BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

For those that have been to an all-inclusive resort, which one was your favorite and why?

This Honeymoon is killing me

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

i went to the almond resorts

and to sandals

i prefer sandals, from my experiences...

but those are the only 2 i have been to, HTH

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

We went to Punta Cana this past February and stayed at the Grand Palladium resort there. ABSOLULTELY loved it, BUT I dont think id recommend it for a HM because it just didnt seem 'special' enough. Also stayed at the Occidental grand papagayo in Costa Rica. It was too small and I dont think I would HM there either.

That being the most useless paragraph ever, I can tell you what we thought was important when we were booking that and now while we are looking for HM:

-No kids. Either an adults-only resort OR one that lets you upgrade to an area that is adults-only

-Food 24hrs. Alot of the reviews I read on tripadvisor.com complained that at AI everything shuts down at 10pm/11pm and people are bored. We werent our normal night owls on our trip, BUT we did appreciate that there was a sports bar that always had pizza, beers, burgers, fries, popcorn, etc. esp if you eat dinner early.

-Restaurants reservations vs. no reservations. In PC, we stayed at a place that you needed reservations for the restaurant. You were limited to three nights at a restaurant if you were staying a week but since we upgraded to the adults only area we got one every night. So when we checked in we were encouraged to book right away.. and booked 6 nightrs worth of restaurants... we went once. it just suucked to rush around to get ready for it, or be hungrier earlier than it, or not be hungry at all when it came. we ate at buffets most nights. we were looking at Secrets Riviera Maya because they dont have reservations. We would prefer to wait at a bar to be called for our table then have a reservation.

-Lounge chairs. I would read reviews carefully and post on tripadvisor.com forums if a particular resort has a problem of less chairs than people. You dont want to have to set an alarm at 6am to get a chair.

-Beer, FH is solely a beer drinker. Most AIs only have one type of beer on tap, so we made sure that he tried the Presidente beer and liked it before we left.

-Size. We loovveed the grand palladiumn because it was HUGE. There were like 17 bars and we made a point to go to each one. We loved that there were nooks and crannys to explore. the one I stayed in in costa rica was much smaller and I would get bored if I stayed there too long. Other people would say they LIKE smaller, intimate resorts.

Thats all I can think of right now. Hope this is kinda what you were looking for!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

Royal Plantation in Ocho Rios-Part of the Sandals family but a little more upscale. They don't follow Sandals rules entirely.

I've been to many all inclusives and I love this place. We're trying to get back there this year.

Please FM me for more details.

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

The best all inclusive vacation I ever went on was last year at Radisson Resort in Cable Beach in the Bahamas. Why? Because FI proposed to me there!

Plus the restaurants were great, beaches were beautiful and the people were so nice.

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Ugh posted twice

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

OMG Bar you have to check out the Paradisus in Puerto Rico.........Its all inclusive and AMAZING!!!!

Check it out

Paradisus Linky

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

Have you thought about doing a cruise? FH and I are going on a Norweigan crusie around the Haiwaiian Islands. All of your food is included and you can eat whenever you'd like. We did a Norweigan cruise in November to the western carribbean and we loved it!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by Nina

OMG Bar you have to check out the Paradisus in Puerto Rico.........Its all inclusive and AMAZING!!!!

Check it out

Paradisus Linky

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god nina-- gorgeous place!!!

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Dani you must check it out! (so its puerto rico and I'm biased) but my cousin just went there and had some pics....GORGEOUS!!

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Posted by laural2979

Have you thought about doing a cruise? FH and I are going on a Norweigan crusie around the Haiwaiian Islands. All of your food is included and you can eat whenever you'd like. We did a Norweigan cruise in November to the western carribbean and we loved it!

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i agree-- i was going to suggest that b/c that's what we are doing but i thought 'ehh, she said just all inclusive resorts' but now that i read this-- i should have b/c you don't have to sacrifice quality for quantity with the cruise-- my parents have been on so many and loved them.

i like: princess, celebrity, royal carribbean and norweigan! good luck, HTH

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Posted by Nina

Dani you must check it out! (so its puerto rico and I'm biased) but my cousin just went there and had some pics....GORGEOUS!!

