Tell me your favorite all-inclusive!

[jse107]

I'd like to start planning for a family vacation--even though it will be more than a year away. We went to the Dominican Republic 4 years ago and enjoyed it, although the resort could have used some updating.

What are your favorite family-friendly all-inclusives? I don't necessarily need a kids-club.

I'm looking for somewhere warm where the kids can play on the beach and swim in the ocean. Needs to have decent food and a clean room! If you can drink the water, all the better (we stayed *mostly* well on the DR trip...)

[geochick]

We have a favorite resort in the Rivera Maya of Mexico. We've just booked our third trip for this Fall. It's called Grand Palladium. It's 5 resorts in 1 mega. I don't have a ton of time, but I'll give some highlights:

It can be cheap if you wait for sales. PM me if you want details. Last year we got direct airfare for $399ea. The hotel suite (1 bedroom, plus a living room) cost the 4 of us about $1200 - total for 7 nights. So, with air, our grand total cost the four of us <$3000. You have to be a sale watcher like me, but if you travel in low season, and watch fares/rates several months out, you can get a deal!

Great kids' club.

Best kids' beach I've ever been to (6" high waves, tons of shade trees and palapas right up to the water). Powder fine sand.

Unlimited ala carte restaurants for the evening meals (most resorts give you anywhere from 3-5/wk...all other meals in the buffets).

Fun transportation all around the resort (trains, pontoon boats, shuttles).

Kid friendly pools.

Good food.

Safe water.

Secure property.

I'm a member of Palladium Addicts, a message board for people who love the place:
http://palladiumaddict.net/PAForum/viewforum.php?f=1

More info:
http://www.palladiumaddict.net/mexico-mayan-riviera

Map of resort:
http://www.palladiumaddict.net/mexic...?c=resort-maps

Are there nicer places on the planet? Yes. Are there nice places on the planet for these prices? No.

Some other members of this forum have asked about this place in the past. Both have written to me since saying they LOVED Palladium. You could do a search to see what else Iwrote about it before. I have to run.

[geochick]

Other posts:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...ight=palladium

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...ight=palladium

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...ight=palladium

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...ight=palladium

[las710]

Similar to GeoChick, we've got a Riviera Maya favorite too -- the Iberostar Paraiso Maya. We just got back from our second visit there and had a wonderful time. If you do a search for it on Tripadvisor.com, you will see all the great reviews it has gotten and we specifically chose it because it was rated one of the top family resorts in Riviera Maya.

Some special features:
Kids club for 4-year olds and above
Wave pool (my 3-yo LOVED this)
Lazy river
Amazing pools
Great food --similar to above, unlimited ala carte dining at dinnertime
Kids show every night in the theater (kids get up on stage and dance, play games, etc.)
Great beach
Nice sized rooms
Very clean, nicely appointed resort
Wonderful staff

Iberostar has four family resorts on the same property -- the Paraiso Maya is the nicest and allows you access to all the resorts. The grounds at all resorts are amazing and exploring them is a lot of fun too. One has a pool with flamingos in the lobby,
the Maya has a iguana/bird and turtle house (we'd go say goodnight to "our friends" every night), there's a parrot house at another. And peacocks and coati (a tame, funny-looking racoonish thing) can be found walking around the resorts.

The only drawback in my opinion is that the rooms do not have a separate closed-off seating area so when we'd put the kids to bed, it was lights-out for everyone. We sat in the empty bathtub one night drinking beers, just to not wake the kids. There is a balcony too -- we probably should have tried going out there, but the bugs were kind of bad and we were afraid we'd wake the kids.

There is an Iberostar Fan site too -- www.iberostar-board.com where you can find a lot of good info.

I found the best pricing through FunJet Vacations and booked through www.traveloni.com which offers an additional 5% off on Funjet. The pricing does change occasionally and you'll want to keep an eye on it. I've always gotten the Funjet Cancel for Any Reason insurance and if prices change, they will adjust to the lower price if you've got that insurance. We paid about $2150 for the hotel-only component of this trip this past April (had been over $3,000, but the prices had come down).

We had considered the Grand Pallidium as well and it does look very nice, but we decided to return to the Iberostar Paraiso Maya since we'd had such a great experience the first time -- we were afraid to mess with a good thing.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[geochick]

Yes! Iberostar Maya and Lindo both have great reviews. We opted for Palladium for a few reasons...our youngest is under 4. Palladium has a baby club for kids under 4. Iberostar also wouldn't guarantee giving us connecting rooms, and we WON'T travel with kids in our sleeping room. My kids are not good sleepers, and my dh stays up late. We book the suite at Palladium...the kids sleep in the living room, and we don't have to mess with worrying about whether or not we'll get connecting. The last thing is the beach. We spend a ton of time at the beach, and Palladium's beach can't be beat.

Iberostar is on our short list once both kids are over 4, though, as is Barcelo Colonial.

[katilyn_lg]

Hi Geochick,

I am new here, don't know how to PM you. But, I am going to book Pallidum based on your great experience (and others on the forum) for the summer. Could you let me know what is the trick to get the best price? Thanks!

[drako]

I am curious the color of the water at the Palladium? Is it the nice clear, turquoise caribbean blue water? DH and I went to the Paradisis in Riveria Maya a few years ago and we were so disappointed with the ocean. It was murky like lake water...so disappointing since we thought it was going to be like up in Cancun. We actually went to the pool every day and skipped the beach...so upsetting since the beach is what we wanted.

Anyway, we are planning to go away this summer to an island/tropical destination. We may consider this but was really trying to stay away from Riveria Maya since our first experience wasn't that great. Also, how long is the ride from the airport? DD will be about 16 months and we are trying to find a short flight and short ride to the resort. I think it looked about 50 miles from the airport so I think longer than we would want.

[geochick]

Drako -

These pictures show the water accurately:

http://www.palladiumaddict.net/mexic...=photo-gallery

Airport ride: 1hour, 10 minutes

Katilyn -

For best rates this is what I do -
1. watch for a killer deal on air, book it.
2. a few months before, I watch for sale codes for the hotel portion (I signed up for them through Fiesta Hotel Group...they email them periodically). You can also see sale codes on the Palladium Addicts message board:
http://palladiumaddict.net/PAForum/viewforum.php?f=1

I often book with these codes on Fiesta's site:
http://www.fiestahotelgroup.com/en/r...aracteristicas[1]=7&caracteristicas[5]=50&f_ini_d=28&f_ini_m=11&f_ini_a=2009&noches=7

You can often get a package deal if you watch prices closely. People like:

Orbitz
Applevacations
Funjet
Expedia
etc.

I recommend staying in a suite with kids. Parents get a bedroom, and you can put the kids in the living room. For families with more than 2 kids, you can book a Junior Suite. It will hold 5 people.

I HIGHLY recommend anyone looking at Palladium to start reading and posting questions on the Palladium Addict message board. There's also a faq section.

I book my airport transfers through AGI Tours (link can be found on the Palladium Addict site). They take you directly from the airport to the hotel...no stopping. Most transfer companies stop at various hotels along the way.

http://www.palladiumaddict.net/mexico-mayan-riviera

Let me know if you have any more questions. We're booked for our third trip to this resort. For us, 1 hour travel from the airport is nothing if you get all sorts of features at a low price.

PM me if you have more questions. You can click my name up there to PM me, I think.

[geochick]

This is exactly what it looks like. You really can put your chair right up to the edge of the water - I've never seen the waves over 6" high. There's a nice reef (good snorkeling) about 25 yards out. It keeps the waves down.

[geochick]

Another. On sunny days, the green water is very green. The darker patches are reef.