Honeymoon Poll- PLEASE HELP!- with UPDATE

We narrowed it down to mexico or Aruba but here is our dilemma:

The resort we LOVE is excellence resort in cancun riviera- has amazing service and food and beautiful rooms but the bad part is the beach doesn't look that nice from the pictures and you can't leave the resort because it isn't safe and FH and I like to venture out on our own on vacations.

Second option is Occidental in Aruba which the beaches are GORGEOUS which is what I want but I have read mixed reviews about the food and it doesn't have the same quality of service, Plus it only has a couple of restaurants and you need reservations- the Excellence has 8 choices with no reservations.

AHHHHHHH this is driving me crazy. I wish I could move the Excellence Resort to Aruba!

Or should we keep our Hawaii for 12 days at the Hyatt (basic rooms) for $2,000.00 more than Aruba and Mexico with just breakfast included but also a car rental. Plus we wanted something more relaxing and not having to move around so much from one island to another.

Which would you choose?

I am open to any other suggestions. We do want to do an all inclusive though to save money!

Also if you have been to either of these plase tell me your experience!

ETA: I just found our from a lovely LIW'er that the Occidental in Aruba has Royal service- you pay $600.00 extra and have amazing service and a five star restaurant and they also have a honeymoon package. Only thing is still no jacuzzi and FH is not happy

i say go to Excellence it really seems to be your first choice!

i'm sure the beach is beautiful!!! i was looking at that resort for us and it looks amazing!!

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Posted by Mici n KC

What makes you say Cancun isn't safe to venture around? Just FYI, if you're leaving on for your HM right after your wedding that's during Summer Break and Cancun can get filled with recently graduated HS kids.

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The resort isn't in Cancun its inbetween Cancun and Riviera Maya

I am going to the Excellence RIviera Maya resort for my HM.

I totally feel for you
I read alot of reviews about the water being cloudy and that there are alot of seaweed..
I also read that its beautiful when the weather is calm..

if you are worried about the beach then you should look into excellence punta cana in DR.
those were my top 2 choices but I picked Riviera Maya because its the #1 resort in that area according to tripadvisor.com and if you look at tripadvisors awards you will see that in both 2007 and 2008 they were voted most romantic, best all inclusive.. etc.

definitely look into the Punta Cana resort.. another reason why I didnt pick punta cana is because there is nothing to do around the resorts... and we wanted to explore around town

HTH..

ohh and I looked into Hawaii but I picked Mexico because we get more for our money and its just as nice.. my travel agent Tom calls it 'getting big bangs for your bucks' going to hawaii is like 2000-3000 more but you only get the basic room opposed to a room with jaccuzi....

wow this is getting long.. FM me if you have any questions... I have done ALOT of HM research

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Posted by Mici n KC

What makes you say Cancun isn't safe to venture around? Just FYI, if you're leaving on for your HM right after your wedding that's during Summer Break and Cancun can get filled with recently graduated HS kids.

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excellence is pretty far from the heart of cancun

soooo you have NOTHING to worry about there..

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Posted by hannahshim

I am going to the Excellence RIviera Maya resort for my HM.

I totally feel for you
I read alot of reviews about the water being cloudy and that there are alot of seaweed..
I also read that its beautiful when the weather is calm..

if you are worried about the beach then you should look into excellence punta cana in DR.
those were my top 2 choices but I picked Riviera Maya because its the #1 resort in that area according to tripadvisor.com and if you look at tripadvisors awards you will see that in both 2007 and 2008 they were voted most romantic, best all inclusive.. etc.

definitely look into the Punta Cana resort.. another reason why I didnt pick punta cana is because there is nothing to do around the resorts... and we wanted to explore around town

HTH..

ohh and I looked into Hawaii but I picked Mexico because we get more for our money and its just as nice.. my travel agent Tom calls it 'getting big bangs for your bucks' going to hawaii is like 2000-3000 more but you only get the basic room opposed to a room with jaccuzi....

wow this is getting long.. FM me if you have any questions... I have done ALOT of HM research

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This is my exact dilemma! The resort is perfect and we would have 2 jacuzzis ocean view room as opposed to the garden view we would have in Hawaii! I am using Travel Tom too and he recommends Excellence!

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Posted by kimNanthony

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Posted by Mici n KC

What makes you say Cancun isn't safe to venture around? Just FYI, if you're leaving on for your HM right after your wedding that's during Summer Break and Cancun can get filled with recently graduated HS kids.

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The resort isn't in Cancun its inbetween Cancun and Riviera Maya

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Oh okay. I didn't know the exact location.

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Posted by kimNanthony

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Posted by hannahshim

I am going to the Excellence RIviera Maya resort for my HM.

I totally feel for you
I read alot of reviews about the water being cloudy and that there are alot of seaweed..
I also read that its beautiful when the weather is calm..

if you are worried about the beach then you should look into excellence punta cana in DR.
those were my top 2 choices but I picked Riviera Maya because its the #1 resort in that area according to tripadvisor.com and if you look at tripadvisors awards you will see that in both 2007 and 2008 they were voted most romantic, best all inclusive.. etc.

definitely look into the Punta Cana resort.. another reason why I didnt pick punta cana is because there is nothing to do around the resorts... and we wanted to explore around town

HTH..

ohh and I looked into Hawaii but I picked Mexico because we get more for our money and its just as nice.. my travel agent Tom calls it 'getting big bangs for your bucks' going to hawaii is like 2000-3000 more but you only get the basic room opposed to a room with jaccuzi....

wow this is getting long.. FM me if you have any questions... I have done ALOT of HM research

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This is my exact dilemma! The resort is perfect and we would have 2 jacuzzis ocean view room as opposed to the garden view we would have in Hawaii! I am using Travel Tom too and he recommends Excellence!

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Tom is freakin AWESOME!!
I say you go to the Excellence resort!~

I see you are going for the excellence club~~
totally worth it~
omg I cant wait to gooo~

you can 110% leave excellence safely...it's in the heart of the mayan ruins and in puerto morelos which is an amazing little fishing village...the locals are fabulous there....we're going in 11 days....i'll report back....i would not factor that into your decision.

also, the beach is rough on that coast of mexico....BUT excellence takes great care of their beach from what i hear...again, i'll report back.

We went to the Riviera Maya (not the excellence) and we went out on our own alot! We even took local public transportation to Playa Del Carmen.

However, I will say that I'm a beach person and the beach was a HUGE dissapointment. (Unless you only want to snorkel or kayak- it was way too shallow and full of coral for actual swimming. Our resort was right at the edge of a coral reef)

i would go to any of the three... serioulsy, its your HM you can't go wrong...me personally i would pick aruba but thats just b/c me and fh love to gamble...

We went to Aventura Spa Palace in Riviera Maya - there was NO beach but it didn't make a diff to us -the pools were fun, the lagoon was fun, the food was excellent, the service was excellent.

The service you get in the Riviera Maya does not compare to anything else, it's top notch. Really.

I vote Riviera Maya.

Honestly I would stay FAR away from cancun, its really a party place for 'kids'. I know the trip will be whatever you make of it and you will deff have a great time, but wouldnt you want to be in a more romantic setting? Thats just me and my suggestion!.

I stayed at the Oasis in Cancun when i was 19--i remember the beach being fine--but i also wasnt sober for 99% of the trip lol

Good Luck!