I've been planning my honeymoon too. Yes I bit the bullet and am getting married in the last week of Oct. It's kinda annoying to have so many choices to pick from. I want to go to one of the islands and basically narrowed my search down to Jamaica. I figured that I can always go to closer places like Cancun with her at anytime. It seems like Catcha Falling Star in Negril is the best bang for your buck. There are some great choices available such as The Caves/Sandals/Jamaica Inn but they're at least double the price of Catcha. Any suggestions are appreciated. Maybe I should pick another Island? TIA
Why I ultimately chose Sandals was because it was a Couples ONLY resort. Therefore, we had no kids screaming and crying the entire time, no frat boys trying to hook up with every girl on the island, etc. To me, that made it worth every cent. We're already planning to do the Montego Bay, Jamaica Sandals after we pay this one off.
Glad to hear the trip went well, Chuck! My wife and I are planning our delayed honeymoon, we're looking to do an all-inclusive in the Dominican. Probably Punta Cana. Question: Why so many negative reviews, on even the highly rated resorts? It's like a bunch of snobs and complainers frequent trip-advisor. It seems like whatever you look up, you have people complaining of getting sick, or the food was cold, or bad service, etc. What is the best resort in the Dominican that is somewhat decent, price-wise?
Going to Punta Cana next June with my wife for my brother and sister-in-law's 10th anniversary. I think we're staying at the Excellence Resort. If anyone has experience with this resort or others there, please let me know. Reservations haven't been made and suggestions are still welcome. I've seen some pretty mixed reviews about this place.
I hear good things about the resorts. We're going to the hard rock hotel in Punta Cana for our honeymoon. I've gotten the "too close to Haiti" reaction a few times, but I've deemed it safe based off of feedback from here and friends
Very cool, I'd always been curious about these places, think I might look into getting a trip set up for me and the wife.
Sorry to keep a dying thread alive. We're looking into going to the Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana. Seems like the reviews are pretty good. Decent price. It's ranked Fourth on tripadvisor. Anyone ever been?
One more bump.... We just booked our trip for October 21-28 of this year. We're going to stay at the Gran Bahia Principe Esmeralda in Punta Cana. Should be fun. I'm pumped.
Sandals looks nice...but seems pretty expensive compared to the Riviera Maya. Out of curiosity I was looking at Atlantis... that place seems like a major rip off.
Our trip that we booked (to Punta Cana), only cost between 2200-2300 out the door. That's not bad for a decent resort. That's for both of us, and includes airfare.
Sure is. The resort we're staying at only has like two restaurants, but it's hooked up with like 3 other properties owned by the same company(which makes the restaurant total something like 13). The other properties don't have the best reviews, but the one we're going to is only like a year and a half old, and is rated at like number two or three in Punta Cana. It sounds like it's a quiet resort with not a ton going on (the other properties have a theater, casino, clubs, etc.), which should be perfect for us. The only thing the wife and I have left to do is get our passports (which we're doing within the next week). We haven't really been on many trips together (really, we've been on one week-long trip to visit family in Houston), and neither of us have ever been to the Carribean, or an all-inclusive. Should be a great time. I'm super excited and can't wait.
For a whole week...nice. I'm looking at Maui next year for our 5 year. So far it's looking like about 5 nights with air, hotel and car would be about 3,000 to 3,500. Only live once. Seems like Hawaii may be a little overpriced, but I'm really looking forward to the landscape in addition to the beaches.
The landscape in Hawaii, I think, is what would make it awesome. I had a hard time convincing my wife to spend the money on the trip, even though we had budgeted it a long time ago. What I finally told her, though, is essentially what you just said. I told her we may not ever do a trip like this again. We're young, have the money, have no kids, etc., so we might as well. We're going all-inclusive, as I said, because of our inexperience with the whole thing. Conceivably in the future, I could see us renting out a house or something from someone who only uses their's part of the year. I just want to get a little more travel seasoned, if you will. The whole renting of other people's houses is definitely a cool, new, potentially cost-effective thing, though.
We just got back from the Gran Bahia Principe Esmeralda in Punta Cana. Stayed there for a week. It was excellent. First time either of us have travelled overseas (well, techincally, I did when I was two). Everyone on the staff was extremely nice (with and without tips), the food was pretty good (although my stomach got a little queasy about halfway through the trip, and stayed that way, I never had diarrhea, nor was I unable to do anything I wanted to). My wife and I flipped our kayak in 4 foot waves about 200-250 yards off the shoreline one day (The waves broke in that area because the water was a bit more shallow there). I panicked for a bit after I got her back in the boat. I thought there was no way I would be able to make it back to shore, and I didn't want to run the risk of flipping the kayak getting back in, and I had swallowed a lot of sea water. I also panicked cuz I thought I saw a sting ray swim by me. Lol. Anyways, I ended up catching footing on a random piece of coral I found (I estimate the water was about 20 feet deep there), and after standing for about two minutes, trying to draw someone's attention (nobody could see us), I got back on the kayak. What a story though! We went "Snuba"ing, which is basically scuba, except you need no license, and you don't carry your oxygen tanks - you leave them on a rafter above you and are connected to them by a line. I got to feed a school of fish, which was awesome. Overall, it was an awesome trip, well worth the money. My only complaint is that the pools closed daily at 6 PM. I would definitely go back. It's awesome to see a different culture, and a different way of life. What a relief in the change of pace it was for a week.
Catcha Falling Star in Negril, Jamaica turned out to be a great pick. The staff is really friendly and the views off the cliffs are to die-for. It's rated #1 on tripadvisor but very reasonably priced. Their restaurant (Ivan's Bar) is the highest rated one on tripadvisor and it lived up to expectations. There was no reason to eat anywhere else. The water was perfect and is great for jet skiing since it's pretty still water. It goes from turqoise to this darkish blue color. All in all, I recommend everyone to visit Negril and this resort specifically.
