Help me plan my vacation! I'm clueless!
 

My husband and I are looking to book a vacation to the Caribbean in either January or February 2011. We were looking into Atlantis, however, I've heard it a tad on the chilly side that time of the year. I'm not looking to fly far (we are from Jersey) as I'm a bit skittish of flying....the shorter the better! I would prefer an all inclusive so not to have to worry about bringing a ton of money with us, but I've heard both good and bad about those things.
Does anyone have any recommendations?

Bermuda is not for you in Jan. or Feb. The best weather there will be in May through October.

Personally AI's are not for me. I like to see the country I am visiting and try local restaurants. With a little planning you can do it as cheaply as an AI and have an adventure too.

Enjoy your trip.

no to bermuda & bahamas. to cold.
i'm going to suggest you fly to cancun
(4 1/4 hrs from newark on continental or 4 1/2 hrs from jfk on american or jet blue, all nonstop)
then choose an ai (there are tons of them) somewhere south of cancun on the maya riviera coast.
the riu & iberostar chains each have 4 of 5 resorts near each other and near the town of playa del carman. within either chain the resorts share facilities.
as you were considering atlantis i'm going to suggest a particular ai which is connected to a great eco marine park - not as huge or flashy as atlantis but has lots of fun stuff to see/do.
http://www.occidentalhotels.com/grand/Xcaret.asp
here's the link to x-caret (the park)
http://xcaret.com/
there is tons to do in this area. duty free shopping in playa del carman & activities ranging from ziplines to tours of mayan ruins. locogringo.com is a great website with all the info you'd need to visit this area.
dom rep will work if you want to stay in your resort - very economical. jamaica also has lots of ais but i don't know much about.

There's a wide assortment of all-inclusive resorts on the 7-mile beach in Negril Jamaica (you fly into Montego Bay and take a shuttle 90 mins. to the West End). I can't specifically recommend one since I never go AI myself, but it's a beautiful island, beautiful town, beautiful beach. I was there 10 days this past summer.

For better weather you need to be south, so I'd go with the DR (Punta Cana has loads of AI's) or Jamaica over the other two islands you mention.

The best area for AI's is Mexico, The Domenican Republic or Jamaica. All three islands are quite different from each other. We've been to Mexico 9 times with a trip planned in December. The DR and Jamaica once. So you can see what we prefer.

In Mexico you will get more bang for your buck. Even if you chose an AI, you won't feel like you have to stay on property and just use their food/drinks/dining options. The closer you stay to 5th Avenue, the better to dine out some and enjoy entertainment and shopping.

If you decide not to go AI, there are several boutique hotels around 5th Avenue. It's a easy walk to tons and tons of restuarant/bar choices.

Look at the Royal Playa del Carmen or their sister resort the Grand Porto Real. Excellant location to get to 5th Avenue and are AI hotels.

The farther you get from 5th Avenue, an AI hotel would be the better choice. Other options would be any of the Secrets, Iberostars, Occidentials, El Dorados or the Bravaros. I hesistant recommending the RIU's unless you are going with kids. Their restuarant reservation system is also the worst.

For non AI, look at Playa Maya, Playa Palms, La Tortuga, Petit Lafite, and Le Reve. I agree the locogringo website is a great place to check out hotel options.

If interested in Jamaica, Negril is the most recommended. We did stay at the RIU Tropical Bay and it had to be one of the worst hotels we have ever stayed in on vacation. Look at Couples Negril or Sunset at the Palms. There are several bougtique hotels closer to town on the cliffs if interested in those. Montego Bay has the newer, more well known AI hotel chains like Iberostar and Secrets. Also closer to the airport.

The DR has tons of huge, family friendly AI complexes. If your not familiar with AI's, I would hesitate recommending any of theirs. Also they do not have many adult only AI's as you will find in Mexico or Jamaica.
Whether you chose AI or non AI, get off your prperty and go explore. Mexico has great eco parks, Mayan ruis, jungle tours, snorkeling and cenotes to swim in just to name a few.

