Looking at using flight miles (United) and considering these two places. Looking for relaxing and nice beaches. I know Playa is going to be more AI than the Bahamas. Never been to Playa but have been to Atlantis years ago when it was only the Royal Towers (main building).

Can anyone comment? Thanks.

Playa is much better than Nassau. Also, when do you plan on going? The Bahamas can get cold depending on when you go.

We are looking to go in July/August whenever we can use flight miles. I am running out of Caribbean destinations I can go to on United without having to fly to Newark.

I have been to both recently and I would pick Playa hands down. Atlantis is great is you want a place to take your kids or you really want a casino. Playa is cool becasue you can hang around at your AI resort or go into town and shop, sit at a bar/lounge chair on the beach and people watch, hang out at senior frog's, take the ferry to cozumel,

A day trip to Cozumel is worth the trip alone if you like diving.

Thanks for your thoughts. I have been leaning the Playa direction. Also thought we could do a trip to the ruins as well as a day trip to Cozumel (we don't dive but would snorkel). Wife also wants to do Turks and Caicos one day but much harder to find flights there where you can use miles.

fwiw, Turks and Caicos is better than both.

There are also eco parks near playa. They have these huge zip line towers and the ocean caves you can swim in.

I did not visit these but they were advertising them like crazy when I was down there last May

Here is one I recall seing

http://www.xcaret.com/





[This message has been edited by CrossBowAg99 (edited 2/4/2013 9:20p).]

you can probably also take an excursion to the Mayan ruins at Tulum from Playa. We did that on a cruise that stopped there and it's a fascinating tour. There are resorts in Tulum too that would be even more secluded depending on what you're reason for getting away is.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We would be doing the Tulum ruins as well as part of a day in Cozumel just to get out and see some stuff.

Will probably pick Playa this year (Turks and Caicos if flights become available). Just wanting to hit up some beaches and check places off the bucket list of beach destinations.

Any suggestions on resorts in Playa. Looked at a few of the Riu resorts, Playcar Palace, Secrets Maroma. Any others I should look at?

[This message has been edited by KW02 (edited 3/25/2013 11:02a).]

If money isn't an issue Grand Velas is awesome. It is a bit pricey with the cheapest rooms at 500 a night and 800-1000 for ocean view. A bit more on the cheaper side I would recommend Royal Hideaway. It's adults only and both resorts are AI.

Royal PDC

I've been to both, and agree with others to go to Playa. There is so much to do that you don't need to stay in an AI. Just pick a hotel in town or a condo in Playacar and you are set. Rent a car for a couple of day trips:

Puerto Morales - truly fantastic snorkling trip to coral reef...as good as anything on Cozumel if not better and really cheap

Cozumel - I would rent a car and drive around the island stopping at a few beach clubs and Coconuts...makes for a great day.

Akumul - great laid back village on way to Tulum. Can snorkel and see turtles and great place to eat

Tulum - overrated, especially in July / Aug when it is scorching hot but I guess everyone wants to see it once

Xel-Ha - cool snorkling water park on way to Tulum. A little pricey, and the water is a bit cool but it makes for a fun afternoon

There are some great beach clubs right south of Tulum on Hwy 109. You can do Tulum, Xel-Ha and Akumul in one day if you leave early.

You may want to consider buying a cancun flight outright. I don't know where you are coming from, but you can normally purchase the flights for 250-300 if you watch for sales. I know it's free, but it isn't a good use of miles from a $/mile standpoint.

Unless you have more than you can possibly use, I would save the miles and fly to Hawaii or save them for an emergency flight that may cost you an arm and a leg.

And xel-ha was hands down the worst thing I've ever done on vacation. It was crowded, nasty, cheesy, and our excursion had a planned time to leave, so we were stuck all day. The food there is quite possibly the worst food I've seen anywhere. They bill it as river tubing and rock jumping and snorkeling. It was so bad all we could do was laugh.

[This message has been edited by Red04 (edited 2/5/2013 9:14p).]

Thanks for the suggestions on places to stay. Will look into those and other suggestions.

If we go we will probably go to Tulum for half a day just to see the ruins and say we have been there. Probably won't do Xel-Ha and may go to Cozumel for a quick trip.

As for flights...I am not sure if $250 flights can be had anymore. Has anyone flown there in the past year or so and done that? My problem with miles (on United or just United in general) is that United is pretty terrible for Caribbean destinations. You can get only to the Cayman Islands, Cancun, Nassau or Montego Bay by direct flight otherwise you have to fly to Newark and I am not going to do that.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

I paid $480 to fly continental last may from IAH to Cancun. I think the days you fly has a big impact on price. I was not flexible and needed to fly Thursday and Sunday. It would have been cheaper to fly on non peak days.

I havent flown to CZM or CUN since last spring. A quick IAH to CUN search looks like $495 is the base price. United has a pretty good record of dropping prices to fill a flight a month or so in advance. I don't recall ever paying over $350 or so. I would probably use miles at the $400 threshold. Or if you don't really care about stretching your miles, free is free.

You can always book with miles and then if it goes on sale buy it outright and move your reward flight out 11 months. (dont do this within 21 days). Then, you can leave that flight booked until you find another reward flight you actually want or keep moving it out indefinitely. However, there is a destination change fee. So you need to weight that in.

You can sign up for one of the airfare monitoring sites and be ready to purchase your flight. Ive seen them go back up within a few hours. The "sales" don't last and they aren't advertised. Someone may know more about this than me, but this has been my previous experience(s). This just happened to me with a vegas flight in January. The price dropped and my internet was down at the house. I was going to purchase at work the next morning, but the prices were back up.

I've even been online with 3 other members of my family trying to book the same flight that was on sale (maybe 8 seats x everyone with 3 or 4 internet explorers open) at the same time. That seemed to temporarily negate the sale price and 30 minutes later dropped back on sale. Like they had a certain amount of seats and we had them all tentatively "reserved" before we had checked out. Like ticketmaster does without an actual countdown clock. That was continental 3 years ago though.

Im no expert and someone on flyertalk would probably tell you I'm wrong, but this has been my observations.

I flew non-stop IAH to Cozumel about 2 years ago on United and then took the ferry to Playa. This works just as well as flying into Cancun and driving to Playa. I'm surprised United is no longer flying direct to Cozumel.

United still flies directly to Cozumel but just a few flights a day.

KW02 - FWIW... we are going to playa in july and looked into AI but given that the town is small and easy to get around we opted to rent a condo at El Faro

http://elfarobeachresort.com/

its close to 5th ave.. on the beach and a lot of shops and restaurants near by...

AI are great but I like the option of going out and about especially in a town as small and easy to get around as PDC

Riu resorts, Playcar Palace & Secrets Maroma are all very different.
All Secrets resorts are adults only and the one in Maroma is on what is arguably the best beach in/near PDC. RIU and Palace resorts will have more families (ie kids).
The food/drinks at Secrets are far superior to the others as well - if its just you and your wife, I would look for deals at any of the Secrets, Excellence or El Dorado resorts. Of those 3, find the cheapest deal and book it. You wont be disappointed in any of them.

Thanks. As for Playa, we are looking for a nice stretch of beach. That seems to lead us to Secrets Maroma or the resorts in Playcar.