Best all inclusives?

[greekypie]

In Mexico or Central America?

Caribbean?

We've never been to one before. How much should I ballpark the cost of 1 week at an AI?

[countthestars]

With or without kids? We loved excellence playa Mujeres. We flew nonstop boston to Mexico and stayed 5 nights, best room they had for about $3500. If we were to go back we wouldn't do the room upgrade (it was our honeymoon) because all rooms looked great.

[mrsstreet]

We have only stayed twice at an all inclusive but my favorite was the Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Jamaica.

[greekypie]

Jan 18, 2014 8:41:14 GMT -5 countthestars said:

With or without kids? We loved excellence playa Mujeres. We flew nonstop boston to Mexico and stayed 5 nights, best room they had for about $3500. If we were to go back we wouldn't do the room upgrade (it was our honeymoon) because all rooms looked great.

. WITHOUT.

[egishere]

I will second the Excellence Playa Mujeres suggestion. I've stayed there and the other excellence property in Mexico and loved both but give EPM a slight edge. I want to stay at Secrets Maroma Beach next- heard great things about that too.

[chicago]

Yep, another fan of Excellence Playa Mujeres. We also loved The Royal Cancun, but it was recently bought by Hyatt and I wouldn't chance it at the moment. Secrets Maroma, Le Blanc, Royal Hideaway, the El Dorado by Karisma resorts are all great.

[jenikate]

We went to the El Dorado Royale last month, and had an amazing time. We went in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so it was somewhat cheaper. It was $3100 for 6 days, 5 nights from Boston. That included our airfare, transfers, food, drinks, and tips. The only other money that we spent was about $100 on additional tips.

[emilyinchile]

We stayed at the Excellence Punta Cana and loved it. We are NOT AI people (never stayed at one, usually prefer more active vacations, I was worried it would be mediocre food and horrible fanny pack-wearing tourists), and even so we had a great experience there. The cost was high because we went over Christmas, so how much you pay will depend on your dates.

[protozoa]

Ditto Excellence Punta Cana and Couples Resorts. Jamaica will cost a lot more than DR or Mexico for an AI of comparable quality since you are basically paying for the staff to speak English.

[Deleted]

I recommend the Hard Rock Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican.

The resort had a really nice golf course and spa. I also found the food really good.

[vegas]

Not sure if you are a Costco member but today at Costco they were advertising an AMAZING Deal for El Dorado.

We've stayed at about 10 AIs. My favorite was Caves, which is a smaller AI in Negril that is a bit pricier. Second favorite is Couples, also in Negril Jamaica.

For Mexico, Le Blanc in Cancun.

[CrazyLucky]

Jan 18, 2014 11:20:43 GMT -5 pennypenny said:

Secrets Maroma Beach. Couples.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using proboards

We are twins!  DH and I did Couples for our honeymoon and LOVED it!  It was the one in Ocho Rios.  It had a lot of things to do.  Kayaking, sailboating, a catamaran cruise, pool volleyball, and of course, the naked island.  We had a great time.
Last November, we went to Secrets Maroma Beach.  I was adamant about an adult only resort, as this was the first time alone with just DH since DS was born in 2010.  Also, it was for our tenth anniversary.  It was awesome.  A lot lower key in that there are things to do, but we mostly sat around on the beach.  Sitting on the beach having people bring drinks to you is heaven.
We spent about $3k for five days at Maroma, but I think $900 was for airfare.  I think Couples was also about $3k including airfare, but a long time ago, and it was for a full week.

[jewel]

Yet another vote for Couples.

I thought they opened a 5th location in Aruba or the DR or something, but I can't find it on their website. Anyone know what happened?

[beachygal]

H and I honeymooned at the Excellence Playa Mujeres and loved it. We then vacationed at the LeBlanc 2 years later and loved it even more. Unless there is an incredible deal elsewhere, we'll probably only go the Le Blanc in the future if we want a beachy vacation--it really was THAT amazing.

I'll be the lone dissenter and say that we were really unimpressed with Couples (we went to Negril). I'm glad we tried it, but we were consistently disappointed in the service.

[jewel]

Jan 21, 2014 8:14:44 GMT -5 sexycarrot said:

Jan 20, 2014 23:19:37 GMT -5 jewel said:

They opened one in Barbados. It had some issues on opening, but sounds like they were getting the kinks worked out. Then it came out that they had not actually bought it, but had leased it with an option to buy, and Sandals came in and beat their offer.

So, basically, Couples came in, did a bunch of upgrades, and lost it. There was a big uproar on the Couples message board about it for a while.

We looked at going there while it was still Couples, but the flights are sparse and expensive, and the water is reportedly much rougher than Jamaica.

Oh Barbados, that's right. What a bummer...