KVR~ There's really no "town" in Negril to be closer to, but yes there are dozens of what could be called "boutique" hotels that are on the Cliffs (as opposed to both independent and AI's on the beach). Negril also has well known chains these days, like Couples, Hedonism, etc.

We are looking now towards Dominican Republic. I saw the Occidental there, looks nice. Also the Melia Caribe and another I saw...something about Dreams a la Romance or something? I did see they have family type stuff, which is okay. A friend of my husband's stayed at Melia Caribe and said there was no kids when they were there (during school time). I heard also that it's not a good idea to get off your resort at the area in Dominican Republic is bad? A friend of mine is from there and won't go back, but I'm thinking that's not the resort towns of DR?

People have differing opinions about the Dominican Republic. The people I know who go/have gone there including myself did not stay on resorts, we rented a house in a town or stayed at a regular local style hotel. And yes ventured all around the island by bus or rental car or jeep.

Some people have the opinion you must stay only on your own All-Inclusive resort property and not go anywhere because they think it's "not safe".

Suze, I use that the term "town" loosely for Negril. As the cliffs area has the congestion of restuarants and bars than were the actual beach hotels are located. Especially in the Bloody Bay area.

spaghetti0625, if your interested in the DR, then I would say read, read, read and research, research, research. You have people who love it and poeple who hate it. I'm in the latter catagory. Though we love the convenience of AI hotels, we also like to get off the property and explore the area. In the DR I would do so by guided tour. We also don't care for the mega resorts that are spralled out. Been there, done that. Too crowded and the food is generally not the best. The smaller, more lux AI's typically have the better food options.

With regards to safety, it all relevant. People aren't going to Mexico as much because of the media scare and not quite understanding location, location, location. It's all well and good for us. The fewer people that go, the better prices we get when we book.

You might also look into the Turks and Caicos or Grand Cayman if you were orginally interested in the Bahamas. Both are considered "safe" islands. Great resturant options, easy to get around and no AI mega resorts. If you still want an AI, T & C has the Veranda and Grand Cayman has the Marriott. I would recommend Aruba also, but not sure you want that long of a flight.

I mention the lack of "town" only because it surprised me. I usually go to Puerto Vallarta or Waikiki where there's a large area of a downtown to stroll around, going in and out of shops, galleries, restaurants, bars, etc. Negril's not like that. It's more a destination that's just stretched out along either side of a long (gorgeous) seaside road.

Oh that's great...just typed up a huge response and I lost it....dagnabit!
I'm a planner by nature so I plan to look around and research DR. My parents went to Cayman and they hated it...too expensive and food was 'eh'
I just want to relax by the pool/beach, etc and catch up with the hubby.

What is the purpose of your vacation: get a tan? play golf? go clubbing? learn something new? On our last vacation, my husband an I just wanted to decompress from a very stressful couple of years. We like to walk, we like museums and out-of-the-way restaurants. We play a little golf.

I did a LOT of research, as a result we spent three weeks in March at the Pompano Beach Hotel in Bermuda. I'd go again in a minute! If you want to lounge on a beach, this isn't your place. But, if you play golf, walk, like learning new stuff, shop, or a lot of other things, look at your options in Bermuda.

The first benefit of Bermuda is the 90-minute plane trip. Then you're greeted at the Bermuda airport by a local band. Bermudans are polite and welcome tourists like guests. You can get a Bus Pass and ride all the buses and ferries. Local people offer free historical walking tours of their neighborhoods.

The Bermuda or Bahama strategy is not going to work as it's just too cold at that time of year. Just an FYI - hotels, airlines and restaurants charge top rates in high season like Jan and Feb. We have done two Sandals resorts on the island of Jamaica and liked them. We were at Whitehouse in February and it was a little more "off the beaten path". We were very happy with the destination as we felt we escaped the masses. Everyone has an opinion of a "best" vacation - so make sure it really sounds right for you.