Secluded, All-Inclusive Honeymoon locations?

[Bartholomew]

For $4000 and under, including airfare? You guys helped me so much in getting a good deal on an engagement ring, so I''m assuming you know your stuff with the honeymooning as well.

 

[Bartholomew]

BTW, this is going down next May!

 

[Clairitek]

Airfare from where?

 

[Bartholomew]

Sorry. Little Rock, AR, but I can travel by car to another city if that would save money.

 

[Clairitek]

To me, the terms ''secluded'' and ''all-inclusive'' do not really go hand in hand. All-inclusives, from what I hear, include a lot of interaction with staff. Either by the pool getting your drinks, in a beach chair, doing activities that are included in your room price, getting food etc. To me, that does not seem secluded, you know what I mean? Do you mean that you want to be at a fairly remote location not near a big city? Perhaps an island or something not Cancun-like?

If this is what you mean, I could think about Caribbean islands. Tahiti, Cook Islands, and Fiji will be super expensive for airfare (I''ve been to the Cooks and its VERY secluded and lovely but about $1000 to get there from LAX and I wasn''t too impressed with the all-inclusives I saw when I was there). Many of the Caribbean islands are accessible from bigger cities like San Juan. How about Antique, St Lucia, Martinique, etc? I haven''t been to any of these places but I know people who have and loved it.

 

[wannaBMrsH]

I agree with Clairitek, All-Inclusive and Secluded seem to be mutually exclusive. If you want a more upscale all-inclusive place, I would look towards the adult-only resorts in Mexico (maybe on the Pacific Side) and in the Caribbean (Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, etc.) which you can get to more easily with connections in Dallas or Houston.

Las Ventanas _Cabo San Lucas (Not AI-but GORGEOUS!)
Beaches - Turks & Caicos (All Inclusive)
Punta Cana Resort & Club

If you are looking for more secluded, I''ve heard amazing things about Jade Mountain Resort in St. Lucia and there is a great place in Costa Rica called Punta Islita that is still definitely on my list of places to visit.

Jade Mountain Resort
Punta Islita

I would also suggest the Cook Islands, the Seychelles, the Maldives or Bora Bora for exclusivity, but we just booked our travel to the Maldives and it was very pricey....

Good luck and I am sure that wherever you go, you will have an amazing time!

 

[princesss]

Not sure about all-inclusives, but I will say that generally driving to an airport that serves as a regional hub will usually save you a lot of money. Flights from smaller airports are generally more expensive in my experience.

ETA: My friends did an all-inclusive in Belize and loved it. Not sure what they spent, but they are still raving about it 2 years later. Also, you're lucky in that May is shoulder season, so you won't be hitting peak rates and the resorts won't be as crowded.

 

[Gypsy]

Grand Vellas Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. If you book through Alaskan Airlines it's much more cost effective.

 

[allycat0303]

Well, not exactly secluded but we went to Secrets Maroma and it was LOVELY. For the price, an absolute steal. We got it done for 3200$ Canadian (and that's because we went on several excursions) I thought I would HATE all-inclusive but I was pleasently surprised.

 

[tigian]

My DH and I went to Excellence at Playa Mujeres. It is adults-only which I was slightly apprehensive about, but it turned out to be really restful and beautiful. It is not exactly secluded, but it is away from the rowdy partiers which tend to be more in Cancun.
http://www.excellence-resorts.com/a...playa-mujeres-mexico/playa-mujeres-mexico.htm

We purchased the package through Expedia.com and though we are flew from CA, I believe a one week stay will be within your budget.

 

[RhubarbPie]

You should look at this all-inclusive: http://www.palaceresorts.com/ in Cancun. I just kind of haphazardly did a search on their site for airfare and hotel from Little Rock, AK for some random dates in May 2011 for like a 6 day trip and it came up well under 4000.00. We go every year and stay in a Presidential Suite and its really amazing. These are the hotels to look at in Cancun (there are a bunch in the Palace Resorts group): Sun Palace, Moon Palace, and Aventura Spa Palace (I believe this is adults only...extremely romantic and quiet). The nice thing about this resort group is that they have like 10 resorts in Cancun, and you can use the amenities and eat at the restaurants in every one of them, no matter where you stay. I've never stayed in the regular rooms, but Im sure they are really nice (the presidential suite is a little paradise....24 hour free room service, master suite and guest room with spa tubs in every room, 2 full bathrooms, marble entryway, massive living room with dining area and kitchen, beach views...omg, can't wait to go back). We have sent friends on their honeymoon there (in a regular room which they said was awesome) and they had a really fabulous time.

I've also heard that the palace resort in the dominican is really really nice too, but I like the Cancun resorts since you can use all of them (and each one has different kinds of restaurants, amenities, etc.). Give it a look!

