Punta Cana or Cancun | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Punta Cana or Cancun

If you want the resort thing, I think Cancun does it better. Keep in mind that the beaches in Caribbean have seaweed issues that smell like legit dirty diapers and it renders some of the beaches unusable. They're supposedly coming up with some sort of system to help, but it was pretty brutal when I was in Mex three years ago.

I'd imagine Europe would be better, unless you just want to lie around and be a gluttonous drunk (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
 
husky429 said:
They're known for being late, and the staff screaming a lot to make people move faster. That was definitely my experience, even on the newest flagships. Santorini to Naxos was one of the most horrendous travel experiences of my life lol
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Oh, I understand the screaming. Did you not hear the same kind of yelling all over Greece? They might be saying, "Hello my friend, let me comp you a free drink" but it comes out sounding like, "You dirty lowdown son-of-a-gun, they should whip your hide!!"

Funniest thing I saw there 2 years ago was a Brit walking through town a tank top on, no shorts, no underwear, and a proprietor of a hop come out and start whipping him with what looked like a riding crop.
 
boog204 said:
If you want the resort thing, I think Cancun does it better. Keep in mind that the beaches in Caribbean have seaweed issues that smell like legit dirty diapers and it renders some of the beaches unusable. They're supposedly coming up with some sort of system to help, but it was pretty brutal when I was in Mex three years ago.
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All of the Caribbean or just the Mexican beaches on the Caribbean? Because I've never experienced that on any of the Caribbean islands.
 
upstater said:
Oh, I understand the screaming. Did you not hear the same kind of yelling all over Greece? They might be saying, "Hello my friend, let me comp you a free drink" but it comes out sounding like, "You dirty lowdown son-of-a-gun, they should whip your hide!!"

Funniest thing I saw there 2 years ago was a Brit walking through town a tank top on, no shorts, no underwear, and a proprietor of a hop come out and start whipping him with what looked like a riding crop.
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Fair enough, lol. Make it was just the sheer amount of yelling, versus a singular hair old Greek man screaming at me like normal!
 
This thread is classic BY.

oh lets see......................... cancun where you can go all in on the best of everything for about 1/10th the cost of going all in on Italy, Greek islands, or wherever on the Mediterranean your heart takes you. Id rather be in Italy too, or Europe. But this is an extreme apples to oranges comparison wallet wise. Not to mention what your families desire for a vacation is.
 
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boog204 said:
If you want the resort thing, I think Cancun does it better. Keep in mind that the beaches in Caribbean have seaweed issues that smell like legit dirty diapers and it renders some of the beaches unusable. They're supposedly coming up with some sort of system to help, but it was pretty brutal when I was in Mex three years ago.

I'd imagine Europe would be better, unless you just want to lie around and be a gluttonous drunk (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
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HooperScooper said:
All of the Caribbean or just the Mexican beaches on the Caribbean? Because I've never experienced that on any of the Caribbean islands.
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Just returned from St Thomas this past Friday and spent a day in St. John going to maho beach and trunk bay. No seaweed issues at all that boog described at either of those islands. Same with Anguilla when I was there in October

Have never had any seaweed issues at any of the islands I’ve been
 
August_West said:
This thread is classic BY.

oh lets see......................... cancun where you can go all in on the best of everything for about 1/10th the cost of going all in on Italy, Greek islands, or wherever on the Mediterranean your heart takes you. Id rather be in Italy too, or Europe. But this is an extreme apples to oranges comparison wallet wise. Not to mention what your families desire for a vacation is.
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OP said he was debating between Cancun and Punta Cana or he might go to Europe.
 
August_West said:
This thread is classic BY.

oh lets see......................... cancun where you can go all in on the best of everything for about 1/10th the cost of going all in on Italy, Greek islands, or wherever on the Mediterranean your heart takes you. Id rather be in Italy too, or Europe. But this is an extreme apples to oranges comparison wallet wise. Not to mention what your families desire for a vacation is.
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Not necessarily true. I cannot speak to Italy, Greece, or many other European destinations but I can when it comes to Portugal as I travel there often.

I did an all inclusive trip to Punta Cana last summer with the family and with airfare it was just under $6k for the four of us for 5 days. I am leaving for Portugal in a couple weeks and the airfare for the four of us was $1200. I have a home in Portugal so lodging costs nothing, but we usually bring about 1500 euros for the 14 days we stay there and are able to eat out 2 times a day and go shopping as well as get an Airbnb if we want to stay at the beach. We usually come home with some extra euros in hand.

So half the price of our trip to Punta Cana and more than twice as long of a vacation. With that said I would for sure go back to Punta Cana, just not during hurricane season.
 
