So me and my girl decided this was going to be our year of travel. Probably best we figured before we decided to save up for a house and/or kids. Which leads me to this. We originally planned a cruise but decided for a vacation, particularly looking at all inclusive resorts because it seems like a much better bang for our buck. We are most likely looking at Mexico. We have around $2,500 saved for our vacation currently and would like to keep it roughly in that ballpark. Anyone have any experience, advice, pointers, recommendations etc..? Are there any limits to drinks per day? Is there a food limit? I literally know nothing This will be my first time out of country and also my first “real” vacation. So, for me, I’m trying to learn as much as possible. I’m looking for genuine conversation and advice because it’s hard finding stuff on google. It’s all ads and positive reviews, making it hard to compare what’s good to great and what’s the best value. My girl is leaning towards a place in playa de Carmen called panama jack resort. All the reviews seem fine, as do the resort photos. Any help and conversation is greatly appreciated.
My wife and I had an amazing time at the Secrets Papagayo resort in Costa Rica. Beautiful setting, everything included (alcohol!), food was good for a resort, and the staff was amazingly friendly. CR is also a quick trip from Houston.
We stayed at the Sandos Eco Resort and it was pretty much amazing. Especially with the kids. On premise Cenotes that you can swim in, a water park with several water slides, several shows at night, and of course the beach. Of course, if you go to this part of Mexica, make sure to take a day and go to Xel Ha. http://sandoscaracolresorts.com http://www.xelha.com Have fun!
Just my opinion: if I had no kids, no mortgage, etc, I would go backpacking or something similar in a foreign country. I would go see Manchu Pichu in Peru I would go adventuring in Costa Rica I would go backpacking in SE Asia. Not a big fan of sitting on my ass over drinking all day with watered down well drinks, and eating buffett style food. We do this now for vacation because we have kids and a mortgage I miss my young adventuring days of vacationing in a foreign country and becoming part of the local culture. Now we go to all inclusives because it's easy on the kids, or we can have family watch them for 3 or 4 days while we go to an adult all inclusive, and it's easy on the budget because i have a mortgage.
I'd pass on the all inclusive. Take a little time and plan something. Like the poster above said, go to Costa Rica. You could see 3 different climates while there, including the beach. Check out a volcano, rain forest etc. Sitting in one place sounds boring as hell to me personally.
I'm going to playa del carmen in a few days. I think we've been to Mexico about half a dozen times in the past few years. We once went to a very highly rated all inclusive. Never again. Not for us, but your mileage may differ. We really love Mexico, and we go out with a guide every time to visit cenotes, mayan ruins, off the beaten path restaurants, etc. Don't mind sitting in one place for a day or two to unwind and enjoy the pool and beach and weather, but if you go to an all inclusive, you feel stuck there. I remember paying a decent sum to get a taxi to take us away from the all inclusive in playa mujer just to go into Cancun and get away (and eat and see something different). All inclusives are also where the tainted alcohol problems are occurring:
Did the Platinum Yucatan Princess in playa del carmen for that price-fixing around a year and a half ago. Had a great time. Lots of good excursions in the area. I can answer any other questions you have as well. I've also done the First Americana in Cozumel before for under that price. It was a great deal though. Best all inclusive I've stayed at. If you love to snorkel, you can't beat Cozumel. Just avoid the ferries, as they've had problems. Lol
All I can tell you is stay as far as humanly possible away from the Omni in Cancun. By far the worst all-inclusive resort, or any resort, I've ever been to.
Does your budget include any travel? We went all inclusive 2 nights Cancun, 2 nights Playa and 2 nights Cozumel
All inclusives are okay. When I went to Playa Del Carmen I stayed at the Riu Palace. It was alright, food was mostly American type **** and drinks weren't all that. It was cool having beach service, but it gets old fast just sitting on the beach just drinking. I did 9 days and 2 of them I stayed in Cancun. 2 other days I decided not to do anything and just chill at the resort. The other 5 days I was all around. I rented a car and went to Chichen Itza, Xplor, Cenote Ikil, Coba, Tulum, snorkeling in Isla Mujeres and Conzumel. It's better to get out and just do stuff, being at the resort can get boring fast. Unless you like drinking and eating and doing nothing.
if you don't mind the plane tix prices, southeast asia is nice. travel to the mountains in laos, myanmar, thailand, indonesia, etc. most have beaches and i think a bit cheaper than south america. or a friend of mine went to mount kilimanjaro and said she had a blast.
