Caribbean all-inclusive deals

[MommaBerd]

My sister and I are looking to take a trip together (I couldn't persuade her to go to WDW ). We were thinking of an all-inclusive. Where should I look to find the best deals? Typical travel sites (e.g. Expedia)? Are there any all-inclusives we should avoid? We're traveling the first week of June; should I wait until closer to the travel dates to get the best deal? We'll definitely go somewhere in he Caribbean because it is the closest. Probably stay 3 nights... Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[OhMari]

People seem to enjoy Cozumel. We went there for a day off of our cruise ship. Maybe you would rather do a 3/4 cruise. Sometimes with Carival and Royal Caribbean you can get last minute deals.

 

[mslhb]

I have booked twice with cheapcaribbean.com and have been happy with the experience. The Dominican and Cancun/Riviera Maya areas have tons of options in all price ranges.

 

[Madteaparty001]

People really seem to like the Sandals resorts, I know booking.com has all inclusives on their site, and I think you can book packages with flights on priceline and southwest.

 

[cruisin5]

Cozumel if you want a busy/party environment. If you're looking to relax than my pick would be the Riviera Maya. You'll only find all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Mexico (at least in my research). We love the Bahia Akumal.

 

[klacey1]

I also used CheapCaribbean.com. Stayed in Puerta Plata, DR last February at the Lifestyles Tropical Resort. It was fine, mainly a timeshare place so as "hotel guests" we were limited to certain bars and restaurants. Was pretty decent though overall. Puerta Plata was much cheaper than Punta Cana for our dates.

 

[My3kiddos]

Bahia Akumal is a beautiful resort, but we weren't crazy about the beach there. We are going with the Bahia Principe chain again though and going to Grand Bahia Principe Esmeralda in Punta Cana. I've found with Bahia Principe we get a better rate booking directly through the resort website compared to any other site.

A good website for All Inclusive Resorts is Vacation Express. I love Dominican Republic, but for a girls trip Cabo would be a lot of fun. Not in an all inclusive in Cabo though. Stay directly on the marina and check out the town by foot.

 

[MommaBerd]

Thanks so much for the replies - especially the websites. I have also found a cruise that fits in my schedule. What I'm finding is that the most expensive piece of this is the airfare. I guess that's the price to be paid when booking "last minute."

 

[AndreaDM]

I had a good experience with cheapcarribean as well. I think it helped to actually talk to a rep on the phone as well after we booked online, she was able to put in room requests, etc. for us.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've found the best deals directly through the actual website of the resort.

 

[pblack]

I would check Travelzoo.com as well as costcotravel.com if you have a Costco membership. Also you can usually find some pretty good deals on Groupon.

 

[MommaBerd]

@pblack - I have checked Costco Travel, but I think the deals on CheapCaribbean.com are better. I'll look into TravelZoo...as I said earlier, the biggest expense is the airfare - it's half of our budget! I think if we had planned this a few weeks ago, we would have more options. Sigh.

The other thing is that there are so. many. resorts. I've mainly been focused on Punta Cana so that we don't have to worry about "losing time" on the way home. (I'm on a fairly tight schedule, so that doesn't help either.) But I am completely overwhelmed by the options!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

@pblack - I have checked Costco Travel, but I think the deals on CheapCaribbean.com are better. I'll look into TravelZoo...as I said earlier, the biggest expense is the airfare - it's half of our budget! I think if we had planned this a few weeks ago, we would have more options. Sigh.

The other thing is that there are so. many. resorts. I've mainly been focused on Punta Cana so that we don't have to worry about "losing time" on the way home. (I'm on a fairly tight schedule, so that doesn't help either.) But I am completely overwhelmed by the options!

We booked Punta Cana for a wedding we are attending in August. The couple had an agent. Well we looked around and the agent's "special" was higher than the actual resort and higher than Expedia. It was about $500-600 cheaper for us to book directly through the hotel website. We were shocked since we thought we were getting this awesome group rate. Most of the people going did not book with their agent.

Going through the site was cheaper than CheapCaribbean.com also.

 

[MommaBerd]

We booked Punta Cana for a wedding we are attending in August. The couple had an agent. Well we looked around and the agent's "special" was higher than the actual resort and higher than Expedia. It was about $500-600 cheaper for us to book directly through the hotel website. We were shocked since we thought we were getting this awesome group rate. Most of the people going did not book with their agent.

Going through the site was cheaper than CheapCaribbean.com also.

Wow! That's good to know! Did you book your own airfare?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Wow! That's good to know! Did you book your own airfare?

Yes we booked airfare separate.