Caribbean resort ideas

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trimixr

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Location
wisconsin
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I'm a Fish!
Looking to spend two weeks at an all inclusive dive resort in the Caribbean. Have stayed at Belize and Grenada recently. Anyone have ideas for other places? I know Roatan and Cozumel are cheap but those are my back up places to book at. Interested in Barbados, Turks, Curaçao, Jamaica, Caymans, and open to others. Hoping to not spend over $2500 p/p all in. Ideas?
 
What time of the year are you planning to travel? Are you traveling solo? If not, is your travel partner also a diver?

The diving in Jamaica is not the greatest and I have never heard Barbados described as a great dive destination but I don't know that for myself. I can't think of any options in the T&Cs that meet your requirements.

Cozumel and Roatan are probably the best choices from your list for your budget. Look at the 2 for 1 special at Anthony Key Resort but airfare can be difficult and expensive to Roatan.
https://anthonyskey.com/specials/two-for-one-special/

Finding a place with good shore diving on a house reef that is included at no extra charge can give you more diving opportunities without additional expense.

Cobalt Coast is an all-inclusive dive resort with a house reef and it may be the best choice for you on Grand Cayman but it is above your budget for 2 weeks, but you can often find reasonable and easy airfare to GC:
Grand Cayman Dive Packages at Cobalt Coast Resort

The Plaza Resort in Bonaire has some economical deals and includes shore diving but the airfare to Bonaire can be expensive and difficult.
https://www.plazaresortbonaire.com/en/all-inclusive

You might also consider a week on an all-inclusive Blackbeards liveaboard cruise in the Bahamas, paired with a week in Southern Florida:
Blackbeard's Cruises Official Website - Bahamas Dive Liveaboards

Why do you only want to look at all-inclusives? If you have the leeway to prepare some simple meals and also eat out for some meals, then you can often save money - and that can contribute to an inexpensive dive vacation, especially in a place with cheap shore diving available like Bonaire or Curacao.

When you are comparison shopping for a dive vacation, be aware of hidden expenses (taxes, fees, transfers, service charges, and exclusions) and make sure that you understand the full costs and are comparing "apples to apples" before making a decision. For example, there are 19% hotel taxes in Roatan, and sometimes the cheaper lodgings don't include air-conditioning - or AC is only available in the bedrooms, etc. The biting insects are bad on Roatan so you really do need AC.

There are 13% hotel taxes in Cayman and some venues also add on service charges, but the package price for the Cobalt Coast link that I posted above already includes: transfers, taxes, lodgings, meals, and hotel service charges, and the diving is included but not the dive shop tips.

Sometimes a dive destination seems like a bargain, but the airfare to get there can be expensive and difficult - so my advice is just to be aware of all the pros and cons before making a decision.

Good luck with your search!
 
I have just remembered that there is an all-inclusive resort on Provo in the Turks and Caicos that offers diving and might meet your budget; take a look at the Club Med Turquoise:

https://www.clubmed.us/r/Turkoise/y
 
Looking to spend two weeks at an all inclusive dive resort in the Caribbean. Have stayed at Belize and Grenada recently. Anyone have ideas for other places? I know Roatan and Cozumel are cheap but those are my back up places to book at. Interested in Barbados, Turks, Curaçao, Jamaica, Caymans, and open to others. Hoping to not spend over $2500 p/p all in. Ideas?

@trimixr have you found any place that looks like it might be a good fit for your vacation yet?
 
Consider St. Vincent in Grenadines.I haven't been myself, though have been to Bequia and am led to believe the diving quite similar.

I haven't been because became enamoured of SE Asia diving and haven't been back to Caribbean for awhile. Otherwise, I'd have been by now. I thought the diving in Bequia quite sweet. It's not easy to get to or at least, it wasn't. Now there are direct flights to St. Vincent from US.
 
The AI resort on Curacao is the Sunscape, we've done SB Surge trips there in the past so look at that forum. Cardzard probably posted resort videos.

The AI on Bonaire as KathyV said is the Plaza Resort

One option on Cayman is a week at Cobalt Coast resort followed by a week at Rhe Wyndham Reef on the quieter East End.

One not on your list is a USVI/BVI trip. You'd fly into/out of St Thomas where a 30-45 min cab ride would take you to the East End area.

In that area are 6AI Options

Marriott Frenchmans Reef
Bolongo Bay Resort
Emerald Beach Resort
Secret Harbor Resort
Point Pleasant Resort
I believe there's also a Margaritavillle Resort there now also

Then for the 2nd week you take the fast ferries from Red Hook to the BVI's - a 60-90 min trip depending on the island

There you'll find

Magens Bay Resort
Long Bay Beach resort
Scrub Island Resort
Nanny Cay Resort
Peter Island Resort
Bitter End Resort
Leverick Bay Resort
and the Budget Buster
Little Dix Bay

Note Scrub, Nanny amd Peter are on their own Islands/ Biitter Creek is so far from anything it almost is also - access is via boat/helo only, technically it's part of Virgin Gorda.

The ferries are uber reliable - my friends left Gorda at 8AM for a noon flight out of STT and had time to shop. One of the ferry ports is in Charlotte Amalie so a 10 min ride to the airport

DiveBVI was our go to shop there - good info on their website. All the area shops dive multiple islands.
 
You could also spend a week on Roatan at Anthony's Key diving the north side followed by a wekk at Cocoview diving the south,

AKR might have extended the BOGO into 2020.

You could even take the weekend ferry to Utila and do the 2nd week at Utopia Village Resort, Have to book flights to allow time to return to Roatan. Flights to RTB run several hundred more than ther dive destinations. Amd there's a lot of Bugs....
 
You could also spend a week on Roatan at Anthony's Key diving the north side followed by a wekk at Cocoview diving the south,

AKR might have extended the BOGO into 2020.

You could even take the weekend ferry to Utila and do the 2nd week at Utopia Village Resort, Have to book flights to allow time to return to Roatan. Flights to RTB run several hundred more than ther dive destinations. Amd there's a lot of Bugs....

Those are great suggestions Steve but the OP said he is "Hoping to not spend over $2500 p/p all in" and that's very tight for 2 weeks at a Caribbean AI with diving.
 
Barbados may not be the best dive location in the Caribbean but don’t discount it, some very easy wrecks in Carlisle bay a nice wreck called the Strav at 30-35 metres and the normal tropical reefs and drift dives.

where barbados wins is in non diving areas, some world class surf, great food, good and varied nightlife, amazing accommodation of all levels, good infrastructure, a good mix of tourists and super friendly locals

I have been a regular visitor for the last 12 years and friends and I all think it is our favourite Caribbean island due to the all round experience
 
You could spend half that by going local.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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