All-inclusive experts, I need your help, please!
Aug 25th, 2015, 01:48 PM
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All-inclusive experts, I need your help, please!
I am looking for an AI for my family for the end of March 2016 (Easter Break). We are a family of 5 (children aged 8, 5, and 1 year) and would require either a large suite or interconnecting rooms. We love to spend time on the beach all day and are looking for a very calm, clean beach, preferably white sand, not windy. My children and I are also fair-skinned and need at least an umbrella or palapa or palm shade. I can't imagine spending any time on vacation lining up to secure a beach chair for the next day, as I've read some resorts require. We don't need a kids club as my children prefer spending time as a family. I would rather not be at a resort that has tons and tons of kids, so we have ruled out Beaches. The resort doesn't have to be big, smaller is fine as long as there is a buffet option for meals (we stayed at the Windsong Turks and Caicos with an all-inclusive plan and while it met all our other requirements, the restaurant service was slow and mealtimes were not easy for the kids-had it been just my husband and I we wouldn't have cared). Good food is important. We have been going to Club Med La Caravelle (Guadeloupe) for the past 4 years and the food and wine are very good, but we are hoping to try something new as it is expensive considering our kids don't want to go to the kids club. I am hoping to find somewhere less than one hour's travel from the airport. Things we don't care about on vacation are: pool, fitness room, nightly entertainment, hot tubs, spa services, proximity to shopping, etc (we would probably just stay on the resort all week). So basically just a great beach, great food, close to airport. And safety is important, but I think most resorts are pretty good with that, I'm assuming anyway. So thank you so much for taking time to reading this, and I hope you can help me out. I have spent days reading reviews and looking at pictures and it's just so hard to narrow it down, not to mention so many reviews are just not objective (giving a one-star review because 'there's no swim-up bar' or 'staff doesn't smile enough'? Come on...)
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
Aug 25th, 2015, 02:17 PM
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My son and his fiancé celebrated their engagement at Dreams in Punta Cana, DR. I recommended it as I had heard and read excellent reviews and their experience lived up to that. Take a look at that one.
Larry,
.
Larry,
.
Aug 25th, 2015, 02:19 PM
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Aug 30th, 2015, 01:46 PM
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I am repeating the advice I just posted on another thread:
"kmr20, suze is right that we really enjoyed the Buccaneer @ St Croix. We had five adult family members: DH and I, our DD, our DS and his fiancee. We had three oceanfront deluxe rooms, which were wonderful and were an upgrade from the main house rooms I'd reserved.
A full breakfast buffet is included, served in a gorgeous open-air dining room. Service is great everywhere on the resort. Free snorkel gear and kayaks. Free beginner scuba lessons in the pool. Scuba outings are available, at a cost. Everyone in our group tried scuba, but me, and they loved it.
The dining room food is great for more special dinners, there's a beachside cafe that is open all day and hosts nighttime specials like a lobster cookout with live music, a small poolside cabana with good sandwiches and stuff, and a sundries shop that doesn't gouge you. It's not an A-I. We did not want to be paying for all-day liquor, etc.
RE: your budget, I think we spent at the resort a little more than $1000/day for the 5 of us, not including airfare, or one day of car rental, or a couple of meals we ate off-resort.
The Buccaneer will arrange a car for you, and Enterprise will deliver it to the resort. I think it was only about $50 for the day we rented a small SUV so we could go explore the island's other beaches, rainforest, and the 'beer-drinking' pigs.
It's a family owned and operated resort, and the owner gives a weekly tour of the place before she hosts a cocktail hour.
There are three beaches at the Buccaneer. The water is gentle and clear for snorkeling from the beaches."
We were there June 1, and it was not crowded at all at the resort. I can't say enough good things about it.
"kmr20, suze is right that we really enjoyed the Buccaneer @ St Croix. We had five adult family members: DH and I, our DD, our DS and his fiancee. We had three oceanfront deluxe rooms, which were wonderful and were an upgrade from the main house rooms I'd reserved.
A full breakfast buffet is included, served in a gorgeous open-air dining room. Service is great everywhere on the resort. Free snorkel gear and kayaks. Free beginner scuba lessons in the pool. Scuba outings are available, at a cost. Everyone in our group tried scuba, but me, and they loved it.
The dining room food is great for more special dinners, there's a beachside cafe that is open all day and hosts nighttime specials like a lobster cookout with live music, a small poolside cabana with good sandwiches and stuff, and a sundries shop that doesn't gouge you. It's not an A-I. We did not want to be paying for all-day liquor, etc.
RE: your budget, I think we spent at the resort a little more than $1000/day for the 5 of us, not including airfare, or one day of car rental, or a couple of meals we ate off-resort.
The Buccaneer will arrange a car for you, and Enterprise will deliver it to the resort. I think it was only about $50 for the day we rented a small SUV so we could go explore the island's other beaches, rainforest, and the 'beer-drinking' pigs.
It's a family owned and operated resort, and the owner gives a weekly tour of the place before she hosts a cocktail hour.
There are three beaches at the Buccaneer. The water is gentle and clear for snorkeling from the beaches."
We were there June 1, and it was not crowded at all at the resort. I can't say enough good things about it.
