<p>Our family, including four teenagers, is looking for a warm weather vacation for the week between Christmas and New Years that is both fun and low cost. We’ve been to Costa Rica, which meets those criteria, and loved it. We also liked the all inclusive aspects of Playa del Carmen, Mexico’s Iberostar - but there was not a lot to do. We’ve been to the Atlantis, but are sick of the high prices (although the kids loved the waterparks). Some of us like to lounge and others like adventure and activity. Any ideas?</p>
<p>How about Hawaii?</p>
<p>Hawaii?? low cost in Dec?? I wish but I don’t think so…</p>
<p>How about a cruise? Royal Caribbean has some great ships with activities like rock climbing walls, mini water parks and skating rinks. It can be as relaxing or adventurous as you want. My kids were always adverse to a cruise but are now thinking it might be a great vacation.</p>
<p>Las Vegas??</p>
<p>I’m interested in this topic as well. DD is away at school and we didn’t take a family trip this summer, so have decided to take off between Christmas and New Year’s. Beil’s idea of Las Vegas might work for us OR a quick cruise. Anybody done either destination in late December??</p>
<p>We enjoyed a 5 day cruise one Dec 19-24. Much cheaper than the Dec 26-Jan 2 week.
We were lucky that all finals were done by the 18th and we still had the Christmas celebrations with extended family.</p>
<p>
Sorry - I missed the low cost part.</p>
<p>But even at that it’s worth considering since I think there can be deals to be found. I’ve heard it might be more competetive these days. I did a family trip to Hawaii a couple of years ago in the summer (it’s still a very popular destination then) and managed plane tickets that were less than from here to San Jose and I made the reservations 2 days before I left. </p>
<p>Depending on how low of a cost is desired, other possibilities are Florida, San Diego, Phoenix/Tucson area. Out of these I prefer San Diego (as one might guess).</p>
<p>Are you looking for water/beach places?/ We’ce done the Royal Caribbean cruise, with great help from CC’ers (thank you!!), also Aruba (lots of fun) and Mexico (is the H1N1 all gone?). Also did Vegas, but briefly. Southern California or FL are great ideas too, depending on where you are and what you want to do. What ages are the kids, and what side of the country are you on?</p>
<p>St. John, Cinnamon Bay campground. They have cottages and platform tents as well as bring your own tent sites - it’s gorgeous. [Cinnamon</a> Bay Campground, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands](<a href=“cinnamonbay.com”>http://www.cinnamonbay.com/)</p>
<p>Sounds like one of the all inclusive resorts in Mexico would work for you, with all food, most activities and even cocktails included–the loungers could lounge and the active ones will have no shortage of activities. There are so many it makes no sense to name them, but you can Google ‘all inclusive’ and the Mexican town you’d like. I like Cabo, there’s also Cancun, Ixtapa, Mazatlan, Acapulco…</p>
<p>Warning, these places get noisy and while some are more upscale, they are not for those looking for five star accomodations.</p>
<p>Also, if you liked Costa Rica you’d probably like Belize. Great diving if you’re into it.</p>
<p>We’ve been to Hawaii - loved it but long flights made just a week difficult. We’re in the Northeast. Kids are all teens ranging from 13 - 19. Is Las Vegas warm that time of year? We did a cruise once and learned that we are not cruise people. We used to go to Florida and found that the weather over Christmas week was not reliably warm. </p>
<p>Some of us are sunbathers and really appreciate the time to read and relax - but want warm weather. Others are adventurers and like all sorts of outdoor activities. I’ve thought about Belize. We don’t like places that are too too commercial - but do like “nice” (3-4 star) accomodations. Costa Rica was such a deal and just so unbelievably fabulous that we’d love to find another hidden jewel like that. We dont go back to too many places twice because we don’t want to spoil our first impression!</p>
<p>Friends of ours went to the Galapagos Islands and LOVED it</p>
<p>Hey-- Barbados just popped up on travelzoo-- $479 for 7 days!!!</p>
<p>Las Vegas is relatively warm that time of year but not ‘tropical warm’ and it’s possible that it could even be fairly cold then (but not ‘NE cold’).</p>
<p>San Diego’s usually pretty nice that time of year (usually warmer than LV) but the ocean water will be cold and the air temp will usually be in the 70s but could be in the 60s/50s and it’s usually clear blue skies but of course it depends on whether a front is coming through. One can still surf (with a wetsuit), kayak, sail, play on the beach, etc. though. One can also mountain bike, road bike, and hike at a number of very nice and interesting areas in lots of areas within San Diego county.
One can also go to Sea World, the SD zoo, Wild Animal Park, Disneyland (about 1.5 hours away), Knotts, etc. If one has a 4wd Jeep or truck they can go 4 wheeling in the Borrego desert which can be fun or they could explore that area with rented dirt bikes/ATVs. One can also go hiking in Borrego even if they don’t have a 4wd and the desert can be quite an interesting place to see up close. One could head up to Dana Point or Long Beach and take the ferry out to Catalina Island for the day for something different. If in Long Beach, one can tour the Queen Mary and a Russian sub there. </p>
<p>The above wouldn’t be the same as a tropical island but might be something different if you haven’t been out here.</p>
<p>Florida - Book early. I want to come back some more times.</p>
<p>Florida isn’t all that warm in December. Any Caribean island all inclusive would probably meet your criteria. Club Meds with the circus, etc. might be perfect, try St. Lucia.</p>
<p>It is going to be the most expensive week for anywhere that’s worth going. We go to Club Med a lot because there is a lot to do and everything is included, food, drinks, even activities. I priced out the xmas week, it is twice as expensive as the Thanksgiving week or any other week. If it’s pemissible, the cheapest week is the week after the New Year week. The reason is most kids need to be back at school. That’s not necessary the case for college students. It may be a better option, or a cheaper option. I think we are going the Thanksgiving week, we’ll skip the whole turkey binge eating.</p>
<p>I just did this. We like to bareboat charter. We usually don’t like to travel over Christmas or heavy traffic times but as the kids are all in school with different spring breaks and summers filled with summer school and jobs we have bit the bullet and acknowledged that if we want a family trip it will have to be over Christmas.
I looked into the BVI and Belize for sailing. I was shocked to find that one of the charter companies I use was completely booked up for catamarans during that time period. The other company we sometimes use has a few boats still available in both the BVI and Belize. I was shocked to see the prices. $7000-8000 for the week and that doesn’t include fuel and provisioning. Plus airfare and the added factor that the anchorages will all be crowded. I decided to look into some other options.
Club Med in Cancun has the lowest price by far of the 3 or 4 Club Meds I checked out. Ixtapa Club Med was much more expensive. My husband mentioned it to a friend and we decided to go to Costa Rica. We are going to a place that comes highly recommended. We were looking for the experience of being away from it all and having family time. We are going to a place that is isolated. It it not the way we had imagined our first trip to Costa Rica but it fits what we are looking for right now. We will stay 6 nights in one area and 1 night in San Jose. We will save a bit over bareboating but not much. But we will be going somewhere different. We also have not had a “real” family vacation with all of us in probably 5 yrs. I made my first inquires last week and the availability was limited for those 2 weeks. The Hotel that was recommended in San Jose was also already fully booked for the family room. We did get a room but we will be 5 in one room but it is just for one night.
Point being that for those two weeks things are already filling up.
Southern Ca is probably not warm enough though sometimes in December you do get those great sunny days. Palm Springs would also probably not be warm enough.</p>
<p>“Florida isn’t all that warm in December”.
I could get into the water early in the morning. I could not do this in California, even during the summer. Besides, lot of fun for the family in many cities.</p>