OT: Ask the Pack Caribbean Vacation

[jethreauxdawg]

Basically, I want her to be so smitten with her husband of a decade plus that a BJ on the way to the airport isn’t out of the question. What can I say? I’m a bit of an old school romantic.

You got first class airfare? Night time flight? Things can happen if she’s happy enough. Pack a rag in the carry on, just in case.

 

[mrbinsdog]

El Presidente Resort hotel in Cozumel. Not all inclusive, not kid friendly.
We just got back. Awesome. Felt safe the whole time

 

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Yall must have some high maintenance wives. If I told mine we were going to the beach for a week I better have the front door open and the car cranked. It would take her about 15 minutes to pack and she'd beat me out the door

I guess mine is because she would close the door, sit me down and describe how going to Alaska or New England in the early fall would be the better choice.

 

[msugrad2003]

I’m sitting in St. John, USVI, currently. Not a bad spot. There are some great resorts in this area, including the BVI

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

You got first class airfare? Night time flight? Things can happen if she’s happy enough. Pack a rag in the carry on, just in case.

Umm - a rag ?
Why ???
Don’t you know what all good girls do?

 

[Perd Hapley]

We’ve been all over the Caribbean. Aruba is hands down our favorite. Clean, feels safe Natalie Holloway and all, nobody trying to const trying to sell/scam you. Food was good. Belize is one place we hav been but it’s on our list.

^^^^This. Did my honeymoon there and can’t wait to get back. Its also outside of the hurricane belt and almost never rains. 80 degrees and sunny every day almost without fail for 365 days a year. Plenty of great snorkeling / diving either right off the beach or on excursions. Beautiful beaches….can’t go wrong.

Also just in general….if you really don’t feel like doing anything at all for a whole week or so, then all-inclusive resorts are great. But unless you kill about 15-20 alcoholic beverages a day, its still going to be way more expensive than just paying for meals and drinks, and at a much lower quality of food and beverage on average. Just my two cents.

 

[johnson86-1]

^^^^This. Did my honeymoon there and can’t wait to get back. Its also outside of the hurricane belt and almost never rains. 80 degrees and sunny every day almost without fail for 365 days a year. Plenty of great snorkeling / diving either right off the beach or on excursions. Beautiful beaches….can’t go wrong.

Also just in general….if you really don’t feel like doing anything at all for a whole week or so, then all-inclusive resorts are great. But unless you kill about 15-20 alcoholic beverages a day, its still going to be way more expensive than just paying for meals and drinks, and at a much lower quality of food and beverage on average. Just my two cents.

I don't know about this. Of course to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. But if you are paying resort/high end hotel prices for food and drink, it doesn't take much for one couple to run up a pretty big daily bill. Certainly if you are a non-drinker or light drinker, you probably will come out ahead on a quality adjusted basis skipping the all inclusive, but a touristy island is generally not going to be a place to get good value on food. If money is an object, and you are worried about food, there are probably better vacation spots for you. If you just want to be somewhere beautiful and warm and stress free, the all inclusive seems like a pretty decent value, even after accounting for the fact that the food is usually not good.

 

[Perd Hapley]

I don't know about this. Of course to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. But if you are paying resort/high end hotel prices for food and drink, it doesn't take much for one couple to run up a pretty big daily bill. Certainly if you are a non-drinker or light drinker, you probably will come out ahead on a quality adjusted basis skipping the all inclusive, but a touristy island is generally not going to be a place to get good value on food. If money is an object, and you are worried about food, there are probably better vacation spots for you. If you just want to be somewhere beautiful and warm and stress free, the all inclusive seems like a pretty decent value, even after accounting for the fact that the food is usually not good.

But the only options aren’t “pay resort prices or do the all-inclusive”. Both times I’ve done a Caribbean vacation, we’ve done the same thing. We did breakfast at the resort (which was free) and ate all our other meals out in restaurants which we either drove to or walked to nearby. The food was outstanding, and on the whole we probably averaged less than $150 per day in food and drink costs. Also took a quick grocery store trip before check in and spent probably $200 there for snacks, alcohol. and stuff for the room during the week.

In total for a 7 day trip, we paid less than $1800 total on food / drink. Last time I checked, Sandals and other all-inclusive places were charging something like $3000-$4000 more than we’d pay for a similar property that wasn’t all-inclusive for the same time period. Its really not even close in terms of value or quality. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to do anything but go to the beach, eat, and sleep, you can decide how much to pay for the convenience of doing it all in one spot on the front end. Certainly not worth it to me, though.

 

[Tarnished Halo]

A wife here. Yeah, tell her the dates and that it's a beach so she can be sure to get all the pre-beach things done. You can still surprise her with the location, but she will be prepared also. You know we have to starve for a couple of weeks and tan ourselves first so we'll feel a tiny bit better about ourselves in a bathing suit.

As far as the Caribbean in Sept, I lived on St Thomas, USVI, the last 2 Septembers and there were always tropical waves coming through. Try Grenada or Curacao Sandals. They seem to be a little further out of the hurricane zone although they still can get hit.

Aruba is like Destin, but on an island.

If you do decide to go in Sept and want an AI, Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma, Bahamas, is gorgeous. Hubby got to play golf on the course that overlooks the water. I drove the cart and took pics. Rent a car there and go to Cocoplum beach when the tide is out. Just stunning. Trust me.