West coast vacation

[k3am]

DH and I have our 10 year anniversary this May. We suck at planning stuff and fall back into the comfortable and familiar. 

Any recommendations for a kid-free beach getaway. We will probably only manage a 3-4 night trip, so we'd like to keep it within a 3-5 hour flight of SFO or SJC if possible. I have a passport, DH has time to renew his. 

DH's ideal vacation is honestly just a beautiful, luxurious resort, preferably with a swim up bar. Sightseeing or tourism is not necessary. I usually try to get some activities into a vacation, but at this point... DH's idea of an ideal vacation sounds like what I need. 

We have only taken two nice/"fancy" vacations since we met 15 years ago, both of them here, and it was lovely. I actually wouldn't mind a repeat, but thought we should probably try somewhere new. I save a good amount earmarked for vacations each year and have never come close to using it, so trying to keep it within a certain dollar amount isn't really a priority. 

[waverly]

Maui/ Kauai. I found Oahu to be more busy/ less relaxing and the Big Island to be more for adventures.

[186momx]

Kauai if you want relaxing beach vacation. Don't know about swim up bars but that is the island to go for if you want slow and peaceful in beautiful surroundings.

[sandandsea]

Hawaii (anywhere) or Mexico would both be amazing and offer direct flights. Or an Alaskan cruise - not exactly beach but water and coast.

[k3am]

sandandsea DH would be all in for a cruise. To anywhere other than Alaska. We've done Carnival cruises to Mexico twice and I am not a fan.

I basically just need someone to point me to a resort, say "this one is good" and be done with it. I get so caught up in the research and planning that by the time it's time to actually pick one, I'm overwhelmed. It's kind of pathetic.

[waverly]

The only resort we stayed at was Oahu Hilton Grand Islander. It’s a high rise but they are all suites so you will have a kitchen. We were in the 4th floor so no sway. Don’t get in late at night or you won’t get a lei. They don’t offer delivery people to go to your room. The beach was 5 minutes away and the pool 1 minute. Shops are 1 min with the Waikiki main strip 5 min walk. Probably the only drawback is it was busy. If you rent a car it’s $40 a night parking. I feel like most the resorts are pretty good on the Hawaiian islands. But the other ones we stayed at were 19 years ago so I don’t know what they were- on Maui and Kuai. It’s not an all inclusive if that matters to you.

[sdlaura]

I’d do Kauai personally. I would look at TripAdvisor and pick a kid free resort, or smaller resort with no kids club. If I am without my kids I prefer to avoid other kids. Maybe check out Princeville Resort?

In Mexico, an internet search takes me to Beloved Playa Mujeres. It looks amazing and gets great reviews. Never mind - wrong side of Mexico

Carnival cruises are not the nicest IMO. If you do a cruise you could pick a more expansive/smaller cruise line.

[ilovelucyvv]

Hawaii, Alaska, Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), or a nicer non-Carnival cruise!

[orval]

Kauai  -- www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lihka-marriotts-kauai-beach-club/

Oahu --  www.fourseasons.com/oahu/accommodations/
Not in honolulu, but up the coast.  We stayed here for our honeymoon when it was a Marriott.  

[phdmomma]

Do you have a Costco membership? They often do packaged bundles. And it helps me pick, because it narrows things down. We just did it for Disney World, and instead of looking at all of the Disney onsite hotels, they only had packages for 3 of them.

[k3am]

Looks like a kid-free anniversary trip is out of the question. The person I was considering having watch the kids is not going to work out. We'll maybe be able to do something in late June once school is out for the year and drive down to LA and leave the kids with my sister.

phdmomma, good call on Costco. Anything to limit my choices. I hadn't even thought about that, I went on google and.. holy choices batman.

[waverly]

The other option is bring kids, but look at resorts with well rated kids clubs (or bring babysitter with you). If the June idea doesn't work out.

[sdlaura]

k3am if you need something near LA, we went to Santa Barbara for our 10-year anniversary last Memorial Day weekend, and it was fun. Lots of wine and good food.

[sandandsea]

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency on Kaanapali Beach in Maui and it was nice. Walking distance to good restaurants, lots to do on the island if you want (hiking, waterfalls, volcano, luau, etc) amazing pool, direct flight. Cons - Hawaii is expensive, not all inclusive, beautiful beach but very small by this hotel in particular

Waikiki is great if you want a great, but crowded beach. Amazing soft sand, beautiful, great restaurants. Lots to do on the island Cons - crowds, expensive, touristy, not AI

[divanerd]

I'm an East Coast WM...Dreams Tullum is nice! Not sure distance...
Happy planning. I'm an RC cruiser...

