First time choosing all inclusive... Where to go??
 

Thanks in advance :) There are SOOO many choices out there! I want to travel mid July from Detroit for 5 nights. I want to go somewhere nice with my husband for our anniversary. We prefer an all inclusive, adults only would be nice but not a requirement. My requirements are simple... Nice place in our budget. We want to spend 1200 or under per person including airfare. Mexico, Caribbean, wherever would get us the best vacation for our money, as we do not get away without the kids very often at all!! We are in our late thirties and want to have some good food and some drinks, and have a great time. We prefer not a HUGE party atmosphere.

Mexico will pretty much always get you more vacation for your money.

I'd start with the "Mayan Riviera" (the Caribbean coastline of Mexico) from Cancun south to Playa del Carmen, including Isla Mujeres, Akumal, Tulum, and Cozumel.

The budget is tight, with airfare included. Do you mean this July? Airfares at this late date will eat you alive. I hope you mean next July?

The Mexican spots mentioned could be closest to your budget. Our friends like the Tulum area.

In July if you don't chose an adults/couple only resort, you will be inundated with families/kids. Mexico will get you more for your money, but I'm not sure $2,400 will get you an adult/couple only AI resort. You need to check the on-line booking sites and see what is out there. Even in low season, I couldn't get an adult's only AI for that. We just returned from Puerto Morelos a couple of weeks ago and in low season the adult's only AI properties were running $1,000 more than the family resorts for the same time period. Any AI resorts outside of Jamaica or the DR will be almost double your budget.

Taking the adult only requirement out of the equation, you can get inexpensive AI options at these places, for example:-
Hawksbill Antigua/Discovery Bay Barbados/Turtle Beach Tobago and St Lucian Rex in St Lucia are about $1300 for 2 inc AI. You are unlikely to be inundated with kids are the majority of guests in these hotels are European and the summer school hols don't start until end of July for alot of countries. These AIs are 3 star and in great locations, food- so so but for the money that's all you can expect.

Some AIs in Mexico Riviera Maya are slightly less, around the $1000 mark. I think you will have an issue with flight costs though, since cheap fares get booked up so much in advance plus you might not be able to get to the islands easily from Detroit. Have a look on Expedia.

I think your best bet at this late date is to book a package deal = hotel + airfare + taxes. I believe Delta is the major carrier in Detroit? Check the Book a Vacation page on the Delta site, plug in your dates and where you want to go, and see what comes up. Just for fun I put in Cancun, round-trip from Detroit, and random 5-day dates in mid-July and came up with a few nice-looking adult only all inclusives that came in under $1200 per person.

http://www.deltavacations.com/booking/index.do

Also, check major travel agency web sites like Liberty Travel. Apple Vacations specializes in all-inclusives to Mexico and the Caribbean. And, of course, check Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz to see what they have. Cheap Caribbean and Travel Zoo are other good resources.

As others have said, Mexico, Jamaica and Dominican Republic are your best bets for not only all-inclusives but for affordability as well.

Good luck!

Check out Apple Vacations and Fun Jet for packages in the Riviera Maya area of Mexico and in the Dominican Republic. Those areas give you the most bang for your buck.

Thanks everyone! I meant this July :). This was a spur of the moment thing as my parents just offered to take my kids. We settled on an apple vacation package that is not adult only. Hopefully there aren't so many kids that they drive us crazy! We did the 5 apple square deal, so I don't know what resort we are at, but we actually found flights out of Saginaw, which is a much easier airport to fly out of and closer to my parents' house for under 1000 a person for 5 nights. I'm pretty pleased with this deal! Hopefully the square deal works out in our favor! We went with Riviera Maya mostly because the flights worked out better. Could have done the Dominican for just a little less, but would have had to add expenses flying out if Detroit. Excited!

Sounds good! Have fun!

Let us know which resort you got with the 5 Apple deal.

Excellent! Please do check in after the trip to let us know the resort and if you were happy with it.