Caribbean/Faraway Holiday - Recommendations please

chatbug

Summer01 wrote: »

Hi chatbug are you back from Thailand now? Can't remember when you were going.

Also do you have any tips on the excellence resorts in Mexico? Or any other resorts i.e. Rui Palace. Want to head back but not sure of which resort yet.

Hi summer01 sorry never got back to you about Thailand. Went in Feb had a fantastic time. Stayed in Koh Samui. The hotel was just a few minutes drive from Cheweng centre. The beach was not as nice as Mexico or any other caribbean resort, but the people made up for it. We stayed on a B&B meal plan. Can be quiet expensive if you eat or drink in the hotel.
We are going back to Mexico next year staying at the Secrets Maroma Beach Riviera Cancun. We booked this as it was a very good price at the time of booking.
Has any one stayed at this hotel.
I would love to go back to Thailand but the price was too good to refuse.
As i have said stayed at the Excellence Riviera Cancun. This was a very good hotel the best bit being adults only. Not much to do at night. Stayed at Riu Palace Mexico this was also a good hotel but did have older children staying, last few days had the spring breakers arrive. At the RPM a lot more to do at night 5th avenue is in walking distance. If you need to know anything else just ask me.

System

Hi there, glad you had a good holiday in Thailand. What was the place called that you stayed in?

The Secrets hotel you mention gets very good reviews but I haven't personally been there. Sounds really great!

chatbug

Hi Sum the hotel we stayed at was the Imperial Samui in Koh Samui.

System

Thank you, we are booked to go to Dom Rep at some point but not sure whether to reconsider our hotel choice at the moment as the one we booked isn't adults only. We plan to go end Nov but this could be break time in America.

MrsE_2

Summer01 wrote: »

Thank you, we are booked to go to Dom Rep at some point but not sure whether to reconsider our hotel choice at the moment as the one we booked isn't adults only. We plan to go end Nov but this could be break time in America.

The Excellence in Dom Rep looks lovely. My DD is prob going to get married there.

You can get a good price from the Holiday Place.

serverdog

stupotstu wrote: »

Does anyone have any Hawaii input/thoughts/experiences to give me some sort of idea where to start?

We did Hawaii 2 years ago, and stayed 7 nights in Oahu (Honolulu) and 5 nights on the Big Island. There is far more to do on the Big Island and it is prettier - Honolulu is just a big city with traffic problems. It also depends if you are into surfing or not.

A morning walk up Diamond head in Honolulu is worth it, as well as the Pearl Harbour tour. Sundowners on Sunset beach on the north of the Oahu island is also good.

For the Big Island, there are incredible scenic points all round the island due to the volcanic flows. We opted for a Helicopter tour for and hour which was worth it (tip: all the tour company desks are next to each other at the airport. Find out approx departure times, and then go there 2 hours before their tours and compare prices. We got our tour at less than half price for the best seats + free DVD as they wanted to fill the aircraft).

Make sure you do a luau (evening dinner and cultural show), but do your research first. There are some terrible ones out there!

We intended to camp there, but then heard loads of high crime in Honolulu due to drugs, so ended up staying in a hotel. Make sure that car parking is included in your room rate, or at least find out how much it is, as we were stung for $20 / night parking in Waikiki.

As previously mentioned, use TripAdvisor and VirtualTourist - invaluable resources.

System

MrsE wrote: »

The Excellence in Dom Rep looks lovely. My DD is prob going to get married there.

You can get a good price from the Holiday Place.

Thanks for the advise, I have never used the Holiday Place before. Have you been on your holiday yet MrsE?

ManPants

Hello!

Antigua was fantastic! It has leap frogged into top position as favourite holiday ever!! We flew around the island by helicopter, went horse riding along the beach and the people were just gorgeous! Managed a week in New York in December as well but apart from that have cut right back on holidays!

Now looking for Bahamas for May this year!

Anyone been?

Stupotstu

System

Hi there, glad you had a great time. Where in Antigua did you stay and who did you book through?

ManPants

Summer01 wrote: »

Where in Antigua did you stay and who did you book through?

Hi Summer (and everyone!)

We went with Virgin and stayed at St James at Mamora Bay. Gorgeous! Holiday cost over £4000 but well worth it! Antigua is a dream destination.

Next week we are off to Dominican Republic. After driving myself half crazy researching on the internet and cross checking against Trip Advisor I was half crazed with the stress of finding the perfect holiday. In the end I found myself in the travel agents about to book a £5000 holiday to the Bahamas for us when a moment of sense slipped in and I stopped myself and thought about how nice £5000 would be if paid off the mortgage.

In the end I booked nothing nor did I pay £5000 off the mortgage but instead had a dream one night about the Dominican republic, took that as a sign, came downstairs and booked and paid for a Thomson deal for only £3000 to a resort in Punta Cana! Hope that old saying "book a holiday in haste, repent at leisure" doesn't apply!! ha ha

Hope you are all well and happy - and more importantly looking athletic and tanned!!

Stupotstu X