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Caribbean

DeacsPop

DeacsPop

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The Honey is bugging me for a Christmas vacation trip and I'm thinking sun, golf and somewhere in the Caribbean. Done Puerto Rico and Aruba; who's got a spot that is cool but won't break the bank?

Thanks.
 
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Caribbean over Christmas is as much as double the price at many places. If you can wait and go just after (January 3-10), you will save a ton of $$$$
 
GPDeac said:
Caribbean over Christmas is as much as double the price at many places. If you can wait and go just after (January 3-10), you will save a ton of $$$$
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Or just before. Dec. 8-15 will be a lot cheaper than Jan. 3-10....which is a lot cheaper than Christmas/New Year's.
 
qcdeac said:
Or just before. Dec. 8-15 will be a lot cheaper than Jan. 3-10....which is a lot cheaper than Christmas/New Year's.
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Second this thought. Places will start getting filled up around 12/15, so this year's last cheap week is probably 12/6-13 or 12/7-14. While not the Caribbean, Mexico (Mayan Riviera) gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Many of the resorts are all-inclusive and many of those suck, so you have to do some research on a site like Tripadvisor. Palace Resorts does a pretty good job (it's AI) and has at least one golf course (Moon Palace just below Cancun). Playa Del Carmen is a nice area if you're not going AI as there are a ton of small restaurants and bars.

Since you're only 90 days out, you might be able to catch some last minute deals. I'd go to a travel agent, tell them what your likes/dislikes are and see what he/she can find for you.

We are heading for DR 12/6-13 and doing an AI at Hard Rock Punta Cana.
 
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Also look at Costa Rica, can get some pretty good deals there as well.
 
qcdeac said:
Or just before. Dec. 8-15 will be a lot cheaper than Jan. 3-10....which is a lot cheaper than Christmas/New Year's.
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This is our delayed honeymoon plan. We're getting married in early May, so we'll take a short trip then...but then save the big trip for early December, when I'll want nothing more than to flee Chicago.
 
Avoid the Palace Resort properties like the plague unless you want to spend your vacation being endlessly hounded about timeshares.
 
I've been to a lot of Caribbean locations and have just come to the conclusion that the Caymans are the best. But if you're watching costs, that's the last place you want to go. Same for Mustique. Paradise at a price.

Have you looked into the ABC islands? Bonaire is my favorite but the airfare can be pricey and if you're looking for nightlife etc, you may not enjoy it. If you're into quiet and provincial, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman are among the quietest and friendliest. But again, cost is high (IIRC, a gallon of milk is around US$10-12). Few restaurants, few hotels, lots of private rentals. Good deals abound in Dominican. Same for Belize and Nicaragua. St. Maarten has casinos and nightlife (including a legal brothel in Phillipsburg). Too busy and urban for me but others love it. Lots of good deals on Grenada too. They're still trying to bolster tourism.

If you're really wanting cheap and "exciting," several organizations (Ocean Doctor is one friends of mine have happily used) offer tours of Cuba, legally and with State Dept approval. Regardless of the political posturing and rhetoric, Cuban citizens crave American money and things are very cheap. That said, schedules are more suggestions than binding and tour guides sometimes have to make "donations" to checkpoint officials. But I've heard nothing but fantastic reviews of trips. Ocean Doctors is for scuba divers but there are others which are open to others.
 
Say that you are studying abroad, that your parents are broke and cheap, then try and leverage pity into crowdsource funds.
 
Thanks for the input; not looking to go on the cheap; just trying too keep it reasonable. I've heard great things about Costa Rica; anyone have a specific recommendation there I should check out?
 
Now thinking Dominican Republic might work for us; anyone have any experience(s) with any of the all inclusive resorts there? Thank you.
 
DeacsPop said:
Now thinking Dominican Republic might work for us; anyone have any experience(s) with any of the all inclusive resorts there? Thank you.
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Stayed at the Excellence in Punta Cana. It was great. The only problem is that it's on the Atlantic side of the island. When we were down there over New Year's 2010, there was a storm system that made the ocean really rough. Enough to where they would not allow guests to swim. There are lots of things to do on the resort though, and the food was great.
 
DeacsPop said:
Thanks for the input; not looking to go on the cheap; just trying too keep it reasonable. I've heard great things about Costa Rica; anyone have a specific recommendation there I should check out?
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The Los Suenos resort is really nice. You can stay at the Marriott or rent a condo in the complex there. Massive fishing area, not far from Jaco, if that is your scene. Plenty of tours of rainforest, crocs, zip lining. Only about 1.5 hours from San Jose.
 
Did Majestic Colonial in Punta Cana and loved it.
 
I think LK spent at week at Cunta Punta and had a great time.
 
wakelaxer said:
The Los Suenos resort is really nice. You can stay at the Marriott or rent a condo in the complex there. Massive fishing area, not far from Jaco, if that is your scene. Plenty of tours of rainforest, crocs, zip lining. Only about 1.5 hours from San Jose.
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i stayed at the marriott a few years ago. agree it's awesome.

we also drove to this place - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Antonio_National_Park

seeing all the monkeys just hanging out in the trees was pretty damn cool. we also saw a couple of red macaws, and a bunch of howler monkeys yelling at each other at the top of the trees.
 
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