Which country?
 

Hello

We are looking at 2 weeks before christmas 2014 for a short carribean vacation, look at 7-9 nights. We travel quite a fair bit, but have never done the Carribean before. We will be bringing out 2 kids who are 8 and 6. They are both very good travelers, kids club not necessary though if they have one, i wont mind leaving them there for a few hours so we can go out for a fancy meal or something.

Anything under $7000 (flights + hotels+ meals??/ai??) would be great! i was looking at mexico, jamaica and DR, but we want to be able to go out of the resort and feel reasonably safe. Those 3 are the amongst the cheapest and lots with Ai but i want something that isnt ginormous. Right now, we have narrowed it down to grenada, grand cayman and spec atlantis in bahamas. But we are so undecided about which one we want. AI are not really mecessary since we are not big drinkers, we might have a drink once a month or even less. But should i opt for Ai bc of facilities? The man is thinking of doing some diving and all of us want to do some snorkeling. If anyone has any other islands i should look at, that'd be awesome.

Thoughts?

Thank you

I would not go to Dominican republic. I don't recall being able to leave the resort very comfortably. With kids that age an A/I might work fine and if I were doing that I would lean towards Mexico, playa del Carmen, the Riviera area. Mexico and that area is very safe but commercialized and touristy. Altantis very expensive and I am not sure how warm it would be there in December.

Grenada is very far south and a lovely island very tropical. Cayman island would be great for diving. Not sure about Grenada and diving. Grand Cayman might check off al the boxes.

I agree that Grand Cayman would be a good choice. The best option with kids is to rent a 2 bedroom condo. Seven Mile Beach would be ideal The beaches are sandy and the water is clear. Plenty of good restaurants. Safe traveling around the island Diving is excellent and you can snorkel in many areas off the beach.

Thank you! This info really helps

My family recently returned from St Croix, staying at The Buccaneer. We loved it. They do have a free kids' club, snorkeling, scuba, three beaches, complimentary breakfast buffet, gorgeous grounds. It's relatively small, with great service. Look at their oceanfront rooms and Dubloon suites. Very reasonably priced. Christiansted is close by, for restaurants. It is a very simple and friendly island.

I have been to each of them (DR 2x, Jamaica 3x, Mexico 20+).

I like Mexico 1st best, Jamaica next, and am not so much a fan of the Dominican Republic. But I don't stay at resorts or know about All-Inclusives specifically. Regardless, I rate them in that order or preference.

As far as costs, where are you coming from?

Diving and snorkeling are not great at any of the 3 you mentioned. Maybe Cozumel for that?

I will be flying from toronto, canada. Snorkeling trumps diving at this point. @tabernash2, i have been looking at USVI, but it seems a bit of a pain to get there.

St Croix isn't too bad to get to. It has a relatively large airport.

We flew BOS - San Juan, PR - STX. On JetBlue.

Coming back, we took American, STX - Miami - LAX.

I would definitely recommend the Bahamas if you like going out and exploring. The people are incredibly friendly and it is probably one of the safest islands for tourists in the Carribean. Just don't go looking for trouble (drugs) and you will be fine. The weather there is usually around 70 - 80 Degrees F in December and since it's past hurricane season you should be fine.

In my opinion if you guys aren't big drinkers then all inclusive is kinda pointless and you won't get your money back unless you eat 6 meals a day. There is a ton of stuff to do on the island so I would recommend finding a nice cheap hotel/condo to stay at because you probably won't be spending a whole lot of time there anyway.

The Atlantis can get very expensive because they do nickle and dime you at every turn so if I were you I would find another resort either on Paradise Island or Nassau that is cheaper and get a few day passes to the water park if that's what you're after. If you need help finding a good hotel I would suggest going to http://www.bahamasfinder.com/bahamas-hotels.html. Just click on the name of one of the resorts and it will give you more information on them.

Many resorts do offer diving/snorkeling excursions (Atlantis is one of them but there are many more) so if the guy wants to snorkel or learn to dive you can check the resort website to see if it is offered.

Hopefully this helps and have a great vacation!