Anyone been to Atlantis/bahamas

[BP]

do you need a passport to go to puerto rico?

And California.

In my opinion Atlantis is awesome but the Bahamas are way too expensive for Americans. Everything is at least double and usually triple what you'd expect to pay. As in a 1 liter bottle of water is $10. The resort is great, the rest of the Nassau though is kind of crappy. I'd rather go to Key West.

[mk5.0]

Turks & Caicos or Cayman

[DasVWBabe]

Not sure what your total budget is, but have you thought about renting a villa via VRBO.com or rentvillas.com? Even Tripadvisor has some really awesome rental villas.

I tend to lean that direction when travelling and have had some great success. I rented this place in Spain (4 bedroom/4 bathroom/3 floors/private pool) over the spring/summer and the weekly rental cost for the whole thing was 1,200 EU. Whole trip cost us less than $5k (flights, rental car, lodging, food) and we stayed in Barcelona on Las Ramblas in a flat for another 3 nights. By far the best bang for the buck trip we've ever had abroad.

Some pics from our trip:






Direct link to the villa in Sitges: http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...Catalonia.html
Direct link to the flat in Barcelona: http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...Catalonia.html

So, if you're wanting the Caribbean, here are some of my saved favorites from the various villa sites I frequent.

St. Lucia:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p300221

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p286694

Bahamas:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p315311

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p205659

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147416-d2341231-Waterfront_Home_stunning_sea_views_private_pool_15_mins_to_Paradise_Island-Nassau_New_.html

Aruba:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147249-d2192135-Ocean_Breeze_Two_bedroom_condo_P313-Palm_Eagle_Beach_Aruba.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147247-d4815785-Washington_Gardens_Villa-Aruba.html

Turks & Caicos:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147399-d1468929-Queen_Ann_Suite_1BR_Ocean_view_Royal_West_Indies-Providenciales_Turks_and_Caicos.htmls:

[Big A]

We were looking at the Bahamas for our honeymoon as well, but I didn't realize that it was that much more expensive then Mexico. It's Hawaii money, which was our first choice, but that doesn't make sense for use being that we'll be leaving from DFW.

I'm leaning towards Playa del Carmen instead.

[Gargamel]

VRBO is awesome

Great rentals can be found just about anywhere on that site.

[whitetrash]

Not sure what your total budget is, but have you thought about renting a villa via VRBO.com or rentvillas.com? Even Tripadvisor has some really awesome rental villas.

I tend to lean that direction when travelling and have had some great success. I rented this place in Spain (4 bedroom/4 bathroom/3 floors/private pool) over the spring/summer and the weekly rental cost for the whole thing was 1,200 EU. Whole trip cost us less than $5k (flights, rental car, lodging, food) and we stayed in Barcelona on Las Ramblas in a flat for another 3 nights. By far the best bang for the buck trip we've ever had abroad.

Some pics from our trip:






Direct link to the villa: http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR...Catalonia.html

So, if you're wanting the Caribbean, here are some of my saved favorites from the various villa sites I frequent.

St. Lucia:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p300221

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p286694

Bahamas:

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p315311

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p205659

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147416-d2341231-Waterfront_Home_stunning_sea_views_private_pool_15_mins_to_Paradise_Island-Nassau_New_.html

Aruba:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147249-d2192135-Ocean_Breeze_Two_bedroom_condo_P313-Palm_Eagle_Beach_Aruba.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147247-d4815785-Washington_Gardens_Villa-Aruba.html

Turks & Caicos:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationR..._Caicos.htmls:

mainly just looking for something tropical/beach getaway. budget for the travel/lodging is about 2-2500

[DasVWBabe]

VRBO is awesome

Great rentals can be found just about anywhere on that site.

Indeed. I used to exclusively rent abroad through VRBO.com, but started expanding my reach and playing each of the sites against each other.

https://www.vrbo.com

https://www.airbnb.com

https://www.homeaway.com

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Rentals

https://www.rentvillas.com

https://www.luxuryretreats.com

https://www.flipkey.com

[Big A]

VRBO is awesome

Great rentals can be found just about anywhere on that site.

I was just looking at those links, I didn't realize you could get a place for so cheap. The house in Nassau looks perfect, but Tanya has specifically said that she doesn't want to have to bother with shopping/cooking/cleaning on our honeymoon.

I told her it's going to get awfully boring in that kitchen if that's the case.

[DasVWBabe]

mainly just looking for something tropical/beach getaway. budget for the travel/lodging is about 2-2500

Do you have passports? What are your preferred dates of travel?

I'd stay Caribbean or Central America to keep airfare lower.

[DasVWBabe]

I was just looking at those links, I didn't realize you could get a place for so cheap. The house in Nassau looks perfect, but Tanya has specifically said that she doesn't want to have to bother with shopping/cooking/cleaning on our honeymoon.

I told her it's going to get awfully boring in that kitchen if that's the case.

Email the owners. Usually you can ask them if they have a concierge service that can/will come in and cook for you. Cleaning is usually once per week.

The first house in St. Lucia has a $50 or so/day additional charge and a local chef comes in and cooks all of your meals for you.

[whitetrash]

Do you have passports? What are your preferred dates of travel?

I'd stay Caribbean or Central America to keep airfare lower.

yes we have passports. sept 15-19

[DasVWBabe]

yes we have passports. sept 15-19

One of my favorite islands is Curacao. Check out a couple of these places. If you can narrow down the island you want to hit, you should be able to filter on most of these sites and find something that works with your schedule.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147278-d4267585-Suikerdiefje_124_Ocean_Resort-Willemstad_Curacao.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147278-d3747814-Boca_Gentil_Luxury_3BR_Apartment_Casa_Vandernak-Willemstad_Curacao.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147278-d4267301-Flamingo_124_Ocean_Resort-Willemstad_Curacao.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147278-d3694115-OCEAN_GARDEN_2_bedroom_ocean_front_apartment-Willemstad_Curacao.html

[Gargamel]

This seems to be a cool place in Rincon.

Holy shit, It's right above the bar....

http://www.vrbo.com/265463

[whitetrash]

Totally trying to convince the soon to be to go to the jop and go to Spain lol

[DasVWBabe]

Totally trying to convince the soon to be to go to the jop and go to Spain lol

You should. I don't want to bombard this thread with too many pics, but here is a link to my travel thread elsewhere (not sure how much you'll be able to see); https://www.xerq.net/showthread.php?...gona-Barcelona

This was on the way to Montserrat. Can't believe I caught both of these pics. Once in a lifetime shots, one of which now resides on my wall in 2' x 4' canvas. It's worth it, IMO, to spend less on the wedding to get to live life like this, if only for a little while.