Bragging rights

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Did you line up to be the first to get your hands on the new iPhone 5?  Are you always the first among your friends to try a new restaurant or see a new movie?  Then why honeymoon at a “been-there, done-that” resort?

Here’s your chance to be right on the cutting edge of honeymoon destinations, with three new romantic all-inclusives opening this year:

  • Couples Resorts, which up until now has operated four fantastic adults-only all-inclusives in Jamaica, is making its first foray off the island and opening a new property in Barbados. This is great news for Couples Resorts fans, who can now try out a different island, and for the growing numbers of couples who are intrigued by Barbados, but have had few good all-inclusive options in that destination. The property that they are taking over is the former Almond Casuarina Beach and, after some renovations and re-branding, they expect to be up and running by May/June of this year.

 

  • Sandals Resorts, which is well known for its couples-only properties in Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua and the Bahamas, is also expanding to an exciting new destination — Grenada. They’ve purchased the former La Source resort, and are in the process of “Sandalizing” it for a re-opening early this year. With Sandals moving in to this island, you can be fairly certain that air service (which up until now has been a little bit lacking) will increase, and it will become easier for travelers to experience the romance of the “spice island”, as it is known.

 

  • Secrets Resorts, which are among my clients’ favorite options in Cancun and the Mayan Rivieria, is opening a beautiful new property on the west coast of Mexico, called Secrets Puerto Los Cabos. The all-suite, adults-only, beachfront resort is sheduled to open by the end of 2013, so put it on your “radar” for next winter!

All the ingredients for the perfect honeymoon

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A white sand beach, a few palm trees, and the warm water lapping at your toes. That’s all you need for a tropical honeymoon, right? Wrong!

There’s an art to choosing the perfect destination and finding just the right resort, and there are a lot of factors that come into play (the resort’s atmosphere, the entertainment, the service, the food, the rooms, the other clientele, the available off-resort activities, the ease of getting there, etc.)  With a little help from their favorite travel agent, Jena and Shaun combined all the right ingredients and cooked up exactly the honeymoon they had been dreaming about:

Our honeymoon experience was nothing short of amazing! Annie was excellent to work with and really got to know us and what we were looking for in our honeymoon. We love that we got to see on paper a complete itinerary of a few choices of places so we had all of the knowledge we needed to make an informed decision of what worked best with our schedule, budget, and desires! Annie was great at letting us know what to expect and when, and it all went exactly as we were told it would!

The flights on Continental were smooth. All left at the times they were originally scheduled to, no problems with the air travel at all.

The shuttle transfers also went exactly as planned! We were happy to know exactly what company we should trust when we arrived in Punta Cana, as there were some questionable bystanders that offered to carry our bags. We knew enough not to give them to them, and they left us alone when we said no, but had we not known exactly what company to look for, we would have been confused.

The Majestic Elegance was beautiful! Very clean! The staff was friendly and helpful. Majestic Elegance definitely caters to honeymooners, we met tons of other couples on their honeymoon that all seemed to have the same romantic experience that we were having. The pools were great! And the beach was just steps away! The beach water was soo blue and beautiful and they had those grass hut umbrellas all along the beach to sit under so you could be at the beach all day without frying. We went from the pool to the beach to the pool all day long. Perfect. We didn’t think we were going to use the internet lounge when we read about it before the trip, but it was too easy to hop onto facebook and checkout all of our wedding pictures that people tagged us in, so it was fun to be able to see pictures of our wedding while we were on our honeymoon. Although, we chose not to communicate with anyone, we just wanted to look at pictures of our wedding. 🙂

Our Elegance Club Junior Suite was huge! The bed was gigantic! We loved that it was all tile and no carpets; that gave a very ‘clean’ feeling. We utilized the Jacuzzi in our room which was awesome! We told the staff what time we planned on taking a bath and they came to draw the perfect bath for us with unbelievable bubbles and red rose petals everywhere. We also liked that stand up shower had a rain showerhead, three wall jets, and a handheld jet. The double sinks were also a plus! They also had big closets with hangers and a safe to store our valuables. It was so easy to call it ‘home’ for the week.

The entertainment was great! At 10:00pm almost every night we went to a live show. One night they had a circus that showcased amazing talent! The Michael Jackson tribute show was awesome! There always seemed to be live music on our way to dinner, so we would stop and have a drink first to take that in. They definitely have a great entertainment staff!

The food is the only thing that I can say anything negative about, but I am a food snob, so some people might not mind it as much as I did.  The Japanese restaurant was decent. The Italian restaurant was edible. We did not try the French restaurant, but heard it was good. The buffets (the International buffet and the See by the Sea)…ummm, well, they had a lot of variety, so that was nice, but I personally did not enjoy them at all and found it hard to stomach. But that’s ok, we didn’t go to the DR for the food.

We did not feel the need to leave the resort at all, it was so big and so much to do! Although couples that we talked to that did some of the ‘off resort’ excursions said they were great. We did enjoy some activities right on the beach that were a blast. We did the snorkeling at the reefs that were right at our beach and saw some very colorful fish. We also went kayaking and had a blast. My favorite was the tubing off the back of a motor boat, it was a small cost, but such a rush!

