mrwilson75

My wife and I have about $3500 to spend (including lodging, flights from US Midwest, and food/drink) on a week's vacation in March '04. Cruises are out, and we also tend to avoid big, bustling all-inclusives, although we also don't care for purely self-catering, condo-style vacations either. Looking for a beautiful beach and for the best food and accomodations our budget will afford. A little shopping nearby would also be a bonus. It seems that typically DR, Jamaica and Mexico offer the cheapest vacations, but Mexico/D.R. don't interest me much (although I might consider Playa Del Carmen) and we went to Jamaica last year and would like to try someplace different. In low season this budget would present no problem, but for high season it appears tough to get a really exceptional vacation for this price. This may be an impossible task, but I'd appreciate any suggestions.

liza

Jamaica is a large island...which part have you visited?

TonyHarris

As a suggestion, consider Negril, Jamaica. Maybe a 3-4 split to Rockhouse on the cliffs and Idle Awhile on the beach. Your budget would be OK.

mrwilson75

We visited Montego Bay (Coyaba) last year, and found that resort to be generally pleasant, and an excellent high season deal ($1500 for their best room, with MAP). Food was terrific, rooms were fine, beach was pretty but very small and narrow and the water not especially clear. I hadn't really thought about Negril (mainly because it is kind of a haul from the airport), but the Rockhouse/Idle Awhile suggestion sounds like it might be a good one. What about Spring Breakers that time of year (3rd week of March) in Negril, though (I'd like to avoid them if possible)?

mrwilson75

I should add that that deal was thru LuxuryLink.

eileen

You may be able to get Royal Hideaway in Playa Del Carmen for around that price and it's wonderfully upscale and not your typical AI. Last year we paid about $400 per night for both of us with all meals and drinks included and the food was gourmet. Excursion flights to Cancun (PDC about 40 minutes from Cancun) were about $350 each. Worth checking into. We've been to lots of Carib and Mexico places in high season and this was the highest quality vacation for the lowest price.

Blair9535

I agree with the previous post...Royal Hideaway is great and we are not AI people.Food and service are both great and we had a fantastic couples massage at the spa.....might want to check it out!

mrwilson75

I've actually had my eye on Royal Hideaway. I can't seem to find any but the smallest quibbles in any trip reports or other comments about this place, although I fear that most such post-ers are more typical AI folks who found it a large improvement over their usual vacations, rather than boutique-hotel people who found it the equal of their typical vacations (although there are some exceptions). That said, the most consistent comments about RH is its excellent service, which is usually one of the reasons one goes to the boutique-type places anyway.

beachdreams

I was there about 1.5 years ago and I am not a huge fan of AI's. I am not as strongly opposed to them as some are but I like the choice of eating at different places and I have found that the rooms, food etc are not as great and worth the money as if I had gone on my own. Now, having said that, I love Royal Hideaway. It is well worth the money and puts most, if not all, AI's to shame.

TLG

PLAYA IS EXCELLENT CHOICE;FTL. TO CUN;
THEN TAKE RIVERA BUS(A/C,MERCEDES)ONLY
70 PECOS TO BUS STATION AT PLAYA, THEN
TAXI TO YOUR HOTEL.(SAVE$50 US)

HOTELS:
LA TORTUGA
EL CONTEL TUCAN
PLAYA MAYA
BLUE PARRIOTT

FOOD:
YAXCHE
DON EMELLIONE
ZABOR
JOHNNY CARIOS
TARRAYA
LA PARRILA

ENTERTAINMENT:
BLUE PARRIOTT
XACRET
TULUM

eileen

Hi, I am one of those boutique-hotel type people who are against large AI resorts, yet I recommend RH. I am pretty picky and if you do a search you will find my trip report with a few negatives. I actually loved my combination trip of 4 nights at Shangri-La Caribe and 3 at RH (they are 10 minutes apart) because I thought RH's minor weaknesses were SLC's strengths and vice a versa. SLC has a nicer beach than RH and more of a mexican ambience but it was a little too rustic for my husband and the food was mediocre (but since you are only paying about $150 - 200 a night, you can eat dinner out if you want). RH had fabulous service and food but I found the beach to be too crowded for my taste. It's a little larger than I like (19O rooms, I think) but they are spread out in buildings all over the property so it does not have that big hotel "feel". Went this year to the Ritz in Jamaica and it was just way too big for my taste (400+ rooms in one big building). Another suggestion I have for Mexico is a hotel called the Pierre Marquez outside of Acapulco. It is the sister resort of the Acapulco Princess but much quieter, smaller and more of a boutique hotel ambience. It's a Fairmont Hotel now and recently renovated. Very reasonably priced but the airfare to Acapulco tends to be pricey. For your price range in high season, RH is definitely very near the top of choices. Point Grace in Turks and Caicos is our favorite boutique resort thus far but it is pricey.

liza

You won't have Spring Breakers at Rockhouse and I doubt they'll be at Idle Awhile either, both are a bit upscale for them. There may be some on the beach still...but that's near the end of SB season. We were in Jamaica this year for 2 weeks at the end of March and into April and didn't see any, but we were on the east coast for the first week where they don't go anyway.

Negril's not the haul it once was, the new highway is finished so it's an hour or a bit more if there's MoBay traffic.

RH and Idle are both beautiful hotels. Idle is $200-350 incl b'fast in high season and RH is $100-250 (total, not per person).

The people at this site are very helpful and can book both hotels, and your air too:

http://www.negrilonestop.com/

TomCayman

Would be good to know where posters are planning to travel from.

The original poster said "mid-west", so if they are in range of Chicago O'Hare....they could get non-stop flights from Chicago to Cayman and an inclusive package (car rental, meals, snorkel trip, Barefoot Man show)at The Reef for about US$3600 all in for a week this Winter....