When I am vacationing with just my husband I generally want it kid free. We loved Royal Hideaway Playacar. I think it is the only 5 diamond all inclusive. The rooms, grounds and beach were gorgeous. There was drink service on the beach, the food was top notch. There were multiple pools and top shelf liquor.
Iberostars are nice but there are alot of kids there. Nothing worse then floating on a raft in the pool with some kid splashing water in your drink.
Cruising is nice to, but again the kid factor when you are traveling without kids is an issue to me.
I have been to all the Grand Lidos in Jamaica and the one with the best beach and funnest atmosphere is Grand Lido Braco, again, no kids and room service is included.
I have also been to several Sandals which were very nice, I got a huge like 5 catagory upgrade at Sandals Mo Bay with my TA and had a full bar in my room, but no room service. You can stay at one and play at others which is nice, but overall I didn't like the clientale for some reason and there was always a long line at the bar and grill and the food was just so so. Also no drink service on the beach which I didn't like. It sounds like all I do is get tanked and eat on my trip but really I just enjoy relaxing with a nice cocktail and spending the day in the beautiful waters. I am not really into all the pool games and can no longer see to snorkel.
The only all inclusive that I will go to that has kids is Beaches Turks and Caicos. There are tons of pools and a main pool for little kids so they mostly hang out there. We got upgraded again from our
travel agent to an ocean front 1 bedroom suite with 2 tvs a gorgeous bathroom, bottles of wine, snacks etc. That place is as active or relaxed as you can choose. My husband did the scuba course there and got hooked and spent alot of time diving. The food was much better then the other sandals I had been to. It is on Grace Bay beach which is one of the top ranked beaches in the world and far nicer then any caribbean island I have been to and every beach I have seen on 4 islands in Hawaii.
For me it would be a real toss up between Royal Hideaway Playacar and Beaches Turks and Caicos. One thing that Turks has going for it is a good rate on high speed internet with good service which the last time I went to Playacar they didn't have, they may now.
I love disney but my real passion is all inclusive beach vactions so I have been to quite a few. Avoid the bahamas if you have been to the beaches in South Florida, Atlantis is nice but the beach isnt worth the flight IMHO. ANd I have been to one in the Dominican Republic run by hilton that was gorgeous with a nice enough beach but the food and there were many choices was not good. I have heard other resorts are better and there is a board called Debbies Dominican Travel that has more info. The country does alot of rolling blackouts though and that ticked me off, also no internet service but I did get incoming only cell service.
Internet is very important to me on vacation because my husbands idea of what is good on tv is not the same as me and I need something to do before I head to bed.
I am jealous you are going somewhere!!! I would love a stay at the beach about now.
