Recommend a tropical vacation spot

[starburst604]

Looking to plan a vacation with my boyfriend the first week in March. We have ruled out Aruba for now, and coming from Boston we probably wouldn't fly to Cabo or anyplace that far west. We are trying to find a place the neither of us has been before, so that rules out Cancun, Cozumel, Nassau, St. Lucia, Bermuda, Paradise Island.

We're looking for all-inclusive resort for 5 nights or so, someplace that is warm and lovely but also has some fun things to do. We've put Jamaica, Punta Cana and Costa Rica on our short list but are open to suggestions or recommendations.

Go!

[Deleted]

MH and I honeymooon-ed at Sandals Emerald Bay in Great Exuma, it was paradise. We did plenty of excursions (not through Sandals, though), spent a day on a deserted beach, snorkelled, relaxed, you name it. The resort is also great - we've been pampered and catered to the whole stay! Just fab

[monkeygirl18]

We went to Antigua last March and loved the island. I will say though, the water was the coolest Carribean water I've ever felt ( it was about 70-72 degrees which is to cool for me). Weather wise though it was beautiful, sunny and in the 80's the whole week.

We stayed at Sandals. The resort was beautiful but, it was my least favorite of the three Sandals we have been to. I have a review and pics in the link under my siggy name ( little house icon) if you'd like to check it out.

[protozoa]

Nov 9, 2012 16:06:06 GMT -5 sexycarrot said:

All the Couples resorts in Jamaica are fantastic. We've been to Couples Negril twice and Couples San Souci most recently. Fabulous. Sad that we don't have another one planned at the moment.

Check out their website and their message boards to compare the resorts. If you wind up leaning that way, let me know and I'll give you more detailed info.

www.couples.com

I'll add that we really enjoyed Couples Swept Away and our best couple friends recently honeymooned at Tower Isle and loved it.

In Punta Cana (well, just outside it), Excellence Punta Cana is very nice and much less expensive than Jamaica. We were just there in August with 2 other couples and had a great time.

[anaps28]

We did Costa Rica last December, its definitely a place to go for excursions. If you want to go and just lay on a beach I wouldn't go all the way to Costa Rica for that. It was more of an "active" vacation for us. That being said it was beautiful and we had an amazing time.
What about Anguilla or St Lucia?

[flatlan]

We have stayed at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana twice and actually leave for a third time next week. We love it there!

[GilliC]

You don't want to fly that far west, but how far east are you willing to fly? I'm not much of a tropical beach vacation type, but Seychelles stole my heart and I would go back in a heartbeat! Especially to La Digue or an AI on one of the smaller islands!

[Étoile]

I agree that Costa Rica is good for active vacations rather than the all-inclusive full-on relaxation vacation.

I haven't been to an AI resort in over 5 years but I can recommend Excellence Punta Cana.

Since you're on the East Coast, I'd be all over Turks and Caicos if I were in your situation!!

[mrsstreet]

We stayed at the Iberostar Grand rose Hall outside of Montego Bay, Jamaica for our honeymoon and we loved it. It was my first (and only) AI experience but I thought it was great. I would go back in a heartbeat.

[shauni27]

what about a cruise?

[starburst604]

Thanks for all the advice! Funny, I had forgotten I posted this for a bit and just checked back. We looked into Turks & Caicos and Jamaica and couldn't find a resort we liked for the price we wanted and after looking around a bit we found Excellence in Punta Cana, based on the reviews (and now the suggestions here) I think we may go with that, although the Hard Rock there looked nice also. We did a cruise for our last vacation and had a blast, but our bar tab was woah! So hence the all inclusive now
Seychelles looks lovely, but we only have about 5 days to do a trip so that distance wouldn't work.

[starburst604]

Nov 25, 2012 0:19:30 GMT -5 flatlan said:

We have stayed at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana twice and actually leave for a third time next week. We love it there!

I think the reason I skipped over that one was that it wasn't adults only and the Excellence is. Are kids/families much of a factor there or do they kind of section things off? I love kids, but not on vacation!

[Étoile]

starburst604, can I just mention that I am *TOTALLY* stealing your sig pic for FB? LOVES it.

[starburst604]

Nov 27, 2012 1:04:22 GMT -5 Étoile said:

starburst604, can I just mention that I am *TOTALLY* stealing your sig pic for FB? LOVES it.

Haha, I JUST changed it, but I loved that one too and I stole it from FB!