Vacation time

[WRXtranceformed]

So it's about that time. I have taken some vacation time here and there, but never more than a few days at a time over the past few years. It's been a good year but stressful so I would really like to get away for about a week to 10 days around the end of February / early March. Preferably someplace warm and tropical.

The only tropicalish place I've been is Hawaii. Hawaii was cool, but here is what I am looking for, for those who have traveled to tropicalish places:

- Looking for some place in the Caribbean due to ease of travel time / time zone. I don't really want to lose a day traveling across the US in a plane. Also if the love of my life hasn't gotten tired of me yet, she's coming with me. Although I fly all the time she's never flown before...so minimizing time in the airplane is ideal
- All inclusive just so we can eat and drink and be merry whenever we want
- Beautiful obviously, someplace unique and not completely touristy would be awesome...but i would definitely like the beauty and convenience of a nice resort too. I realize this is probably asking for a lot
- I would be open to other non-Caribbean locations, but I am not interested in going to Mexico at all
- Someplace where we don't have to worry about drinking the water is a plus
- Price isn't a huge concern if it's a nice resort, within reason. I mean we're not going to Necker Island or anything, but I'll put some money down if it would be memorable. If I had a put a cap on it I would say $4k at the absolute max, ideally something in the $2k-$2500 range for both of us would be awesome if that's even possible.

That's all that really pops into my head right now, although i'm sure I'll think of more stuff. I have never planned a tropical vacation before, so any experiences from vacations / honeymoons etc. would be great. Thanks! :thumbup:

[Apoc]

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[Evan]

playa del carmen / mayan riveria is real nice, has some reasonably secluded all inclusives and some cool jungle and mayan ruins tours.
its close-ish so plane time isnt too bad, and you will probably connect in miami.

bahamas are closer but i dont really like the bahamas much
bermuda is also pretty close and you could probably fly direct, but i dont think its quite as warm there

[Apoc]

P.S. - Punta Cana is direct from CLT. I think it's like 3.5 hours.

[Evan]

I went to DR right after playa del carmen. I liked mexico better. the beaches and resorts at DR were not as nice, snorkeling not good, tours were sketchy(er) and the infrastructure was definitely...uh...up and coming. the weather was also obscenely humid, but maybe that was just the time of year i went. DR was cheaper though.
so much is dependent on the resort you go to though, especially if you go all inclusive (and probably wont leave the resort much)

wherever you do decide to go, just read up on tripadvisor, and realize thier 'star' ratings are different, so dont even think about getting less than 4 star resort (really should do 5 star with good reviews)

[kcook]

Cayman islands or St.Lucia? You've got the money

[Apoc]

I wasn't that enthralled with DR and the humidity after 8 pm was simply unbearable.

St Lucia was okay. I've heard good things about St Johns. I've never been in Mexico.

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice recommendations...are Sandals resorts legit? Seems more honeymoonish to me, but some of them seem awesome. Downside is most of their packages don't include the flight.

Is it worth it to have a travel agency book it or just do the research myself?

[JPolen01]

Continuing with the DR recommendations. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bahia-principe.com/BP/resorts/resort/Esmeralda">http://www.bahia-principe.com/BP/resorts/resort/Esmeralda</a><!-- m --> Just went there last summer. It's a complex of 3 hotels. We stayed at the "classiest" one but went to the others for the restaurants and stuff. The hotels were beautiful, staff amazing, and the beaches were great. The humidity was pretty bad at times, but it's an island so get over it. We did an dune buggy excursion which was the shit. I got to whip a dune buggy through the jungle with my mom in the passenger seat. It had rained the entire day before (very out of character) so there was tons of mud. Let's just say our clothes were ruined and she was less than thrilled. I would highly recommend. However, the food wasn't anything over the top.

[ScottyB]

went to US Virgin Islands in July '05 on our honeymoon. ironically, we were supposed to go to Playa del Carmen but it got hit by Hurricane Emily when it was a CAT4 and we had to reschedule at the last minute. we both loved it, we stayed all inclusive for 4 days on St. Thomas at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort on the far east side of the island. All inclusive is definitely the way to go in that place btw. Fantastic views, good food, very nicely appointed for the price (both room, and outdoor pool area) but their private beach was a little small (I was usually too deep into my drink to notice). I've heard St. Lucia is more scenic, but the USVI seemed to have the most "relaxed" thing going for it since it appears to be more developed and you just use your currency and everyone speaks English, plus St. John is a ferry boat away and is gorgeous as a day trip. We were able to do a ton of activities and left on the 4th day feeling like we did all we wanted to do (that's what she said).

view from our balcony at the Wyndham:

Hawk's Nest Bay on St. John:


that said, my parents have been to Bermuda twice and after their last trip the Carribean they'll be going a third time someday. its charming, quiet, very clean (gotta love those proper Brits), and "exotic" enough to feel special and not too crowded despite the small size of the place. Not as tropical sticky hot as the Carribean. best part is that the hop from Charlotte is probably only a couple hours at most since its almost directly due east from you. I went as a kid and still remember the pink sand beaches and snorkeling, which was excellent. Definitely more expensive.

