So if I want to go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico/Caribbean...

maratea

...which do you recommend? I don't know anyone who's been IRL, so suggestions or ideas are appreciated. Also, do you recommend a certain time of year? H and I are pretty flexible with dates for next year, so anytime is good.

Steph0871

We've been to two Palace Resort locations (Cancun- Sun Palace and Punt@ Cana, DR.)  They were both really good.  We always had really great food.  In Mexico, I think we had over a dozen restaurant options.  In DR it was less, because they were still in the opening process.  But I bet there were still 5-6 options.

Mery- do you eat fish?  There were always a ton of seafood options.  There were also a ton of made-to-order kind of things.  I had a few dishes in Dominican that had beans for the protein  Everything was delicious.

We usually had pretty good drinks too.  Always a full stock of liquor and usually some pretty good wine selections, too.

kd.joseph

We did the Sandals resort in Jamaica, specifically Negril.

It was very nice, they upgraded us before we even got there. They had a great spa.

Fishy goes to the same resort in Mexico and loves it, try paging her on E.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

I don't eat fish. FI eats everything, but my diet prevents us from going to, like, rural Vietnam. That sounds good though!

pumpkinpumpkin

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_want-inclusive-resort-mexicocaribbean?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:95ffb576-0c87-4277-9b52-b0bcde1e41e8Post:116f9b46-2f7c-4d23-bf61-9aa97db7f81f">Re: So if I want to go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico/Caribbean...</a>:
[QUOTE]Also for anyone who's been to an AI: Is the food good? Like, really good or just passable? Are there vegetarian options? Cause FI and I are big foodies and wanting to pick our own restaurants is the biggest reason we haven't done an AI. Also, we aren't really beach people, but I might be willing to do one if it's cheap.
Posted by msmerymac[/QUOTE]

I've never enjoyed the food at any AI we've been to. That being said, we usually stay AI, and just eat out because it's generally still cheaper.

I've never seen vegetarian options - there's always salads, etc though.

We're going to Puerto Vallarta again this winter - but we're not going AI for the first time ever. We got an awesome deal on a condo and flight for 10 days. But usually, the AI options for flying out of Winnipeg are cheaper than the flights alone.

Meaghann17

I have been to AI in Cuba, Dominican and Mexico... Mexico was by far my favourite. Advice we have kind of learned is that standards are different in the caribbean.. go to the nicest (high rating) place you can afford. We took a deal once and went to a 2.5 star resort. we did some research on tripadvisor and figured it had a low rating because the beach wasn't large and there was only 1 restaurant. in contrast another resort had 5 restaurants. the 2.5 resort was fine, we didn't have high expectations so we were satisfied. a lot of people at the resort were complaining that they expected better though.

so you sort of have to just look at what you want. the booze is better at nicer resorts too- they all will have all you can drink, but a nicer resort will do slushie drinks etc while the others won't.

tripadvisor is great for looking up specific resorts. a lot of people go on their just to whine. for example i read a review where the person had an hourly account of their trip. they hated their experience and gave low ratings.. but in their critique it seemed the biggest problem they had was that it rained the day they arrived and the night entertainment was cheesy. lol people who are going to be in a snit because of the weather are going to have a crummy time no matter what! always something to complain about.

MarriedInAFever

We're staying at the Aura Cozumel for the HM. I'll let you know if I recommend it in a week!

marriedfilingjointly

SarahSmile and my SIL both honeymooned at Sun Palace in Cancun and loved it.

We did Sandals in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  We stayed at Sandals Dunns River, which is now owned by some other chain, but you can't go wrong with a Sandals, from what I've heard.  There are much cheaper AIs, though, but we didn't look into them.

We definitely got our money's worth.  The hotel was nice, the beach was beautiful, the food was excellent.  All booze was included.  They had cheap wine (Baringers) but we didn't have to pay for it, so I'm not complaining. 

We relied heavily on TripAdvisor.  TripAdvisor has pretty much never led me astray.  When you see negative reviews, read them carefully.  You can usually tell right off the bat when someone is being a whiney baby who will never be pleased with anything. 

kd.joseph

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_want-inclusive-resort-mexicocaribbean?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:95ffb576-0c87-4277-9b52-b0bcde1e41e8Post:cdae8c4a-2a6b-45a9-8c87-a392d0187719">Re: So if I want to go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico/Caribbean...</a>:
[QUOTE]SarahSmile and my SIL both honeymooned at Sun Palace in Cancun and loved it. We did Sandals in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  We stayed at Sandals Dunns River, which is now owned by some other chain, but you can't go wrong with a Sandals, from what I've heard.  There are much cheaper AIs, though, but we didn't look into them. We definitely got our money's worth.  The hotel was nice, the beach was beautiful, the food was excellent.  All booze was included.  They had cheap wine (Baringers) but we didn't have to pay for it, so I'm not complaining.  We relied heavily on TripAdvisor.  TripAdvisor has pretty much never led me astray.  When you see negative reviews, read them carefully.  You can usually tell right off the bat when someone is being a whiney baby who will never be pleased with anything. 
Posted by marriedfilingjointly[/QUOTE]

I agree with this I love Tripadvisor. And the Negril Sandals was close to Ricks Cafe which was great. Cliff Divers, booze, reggae. And wonderful sunsets.