Family vacation suggestions (Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Rep)?

[evolver]

I would like to take my wife and our 16-month-old daughter on a one-week vacation to a resort somewhere in the Caribbeans or Mexico. We live in Texas and we have never traveled in this direction. Speaking from own experience, where would you recommend to go if I told you that we are more into sunbathing and swimming rather than sightseeing?

I asked around at work and many people suggested Dominican Republic. The consent was that out of Mexico, Jamaica, and DR, the first one is the most expensive while the last one is the least expensive. The rest does not seem to make much difference as long as the resort is good.

Any advices will be appreciated.


Thanks!

[cmyX6go]

I wasn't thrilled with the DR. I stayed at Dreams, an all inclusive in Punta Cana. It was a family place, lots of activities for the kids. The resort was immaculate but the food and service left much to be desired. They tried hard though. The trip from the airport to the resort was over an hour and the roads (if you can call them that) were disasterous. All in all, we needed somewhere to accommodate plenty of kids and somewhere that a family with a few kids could afford. It did fit that bill. There were 54 of us.

I'm not a fan of Jamaica either. I don't like going to places where you should really stay in the resort and not venture out. I personally prefer Mexico.

[MrLabGuy]

I'm a big fan of Costa Rica...Great people, country and very inexpensive.

[trueX5er]

I've been to almost every country in the Caribbean, and each has its own qualities.
Puerto Rico: Nice transition from US to Caribbean, hotels and resorts are nice, but not exactly exotic.
Aruba: I love Aruba. Exotic, beautiful, tons of very nice resorts, fun and cool cities, very friendly people, easy to navigate and explore.
Dominican Rep: nice scenery, but underdeveloped
Cayman Islands: Quaint and pretty.
St. Thomas: very beautiful, but not a whole lot to do/facilities
Mexico: I've been to resorts in Ixtapa and Puerto Vallarta and have had a good time.
St. Kitts: very quiet, nice resorts, limited outside of that though.

I don't recommend:
Haiti (for obvious reasons)
St. Lucia: Too dangerous, underdevloped
Barbados: ugly
Grenada: beautiful, but no facilities


I also love Costa Rica, but it's more of an adventure place, but the beaches are somewhat remote (the good ones) and you can't swim most places.

[Meiac09]

IMO, go on a boat. That way, you have the best of all worlds, and something stable and safe for the young one.

[brian5]

Two recent family trips have worked out really well:

1. St John's in the US Virgin islands. Something like 75% of it is national park so that part is unspoilt. You go to a lot of other islands and the scruffiness is unbelievable. We met a family from Dallas who used to travel around the Caribbean (before children) design, producing and selling t-shirts. They said that the island that they keep going back now is St. John's.

2. Bahamas. Started at Atlantis for 3 days (you wouldn't need more) then flew and ferried to Harbor Island where we rented a house. Couple of good hotels on this island too. This would be a more expensive vacation than the option above.
[Edited] Just read your post again. Your daughter is too small for Atlantis. Wait 6 years for that...

[mrkbbd]

our friends really like aruba

[evolver]

Thanks for the hints and opinions! I have to admit I did not even think about other places like Costa Rica or Puerto Rico. Not that I have anything against them. They just did not pop in my head when I began my research. Provided to your kind advices ow I have plenty of material to sift through before making the decision. Hopefully, it is not going to be as painful as trying to choose options for the X5 <br>
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Once again, thanks for taking time to help guiding my search!<br>
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Boat is an interesting twist to the original problem, I will explore that too. But it likely means that we have to go to coastal Texas or even Florida to get on a cruise ship.