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Finally planning a vacation- woohoo! Help me choose!
So as some of you regulars know, I have been dragging my feet about vacationing this year because I'm so nervous about flying with DS. I have decided to get over it, and DH is letting me take the reigns on trip planning.
We are bringing my baby sister (who is 19) because she has agreed to watch DS in exchange for the free vacation LOL. So it will be 3 adults and DS, who will be 13 months at the time.
DH is some kind of Marriott elite or platinum or executive level something-or-other status. That means we are only looking within the Marriott brand. I have been researching locations/flights/family friendliness, and ended with these three options:
Renaissance Resort and Casino, Aruba
Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort
JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa
The Cancun hotel is by FAR the nicest and has almost exclusively positive reviews. The Aruba and Grand Cayman hotels are dated and have some mixed reviews on trip advisor, but the locations are better and little less "Spring break"-y.
WWYD?
Re: Finally planning a vacation- woohoo! Help me choose!
What are you looking for out of this vacation? Do you like to tour around or are you just looking to relax by the pool? Also, are you going to be there during spring break season?
Good idea to bring your sister
Sounds like it will be a fun trip.
We want to sit on the beach and at the pool. We don't even need to get off a resort. We aren't the super adventurous type, we vacation solely to relax.
I don't think it's spring break season per se (as it's not spring haha) but college students are out of school for the month, so it could be a winter break destination, I suppose. But I doubt the hotel is in the price point of college students, anyway, because those JW's are high end Marriotts.
It really depends on what you want to do, see, etc.
We went to Aruba on our HM during September. It was so hot. We're not sit on the beach all day type people. We enjoy active vacations. I just didn't feel like there was enough to do and didn't enjoy the desert climate. But it is always sunny, the beaches are great, and if you don't mind not having it truely tropical then you may really enjoy it. Tons of people have time shares there, but it wasn't for me.
I like tropical places, as opposed to deserty, dry places. I loved Hawaii. So of your 3 I would choose the Cayman Islands probably.
Cancun would be my 2nd choice. Seeing Mayan Ruins would be pretty cool.
I agree with baker's line of reasoning, though I didn't vote in your Travel board poll.
You know, ladies, this is why I come here for advice.
I think I'll go with Cancun. I agree we should go with the best resort.
And MrsC's mention of Mayan Ruins tipped the scales. I may not be adventurous, but I was an anthropology major so that's pretty tempting.
Oh, and I just double checked flights, and it looks like we could go to Cancun first class. Woot!
Oh and since I am being an AW and PW today, please vote in the poll on the Travel board. I am selfishly blowing them up with posts/questions today. It's about flying first class with a toddler.
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/58018300.aspx
You know, someone posted a poll about this on MM I think several months ago. They ended up taking the kid in first class and came back and reported that it went just fine. I think the general consensus was that people understand that sometimes kids cry but as long as the adult is doing something to try to calm them then it's OK.
I agree with everyone else: If you're just looking to relax by the pool, then definitely pick the high-end resort.
FWIW, I went to Cancun a few years ago, and we went out to Chichen Itza. It was really amazing, and I'm so glad I got the chance to go there. (We were there one of the last years they let people climb the pyramid.) And I'm not all SPRING-BREAK WOOHOO, but I had fun there. We went to a few bars, sat by the pool, and had a good time overall.
Hi-
My husband is also a big marriott member. You can use your marriott points at Ritz Carlton (we did this for our honeymoon). I'm not sure if it's point-prohibitive but the Ritz in Grand Cayman is amazing! I would definitely recommend looking into it.
Good luck and have a great trip!
Thanks everyone!
And thanks for the tip! I know the Ritz is available and we have enough points to stay there. But anywhere else, we can get 2 rooms or a suite, which is important to us because we'll have the baby and my sister is coming to watch him. But if we didn't have those 2, we would definitely be doing the Ritz!