owns property in the turks so we go there at least twice a year and dive for a week on the cheap.
places we hated. bermuda, the dominican republic, puerto rico, nassau/freeport. the DR we gave a shot twice, once in the north and once in the south and they both were nothing but a hassle.

the places we frequent in mexico are all in the playa del carmen area and south to the riviera maya. the royal hidaway playacar was excellent. food, staff, rooms all have flat panels with hdmi so at the end of the day we could watch dive footage or a movie if we stayed in. the zoetry paraiso is newer and all suites. we went there about six mos ago and for 8 days/7 nights w direct air to and from clt it was 7100$ but it was an update 1100 sq ft ocean front room for our anniversary.

the villas and smaller properties have gotten more expensive but to us its totally worth it. the staff at an all inclusive will be assholes all day long, try to sell you drugs, not be entertaining, not serve you food and lets face it...people are there on vacation. if im paying 5k i dont want to be looking for a knife and fork. with the smaller properties they have better contacts with local restaurants, dive masters, etc. that's why we travel to the smaller islands. bonaire is a bitch to get to but you don't have to share the island with first time travelers screwing around looking for t shirts.
 
sounds like some good information. I think right now at the top of the list are BVI and USVI. I think Costa Rica and Belieze are a close 3rd right now. We gots to get pricing for each and that'll prob. be the deciding factor between our top choices.
 
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