All Inclusive Recommendations

Sarabeth1031

Hello friends! My fiancé and I are looking into doing an all inclusive resort for our honeymoon. Any recommendations? Budget is around $5,000 for the whole honeymoon. If you know somewhere even cheaper, obviously we'd like that too. We'll be doing about a week. We're looking at somewhere Caribbean or Mexico area. Thanks all!

Jells2dot0

What time of year are you traveling? From where? Do you prefer adults only?

Sarabeth1031

It will be in August, traveling from Michigan. No biggie if it's adults only or not.

Jells2dot0

August will be low season, so you can definitely get some good deals! you'll find the best selection of all inclusives in Mexico, Jamaica, or the Dominican. The most popular brands are Secrets, Dreams, Couples, Sandals, El Dorado, Excellence or Iberostar. A few that pop up regularly on here are Secrets Maroma, Valentin Imperial Maya, and Couples Swept Away. What you are looking for is VERY broad, so I recommend searching the boards using the search function or definitely talk with a travel agent that specializes in this area. They can assist you with picking the right resort based on your budget, wants, and needs.

Sarabeth1031

Awesome thanks! We were thinking about going through a travel agent, but we weren't sure if in the long run it would save us any money.

CMGragain

For heaven's sake, buy travel insurance!  This is high hurricane season.
Travel agents are paid by the resort.  They are free for you to use.  Because they belong to large consortiums, they can get you bargain prices that you cannot get by yourself.
ALL internet travel sites (Travelocity, Price Line, Costco, etc.) ARE travel agencies.

madamerwin

We went to Moon Palace in Cancun and loved it (part of Palace Resorts). One option for booking it is to go through VRBO. It never would have occurred to me if my dentist (of all people) had not recommended it, but many resorts have members who sell their time shares. We purchased through a member, and spent $3500 for nine nights with VIP wristbands, free tours and snorkeling, massages, and $2000 in resort credits (which sound more valuable than they are, but still usefule). You just want to be sure to look in to the person you're buying from  - our person had TONS of positive reviews on their profile (no complaints whatsoever) and were able to provide us with all the documentation we needed immediately. She put us in contact with the resort as well, so that we could confirm it was all legit. After the pruchase we worked solely with the resort, as though we purchased the package directly or through an agent. We would definitely go this route again - it saved us, like, $1200.

There are three Palace Resorts in Cancun (one is adult-only), plus one in Jamaica and a few others elsewhere, I think. Definitely worth looking into both Palace Resorts, and VRBO for booking.

ernursej

I loved Sonesta Ocean Pointe in St. Maarten. We got a great deal when we went last September. Just looked and you can get a room with all inclusive priv for under $400.

Subwayloves

We went to Couples Tower Isle in Jamaica for our honeymoon, and I would HIGHLY recommend it! Food was fantastic (one restaurant was fancy, five star quality, room service included, a grill open from 10pm-5am for late night snacks...), top shelf liquor included, and even a few excursions included. There was entertainment every night, and we were very impressed with the quality of that as well. We loved every minute of it. I know you said adults only doesn't matter, but this resort is adult couples only, and we thought it made for a much more relaxed, romantic atmosphere. The only downfall I would say is that it is an hour and a half bus ride from the airport, but to us it was worth it. Prices may vary a bit based on where you're coming from and time of year, but we stayed 5 nights and it was just under $3k including flights and travel insurance. 

ETA: Just saw you are out of Michigan, we are from Ohio and flew out of Detroit

WinstonsGirl

Haven't done a lot of Caribbean, but we loved Live Aqua in Cancun.  It kinda ruined all other AI resorts for us.  

Sarabeth1031

Thank you ladies!! The research on these places has begun!