katesy

My husband and I are planning a long weekend getaway in the Caribbean for 4 couples. We are in our thirties and want to go somewhere that: 1) is easy to get to from NYC, Boston and Chicago, 2) has a great beach, 3) has nightlife and a mix of things to do, 4) is upscale but not OTT. Mexico is not an option for this trip.

Would love any suggestions, as I am not very knowledgeable about the Caribbean. I'm wondering if the Cove Atlantis might be a good option (though seems overpriced and perhaps not that great) and if there are other accessible/fun/beachy places like it out there.

Thank you for your help!

schmerl

Rather than Atlantis, look into the One and Only Ocean Club. It is down the beach from Atlantis and is well worth the money.
http://www.islandinns.com/oceanclub.html

greenie

Another option might be the Caymans. You can get there from anywhere.

Peace, Greenie

Knowing

The combination of white sand, warm waters, easy to get to, nightlife and more upscale can be found. Grand Cayman offers all of that PLUS great dining and some unique shops.

katesy

Thanks for all of your responses! We are having some issues with the planning.

Bahamas - no non-stop flight from Chicago (!) and some hotel issues:
Ocean Club - two of the four couples have stayed there before
The Cove - $950/night the weekend we want to go including tax...starting to look a bit too rich.

Caymans - limited selection of non-stop flights (ORD: Wednesday/Sunday, BOS: Saturday only)

Any other recommendations? One person will be 6 months pregnant, so we are not keen on Mexico, DR or Jamaica. Aruba and Puerto Rico seem to be the only other place we can all get to non-stop, but neither place seems exactly what we are looking for. Would love any additional thoughts!

virginia

http://www.bucuti.com/en/

girlonthego

Aruba will be hot and has great dining and some good nightlife. The beaches are nicer than Puerto Rico.
If you want to laze on the beach and go out at night, I would pick Aruba.
Nice hotels, Bucuti mentioned above, The Hyatt, Radisson and Marriott.

SarahRae0807

I am looking for something very similar! Although, I am looking into Mexico just because the non stop flights from Boston are only about 4-5 hrs. I am interested to see where you decide to go We went to the Cove Atlantis, but I really think there is better out there for the $$!

genio67

What about St. Martin? Not sure about non stop from Boston or Chicago but otherwise seems to meet your criteria.

greenie

Aruba is quite a ways for a long weekend. So is St Kitts. It will take you all day to get there. Suggest you stick with anything direct and make it work. You dont want to waste 2 days of a 4 day weekend traveling.

Peace, Greenie

ishkribbl

I would think you could easily get to St Thomas from those cities- if you are not experienced in the Caribbean it might be a good beginning and you could take a side trip to St. John for the day if time allows.

katesy

Thanks all for the ideas and suggestions! We weren't able to find the ideal spot in the Caribbean, so we have decided to stay at Acqualina in Sunny Isles FL (near Miami). Florida was not our first choice, but it's easy for everyone to get to, the hotel looks fabulous, the rooms are on sale right now (compared to surprisingly few deals in Caribbean), and we'll have nice beach and pools with nightlife nearby if we want it.

We ruled out the following for this year's trip (maybe a good option for next year):
Bahamas (Cove) - no NS from Chicago, Cove looked nice but rather expensive
Grand Cayman - no NS from Boston, limited NS times from Chicago not great
Puerto Rico - flights worked, but none of us that excited about the destination
Aruba - seemed far and I wasn't wowed by hotel reviews on tripadvisor
St. Martin - Sat-Sat NS flights only from Chicago and Boston (didn't work for our long weekend plan)
St. Thomas - no NS from Chicago

Riviera Maya may be an option for us next year too. My husband and I may do a trip down there or Turks & Caicos later in the spring.

Overall, I was really surprised by how few flights there are these days yet at the same time how expensive all the hotels are given the economy right now (who are the people propping up rates so high?). Something seems amiss.

ScottB

Sticking to non-stop flight really limits choices that seem to fit your criteria (Grand Cayman). It seems so many want to only have one flight, but it's getting tougher & tougher to find. I personally think s second leg isn't that bad, especially for Grand Cayman. Flying in from Boston, we been snorkeling by 3pm in the afternoon using 2 flights to get there. Not that bad. If you leave early enough, you can get there in good time. Glad you found a place in Florida, but out of all the places I've been in FLA, they just don't add up to the beauty of the Caribbean.

Good Luck.

katesy

SarahRae0807 would love to hear what you end up doing in Mexico. Please post!

Sarah0807

Hey! I also heard Punta Cana had direct flights from Boston, only 4 hrs. I'll be looking into there for my next weekender.

We are flying (jet blue had a great price) direct into Cancun for this trip and staying at the royal suites at the grand palladium/yucatan. This has great reviews and seems like it has a nice beach & is jungle like. We are also staying 1 night at the catalonia royal tulum as the beach is supposed to be amazing there. These places were a lot less than some of the other nice resorts we looked into, and we will take a day trip to tulum ruins, zipline, snorkel in cenotes, and possibly horseback ride if we can squeeze it in! I will write a trip report when we return mid march!