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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
aforst
member
XP: recommend your tropical vacation
aforst
member
I posted this on 6-12 too. We want to go somewhere all inclusive. Where have you been? Where did you stay? What did you like/maybe not like about it?
Thanks!
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Re: XP: recommend your tropical vacation
We took our HM to Sandals Ocho Rios and it was very nice. It rained a lot when we were there (January) so we didn't get to do a ton, but it was still pretty fun. The food wasn't as good as we had hoped, but it wasn't terrible. We also have good friends that went to Sandals St. Lucia and raved about it.
Our honeymoon was Aventura Spa Palace in Riviera Maya.
Pros: cheaper than other places (for us because the flight was shorter- and a short flight was important to us because we were only gone a week and wanted to maximize our time there), I never had to take a purse anywhere because everything really was included; there is variety because when you stay at one Palace resort you can visit all of them and get all of their amenities- and there is a shuttle that will take you around. So if you decide you want to check out Cancun you can take the free shuttle into Cancun and spend the day at the beach at Moon Palace or one of the other Palace resorts and try their restaurants, etc. We only did this once but we went to the Xpu-Ha Palace which was really unique and beautiful- well worth the effort. The grounds were impeccable and looked like a post card. The staff were perfect. Even top shelf booze was included. Room service is included (although a limited menu).
Cons: at the time these really irked me but looking back I'm like who cares?! The food was good- but not great. There were 7 restaurants to choose from and there was only 1 that I really, really liked (the mexican restaurant, go figure). The chinese restaurant was about as good as decent American chinese takeout. Good but not outstanding. The shuttles felt like we were at camp so we took a cab when we wanted to get off grounds (which we only did 3 times). And it is 2.5 hours south of cancun so it is a bit of an excursion. The worst about this particular resort: not on the ocean- at least not really. There is a man-made lagoon that feeds water from the ocean but it is really gross. We went to the other resort to find ocean beach.
I spent days looking through Tripadvisor.com reviews to find the perfect place! Good luck!
OK, I missed your addition. We've also been to Couples Ocho Rios in Jamaica. It was great, but we just didn't love couples-only. We just thought it was a little too snooty.
We did Jolly Beach, which I mentioned above, for our honeymoon and thought it was great. We liked that it was open to anyone, and the people we made friends with were brothers travelling together. The place was kid-friendly but not overrun with kids and I never once got splashed in the pool. And again, great price for a fantastic island.
We went on our honeymoon and then again for our first anniversary to the Riviera Maya. We LOVED it. We stayed at The Azul both times. Like pp said you fly into Cancun, but the Azul is only about a 30 minute car ride south. So you can go into Cancun if you want, but the resort has EVERYTHING and it is all included (alcohol, stocked fridge in your room, meals, bottled water, room service). The thing that we liked about the Azul is that it is pretty small. We got to know most of the staff while we were there and you don't have to make reservations for dinner. There were only 2-3 restuarants and a snack bar though and of course room service. There were several bars and they had some kind of entertainment every night. One night was a Cirque de Solie type thing, one night was Mexican dancers and after they performed they gave lessons, one night was a comedian, etc. We loved it. It is beautiful and right on the ocean where we found the snorkling to be better than when we went on a snorkeling trip over to Cozumel. We also went into Playa del Carmen for shopping and eating out, but really everything you need is included. I would go again in a heartbeat! I really can't think of any cons besides maybe the few choices in restaurants. But the few they had were amazing. Let us know what you decide!
ETA: if you want to check it out online I think the exact name is Azul Beach Hotel.