Vacations

[mommyatty]

I’m seriously thinking of booking an all inclusive in Cancun for June for the four of us. 10 yo girl, 8 yo boy who will be 9 by then, DH, and me. The kids love the beach and swimming in the ocean. They also want a water park if possible. Anyone have any advice or recommendations?

What are your fav kid vacations?

[sandandsea]

Do it. You will have no regrets. Book it today!

Maybe slightly more helpful. We went to the Iberostar in Riveria Maya with my parents, siblings, nephews 8 years ago and it was fun. The hotel, food, activities were good, not super amazing or 5 star, but the trip was excellent and enjoyable and easy! The kids loved getting frozen drinks and snacks all day and loved the activities. We also did a day trip on a catamaran with local quickies (snorkeling, ailing and cenotes) and highly recommend it.

[twinmomma]

It will be HOT but you can still have a ton of fun. I’ve been the first week of July before and as soon as you left the beach with the breeze or the pool it was pretty bad. We tried doing a day trip to Tulum and it was miserable.
Generations in Riviera Maya is my dream to take the family to some day. They just opened a new Nickelodeon themed resort next door too. It’s all under the Karisma brand.

[twinmomma]

It will be HOT but you can still have a ton of fun. I’ve been the first week of July before and as soon as you left the beach with the breeze or the pool it was pretty bad. We tried doing a day trip to Tulum and it was miserable.
Generations in Riviera Maya is my dream to take the family to some day. They just opened a new Nickelodeon themed resort next door too. It’s all under the Karisma brand.

[sdlaura]

That sounds like fun! Hawaii is my favorite destination with kids - we’ve had really awesome trips to Kauai and the big island the past couple years. We also take a summer trip every year around July 4th - usually the Pacific Northwest. This year we’re going to Yellowstone. And an annual long weekend to the snow - that’s Presidents’ Day weekend this year. We like to travel with other families - travel with my kids is not particularly relaxing, so if might as well be fun

I was just reading the New York Times ‘50 places to go now’ insert that came out today and I love fantasizing about some of the places. Like Flores, Indonesia looks incredible - but would take us like 30 hours to get there. We can’t wait to do some more international/adventurous travel with our kids once the 2-year-old is a little bit older.

[erbear]

Sounds fun. My kids loved beach vacations at that age. We did Costa Rica, Bahamas, Puerto Rico. All hits.

[traveltheworld]

Our favourites in Cancun/Mayan Rivrtia is Hotel Xcaret (not the Occidental Xcaret). It has a "all fun inclusive" concept and a stay at the hotel gives you free access to the 6+ theme parks and tours. It's expensive, so I'd consider it only if you plan on being more active and hitting a number of the theme parks.

We also recently stayed at Barcelo Mayan Palace - also great. You can swim with sea turtles right off the beach, beautiful beach and massive pools, multiple beautiful cenotes are right across the highway, and it's so much cheaper than Hotel Xcaret that we just used some of the money and paid for the theme parks separately. Happy to provide more info on the various theme parks and excursions if you like.

[supertrooper1]

I would pick the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, or Hawaii over Cancun.

We stayed at the Hotel Marina el Cid all inclusive in Cancun a year ago and Cancun is not high on my list. The beach was small and the water wasn't really for swimming. There was a ton of sargassum despite workers clearing it all day long. The resort was just ok.

The Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana, DR, is amazing. We didn't take DS and did the Zilara which is the adults only side of the resort. But the beach was great, you could swim in the ocean, and they had a pretty cool water park.

For Hawaii, I would pick Maui with kids.

[rere]

Anyone have thoughts on St. John? We would like to do something nice in the next year for our anniversary. We've been to Aruba and loved it, but no other all inclusives. We want white sand, blue, blue water, and a nice pool, bar area. We are not huge foodies. We usually stay at the beach too long to get into the good restaurants and end up in the same one that stays open the latest and least crowded.

[waverly]

rere, my sister did St. John. They rented a house. I believe the drive was a bit longer (maybe bumpy?) to the house because it is mountainous/ hilly, but otherwise they enjoyed it. It is part of the US and that was a pro for them since they don't have passports. And with international countries having uncertain and changing Covid restrictions we definitely did not want to travel internationally, but we are more open to it now that things are more manageable.

[erbear]

Jan 17, 2023 16:17:13 GMT -5 rere said:

Anyone have thoughts on St. John? We would like to do something nice in the next year for our anniversary. We've been to Aruba and loved it, but no other all inclusives. We want white sand, blue, blue water, and a nice pool, bar area. We are not huge foodies. We usually stay at the beach too long to get into the good restaurants and end up in the same one that stays open the latest and least crowded.

We went to St. John for our honeymoon. It was amazing!

[mildop]

I have been to STJ several times. We love it! That said you will spend a good part of your first and last days traveling as you need to take a ferry to the island. The beaches are amazing. There aren’t many hotels, so most people rent a house and a jeep.Coral Bay is cheaper, but Cruz Bay is probably the best choice for a first visit.