all-inclusive or villa?
 

We are a party of 10 (5 couples) trying to plan a caribbean getaway to celebrate various anniversaries. Several of us would prefer an all inclusive, and several others would prefer a villa. We are looking at Turks and Caicos mainly, but are also open to other Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, and Punta Cana. We are looking for beachfront, with access to restaurants, marinas, etc. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. Thank you!

The US Virgin Islands (and the BVI as well) are not big AI places. On St Thomas, access to restaurants and marinas would be by car. Any home/villa that can accommodate 10 people would be in a residential area.

turks and caicos has some very nice larger houses. you'd need a car or 2 to get to restaurants. look at http://www.tcvillas.com/ very well kept properties.

you might consider the west coast of barbados. lots of very nice larger villas that come with staff - so best of both worlds (minus the organized activities)

lots of houses with staff are also available on the maya riveria coast - south of cancun to tulum. see locogringo.com this area also has a plethora of all inclusive resorts. it is a very safe place to travel.

if you do the house thing you might consider 2 neighboring villas. gives a bit more option to get some alone time with spouse a/or to get away from the other couples a bit. it's kind of fun to go to one another's "homes" for cocktails or dinner.

What about staying at two different places, nearby to each other? If people feel strongly about staying at an All Inclusive resort, I doubt they'll be happy with a villa. And vice versa.

i have planned a family vacation for 20-27 people for the last six years. we took a cruise, did 2 AIs and villas the rest. we as a group prefer the villas with a cook. the food at the AIs, while plentiful, tends to be repetitious and not very representative of the local cuisine. however, if you want zero things to plan while you're there, go the AI route. if you want activites at your fingertips, go AI. if you're more likely to hang together on the beach all day and don't care about organized activities, go villa. have fun!

There are only 2 all-inclusive resorts in the Turks & Caicos: Beaches and Club Med. The latter is just not suitable for you. But Beaches has a villa section (i.e., condo-style units with beautiful kitchens but still in an all-inclusive resort atmosphere). I'd look there. It's not a cheap resort by any means, but it would give you in the same general resort area access to different kinds of facilities.

Thanks everyone for your input. We've decided on Iberostar Grand Bavarro in Punta Cana. I'll let you know how it turns out.