what's the difference: Sandals, Secrets, Breezes, Club Med, Dreams etc.?

dalm0m

I haven't done an AI in years.  We usualy cruise or go to Ireland.  I'm bored with both options & want to do something else. Please give me some general info about these & any other well known AI chains.  I think some of them are owned by the same parent company.  Which one is kid friendly?  (We want to avoid that one). 

I'm a beach bum & could be happy lying in the sun doing nothing for a week.  DH needs adventure & shade.  He is not a beach guy at all which is why we cruise because he has other options & nighlight while I get sand & surf.  Where we go isn't as important as value, cleanliness & overall fun.  Neither of us are world class foodies but we want more than hot dogs & hamburgers for lunch & we'd like some tasty variety for dinner. Hey, we eat cruise ship food but don't frequent chains (Applebees, TGIFs, Outback etc) at home.

What's a good price for a week in one of these?  When I went almost 15 years ago I think we paid about $1,300 pp with air for a week in Jamaica in the off season (early December before Christmas).  I priced a few AIs over NYE & was shocked that it was about $6,000 total with air & the flight times sucked.  I realize that's high season but what does a "typical" or average week run, to the extent that there is such a thing?

TIA.

MrsH1027

Hi!  We've only ever been to Sandals, which is couples only.  We went for our honeymoon, so we decided to upgrade to one of the more costly honeymoon suites, thinking it's a once in a lifetime vacation.  We went to Sandals La Toc in St. Lucia and honestly have nothing negative to say.  It's all what you make of it really.  If you're looking for a relaxing vacation, this is it.  We are very much beach people, but really only went to the beach one day.  We sat by the pool and some of the other relaxing areas set up throughout the resort and just enjoyed the carefree lifestyle for a week.  We did do one excursion to zipline through the rainforest on my birthday just to do something different.  Would recommend this as well!  Basically, we found that the resort was well equipped to cater to whatever personality you have.  If you want to party, around the main pool was the place to be.  If you wanted to go on adventures, there were plenty of excurssions available.  If you wanted to sit back and relax as a couple, there was another, more relaxing pool and planty of spots to just relax and take in the view.  I've been to Hawaii, and it's absolutely gorgeous, but nothing compared to St. Lucia.  I can honestly say that everywhere we looked was a post card view.  Hope this helps!

dalm0m

I too love St. Lucia.  DH would be bored out of his skull.  I'm surprised to hear that you thought it was more beautiful than Hawaii.

What I was looking for was not an explanation of AIs in general but the differences between the big names.  For example, using chain restaurants I'd say Outback does steak; Red Lobster does lobser; Joe's Crab Shack does steam pots, the old Bennigans was supposed to be Irish; Applebees & TGIF are neighborhood sports bars.  Using cruise lines I could tell people CCL is party; RCL is sporty; NCL is freestyle; Princess is romantic; X is upscale; HAL is older; MSC & Costa are European, & Cunard is traditional. 

Can I get that kind of break down about the differences between the AI brands? Is one for families & 1 for couples?  Does one have better food?  is one more upscale or down market than another?   Why did you chose Sandals over Secrets or Dreams or any other resort in St. Lucia?

 

monkeygirl18

We pretty much do AI's as we feel you get the most bang for your buck (we've done a cruise *hated it and felt it was way over priced for what we got* and we've done non AI the three times we've been to Key West).  That being said, we've only done Sandals (St.Lucia, Antigua and Jamaica) and The Royal Cancun (hotel zone in Cancun). 

In all of my research for Adult Only Ai's I have found that Sandals has the most included.  Some say it's over priced but honestly, after researching what is included at others vs Sandals I still say Sandals is the best bang for the buck as far as number of restaurants, bars,activities included on land and water. 

This should answer your first question about adults or children (if it's not on the list, it allows children)

http://www.resortvacationstogo.com (Caribbean Adults Only Resorts)

http://www.resortvacationstogo.com (Mexico Adults Only Resorts)

As for your other questions, they are highly subjective. Food wise, Sandals has been wonderful (the only one I didn't like was Antigua*to much butter and salt used for my taste* however, dh was fine with Antigua). We are the type of people that frequent places like you mentioned above vs fancy expensive restaurants.  At each Sandals there have been at min. 5 different types of themed restaurants ranging from upscale romantic Italian to late night pub food. 

