Travel
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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.
Girls Trip
I am looking to book a girls trip for next March. I own a Marriott TS in Aruba and will be exchanging through Interval. So far, these are the resorts I have it narrowed down to:
1. Grand Luxxe (Riviera Maya)
2. Royal Haciendas (Riviera Maya)
3. Captain Morgans Vacation Beach Club (Belize)
4. Jewel Dunn's River (Jamaica)
5. Azul Fives and Azul Sensatori
Has anyone stayed at any of these? Thoughts? Also, how does all-inclusive work when exchanging? Is it worth it?
Thanks!
Re: Girls Trip
ive stayed at the haciendas 2x (as recently as this past may). haciendas are not all inclusive. it's the sister resort to ours in cancun. it's nice but after this 2nd visit im not much of a fan.
i'd check the tripadvisor reviews on the azuls. dh and i own in cancun and were considering exchanging through interval for one of them and opted not to as the reviews weren't good.
I stayed at RH 3 years ago and love it. Why were you not impressed this time?
Are there any other interval resorts you would recommend. Will be about 6 girls (in our early 30's). Looking for CLEAN, great pool/beach, somewhat of a night life but nothing crazy.
I stayed there for a week in 2009 as well. I'm really not sure-I mean it's super clean and the staff is great and all of that but the new seafood restaurant wasn't all that as far as I was concerned. the mushroom crepe appetizer was great, the caribbean lobster was over-done, the salmon was over-done, the shrimp were over-done. just not the best and they charge a lot. i found it to be trying way too hard. the restaurant next to the pool was ok aside of the service being PAINFULLY slow-same thing by the pool. expect NO nightlife. they have a shuttle that goes to playa del carmen but you have to make the reservations the day before and the last one that runs leaves at 5pm. too early for me. the spa was nothing special-massage was good but it was blah overall and a terrible set-up. i absolutely HATE the lighting in the rooms. i know it seems like a silly thing to be irritated about but since the only drawers are under the TV it's really really really hard to see what you're pulling out as there are NO lights above or next to it. Dh likes to sleep in, I'm always up early as i like being at the pool before 8 as I like the quiet to read for a while. cant find a darn thing in there unless i open the shades adn wake him.
i'd look into the royal sands up in cancun-same room set up. it's close enough to get a 5 min cab ride to any of the great restaurants in town, the spa in there is great, the restaurants are better, service si far better. also there's a free shuttle to the rci and the other 3 resorts down the street-the islander, caribbean and mayan all of which are smaller but have nice pools etc... we own at the islander and love it. a lot more to do within a short walk. food and drinks aren't expensive either and, since there's a full kitchen and shop downstairs it's easy to pakc the fridge with beers or wine and snacks and enjoy the balcony. they also have a nice coffee shop int eh lobby. the one at the haciendas was one guy, one espresso machine and a few cups at the rotunda bar. weird. and he wasn't friendly.
Hi, my H and I own a Marriott TS in Kauai....we traded for the Royal Haciendas back in 2008 when they were still constructing another phase of the resort. We absolutely LOVED our villa, a huge 2 bdrm with a jacuzzi on one of the balconies, it was awesome!! Nice infinity pool and beautiful beach, and at that time only one restaurant was open which had a really good affordable breakfast buffet. The pool grill was very good, great happy hour drink deals and the fish tacos were yum! There was pretty much zero nightlife there at that time but we're not big partiers or anything anyway and Playa is so close, we just caught the shuttle, and another time a cab which was cheap. I would love to stay here again, and I do think it would be great for a girls trip, lots of room for everyone and close to Playa where all the action is!
On that same trip, we visited the Royal Sands in Cancun for a day (you have this privilege if staying at another Royal TS resort). This is a very nice resort with an impressive pool and a gorgeous beach. However, it was very busy, loaded with people in the pool, on the lounge chairs and the beach. So if that's your kind of scene, then you'd love it. We didn't see the rooms in person, but I looked online and they just looked "okay" as far as decor, not at all as nice as the RH...
We visited the Jewel Dunn's River on our HM back in 2006 when it was actually the Sandals Dunn's River Resort at that time. Loved it, everything was awesome and a beautiful resort. Not sure how they've changed it since becoming the JDR, it may be even better now!
From what I know (but haven't done yet), when trading for an AI resort, you have to phone the specific resort to find out what the AI fee is p.p. and pay them directly. I'm wondering myself if it would be worth it...
Let us know what resort you choose
Earls-I felt the same way about the pool grill the last time I was at the haciendas. Not so good this time around. IMO it's gone down hill.
And the sands has very very very similar interiors to the haciendas. same exact layout (no jacuzzi on balcony) but same kitchen, living room, balcony etc... different furniture but still comfy. infinately better lighting. at RH The funny thing is that the bathroom tiles aren't marble or stone-just printed to look that way. The phase II pool at sands is very quiet. I find the rooms at the sands to be a bit of a nicer caribbean lookign decor. my mom and grandma own there so we've been there about 300 times and stayed there ourselves for a few weeks.
Thanks for all the info girls! I am nervous about Cancun only because since I am in education, we are going during my spring break. I am worried it will be filled with partying college kids. I took Jewel off the list because they only have studios. I considered adding Aruba Surf Club where I own, but a few of us have been to Aruba and we want something new. I am putting too much pressure on myself becuase I want everyone to have a good time.
I live in NY and everyone else is in VA so I would rather not spend that much time on a plane to Hawaii.