August_West said:
LOL. Nice. Excellent comparison.
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Do you think lodging for a week is going to cost $3k? That is the difference between the two locations. Also, 14 days in Portugal vs. 5 in Punta Cana. So the difference would be even greater if we cut the amount of time spent there in half. Sure you do not get the luxury of being waited on which could bring a large value depending who you are.
 
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August_West said:
This thread is classic BY.

oh lets see......................... cancun where you can go all in on the best of everything for about 1/10th the cost of going all in on Italy, Greek islands, or wherever on the Mediterranean your heart takes you. Id rather be in Italy too, or Europe. But this is an extreme apples to oranges comparison wallet wise. Not to mention what your families desire for a vacation is.
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Just FYI, before the pandemic, we went to Italy as a family. Every ticket was sub $400 roundtrip on British Air. While we were there, we stayed in AirBnB homes for under $100 a night and we ate several course meals at trattorias for $30-40 for the 4 of us. My children were 10 and 12. Later that year, we took them to Disney for the first (and ONLY) time for 3 days, and that cost us 3x as much as 10 days in Italy. I know Mexico might be cheaper than both, but I always found Greece, Italy and Spain to be quite doable on a budget. Northern Europe? Not so much.
 
HooperScooper said:
All of the Caribbean or just the Mexican beaches on the Caribbean? Because I've never experienced that on any of the Caribbean islands.
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Sounds like Mexico and DR are expecting a really bad Sargassum season. Having been there when it was present, it's pretty gross. Legit smells like sulphur and it's nasty to the touch. I was in Playa Del Carmen a few years ago and the resort beach was completely unusable but you could trek down a half mile or so and it wasn't as big of an issue. Still, if you are thinking Caribbean Beach vacation, you may want to reevaluate for now.

chicago.suntimes.com

Mexico’s Caribbean beaches awash in foul-smelling sargassum algae

This comes as resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are recovering from a two-year drop in tourism brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com
 
boog204 said:
Sounds like Mexico and DR are expecting a really bad Sargassum season. Having been there when it was present, it's pretty gross. Legit smells like sulphur and it's nasty to the touch. I was in Playa Del Carmen a few years ago and the resort beach was completely unusable but you could trek down a half mile or so and it wasn't as big of an issue. Still, if you are thinking Caribbean Beach vacation, you may want to reevaluate for now.

chicago.suntimes.com

Mexico’s Caribbean beaches awash in foul-smelling sargassum algae

This comes as resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are recovering from a two-year drop in tourism brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com
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wow--- given what they attribute the problem to (logging and deforestation) in the Amazon -- it sounds like the problem can only get worse.
 
upstater said:
wow--- given what they attribute the problem to (logging and deforestation) in the Amazon -- it sounds like the problem can only get worse.
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It's an enormous issue. I know they were in the processing of developing some sort of system to stop it before it reaches the beaches, but there were delays. The seaweed has some positive aspects so eliminating it completely is not ideal. But, it's a drag to get to a nice resort and constantly smell dirty diapers.
 
upstater said:
Just FYI, before the pandemic, we went to Italy as a family. Every ticket was sub $400 roundtrip on British Air. While we were there, we stayed in AirBnB homes for under $100 a night and we ate several course meals at trattorias for $30-40 for the 4 of us. My children were 10 and 12. Later that year, we took them to Disney for the first (and ONLY) time for 3 days, and that cost us 3x as much as 10 days in Italy. I know Mexico might be cheaper than both, but I always found Greece, Italy and Spain to be quite doable on a budget. Northern Europe? Not so much.
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Yeah I remember the days of 2 dollar a gallon gas too.
 
boog204 said:
If you want the resort thing, I think Cancun does it better. Keep in mind that the beaches in Caribbean have seaweed issues that smell like legit dirty diapers and it renders some of the beaches unusable. They're supposedly coming up with some sort of system to help, but it was pretty brutal when I was in Mex three years ago.

I'd imagine Europe would be better, unless you just want to lie around and be a gluttonous drunk (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Expand ...

I forgot about this. It is a really bad seaweed year for the east coast of Mexico. You should check locally, but the Maya Rivera gets is really bad during bloom years.
 
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boog204 said:
Sounds like Mexico and DR are expecting a really bad Sargassum season. Having been there when it was present, it's pretty gross. Legit smells like sulphur and it's nasty to the touch. I was in Playa Del Carmen a few years ago and the resort beach was completely unusable but you could trek down a half mile or so and it wasn't as big of an issue. Still, if you are thinking Caribbean Beach vacation, you may want to reevaluate for now.

chicago.suntimes.com

Mexico’s Caribbean beaches awash in foul-smelling sargassum algae

This comes as resorts like Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are recovering from a two-year drop in tourism brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
chicago.suntimes.com chicago.suntimes.com
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Mexico has a west coast that is an 90 minute flight from DFW.
 
