Bahamas/Jamaica or Mexico?

Cancun is awesome! If you stay at any of the Palaces there (Sun Palace, Moon Palace, Cancun Palace, and I think there's one more) they're all inclusive and you can take shuttles to any of the others and hang out there if you want a change of scenery, and the best part is its still all inclusive at any of the other locations. FH and I are considering Jamaica and the Bahamas as well, but we have a little extra time because we won't honeymoon until December.

Did you feel safe @Katie? I guess that's my biggest concern about Mexico. Not necessarily while we're on the resort, but when we are in between the airport and resort.

The Palaces have shuttles that pick you up from the airport and take you to the resort. They're normally big busses that drop off at several different hotels, so it's just a bunch of tourists like you. I felt safe, but I didn't go out at night while I was there (apparently there's some pretty good night life there). I did go into town during the day and felt safe.

Yeah, I've looked into those Ashley and they would be ideal but I haven't found any adults only all inclusives Those are 2 requirements--no kids and has to be all inclusive.

Yeah, something about Mexico just makes me uneasy. My DH's cousin and his wife just got back from St. Kitt's and Nevis and their pictures make me sooooo jealous. I hate traveling, hate to fly, etc, so when we go on our honeymoon we are going to do it right. Part of why I like Sandals Grande Riviera is because they have the butler suites...we may as well have a butler if we can!

Not a bride, however I have visited both Jamaica and Cancun.Both locations were awesome. Fist vist to Jamaica we stayed at a property that was OK. Next vist The Wyndham Rose Hall, then Couple Resort. CR was all inclusive great food...but property was nice.

Cancun. The Hilton awesome. Property next door to Omni it was ok. THEN I FOUND VLENTINE IMPERIAL. CHECK THIS PROPERTY OUT!!! IF you chose this property....please let me know. THIS PROPERTY WAS UNBELIEVABLE GORGEOUS

All inclusive with 9 restaurants. Relaxing. Food is awesome. Some all inclusives are 3-4 restaurants. Shows. Visualize the best cruise, now put that on land add your drinks. All drinks. The only $ that you do come out of pocket would be lobster upgrade. This was 2011 that I coord a group 30th Anniv

I CAN GO ON AND ON. ONE MORE TIP. ALL ROOMS HAVE THE OVERSIZE TUB. DELUX ROOMS HAS IT IN YOUR SUITE . All rooms are hughed.

Think I have said enough

No charge for Typos. Sorry

Here is the site: www.valetinimperialmaya.com

As for safety. I do suggest taking the common since option in all activities. No matter where you go be careful. Talk to your travel agency. You will fly into Cancun. A shuttle will take you to Riviera Maya where hotel is located. This usually part of package.

Feel free to contact me for more details. ************@***.***.

Take care and enjoy yourselves.

Marie

Ree-Dun Imagination

ALL ADULT PROPERTY. YESS!

Having been to both Jamaica and Mexico, I would pick Jamaica 100 times over Mexico.

Tourist areas in Mexico are a cake walk. The Riviera Maya is as safe as traveling just about anywhere else. If you're heading to a boarder town to get involved with the drug cartels you may have need for concern. Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Akumal, Tulum, you'll be just fine. The worst part of the airport is avoiding people trying to sell you crap. A simple, firm No, gracias, and you're on your way.

FH and I are headed to PV in Mexico. I have yet to hear a bad experience from those I've talked to. However I have a friend hi visits Jamaica regularly and petty crimes, beggars, pit pocketing, etc are very very common.

HOWEVER I think no matter where you go (all inclusive Americanized resort) you will be safe. Like others stated above, I would avoid the nightlife, and only travel to town during the day

Jamaica was fun. My FH and I stayed at Jewel Dunn's in Ocho Rios. You can never go wrong with all inclusives. JD was more adult oriented, so I didn't see any kids there; which makes a BIG difference in terms of noise. I suggest taking the Blue Mountain Biking trail where you bike down a mountain and drink exclusive coffee (free lunch included). The only thing I didn't like about Jamaica was having to tip everywhere we went. If you venture out, locals would pressure you to tip and would follow you until you do.

I've gone to Mexico several times. Most of the adults only look good. I've stayed at iberostar and Valentin imperial maya. Loved both of them. We're probably going to do Mexico for our honeymoon and I'll be honest I'm having a super hard time deciding on a resort. I haven't even questioned my safety once on any all inclusive vacation. If you stay on the resort and take tours or excursions through authorized vendors you will be fine.

I'm not sure what part of the Bahamas you are thinking about, but I've stayed on Nassau/Paradise Island and wasn't too thrilled about it honestly. It was okay for a vacation, but I would not consider it for a honeymoon.

I've heard great things about Mexico though. Just don't drink the water...lol

All of the resorts have their own filtration systems, even the shower water is filtered. As for safety the touristy parts of Mexico are not dangerous. You will only get into trouble if you try to leave the big cities on your own.

Jamaica isn't the safest outside of the resort areas either. Choosing one or the other probably depends more on what you want to do. Cancun is a party town but towns close by like Playa Del Carmen and Xcaret have some great attractions. There is also the Isle Mujeres for the day. Cozumel has amazing snorekling.

Anywhere you go, be wary of leaving the resort. Especially Jamaica. Not too safe.

We went to Cancun for our honeymoon. We stayed at the Royal. I just checked and it looks like they changed ownership. It's now called the Hyatt Zilara. It's adult only & all inclusive. We loved it. I never felt unsafe in Cancun. We went downtown, took buses and never once had any issues. We've been three times.

I've been to Mexico and I LOVED it. I was also very hesitant to go due to safety reasons. We stayed at Iberostar Tucan in Playa del Carmen. I would 1,000% tell you to stay in Playa del Carmen over another area simply because it's gated. You actually have to be buzzed in through gates to get into the "city". We were able to walk out of our resort and down the street to a Starbucks! It was very clean, not the Mexico you see on TV.

I noticed that you are getting married right before me in October. Remember that it's hurricane season. The Bahamas and Jamaica are right in the beltway. I've been told that the very southern islands like Aruba and Curacao are the only "non-hurricane" (if you can say that) islands.

My husband and I lived in Mexico for over a year in 2012/early 2013--although not in any of the resort areas. Here's the bottom line--while the resort areas are considered to be relatively safe, the reality is that Mexico is a volatile country, corruption is rampant in the government and now in addition to the drug warfare, the cartels are now engaging in all kinds of other...ahem..."business endeavors."

While the cartel by and large want to steer clear of American tourists, they sure as heck don't go out of their way if one of them gets in the way! They're a pretty unstable lot and they have been known to attack resorts. Acapulco and Mazatlán have become virtual ghost towns due to the cartels. It's so sad.

And even if everything goes smoothly at a Mexican resort, the fact that you're even the teeniest bit concerned about it will put a damper on your honeymoon. And who needs that?

I don't know about the other countries that you're considering, but you might want to rethink Mexico.

Thanks ladies!

@kristen--we got married in October, just haven't gone on a honeymoon because I honestly cannot pick a location.

@maureen--that's how I feel! But then again, I have so much anxiety anyway and I HATE flying and being away from my kids so no matter where we go there will be some sort of doubt lingering in my mind.

Who knew this could be so hard? So many times I've considered just saying eff it and not going on a honeymoon but we only get married once and have one honeymoon so I don't feel like I should give it up.