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i def will-- fh and i will be looking to take another vaca next year before the wedding after we get our tax refund (CAAAA--CHIIINNNNG) !!!!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by melbalalala

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-- (a bunch of good stuff)

wow melissa-- that was all great advice, everything on there that you covered was what bugged me about the all inclusive trip that i went on and that's why for my hm-- i want to do a cruise, b/c i want the night life and dancing-- and really good food 24/7 and i the less rules the better-- all inclusive for a reason! the alcohol point was a biggie too-- GREAT advice!!!!!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by Nina

OMG Bar you have to check out the Paradisus in Puerto Rico.........Its All inclusive and AMAZING!!!!

Check it out

Paradisus Linky

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Looks gorgeous, but looks like not adults only.

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by laural2979

Have you thought about doing a cruise? FH and I are going on a Norweigan crusie around the Haiwaiian Islands. All of your food is included and you can eat whenever you'd like. We did a Norweigan cruise in November to the western carribbean and we loved it!

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Where does the boat go out of for Haiwaiian Islands???

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by D's Girl

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Posted by laural2979

Have you thought about doing a cruise? FH and I are going on a Norweigan crusie around the Haiwaiian Islands. All of your food is included and you can eat whenever you'd like. We did a Norweigan cruise in November to the western carribbean and we loved it!

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Where does the boat go out of for Haiwaiian Islands???

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It leaves from Honolulu.

Ship: Pride of Hawaii
Ports of Call: Honolulu, Oahu; Hilo, Big Island; Cruise Kilauea Volcano; Kahului, Maui; Kahului, Maui; Kailua-Kona, Big Island; Cruise Na Pali Coast; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Cruise Na Pali Coast

My favorite thing about it is that it leaves on a Monday. Since the wedding is on a Friday we'll have Saturday to relax and then fly out there on Sunday.

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by D's Girl

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Posted by laural2979

Have you thought about doing a cruise? FH and I are going on a Norweigan crusie around the Haiwaiian Islands. All of your food is included and you can eat whenever you'd like. We did a Norweigan cruise in November to the western carribbean and we loved it!

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Where does the boat go out of for Haiwaiian Islands???

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ahh!! that's what i'm doing: there are so many choices O-M-G! the one's i liked are: san diego, san fran, british columbia (beautiful), monterey CA, and then a bunch of places in mexico too (ensenada, puerto vallarta, catalina island)... so we are going to do san fran (see it first for a day or so) and then leave from there and the cruise we are doing (11 day) hits ALL the hawaiian islands-- and it's freestyle so you don't have to sit with the same people each night-- you can go to whatever restaurant, whenever-- and you don't have to do the formal night if you don't want to-- it's great and the ships are beautiful. norweigan's ships are all new-- they also go the fanning islands (which is similar to tahiti and bora bora).. so i hope that helps but get some brochures from a TA! that helped me a lot!! they have TWELVE nightclubs on one of the ships!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

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Posted by STBMrsDaniRella

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Posted by melbalalala

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-- (a bunch of good stuff)

wow melissa-- that was all great advice, everything on there that you covered was what bugged me about the all inclusive trip that i went on and that's why for my hm-- i want to do a cruise, b/c i want the night life and dancing-- and really good food 24/7 and i the less rules the better-- all inclusive for a reason! the alcohol point was a biggie too-- GREAT advice!!!!!

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Aww thanks Danielle!!

FH hasn't been on a cruise, ive done two and really enjoyed them... BUT after doing all-inclusive its going to be hard to go back. I think our bar tab would be WAYYYY too high! on a cruise.Maybe when we are older and not as big of drunkards as we are now.

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Posted by laural2979

Where does the boat go out of for Haiwaiian Islands???

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It leaves from Honolulu.

Ship: Pride of Hawaii
Ports of Call: Honolulu, Oahu; Hilo, Big Island; Cruise Kilauea Volcano; Kahului, Maui; Kahului, Maui; Kailua-Kona, Big Island; Cruise Na Pali Coast; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Nawiliwili, Kauai; Cruise Na Pali Coast

My favorite thing about it is that it leaves on a Monday. Since the wedding is on a Friday we'll have Saturday to relax and then fly out there on Sunday.

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yes yes yes! i saw that one!! beautiful cruise laura-- i wanted to see cali also (and then it gets me out of the long plane flight-- not a good flyer!!) so that's awesome-- there are so many diff options, there is the pride of aloha too!

LINK!!

Re: BEST ALL-INCLUSIVE VACATION

See that is the thing why I wanted all-inclusive, not so much the food, but the drinking. FH and I like to party and the bar tabs would be insane!