August_West said:
This thread is classic BY.

oh lets see......................... cancun where you can go all in on the best of everything for about 1/10th the cost of going all in on Italy, Greek islands, or wherever on the Mediterranean your heart takes you. Id rather be in Italy too, or Europe. But this is an extreme apples to oranges comparison wallet wise. Not to mention what your families desire for a vacation is.
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I’ve been to Italy a couple time and it’s very doable on a budget. We use a travel agent - we just give him dates, places, and budget and he makes it happen.

Do you have any useful suggestions or just like to sneer at other peoples’?
 
HuskyNan said:
I’ve been to Italy a couple time and it’s very doable on a budget. We use a travel agent - we just give him dates, places, and budget and he makes it happen.

Do you have any useful suggestions or just like to sneer at other peoples’?
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OK, give your travel agent a week for this july or august and get back to me on the price quote.
 
karstenkibbe said:
I had a feeling there’d be at least one. The ‘yard is simply a microcosm of the world we live in. People showing their true colors.
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What is this in response to? Not everyone likes the same cities/vacation spots.
 
August_West said:
Yeah I remember the days of 2 dollar a gallon gas too.
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?? This was before the pandemic. When gas was $3 to $3.20.

Oh, and guess what the tickets are now?

$660 roundtrip.

Not that big a deal
 
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superjohn said:
What is this in response to? Not everyone likes the same cities/vacation spots.
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In response to the single thumbs down in this entire thread. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you can figure it out. You seem pretty intelligent.
 
ColchVEGAS said:
Not necessarily true. I cannot speak to Italy, Greece, or many other European destinations but I can when it comes to Portugal as I travel there often.

I did an all inclusive trip to Punta Cana last summer with the family and with airfare it was just under $6k for the four of us for 5 days. I am leaving for Portugal in a couple weeks and the airfare for the four of us was $1200. I have a home in Portugal so lodging costs nothing, but we usually bring about 1500 euros for the 14 days we stay there and are able to eat out 2 times a day and go shopping as well as get an Airbnb if we want to stay at the beach. We usually come home with some extra euros in hand.

So half the price of our trip to Punta Cana and more than twice as long of a vacation. With that said I would for sure go back to Punta Cana, just not during hurricane season.
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Portugal is fantastic on the wallet compared to much of western Europe. Loved my trip there.
 
husky429 said:
Portugal is fantastic on the wallet compared to much of western Europe. Loved my trip there.
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It was even better pre-Euro. I went in 2000, we stayed in really nice places for like $50 a night. I had wonderful meals, with a bottle of wine and paid about $30-40. It was crazy. But certainly it remains more affordable than most.
 
superjohn said:
If you're going to Mexico I would go to Mexico City, it's my favorite city I've been to in the world but there's no beach so that's not what you're looking for. I don't like sitting at the beach or pool and I don't like golf...

When I travel I like seeing everything there is to see, eating and drinking everything, and immersing myself in the culture. I've been to Cancun and for beach/pool sitting it's fine but there's better options in Mexico. I've never been but my buddy and his wife love Playa del Carmen and go all the time. Another friend went to Puerto Vallarta for the first time and liked it so much he bought a house there which he goes to months at a time and he'll retire to. As imno1 said there's also Cabo.

Italy, Spain, and France are great but the only one I've been to the beaches at was Italy and it wasn't good for that. Italy is all about exploring the cities and small towns in the countryside. I saw the beaches in Nice, France and they looked really nice but I didn't spend any time at them. I've heard from friends Portugal and Greece are great for the beaches/coast. I've heard Croatia is even better. That will be my next trip, Croatia and Serbia.
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I am going here with my family and in-laws in July. My wife is Mexican and her mother and sister just came back from there in March. What are your thoughts on sites to visit or places to make sure you see before you leave.

Staying for 7 nights.
 
HuskyHawk said:
It was even better pre-Euro. I went in 2000, we stayed in really nice places for like $50 a night. I had wonderful meals, with a bottle of wine and paid about $30-40. It was crazy. But certainly it remains more affordable than most.
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Still is like that. You can get a three course meal for three with two bottles of wine for about $40.

Just double checked and I have an Airbnb for four nights directly on the beach in Nazaré and three nights in Lisboa with the total for both coming in at under $700. So yes Mr. West it is a very "excellent comparison."
 
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