Probably not applicable, but if you ever decide you want something more on the adventure side of vacation in a very tropical place, try Costa Rica. went last year for 8 days and it was the most amazing place i've been in my life, hands down. Definitely not an "arrive and sit down" destination though. Worth every penny.

any question just let me know. still have many details of the trips fresh in my memory.

[Mike]

st. john, usvi is my spot. quiet, awesome, US soil... st. thomas is a ferry ride away if you want to do some shopping or do the touristy thing. can you say having beaches to yourself? yeah, that's awesome.

[Apoc]

^ Watch out for sand in unfriendly places.

As a fat man, I think I would appreciate a beach where I could run around naked and not scare children. Also, boobs (not mine).

-1 for Sandals

[JustinG]

st. john, usvi is my spot. quiet, awesome, US soil... st. thomas is a ferry ride away if you want to do some shopping or do the touristy thing. can you say having beaches to yourself? yeah, that's awesome.

Ditto, on St. Thomas/St. John, place is awesome. Pretty cheap. Be prepared to spend a couple hundred on cab fare if you decide to leave the resort. Although the cab fees are Set, just check the prices when you leave the airport.

As soon as you step off the plane.....Rum Punch!. The wife and I want to go back soon, I think it was a 3 hour flight, Richmond to Puerto Rico, then 40 minutes to USVI, been a while. GET THE CONCH FRITTERS!!!!!!!!

[Mike]

i'd advise against a resort and for a b&b. vastly different experience.

[Steve85]

Loved Cayman Islands the snorkeling and scuba are outstanding as are the mudslides at the Hyatt. We didn't do an all inclusive because I initially booked a small place out of the way and it was crap. We immediately left and booked at the Hyatt. I will never try to be cute again on something like that. It can get expensive though.

The non-inclusive sent us out in search of places to eat and that worked out great. Not a bad meal anywhere and we got try a bunch of different places.

Flame suit on for this...Key West. We had a blast. You can bike/scooter everywhere. Plenty of good eats and bars. Topless beaches to escape to the prudeness of society in general. We headed up past 9th street on Duval and hit up a drag show...it was just all good adult fun. Lots of good non-Buffett music at the bars. It may not be what your looking for here, but we (us and another couple) had a great time. Snorkeling is good there too.

The thing I Iiked about both was the opportunity to get out and around the island. I'm not much for laying on the beach all day.

[HAULN-SS]

I hope you meant this:

[WRXtranceformed]

Awesome ideas guys. I am leaning a lot toward the USVI for all of the above reasons. Key West drag shows, definitely wouldn't be down for that but to each his own

[Apoc]

Make sure you get a sweet topless Mustang and make your girl walk around topless to match, like in Thomas Crown Affair.

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[BLINGMW]

i'd advise against a resort and for a b&b. vastly different experience.

I'm with Mike on this one, but to each his own. Seems like most people want to bring America with them and do the all-inclusive thing. :dunno: Fine with me!

Loved Cayman Islands..........and Key West. We had a blast. You can bike/scooter everywhere.

Those were my 2nd choices, would like to try both sometime. They sounded pretty good. :thumbup:

We'd never gone anywhere past FL, but went to Aruba in early Jan this year. It was great. Direct flights are regular and not too expensive, crime's low (high GDP), and there's lots of relatively undeveloped land to explore via rental ATV/bike/jeep or just shitty rental car that you practically get stuck off-roading. :wink: If you want to not see people, you can.
That being said, there's plenty of standard resort stuff and lots of big restaurants too, many with seating on the beach, all reachable by bus/foot if you just want to stay in that area. Most everyone speaks english and take US dollars even as you get away from the resort areas.
Interesting scenery since it's not a volcanic island, it's more like a desert in some places. And if you ever wanted to try windsurfing, it's the place. Didn't try scuba, but snorkeling just about anywhere is pretty interesting. I chased some things around for hours I've never seen while Jess read on the beach. The sometimes too windy beach depending on where you are. Oh and the waves will drag your ass away if you get too far out. See windsurfing.
It looks like this on one coast with little huts everywhere

and this on the other in case you need to hide a body

FWIW, you kind of have to go past cuba this time of year if you want it to be warm. It was 75-85 every day in Jan down there. I'm sure USVI is nice too.
We stayed at <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.arubasunsetbeach.com">www.arubasunsetbeach.com</a><!-- w -->, and were quite pleased. Not for everyone I would guess.
To answer your other question, I can't imagine why anyone would use a travel agency unless you just have no time to look around. It's all on the internet! Especially if you're looking for a resort experience. Book the flight, book the resort, give them a call, they'll pick you up from the airport, done.

[WRXtranceformed]

Oof, I'm thinking I might have to stretch that budget constraint a little bit, just looking at some of the stuff for St. John. Especially the all inclusive...not cheap!