NGKUR: Caribbean Anniversary Trip

[dke2010]

I'm up way too early and would like some help planning a trip to the Caribbean for our 5th anniversary in June. DH has always wanted to go on a cruise and this might be a good year since I'm not pregnant yet and DD will be almost 3 (I feel comfortable leaving her with family). The only issue is cost. We don't want to send a ton of money on a vacation right now. So...
If you've been to the Caribbean, please tell me about your trip.
What did you do?
Where did you stay and for how long?
How much did it cost?
Thanks, ladies!

[dke2010]

Also, I'm not set on going in June even though that's our anniversary. I'm open to late summer/early fall.

[youdontsay]

We usually go to Mexico in June and we went to jamaica in December for our honeymoon so you'll see the difference in price below:

If you've been to the Caribbean, please tell me about your trip.

What did you do? Stayed on the beach and drank, ate everything in sight.

Where did you stay and for how long? In Mexico we stay about 20 minutes south of Cancun at an all inclusive resort called Ocean Coral & Turquesa. For our honeymoon we stayed at Sandals Negril. Mexico we usually fly down on a Monday and fly back on Friday. For our honeymoon we left on a Saturday and flew back on a Saturday.

How much did it cost? Mexico on average costs us $880 pp including flights and hotel. We go in June which isn't a vacation month like april or whatever. We also fly out of jfk which is cheaper. Our honeymoon cost with flight (first class) limos, etc almost $8000 we upgraded a lot though on the room. We went in December so we knew we were going to get hit for expensive air fare.

[shemarie82]

Mar 20, 2015 6:23:34 GMT -5 dke2010 said:

Also, I'm not set on going in June even though that's our anniversary. I'm open to late summer/early fall.

I read yesterday that the cheapest time to do anything Caribbean is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That being said, you can find a wide range of prices to match your budget and where you want to go.  The difference may be having a bottom floor cabin vs a suite or 4 day vs 8 day. 

[dke2010]

Thanks for the info so far! I think we'd like to keep the cost under $2000 for everything, but not sure that'll be possible.
shemarie82 Have you been on a cruise? I guess we can't plan a cruise for this fall because I could be past their pregnancy time limit if I get KU soon.

[shemarie82]

Mar 20, 2015 7:18:09 GMT -5 dke2010 said:

Thanks for the info so far! I think we'd like to keep the cost under $2000 for everything, but not sure that'll be possible.
shemarie82 Have you been on a cruise? I guess we can't plan a cruise for this fall because I could be past their pregnancy time limit if I get KU soon.

I have not, but I look A LOT! We were going to take one for our honeymoon, so I have been doing research for a couple of years.

[youdontsay]

Mar 20, 2015 7:22:31 GMT -5 shemarie82 said:

Mar 20, 2015 7:18:09 GMT -5 dke2010 said:

Thanks for the info so far! I think we'd like to keep the cost under $2000 for everything, but not sure that'll be possible.
shemarie82 Have you been on a cruise? I guess we can't plan a cruise for this fall because I could be past their pregnancy time limit if I get KU soon.

I have not, but I look A LOT! We were going to take one for our honeymoon, so I have been doing research for a couple of years.

I've been on a few cruises. I like them, don't love them, but if H wanted to go on one I would.

Also if you're worried about being KU, you can take out trip insurance to be on the safe side.

[14joa31]

If you've been to the Caribbean, please tell me about your trip.

I did a short cruise out of Miami that hit Key West and Cozumel on Carnival - it was super cheap and it was in May, I think.
I did an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, DR for one week on my honeymoon. Including flights, it was $2500 - which is pretty fantastic for all you can eat and all you can drink. I've heard the first week in December is the cheapest to go to the Caribbean, but I think anytime during the fall would also be cheap because of hurricanes.
We also rented a condo on the beach in St. Maarten for a one week long anniversary trip, but that was pretty pricey. That was in September.

I think that a cruise would be cheaper than a resort. The upside of a cruise is that it gives you a little taste of a bunch of different places, so you can decide whether you want to return to that place in the future and check it out longer. The upside of a resort is that you can really explore that one place. So there's pros and cons to both.

One thing about cruises is that you should price out the excursions in advance - because they add to the cost - and you will DEFINITELY want to do the excursions.