At THE Royal in Cancun the restaurants were more upscale (a bit fancy for our taste) but the food was very good. There also were no activities included as compared to Sandals but the room was far superior.

The biggest difference I see in the AI's you are mentioning are the islands. Sandals is in: St. Lucia (3), Jamaica (7) Antigua (1) Bahamas (2) and the new one in Grenada that opens in Dec. The others you are mentioning seem to be Bahamas, Jamaica, Mex. Punta Cana and DR. Club Med, I know there is one in FL and one in CA (not sure if there are more) and they DO allow children. 

As for typical or average price for a week. It really depends what island (Jamaica and MX are cheaper than others), what time of year (high or low season), what type of room,where you are flying from and as we all know, flight prices are up and down like a roller coaster. So, when you book the flight makes a difference too ( I booked our flight for Jamaica *Sandals Whitehouse* next year back in June and as of right now it's up 64% from when I booked it). 

Our range has been between 6k and 8k for 7 nights in no less than a concierge level room and that includes everything from air to room to tips to excursions and any misc. monies spent. 

Your best bet is first pic a place to go (island and resort) then check out the resort on TripAdvisor (I only read reviews from people who have 5 reviews or more up as they are more likely to be believed). 

If it helps any I have reviews and pics from our trips in the link above my siggy pic. 

MrsH1027

Sorry I didn't explain better!  Don't get me wrong, Hawaii was absolutely gorgeous, I just found the area of St. Lucia that we stayed at (La Toc) to be more scenic than Hawaii overall.  We did venture out to the other Sandals resorts one night, and they were disappointing as far as views go.  Sandals is the only AI we have stayed at, so I can't really compare.  We chose Sandals for most of the same reasons listed in the PP above.  Being our honeymoon, we wanted an adults only and Sandals seemed to have more inclusions than the other resorts on the island.  I liked the variety of activities and options advertised through Sandals and loved the idea of having more personalized service there (concierge, butler, etc.).  We also had several friends that had gone to Sandals in Jamaica, and they all had nothing but great things to say.  We chose St. Lucia because it was the end of hurricane season and least likely to be affected becauce of how far south it is.  We also wanted to do something different since it seems like everyone we know goes to Jamaica when heading to the Carribean.

brij2006

As for the different types of resorts: Secrets, Sandals, Club Med, and Breezes are all Adults Only resorts.

Dreams resorts are the "family" resorts in comparison to Secrets.

As far as quality, I've found that all Adults Only resorts have high quality, and live up to their standards advertised.

I personally prefer Secrets resorts for a romantic getaway with the hubby, but Sandals does an amazing job at that too.

For a good mix of sun/beach and things to do, I would recommend Riviera Maya or Jamaica. They both have quite a few activities going on throughout the day (both on and off the resort), or you can just lounge on the beach. We did Dominican on our honeymoon, and didn't like that there weren't as many activities.  But then I went to Cancun with a big group of girls, and it was party central.  So it's all about what exactly you're looking for.

I highly recommend working with a travel agent through Apple Vacations.  They are very stringent on their Apple rating system, and an agent will help you find something that the both of you will like.

 

MrsLee04

I can't comment about all, but I know that Sandals is adult couples only, whereas I believe Breezes is adults only but you don't have to be a couple.  I've heard, as a result, you might get more of a party/Spring Break type of atmosphere because any adult can go, so lots of young people go there together in groups.  My BIL and his wife went to one on their HM, and they had fun, but they said there were things like toga parties and stuff.  I've looked into Club Med and I'm pretty sure kids are allowed there.

One thing I do know is that different AIs have different policies on tipping the employees.  We stayed at Sandals, and I know their policy is absolutely no tipping.  Any employee caught accepting a tip will be fired.  But other AIs don't have that policy, so it's important to know that policy before you tip.