 

[April20]

My DH and I went to Excellence at Playa Mujeres. It is adults-only which I was slightly apprehensive about, but it turned out to be really restful and beautiful. It is not exactly secluded, but it is away from the rowdy partiers which tend to be more in Cancun.
http://www.excellence-resorts.com/a...playa-mujeres-mexico/playa-mujeres-mexico.htm

We purchased the package through Expedia.com and though we are flew from CA, I believe a one week stay will be within your budget.

DH and I went here two years in a row. It's very quiet and away from the noise of Cancun. The resort is 99% couples, you just don't see the large groups of singles partying all night. It's too far from Cancun for that IMO. I'm not sure where you're flying from (i probably missed it), but the two of us went for 7 nights, 8 days both years, and paid less than $3K including airfare each time flying out of Atlanta. We've always booked thru CheapCaribbean and found the best prices there.

We're going to the Imperial Mayan Valentino in the Mayan Riviera this year. Don't know how it compares yet, but it was an awesome deal- like $2300 for both of us- 7 nights, 8 days including airfare.... DH wanted to go back to Excellence, but I insisted on something different!

 

[April20]

Side thought. Have you stayed at an all inclusive before? I've stayed in good and bad and have a list of things I look for that generally result in a "good" resort. Here's my list.

1. How many restaurants are there? Do you have to have reservations to eat in them? If you have to have reservations to eat in the restaurants, I knock the resort off the list. If you have to have reservations, it generally means that there is a buffet type dinner you eat off of on the other nights and that just doesn't fly with me. I also like the ability to do appetizers in one restaurant, dinner in another and dessert in a third if I so desire. I like a minimum of five restaurants to choose from.

2. Is there 24 hour room service? If no, off the list.

3. Are the rooms stocked with snacks/drinks? While I don't necessarily knock a resort off the list for this, if they're good, the answer will generally be yes.

4. How many bars are there? Do they serve premium liquor for no upcharge? If there is an upcharge for premium liquors, it comes off the list. There are plenty out there that offer premium for the same price. As a side point, the nicer the resort, the better the cups. Small thing, right? The "bad" resorts I've been at have rot gut liquor and serve everything in a 6 oz dixie cup. You see people bringing their own cups. The nice resorts I've stayed at have heavy plastic versions of the correct glasses for each drink.

I also prefer resorts where all rooms are junior suites at a minimum......

Anyhow, just a few things I use to "qualify" a resort. Then I stalk Travelocity and read reviews.

 

[Pushin40]

For $4K, in May, you can go pretty nuch anywhere in the Carribbean.

Are you interested in any particular island?

My favorite is St. Maarten. Lots of options there.
Aruba is always good
Punta Cana in the DR has a lot of affordable AIs and Bavaro beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

 

[Eskiez]

While not secluded, my BF and I went to Iberostar Grand Paraiso (http://www.iberostar.com/EN/-hotels/Ibe ... 3_117.html) and it was truly lovely. The food was excellent, it's adults only and primarily couples. The beach was almost empty and I always found chairs by the pool. We got a good deal from DC for 4 nights using a few popular discount online travel agencies -- I think it was $1200pp. The resort is about 40 minutes from Cancun, and 20 minutes from Playa del Carmen, which we also really enjoyed.

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

While not secluded, my BF and I went to Iberostar Grand Paraiso (http://www.iberostar.com/EN/-hotels/Ibe ... 3_117.html) and it was truly lovely. The food was excellent, it's adults only and primarily couples. The beach was almost empty and I always found chairs by the pool. We got a good deal from DC for 4 nights using a few popular discount online travel agencies -- I think it was $1200pp. The resort is about 40 minutes from Cancun, and 20 minutes from Playa del Carmen, which we also really enjoyed.

Sorry to threadjack! But DH and I were just looking at this for our birthdays in March. I imagine it's quite a bit busier around that time (spring breakers, ugh), what time of year did you go with your BF?

 

[hoofbeats95]

My DH and I went to Excellence at Playa Mujeres. It is adults-only which I was slightly apprehensive about, but it turned out to be really restful and beautiful. It is not exactly secluded, but it is away from the rowdy partiers which tend to be more in Cancun.
http://www.excellence-resorts.com/a...playa-mujeres-mexico/playa-mujeres-mexico.htm

We purchased the package through Expedia.com and though we are flew from CA, I believe a one week stay will be within your budget.

DH and I went here two years in a row. It's very quiet and away from the noise of Cancun. The resort is 99% couples, you just don't see the large groups of singles partying all night. It's too far from Cancun for that IMO. I'm not sure where you're flying from (i probably missed it), but the two of us went for 7 nights, 8 days both years, and paid less than $3K including airfare each time flying out of Atlanta. We've always booked thru CheapCaribbean and found the best prices there.

We're going to the Imperial Mayan Valentino in the Mayan Riviera this year. Don't know how it compares yet, but it was an awesome deal- like $2300 for both of us- 7 nights, 8 days including airfare.... DH wanted to go back to Excellence, but I insisted on something different!

How do you find the Excellence Playa Mujeres on CheapCaribbean?