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Which would you pick? Cancun or Grand Bahama?

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FireGoddess

FireGoddess

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Jan 25, 2005
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We have the option of either going to Cancun or Grand Bahama Island/Bahamas late next spring. Which would you pick? If you've been to one or the other (or both!) I would also love to hear your experiences. I haven't been to either place, or any place tropic (Key Largo in Florida is the most "tropical" place I've seen...
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) Thanks! ETA: And regarding Cancun, do you think any hurricane damage would be fixed by next spring?....maybe that would make the decision pretty easy...
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Well, I've been to Cancun and it's a lot of fun. Especially if you're a 20-something college student.
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There's lots of stuff to do but it definitely has that frat party atmosphere. Also, I think that even next spring there will be some damage issues.

I've been to Nassau, Bahamas. It's really lovely. We stayed at the Atlantis, which is amazing just in itself.

My favorite tropical place is Aruba. I'm going there in three weeks. It's not in a hurricane path and the weather is the same every day -- 80s-90s, sunny, beautiful. The water is always warm and lovely, and there is a a lot of stuff to do and some of the best restaurants.

I've been to other places too, if you want some suggestions...
 
I''ve been to Cancun and in late spring you may get stuck with those spring breakers! Cancun was nice but I would want to go to the Bahamas since I''ve never been!
Either way you choose, I''m jealous!
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Aren''t their pink sand beaches in the Grand Bahamas?
Anybody know?

Scintillating...
 
Hmmmmm...didn't even thing about the spring breakers/frat party thing. Since we're 30-somethings, I'm not looking for that MTV beach party atmosphere. We're looking for something more romantic and secluded.

What we REALLY want to do is go to Hawaii, but we've got these free round trip ticket vouchers to anyplace this airline travels because we were on a hellish flight where someone went postal and we had to emergency land. Long story, but now we've got free round trip tickets. Unfortunately this is a budget airline and does not fly to Hawaii, so our only tropical destination choices are Cancun or Grand Bahama Island.

One question for anyone who's been to the Bahamas - is it easy to island hop? Do they have lots of ferries, or are you pretty much stuck on the island you land on unless you take another flight?

ETA: Scint - a quick google search informed me that on Cat island(?) in the Bahamas there are pink sand beaches. Grand Bahama's got white. Which hearkens back to my last question too...is it easy to island hop?
 
Ohhh... now I''m curious about the hellish flight!
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When I was at the Bahamas I saw some trips advertised for going to other islands, but it wasn''t something I wanted to do so I don''t know any information about it. You should go to http://www.bahamas.com. There is tons of information there. Also, http://www.tripadvisor.com.
 
Thanks for the info Amanda!

And here''s a tidbit...board plane, wait half hour to take off, starts to rain, wait 2 more hours in plane on tarmac for rain to stop (no food or water), after 3 hours on plane it finally takes off, 4 hours into 5 hour flight someone 2 rows behind me goes postal and starts biting other passengers (hard enough to draw blood), still no food (they don''t serve food on this airline) and now no water because flight attendants have to subdue passenger, kids evacuated to front of plane, look behind me and man''s hands and bare feet are tied to seat in front of him, have to emergency land in Vegas, have to evacuate man off slide in back of plane which takes another hour, now need to refuel cuz we can''t make it back to Cali on the gas we have (cuz we sat on the tarmac for 3 hours in Georgia)...this takes 2 more hours and they won''t let us off the plane to eat so people start to freak out, then fly another 1.5 hours back to Cali...you get the point. I deserve the freaking vacation!!!!!
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Phew...got riled up again just thinking about it.
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I've been to both places and would definately choose Cancun hands down. We found the Bahamas beautiful but the people to be rude, service poor and very slow. I could be just the area we were in who knows. My boss and his wife just took a cruise that stopped in the Bahamas and they thought the same thing. If you like to gamble then you'll like the Bahamas. As far as island hopping, I don't really know, that's a good question. My opinion of course but I wasn't impressed at all with the Bahamas.

I've been to Cancun 3 times and Cozumel once. We had a wonderful time each time. Cancun has lots to do, the people are friendly and helpful, and the city was very clean. Loads of restaurants and night life, shopping, tours-- you name it or just beautiful beaches and water to just hang and relax on. We love all the sightseeing to the nearby areas and culture. We stayed at the Sheraton, Sheraton Towers on our honeymoon (great!) and the Hyatt the last time--great hotels and just beautiful. The hotels in Cozumel aren't as nice and what rates as a 4 star on Cozumel wouldn't come close to that rating on Cancun.

