Baltimore Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tropical Vacation Dreams
The idea has been floated among my circle of local friends (who are almost all born in '83) that the year we all turn 30 we should take a week long tropical vacation together. That's two years from now, so we've got lots of time to figure out details - but it's nice to dream ahead of time.
So...If you were going to go on a week long vacation with a group of your best friends - where would you go? What would you do? The only caveat for us is that it has to be warm and it has to be relatively affordable, but if that's not your thing, share your dream no-kids group vacation.
Re: Tropical Vacation Dreams
Couples trip.
Somewhere between 6 and 12 people depending on which couples could actually make it.
My Goodness...another food blog. Featuring: Macarons from a old post with a photo taken by my mom for a break from my crappy food photos!
Tropical Vacation Dream? Tahiti, hands down. I am dying to go but know it's a pipe dream.
Realistic? If you're going with just girls (or even a couples trip) go somewhere where there is a lot of nightlife. Miami? Cancun? I've been to Aruba and St. Lucia and both are so very lowkey, romantical places...not ideal for going out at night, etc.
Someone's getting a little brother!
Have you been to Key West? There is so much to do there and it would be a lot of fun with a group. You could always do a couples AI somewhere and just choose wherever it's easiest/cheapest to fly to.
We did this.... we all turned 30 last year, so in Feb went all went on a cruise out of New Orleans. We needed something priced reasonably since the guys weren't coming (girls only). We went down to New Orleans a day early and partied in New Orleans that night then caught the boat the next morning. It was a blast!!!
This wasn't exactly what we wanted but we had to consider airfare, hotel, and cruise expenses.... We thought about a AI type of place but that was a lot more money and the girls hadn't been out of the country before, so a cruise allowed them to see many places at once.
DE IVF #1= 04/11 - BFP
I'm kinda pushing the idea of a cruise, because they seem like a good hassel free option for a big group, and I think they're fun. But the rest of the group is concerned about the cost of booze.
The rare times we do end up with no kids around we tend to cut loose, so assume kinda heavy drinking - anybody have a good source to estimate how much all the extras are likely to end up costing on a cruise so we can do a real comparison between a cruise and AI and something like renting a house in Key West?
Last time I was on a "partying" cruise was spring break - and I don't have the slightest idea how much I ended up paying between tips and alcohol and excursions.
My Goodness...another food blog. Featuring: Macarons from a old post with a photo taken by my mom for a break from my crappy food photos!
I would look into AIs in the Dominican Republic. If you want to keep costs down I would in the late spring/early fall or if you want it to be very inexpensive the summer.
If you leave out of Baltimore you can pack wine/alcohol in your luggage. That way you can have some already to cut back on cost!
Most cruise lines now spot check luggage and you are only allowed to bring a certain amount on, they will confiscate handles of vodka, etc.
Royal Caribbean doesn't allow you to bring on any alcohol. That doesn't mean you can't smuggle it in cosmetic bottles. I believe Carnival still allows it. You can cruise out of Bmore or New Jersey, right outside of NYC, which offers an amazing sail off view.
I would do a cruise too. You can always drink cheaply in most ports. On board, you will spend between $8-$12 a drink. You can also buy wine packages that allow for so many bottles for the trip (we did that on our last cruise). We don't drink a lot on vacay, and spend a ton of $$$ in the spa and on random crap like bingo (that shits is expensive, don't let them suck you in). For a 9 night cruise, our end bill was $1200. Including our actual cruise, it broke down to $133 a day per person, which isn't bad at all. I think we each went to the spa at least three times, we both had multiple drinks per day, and did at least one excursion.
I like the ease of cruising, especially for a group, and even more so if you have a local port like we do. No need to worry about airfare, and baggage charges. No need to think about anything really.
BFF did a couples trip to an AI in Dominican Republic. I think they were there a week, and it was $2500 a couple (plus airfare). They had a private house on a resort, and really enjoyed it. However, they didn't really go off resort at all and when they did they didn't really enjoy it. Our last cruise stopped there and I got right back on the boat. I have never been so uncomfortable in all my life, and there were other islands that were similar, but I never felt unsafe like I did on DR.
I think for an affordable couples "drinking beach trip" I would do an AI. We just went to Cancun for a wedding at one and had so much fun with all our friends there for a few days. All food and drinks were paid for, it was so easy, huge place with different pools you could go to each day. There were also off resort trips you could do. We would fill out a menu for breakfast each morning and hang it on our door and the waiter would show up with what we wanted every morning. A server walking around the pool taking orders all day...
It's not romantic and the food wasn't amazing, but for a fun easy couples trip I think it would be perfect. We were at the Moon Palace.
We rented a house in Belize a couple years ago and while it was fun, Belize just wasn't as great as I was expecting. The beaches aren't great at all so if you are looking to lounge at the beach I wouldn't go there.
If you plan on doing a lot of drinking then an AI is the way to go. There are bottles of liquor in your room (at most places) and you know exactly how much the trip is going to cost before you go. A friend and I stayed at an AI in Riviera Maya and it was fantastic. I would like to do Jamaica for my next trip.
Which AI did you stay at?
My Goodness...another food blog. Featuring: Macarons from a old post with a photo taken by my mom for a break from my crappy food photos!
I'd head to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico or the Caribbean. I've been to Cancun 5 or 6 times with a group of friends and had a blast each time. The most recent time was in April - a couple we are friends with were married at Moon Palace. That's not exactly in Cancun so we never left the resort but there were plenty of bars onsite. If you want to bar hop, downtown Cancun is great for that - Carlos & Charlies, Senor Frogs, etc. About 6 years ago, a group of us went to Dreams Cancun, another all inclusive. I wasn't impressed with the pool, but the beach views were great and it was close to everything. One year we went to Riu in Jamaica, but the resort was dead at night and we weren't close to any downtown areas. Another time (for a wedding) we were at a Sandals, which was a lot of fun, but definitely pricier than most all inclusives. Happy planning!