Here are our tips and advice:

  • For the men, be sure to bring a long pair of pants and closed toed shoes- some of the restaurants require this for dinner.
  • We found that the staff here really appreciated it if you opened up a conversation with them in Spanish. Even if you only know how to say “hola”, it seems to go a long way.
  • If you purchase anything from the beach vendors, never pay the first price they ask, always bargain. And if you say “no gracias” to the beach vendors, they leave you alone right away.
  • If delicious food is important to you, this might not be the place for you.
  • Oh, be sure to do the honeymoon dinner at See by the Sea, it is awesome! You have a private table on the beach under a hut at night with your feet in the sand and you feel like you are the only two people in the world, very romantic.

Thank YOU Annie, for everything! We will be sure to contact you for our next trip and spread the word about your great services! I think our next trip is a while away, as now we are onto house hunting!  🙂

How to choose an all-inclusive resort

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All-inclusives are a popular vacation option for everyone from honeymooners to extended families, but it pays to do a little bit of advance research (and get some advice from your travel agent) to make sure you’re choosing the right all-inclusive resort for you.

Naturally, you’ll want to choose a destination that fits your interests, and a resort that offers the amenities (and pricing) that you’re looking for, but there are some more subtle differences that you might not think to ask about. Here are some of the important nuances that can make the difference between a good vacation choice and a great one:

  • Who is the resort aimed at? Is it couples-only? Adults-only (allowing singles and couples)? Are same-sex couples welcome?  Is it family-friendly?  If it’s a resort that allows guests of all ages, is there a separate adults-only section within the resort for those that don’t want to be around children?
  • What are the dining options? Some all-inclusives have primarily buffet restaurants while others offer a variety of a la carte restaurants as well. If the resort offers a mix of both types, are guests limited to the number of times they can eat in the sit-down restaurants? And are there some menu items that involve a surcharge (i.e. lobster)?
  • What beverages are included? Is it only domestic (local) brands of alcohol? Is your favorite top-shelf brand included, or will you have to pay a surcharge for that?
  • Are dining reservations required? If so, what is the procedure – can you make all your reservations at the beginning of the week, or do you need to call each day?
  • Is there a dress code? Some require long pants, closed toe shoes, and other attire that you may not want to pack for a stay in the tropics.
  • What resort activities are included in the all-inclusive rate? Most include all the non-motorized watersports, but if you’re a snorkel or SCUBA fanatic, you might want to choose a resort that also includes these activities.
  • How far is it from the airport, and what tours/excursions are available nearby?

With some advance planning and the professional advice of a trusted travel consultant, there’s sure to be a perfect all-inclusive resort out there for you!

It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it

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I recently returned from a whirlwind visit to three Sandals/Beaches resorts, and I have to say that the trip left me surprised, impressed, and very, very tired 🙂

The “surprised” part relates to my tour of Beaches Turks and Caicos. Having never visited a Beaches resort in person, I had a certain picture in my mind – and I had definitely pigeonholed these family-friendly properties as being aimed at parents with young kids.  And while they DO appeal to young families, of course, I was pleased to see that they offer so much more than that as well! The Italian village at Beaches Turks and Caicos, with its sophisticated poolside cabanas and beautiful oceanview suites, would be perfect for a girls’ getaway or a multigenerational family reunion (some of the suites accommodate 10 or 12 people!)  Active teens would love the waterpark, and my son, in particular, would never want to leave the XBox 360 Game Garage. 

The “impressed” part of my trip came during our unexpected detour to Sandals Royal Bahamian. We had been headed to Turks and Caicos, but were detoured due to Hurricane Earl, and forced to land in Nassau. With no more than an hour’s notice, Sandals Royal Bahamian came up with shuttle transportation, lodging, and meals for 200 travel agents. They even put on a fantastic show for us that evening, with limbo dancing, a fire eater, and more.  Any management team (and staff) that can show so much grace under pressure, and can rally together to take such good care of unexpected guests, can certainly handle a garden-variety mishap in someone’s vacation. I am confident that the management here (and at the other resorts in the chain) would take equally good care of my clients.

And finally, the “tired” part of the trip was due to the schedule. We toured three resorts on three different islands (the third was the brand new Sandals Emerald Bay on Great Exuma), met with staff and management, received four hours of classroom training about Sandals and Beaches resorts, and spent far too many hours in airports and on planes trying to stay ahead of the hurricane. And even though I never even got to dip my toes in that beautiful Caribbean water, it was all worth it – because there’s nothing like being able to match a client up with the right resort, on the right island, in the right room category for them, and being able to say “Yes, I’ve been there, and you’re going to love it!”

If you want to see for yourself, my photos are here.

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You provided excellent guidance for us. I appreciated that you really had us think about what was most important to us when we were selecting the right cruise – and not to totally focus on what other people had to say. THANK YOU for helping to make this a memorable trip for our family! It really was a trip of a lifetime!

– Clare and Mark (family cruise to Alaska)

The level of service we experienced was out of this world (and we did NOT make it easy on Ann). We weren’t quite sure where we wanted to go, when we would be able to go, or what “vibe” we were going for. After asking us some key questions (what we liked, didn’t like, why, etc.) Ann helped us narrow down our trip details and planned the honeymoon of our dreams. She helped book some of our excursions, answered some emergency questions while abroad and was always available/willing to help. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be using anyone else for future travel planning – Ann is a rockstar!

– Carli (Italy and Spain)