[awkwardturtle]

Places I have been that are fairly budget friendly are:

Aruba and Bahamas (not the atlantis resort)- they have decent priced flights from the US. Barbados is beautiful, but pricey.

Jamaica, I've heard can also be ok on price, but I've only been there on a stop with a cruise and I personally didn't care for it.

Cruises are nice because you know pretty much what you will be paying up front.

We normally stay a week anywhere we go. Another option would be a vacation rental wherever you go, that way it's cheaper and you also have the option to buy groceries and cook some of your meals.

[LadyNymeria]

What did you do? My only Caribbean trip was Aruba for our honeymoon, it was amazing!

Where did you stay and for how long? We stayed at the Radisson for 10 days/9 nights, they have the largest piece of beachfont of all hotels on the island so there was always plenty of room (I guess I should state that I believe I remember hearing that, but can't remember where to verify)

How much did it cost? The hotel and round-trip airfare was about $3100. We traveled in September which is their slow season so the hotel prices were really good. I don't remember how much we spent on food or fun, but it wasn't too bad.

Other random things: Aruba has some AMAZING restaurants so we chose not to do all-inclusive. Since we were there for so long we actually picked up some groceries for breakfast and lunch - did breakfast & lunch out of our room half the time, and went out the other half. Then we splurged on dinner each night!! The only meal that was not unbelievably delicious was the one morning we did the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

One of the reasons we picked Aruba is that the island is really safe, and you can simply walk off resort property, unlike some other islands in the Caribbean. There were a lot of restaurants within walking distance of our hotel and it was nice to be able to feel comfortable just walking back and forth to dinner. For restaurants that were too far to walk, the taxi system on the island is great.

MH and I are actually headed back there later this year as a "kick-off to TTC" trip.

TL;DR - ARUBA IS AMAZING!!!! GO THERE!!!!

ETA: Aruba is also below the hurricane belt so a storm hitting the island is very rare. Certainly something to consider if you travel during hurricane season.

[pinkcat]

We've done a few trips. If you are looking for something inexpensive, I would say that an all inclusive in either Mexico (like Cancun or Riveria Maya) or Dominican Republic would be your best bet. We stayed at an Ibeorstar in Riveria Maya and loved it! The water is so beautiful there and there are a ton of restaurants and bars to choose from. We had a great time and would definitely go back.

We've also been to Aruba a few times, and went to Sandals in Antigua for our honeymoon. We absolutely LOVED the Sandals, but that trip was the most expensive- around $7000 including flights for the week. Aruba is pretty expensive too- there aren't many cheap flights to get there.

[pinkcat]

Mar 20, 2015 9:58:00 GMT -5 LadyNymeria said:

What did you do? My only Caribbean trip was Aruba for our honeymoon, it was amazing!

Where did you stay and for how long? We stayed at the Radisson for 10 days/9 nights, they have the largest piece of beachfont of all hotels on the island so there was always plenty of room (I guess I should state that I believe I remember hearing that, but can't remember where to verify)

How much did it cost? The hotel and round-trip airfare was about $3100. We traveled in September which is their slow season so the hotel prices were really good. I don't remember how much we spent on food or fun, but it wasn't too bad.

Other random things: Aruba has some AMAZING restaurants so we chose not to do all-inclusive. Since we were there for so long we actually picked up some groceries for breakfast and lunch - did breakfast & lunch out of our room half the time, and went out the other half. Then we splurged on dinner each night!! The only meal that was not unbelievably delicious was the one morning we did the breakfast buffet at the hotel.

One of the reasons we picked Aruba is that the island is really safe, and you can simply walk off resort property, unlike some other islands in the Caribbean. There were a lot of restaurants within walking distance of our hotel and it was nice to be able to feel comfortable just walking back and forth to dinner. For restaurants that were too far to walk, the taxi system on the island is great.

MH and I are actually headed back there later this year as a "kick-off to TTC" trip.

TL;DR - ARUBA IS AMAZING!!!! GO THERE!!!!

ETA: Aruba is also below the hurricane belt so a storm hitting the island is very rare. Certainly something to consider if you travel during hurricane season.

Agreed on your whole post- I LOVE Aruba. I feel very safe there like you mentioned, and I love that it's out of the hurricane belt. Also, we leave for our family vacation there in approximately 18 hours...not that I am counting down... :-D