[k3am]

We decided to change plans since arrange childcare is a pain.

We'll celebrate our anniversary with a weekend trip to wine country to stay at a B&B we used to visit prior to kids. (Told you we tend to fall back on the old and familiar)

Our summer family trip will be a "big" trip, to one of these locations, TBD:  Costa Rica,  Cabo, or Puerto Vallarta. All are well rated, all inclusives, with the requisite kids clubs and swim up bars. DH agreed that we'll probably just end up buying everything from Costco to limit decision fatigue. 

[twinmomma]

I don't do West coast resorts for work but I know those brands.

The Paradisus brand is really nice. From the groups side, their customer service is unreal. And that resort is basically brand new I think. They've been pushing it hard but I can't do that location.

Dreams is a pretty good chain. It's very location specific I think. I've liked some and definitely not liked others.

I've talked to the third company but never toured any of their facilities.

ETA - Costa Rica sounds super fun, but I have read a lot of reviews that high end there is not necessarily at the same high end level as other places like Cancun or Playa del Carmen. If that matters to you.

[sandandsea]

We did the Iberostar in PV when ds2 was 1 and it was fun. The rooms are okay and the food was okay but it was an easy all inclusive with a nice pool and kids area and a beach. We weren’t picky and just wanted to go somewhere.

[k3am]

In further proof that we both suck at vacationing.. August is basically the rainy season and/or hurricane season. We are the only people on the face of the planet that didn't know this.

[waverly]

k3am, are hurricanes really an issue on the West Coast? As far as rainy season, I didn't know that either, but I've never vacationed in Mexico. I've only gone over the border and back in a day type thing.

[k3am]

Guanacaste (Costa Rica) it rains about 70% of the time and average rainfall is ~80 inches for the month. Our neighbors are actually from Costa Rica and pointed out to us that they don't recommend going in the rainy season if we want a beach vacation.

So we said hey, we'll do PV... but it rains about 70% of the time, but not nearly as much rain fall.

So I thought, well, maybe then we look at the Carribean or somewhere like that, but hurricaines.

And here I thought I had it all figured out.

[waverly]

Oh yeah I definitely know about hurricane season on the east coast/ Caribbean, but that is because I live closer to it. People in CA are probably not flying to FL for beaches since there are beaches already in CA. Lots of people still vacation to the Caribbean then, but I personally wouldn't do it because I am kind of a Murphy's law type person. We haven't done the Caribbean yet actually, but for FL we typically go after Christmas or during spring break.  I know a lot of people do June as well. 

[phdmomma]

Speaking of Caribbean vacations, has anyone ever been to Bermuda? We are thinking about a trip for just DH and I to also celebrate a 10 year wedding anniversary. He mentioned that he has always wanted to go there.

[k3am]

waverly , Nor Cal beaches are... shockingly cold. And the ones around here are especially cloudy and cold during the summer. Or at least everytime we've gone. Getting into the water is seriously daunting. The kids want to, DH refuses, so.. mom sucks it up.

SoCal beaches are better, but still not what I dream of. Like I remember wearing a wetsuit in order to go into the ocean whenever we camped.

[sandandsea]

Jan 22, 2020 10:16:12 GMT -5 phdmomma said:

Speaking of Caribbean vacations, has anyone ever been to Bermuda? We are thinking about a trip for just DH and I to also celebrate a 10 year wedding anniversary. He mentioned that he has always wanted to go there.

I’ve only stopped on a cruise and it was nice in the relaxing beautiful way caribbean islands are. My favorite island is Aruba and is highly recommend it to everyone.

[waverly]

k3am , We went to San Diego for spring break, and it was not nearly as warm as FL. For some reason I googled why there are not a lot of Hurricanes off the west coast, and it is because the water is cooler.

We've been doing Sarasota (Siesta Key) for spring break. I think we've gone for 4 years with breaks for San Diego and Hawaii, and it is definitely our favorite beach. Siesta Key is one of the best beaches in the world, but I think a lot of it is we have gotten to know the area, and have our favorite brewery, coffee shops, and pizza places, and beach restaurants. Parking at the beach is the main problem.

Waikiki is also a nice beach, but it is more of a busy resort feel.  Siesta Key has a resort side, but we typically stay north where it is less busy and has more of the small houses with lush bushes and stone Florida feel, not sure if that makes sense. 

[sdlaura]

Yep, I live in San Diego but grew up on the East coast, so we'd always go to Florida growing up. Whenever anyone visits us here I have to remind them to bring warm clothes for nighttime, and that the water is not really that warm. It's only really in August/September/sometimes October that we have warm water.