<p>…ease to travel and the house instead of room - we fly straight to Cozumel (about 3 hours, I believe) and there are 2 houses on a beach of our resort, with their own piece of beach and pool for each. For 2 of us, we take 2 separate but connected room (the connection is normally locked, but unlocked during our stay) on a first floor of one story building) and we stay there for 2 weeks, all inclusive.</p>
<p>Based on recommendations here, we went to Palm Springs for that week in 2010. We flew into LAX and drove to Plam Srings. We rented a 3 bedroom house with a heated pool. Mostly sat around the house and in the pool watching the news about the east coast blizzard we escaped by 10 hours and watched lots of football. Football fanatics in the family were in heaven that coverage started at 9am on Sundays. </p>
<p>Did a day hike to Joshua Tree national park and another day trip to mt Jacinto. There isplenty of tennis andgolf if you are interested. Daytime highs in high 70s and lows in 50s. (Heat did kick in a few nights. Given what we left behind, it was glorious). </p>
<p>We actually didn’t spend the full week in Palm Springs, as we took a few day to visit with several friends in Orange County that we hadn’t seen in years and did the Warner Brothers studio tour.</p>
<p>I vote for st john’s or the bvi’s. Have you considered chartering a sailboat around st John or the bvi’s? You save a ton of money on food and alcohol</p>
<p>I’ve done the rental of a catamaran with captain out of ST Thomas. Also, look at house rentals on Tortola. [Canefield</a> House, Caribbean - Vacation Rentals in Tortola, British Virgin Islands - TripAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147354-d1777348-Canefield_House_Caribbean-Tortola_British_Virgin_Islands.html]Canefield”>http://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g147354-d1777348-Canefield_House_Caribbean-Tortola_British_Virgin_Islands.html)</p>
<p>Its a trip from Minn but Cartagena, Colombia would fit everything but the travel convenience.</p>
<p>I posted the following on another thread.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1413703-vacation-ideas-4.html#post15029050[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1413703-vacation-ideas-4.html#post15029050</a></p>
<p>Re: Hawaii</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. But it probably is in and around glitzy tourist hotel areas. Eating poke, poi, kimchi, etc. out of the grocery store, or plate lunches at L&L type of places won’t be as expensive.</p>
<p>
Emilybee, which beach are you talking about? We stayed at the Hyatt Regency and Palm Beach is gorgeous—white sand, calm, clear blue water (yes calm enough for you to stay on a lounge float until your sunblock stops working).</p>
<p>To add to post #26, for Waikiki, the Wailana Coffee House near Hilton Hawaiian Village served cheap, good food.</p>
<p>Krillies - it was a long time ago (20+years) so I don’t remember where we stayed. But we hated it and have never been back. I wonder if since then they have brought in nice beach sand. It was also an incredibly big surf the week I was there.</p>
<p>^^I still stand by my suggestions of Aruba, St. Maarten and Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>Emilybee: we’ve seen many Caribbean islands recently in the last 8 years or so. For beaches, restaurants, nightlife for older teens I still think Aruba and St. Maarten have a lot to offer. I don’t honestly remember seeing much rocky beaches around the hotels. They may have rocky beaches on some remote part of the island, but in the area of the hotels, the beaches were beautiful.</p>
<p>OP: I would suggest looking into all-inclusive resorts where there’s something for everyone. The suggestion of Atlantis in the Bahamas is a good one, although quite pricey.</p>
<p>Perhaps ask a travel agent some questions. They may be able to direct you into areas that fit your group the best.</p>
<p>World traveler here. Agree about Hawaii. Too short of time and weather can be iffy in Dec. Thinking outside the box - Central America! Easy connection from Miami, Atlanta,and or Houston. Would recommend Belize, Panama, or Nicaragua. All can be safe if go with reputable company. So much to do - water, rainforests,culture all off the beaten path. Have traveled there with college age sons and they loved it. These are good 1 week options.</p>
<p>I would high recommend the Sandy Lane in Barbados or Cap Juluca in Anguilla.</p>
<p>grand Cayman or St John Would get my vote.we stayed in a 2 br timeshare on grand cayman. It was called Morritts Grand. It was each front and wonderful, But it’s on the opposite side of the island from 7 mile beach and the touristy spots. At St John we stayed at the Westin. It was very nice, but i’ve heard many people rent houses there and it’s more economical. An adults only all inclusive might be fun for everyone also.</p>
<p>Costa Rica offered beaches and outdoor adventure activities: zip lining, white water rafting, hiking a waterfall, etc. You could split a week so that several days were in the Arenal area for all of the activities and then move down to Four Seasons at Peninsula Papagayo for total relaxing. The recently-expanded Liberia airport is a very short drive (30-40 min perhaps?) from the Four Seasons property.</p>
<p>San Diego? Too cold to swim in the ocean in December, but a great place to be in Dec., IMO. </p>
<p>However, I agree that Belize sounds lovely. It is a goal of mine to get there someday soon.</p>
<p>I haven’t been to most of the places people have been talking about but I have been to Puerto Rico three times. Easy place to visit. US commonwealth so they use our money, many people speak English, the road structure is the same, but it is exotic, food is good and Old San Juan is neat.</p>
<p>I love this thread. And I especially like looking up the specific resorts that are named. Holy Cow, Shady Lane and Cap Jaluca? I’m feeling very…poor.</p>
<p>Any recommendations on a place to stay in PR?</p>
<p>Cayman got way too commercial. We went there 2 times and it was a huge difference between 2 visits, too developed, too busy and too expansive. We will never go back. It is basically for scuba divers. If you just a snorkeler (like us), you can find a better / cheaper place to snorkel righ off shore without taking a boat.</p>
<p>We had reservations to go to Cayman last summer for our 25th. To stay at a place called the Reef Resort, on the “other” end of the island. We never got to go cuz H got sick…maybe next year…or maybe I’ll find another option via this thread.</p>
<p>…We are booking another one to Cozumel as we 'speak". Just got email from my H., he is looking for the best deal, we are going to the same resort, looks like the price is about the same as last year, we hope for a bit less people, going couple weeks earlier. We both started looking forward again, it usually happens about 4 months after we come back from vacation…</p>