I've done three all inclusives. Priorities are as follows, to me: 1. Food 2. Drinks 3. Excursions 4. Service/Amenities. Large gap and then everything else. Food is super inportant. Find a place with food you like, and that's highly rated, or it could ruin your experience. The food at Fiesta Americana in Cozumel was great and made my experience great.
I see a lot of young adults backpacking trying to save a lot by doing the most numbers of places/countries on cheap budgets. I think this is a mistake for you and your girl. Even for most people, unless their objective is to take selfies to show to other people 'hey, we passed through here so we're well-traveled!' My advice, seeing that you seem to want to take it easy in one place, is to do something in between backpacking and your original plan. Go travel for real from one place to another. Get a room and make it a base for 2-4 days while you travel carrying just a small backpack for the day. Take it easy there and then move on to another and do the same. Talk to people, try their food, it doesn't have to be a mad rush. Of course this is all a moot point if what you're really looking for is to swing with other couples while on vacation in a resort. If that then, take pics.
It's easier for me to make some suggestions on the planning itself since I'm not positive what you would prefer to do. My advice for narrowing down options for a vacation is to do some general research to figure out what looks interesting. Pick two or three things that you really would like to see or do, like a beach, city, or historical area, and mark those down. Then consider the logistics: what's in the area, closeness to other destinations, etc. For example, if you wanted to do Playa del Carmen, you could focus on the Yucatan and consider going to Tulum, Chichen Itza, the cenotes, etc. You can save money by planning it yourself, and you will get to do the things you want.
Thanks for all the feedback so far guys. As for backpacking and such, not what we are looking for. We are that young and ambitious. We are really just looking for a relaxing getaway. Also, we are pretty dead set on Mexico. We are really wanting to do a beach vacation. Going to Galveston really leaves you desiring beautiful sandy beaches. Is that beach front? Looking it up in Expedia and didn’t see pictures of any beach access. My girl has experience as she has stayed at the fiesta Americana in Puerto Vallarta and agrees. Looking it up it’s about 1800-2000. I think our target is more around 1500. Not much of a difference really but could afford us an extra excursion or some shopping money or whatever. Also, glad you said this. I was brushing off food while talking to my girl as if it wasn’t a huge deal (and I’m the food one). You placing importance on it helped me re focus instead of just on price and amenities.
Best advice on this thread is to make sure food is good. While this is fine advice, keep in mind when some people go on vacation they really just want to sit on a beach, have people bring them steak and lobsters, and turn off their head for a while. All inclusive are great for these kind of things (make sure the food is good though). These all inclusive places really do a good job of making the wow and pamper factor pop while you're staying there. I show up, enjoy the sun, eat good food, get picked up and do a few excursions, get dropped back, eat and then sleep. Do take one or two days out of it to taxi into town/must see places/local must do (get advice on trip adviser and travel blogs), do these between a few days of doing nothing if destress and relaxation is the goal of the trip. That said, I think if the area is relatively safe, I do recommend instead getting an ok non all inclusive hotel (not necessarily 5 stars, but clean and can sleep well, 3 to 4 stars). Use the savings to sign up for private tours (so some one local will pick you up from hotel, speaks english, responsible for you that day) and uber to the best restaurants in those towns at night. Get more of a local culture and likely better food.
Great advice @wizkid83 Might be more apt for old farts like us though (assuming 83 is year you were born). For a couple of young kids still with no house payments nor kids, you don't get the chance to be adventurous and stretch your travel money more so than now. Definitely one thing I wished I did more when I was young. They can still beach around a beach for a day or two to relax between cities.