Other than that I can't really compare the resorts to each other.  I did like the couples only atmosphere of Sandals when we went because we were already married and not looking to have a wild time.  The guests there are more looking for relaxing, romantic experiences.  We went to the Sandals Royal Bahamian which was great because it had lots of restaurant choices compared with the other Sandals properties (it was 9 years ago so I don't remember for sure but I think it was 7 or 8 restaurants).  It was important to us to not get bored with our eating choices if we weren't going to leave the property and this was a good fit.  We also liked that it had its own offshore private island.  You could take a boat over there any time of the day and get a change of scenery (and an additional restaurant and bar).  We also enjoyed the snorkeling tours they offered.  We did one every day of our stay. 

R.Wilsonny

My H & I spent our honeymoon at Secrets Capri in Riviera Maya and absolutely loved it. Mind you, this was the first time either of us had been to an AI so we have no basis of comparison but we really did enjoy this resort and would def go back. They have like 5-6 restaurants that were all very good. Some of them you need to reserve in advance but we had no problems getting a table at all and the food in all the restaurants was very good. Oh yea, I should add that in some of the restaurants, they had later reservations (like 8-830pm) so if you don't mind eating dinner that late, it's better and maybe a little less crowded. We lived in Spain and are used to eating dinner at like 9-10pm so this was perfect for us. Some people get angry when there's no reservations available at 6-7, but I think if you are open to times, you have a better overall experience. You are on vacation after all, so just have a drink at the bar while you wait

Oh yea, and Secrets is adults only...mostly couples, but you get the occasional family (with adult kids) going there too...

Laurmi

Sandals resorts are couples only and sort of the typical "go to" brand for honeymoons, anniversaries, first time caribbean vacations...etc....they are high end, have a nice variety of restaurants, but are way overpriced in my opinion.

Secrets resorts are adults only (mainly couples) and more modern, high end adults only resorts. I think you'll find more experienced travelers here. They are relatively expensive, but I fee like they are less commercial and the price is right. The food and alcohol is all top shelf. 

Dreams are the same company as Secrets, but not adults only and not as high end.

Breezes are same company as Sandals but not adults only and not as high end.

Club Med....do people still go to these? LOL. I think they were the first of its kind, AI's....but now are sort of being replaced by bigger and better resorts. 

Couples Resorts are amazzzzinng in my opinion. You didn't mention this brand, but it's a couples only resort brand and the most romantic, beautiful, authentic all inclusive brand in the Caribbean, if you ask me. We've been to quite a few AI's and this is by far the best we've been to. We went to Couples Swept Away in Negril, Jamaica. It was heaven on earth.

Happy planning!!

Laura 

MrsLee04

Laurmi said:

Breezes are same company as Sandals but not adults only and not as high end.

You're confusing Breezes with Beaches.  Beaches is owned by Sandals.  Breezes is not.

pmpknbride

Just chiming in to say I've only done Club Med, in Dominican Republic, and I'd never go to one again. The best way to describe it was that it felt like sleep away camp for families.

lifeguard

    They are not family resorts. It depends on how comfortable you are, how comfortable DH is and how you feel about DH on a beach(s) with "optional" levels of "coverage" ?
  Food and lodgings are usually high end. Drinks tend to be made with better stock than the basic bar mix.
  Age, careers, income and lifestyles of persons vacationing at Sandals etc vs those persons with families at the Holiday Inn differ. Depends on the culture of people you are comfortable being around.   

DawnLilly

A different smaller chain you might want to look into is Rendezvous Resorts.

brideon082104

Sandals/Beaches is the same umbrella company.

Secrets/Dreams/Now/Zoetry/Breathless/Sunscape are AMResorts. We stayed at Now Amber in Puerto Vallarta which is right next door to Secrets - Now Amber allows kids (we have 2), Secrets does not. Amazing resorts. In November we are going to the new Dreams Sands in Cancun. Before we had kids we stayed at El Dorado Seaside Suites in the Mayan Riviera which is an adults only Karisma resort, fantastic!!