Caribbean's all-inclusive vacation resorts take a turn for the luxurious

[Bulldog]

By DAVID SWANSON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Order breakfast while you're still in bed at the new Aura Cozumel Wyndham Grand Bay. You'll have just enough time for a dip in the private plunge pool above your third-floor suite before room service delivers smoked salmon, fruit and coffee.

Check into a suite at Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica and head straight to the sand while a butler unpacks your luggage and presses your clothes.

Spend the day exploring St. Lucia's rain forest, then head to the bar at the intimate East Winds Inn for a sunset libation before a dinner of lobster caught fresh that afternoon, and an evening shared with no more than 60 guests.

If you thought all-inclusive options in the Caribbean were limited to huge, impersonal resorts short on island personality and quality dining, you're in for a revelation.

You can still find plenty of cost-wise hotels geared to travelers who want no more than a beach, a swim-up pool bar and a bill without surprises. But today's options include upscale resorts with only a few dozen rooms. From the fussiest jet-setters to wallet-battered survivors of the economic downturn, just about every traveler can find a suitable fixed-price Caribbean resort.

As a result, all-inclusive converts are coming from unlikely places.

"I always resisted all-inclusives, and then I stayed at the humongous Iberostar in Riviera Maya," said Maribeth Mellin, author of The Unofficial Guide to Mexico's Best Beach Resorts (Wiley, $19.99). "I finally got it: that an entire family of several generations could vacation in the same place. The kids could play in a fabulous pool area, the grandparents could sit in a shaded bar area playing cards, and that there was a huge, wonderful spa."

To these families, whether they were in Cancún or Punta Cana didn't matter, Mellin said. "What they cared about was the price and the ability to spend a week somewhere where everyone could have a good time."

Travelers who do care about location have plenty of choices. Although the vast majority of hotel rooms in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and along Mexico's Caribbean coast are all-inclusive, set-price resorts also have opened in St. Lucia, Antigua and Cuba. In fact, few islands are without at least one all-inclusive option.

Jamaica, one of the early meccas of all-inclusive vacations, once again is experiencing hypergrowth. By the end of 2009, the number of hotel rooms will climb by 20 percent, and most of the additions are midrange all-inclusives run by Spanish hotel chains. Established firms such as Sandals are countering with the new Grand Pineapple Beach Resort, priced lower than its current Sandals and Beaches resorts. SuperClubs is going a step further: Last summer, it opened its second branch of Rooms on the Beach, a no-frills hotel that includes only breakfast, with rates starting at $100 a night in high season.

Price and style in the region vary significantly, from luxury boutique hotels charging $700 per room in low season to sprawling campuses with basic rooms that cost less than $200. Says Adam Stewart, CEO of Sandals, "All-inclusive can mean anything today."


In 2007, Sandals replaced the term "all-inclusive" with a trademarked tag line: "Luxury Included."

But "luxury" may be the most overused word in lodging today, and as the chains compete ever more fiercely for an increasingly cost-sensitive market, quality is often the first item to get trimmed.

"I think it's better to emphasize value," said John J. Issa, executive chairman of SuperClubs, the Jamaica-based operator of the Grand Lido, Breezes and Hedonism resorts.

John Long, a vice president for the Spanish chain Iberostar, which operates 100 hotels around the world, said, "At first glance, they all look luxurious."

So, how's a traveler to sort it all out? As always, price is one signpost, but not the only one. Here are some of the options.

More:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-caribinclusive_0111tra.ART.State.Edition1.e18163.html

[flopnfly]

geared to travelers who want no more than a beach, a swim-up pool bar and a bill without surprises.

this pretty much sums up what I look for   

[Bulldog]

I stayed at Club Med in Cancun in 2000 and the drinks where not included  a fact I did not
know until after I arrived. Needless to stay I didn't like this very much as even soda pop
was a extra charge 


I have since learned they have changed this though 

[Windsortraveler]

That's the same surprise you get when you take your first cruise - extra for any beverages (I still can't believe people will pay $25 or $30 for a card that lets them drink as much cola as tthey want...............beer, maybe, wine, OK, but COLA???)  and then after you tip the people you think deserve it they add a great big gratuity on your bill at the end.
The best value for the $ is still Cuba.

[Bulldog]

(I still can't believe people will pay $25 or $30 for a card that lets them drink as much cola as tthey want

As oppose to paying each time for a cola, I would say this is he only choice for me for if I'm not drinking alcohol I'm having a diet cola 

And this is about luxurious vacation, something you kind of give up going to most Cuban resorts