I am starting to see many others displaced Yucatan Travelers with similar posts on various sites. Looks like hubby and I will not be able to vist our beloved Playa del Carmen over Thanksgiving - so I'm looking to move our vacations plans to Negril. We honeymooned in Montego Bay 9 years ago at Sandals and really enjoyed our stay.

Among various other carribean destinations, we have settled on Playa del Carmen and Akumal as our favorite beach destination for our last 5 vacations. The surroundings were comfortable, friendly, and we felt safe going out and about beyond our hotel's front door. Much of our vacations there have been spent in the town of Playa del Carmen at small boutique hotels. Another advantage for us - coming from the east coast of the US was that it was the best buy for our money.

We are a couple in our mid-30's, active, like to snorkel, love the ocean, we are not pool people. We are very laid back, 3* is fine with us. We do however appreciate clean and hospitable accomodations. We are Deadheads at heart and did I mention laid back

With some background information I'm looking to get some suggestions from those of you who "know" Negril.

Since our budget is limited to $2,000 this is what I'm looking at so far:

I found price for RIU Negril w/ air, etc. $2000. (I know I need to pay for transportation from airport), but that works with our budget. AI - but I also know what I can expect.

Other option is Coco La Palm w/ air $1395. This is where we are leaning, but looking for some reassurance that we can eat and drink on $500 - $600 for 7 nights. Also, as we are such beach people, will we be disappointed with a crowded beach or less than adequate beach at this location.

Thanx so much for any help or assurances. Bayla

you may not want to hear this, but you can beat both playa and Negril for laid back beach locations...but only if you truly know what this means:

Furthur!

http://www.rootstravel.com/new/ville...%20DOMINICAINE

oooops...this is what I wanted to send you!

[That first one is great for snorkeling right from your beach! It is Under $40 a night if you book direct with the hotel owner.

Take 2:

http://www.las-terrenas-hotels.com/ebahia.html

We stayed at CocoLaPalm last July and liked it very much. The location is perfect, right in the middle of 7 mile beach and walking distance to many restaurants. Negril Beach is great,like a giant bath tub. Beautiful sunsets and a nice long beach to take walks on. Nice white soft sand. I think you could eat and drink on that budget. You can eat fairly cheap, and we bought some liquor to have in the room to save some money. Our most expensive meal was at Norma's, but there are lots of reasonable places. 3 Dives on the cliffs has a great lobster dinner for about $20.

"we can eat and drink on $500 - $600 for 7 nights"

Not a problem in Negril at all, especially if you like Jamaican food (and who doesn't??)

We loved the patties from Indian who sells them on the beach. The spicy beef was delicious and still very nice and hot, freshly made. I think he was the only guy selling stuff on the beach that had people come up to HIM. We saw a lot of the hotel employees eating them. They cost $1 for the patties. Excellent mid day snack/lunch.

I will make no claim to "know" Negril, but could tell you my observations. The RIU is at the far end of Negril Beach, opposite the cliffs. Some of the bigger AI's are in that area.It would be difficult to walk to the main area of the beach from there.And believe me, we walked that beach alot. But if you are AI, you wouldn't need to eat out and would then miss out on what Negril is really like.

One last word about CocoLaPalm. We really liked the personalized service we got there. The guy who does the beach chairs knew what spot we liked after a couple of days and already had them there for us in the morning. We were there when hurricane Emily passed and they were most accomodating. The woman who runs the Salon even gave us her radio to use so we could get better news updates. The rooms are by no means glamorous, but Caribbean adequate if you said 3* is OK. The grounds are very well kept and the hot tub is secluded by foilage with powerful "jets" and nice hot water. We had a beachfront room which we loved (729). Didn't see any of the other rooms on the inside.

Would also like to mention that with our package (not sure how you are booking)we had a continental breakfast included. You could get a full breakfast for $2-3 more. Restaurants we liked were Norma's which is a little pricier, 3 Dives, Gambino's for really good Italian, Best in the West for a quick jerk chicken fix. You can also get a decent pizza at Chances. All walking distance from CLP except 3 Dives which requires a short taxi ride $10 each way. Good luck with your choice!