Does anyone have any suggestions for reasonably-priced family-friendly all-inclusive resorts? I am starting to do groundwork for a vacation for the winter of 2011 for our family. The boys will be almost 13 then. I'm starting to look at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean / Mexico area (someplace warm). I'm kinda thinking D-wise, an all-inclusive may just be easier to deal with. I'd like to find something that maybe has day-excursions to historical or fun places. Water-wise, I'm thinking snorkeling or swimming with dolphins, but no scuba. Lucky for ds I don't want to scuba anyway, so it's not his d that is excluding that, it's my panicky fear of not being able to breathe. Thanks!
My parents did Sandals Jamaica a few years ago and really enjoyed it. There are no children allowed, but I know they do have resorts for families also. I think for both of them for a week including airfare it was about $3000.
I cannot advice for a particular place, but I've been in two places that I don't recommend for vacation: 1) Margarita Island (Venezuela). Don't go no matter how good is the deal. Cold water, strong wind all the time, insecure. 2) Trinidad Tobago, the Tobago island is good, but in Trinidad island, whilst people is great, the place is way to crammed. It is a giant car jam that circles around the few roads in the island. For the rest, I'd personally would take any resort on the Atlantic, as water there is warmer than the Pacific (where water is outright cold to my taste).
We went to the Crown Paradise Resort in Cancun about 3 or 4 years ago. We enjoyed it. Here's a link to the website: http://www.crownparadise.com/cancun/crown/index.html I'm kind of surprised they don't have pictures of the fun kid pool area with the pirate ship and slides and stuff. Of course kids can go in the other three pools they have too, but that one was really fun.
We stayed in Hotel Le Blanc in Cancun a couple of years ago. It was amazing, beautiful and had great excursions.
The best value dollar wise is in Mexico. You can't really go wrong with any Iberostar resorts (we've stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach as well as the Lindo). We've stayed at the Barcelo Maya Palace and loved it there - the Barcelo Maya Colonial/Tropical would be great as well I think. Before booking I would check out reviews on tripadvisor.com - throw out the extremely glowing and poor reviews on a resort - the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Get yourself a good travel agent, and before you book make sure the beach is what you want at the resort - the beach and surf condition along the Riviera Maya in Mexico changes to great sand to rocks to swimmable to high waves/too dangerous to swim.
I've stayed at the Melia Caribe Tropical in the Dominican Republic. I also stayed at the Allegra Cozumel in Mexico. I had great experiences both places.
We also went to the Crown Paradise Resort in Cancun and loved it! We still think fondly of that vacation. Lisa
I've not done that but a cruise is another option for all-inclusive and sailing down to warm water. We have done two Disney cruises down to the Caribbean and those were awesome. The kids clubs were great and everyone handled the diabetes and food allergies issues very well.
We've also gone to the Crown PAradise Club in Puerto Vallarta twice! WE loved it! Great Child friendly resort. We are thinking of going to the one in Cancun this year.
Thanks so much! I've been drooling over Crown Paradise today. It looks like October is way cheaper, but I don't want our once-in-a-lifetime trip to get ruined by a hurricane. Our last once-in-a-lifetime trip ended up with a medevac ride and 4 days in ICU (ds was dx'ed ). I owe my family, especially ds, something kinda spectacular!
Scuba is easier breathing than snorkeling in my opinion. My husband, my D son and I all scuba dive. Cozumel Mexico is awesome for that. I thought I'd have issues when I was training...but I was relieved at how easy it is to breathe on a regulator. And the water is warm and clear and you can see forever...it is way cooler than snorkeling.
I had an awesome time snorkeling in Cozumel. Now that I've had my LASIK surgery and will actually be able to SEE things, I can't wait to try it again.
Stay far away from the border towns in mexico and make sure the airport you fly into is away from them they are very dangerous
Yes, those border towns are scary. We have family that winters in Zapata, TX next to Falcon Lake. They are being told to stay away from the Mexico side of the lake because there are pirates . What a world!