Hurricane damage is a big question. I would think that by the spring the majority of damage would be cleaned up but then again I haven't watched any in depth reports about the extent of the damage there. Perhaps a trip in late April or early May would give the spring breakers a chance to finish up and get out of there.
 
Well .. for starters, I''m a fellow 30-something. I was only in Cancun a couple of hours, ''cause I HATED IT. I stayed about an hour away in the Mayan Riviera area, also HATED it. I just generally hated Mexico and found the people hostile/rude to Americans in a way I''ve never experienced ANYWHERE in the Carribean. I noticed a lot of "making fun of Americans" behind their backs too - only in Mexico. Also, I only used my credit card once, at the very nice resort hotel''s rental car desk - and the # was stolen & hundreds of dollars of charges were made by the time I got back from vacation. Never had anything like it happen in all my travels either.

Caribbean - love it. Not Grand Bahamas in particular--never been. But St. Lucia & Antigua were AMAZING. I loved the St. James Club line of resorts and the Le Sport chain. My sister had a bad experience with Sandals FYI.
 
I have not been to Cancun but last year my wife and I did go to Cozumel which is an island very close to cancun. We both loved it. There is a small commercial district but most of the island is a national park. The people were friendly. The beaches were beautiful. If you are looking to getting away from it all that is a place to consider. I am sure there are ferrys from the mainland to the island. I don''t know what will be there by spring time but I am booked on another cruise this december to go back. I don''t know how they will handle that yet. When I get back I''ll let you know Regards Doug
 
Decodelighted,

Wow, I''m shocked to hear that! We''ve always been treated great by the people in Cancun. My sister and most of my friends have vacationed in Cancun and were also as pleased. I got your" Cancun" treatment in the Bahamas. The locals were terribly rude and snotty, painfully slow service with a gratuity added to everything. I''ve also been to Jamaica and BVI (wonderful) and Bahamas was by far the rudest treatment.
 
I say go to Cancun and stay in an all inclusive resort. I think that there is so much more to do than the Bahamas. Whatever you do make sure you do your research.
 
Date: 10/24/2005 7:15:49 PM
Author: lmurden
Whatever you do make sure you do your research.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! This thread is part of research stage ''1''.
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Turks and Caicos!!! Yummy yummy. It is beautiful there. Many go for the hot spots and overlook this island.. Their loss... your gain. It is beautiful and amazing!! SOOO well worth the money. I think my 2nd favorite place would be Bonaire... but that is just cause I like the diving. But T&C has all the beautiful reefs and night life minus the commercialism and big crowds!
 
MINE, my DH is an avid scuba diver and we''re looking for a vacation spot for us next summer since my in-laws have generously volunteered to take care of our kids for us again this summer. We got away to Kauai last summer but don''t want to fly so far this time. We were thinking Grand Cayman but do you think Turks and Caicos would be better? We''ll have two free plane tickets to the caribbean. Where did you stay and would you recommend it again?

Sorry to hijack Firegoddess!
 
I hate cancun. I rather stay home personally. So I guess Grand Bahama.
 
Cancun or Grand Bahama? Well, it looks as though Hurricane Wilma just recently answered that question for you. I was watching the news last night and it looks like Cancun could be under reconstruction for months to come. One news reporter said that resorts were hit so hard that Cancun may miss out on the booming business of the upcoming vacationing season. So I don''t think anyone will be vacationing there for quite some time. The weather channel and other notable news stations noted that Hurrican Wilma hit Cancun the hardest.
 
Josh you made a good point. Cancun may not be fully operational by next Spring.

I have been to both Cancun and Grand Bahama Island. I favor Grand Bahama personally. The people of Cancun were great but the food was terrible for the most part, and it was way too commercialized for my tastes. Grand Bahama is more of a residential place than Nassau (they are different islands). I am assuming that you will be staying in Freeport if you go to Grand Bahama. There is much more to do in Nassau, but if you want a nice quiet relaxing trip then try Freeport, Grand Bahama! And I found the people to be extremely welcoming.
 
I saw some pictures of Wilma''s destruction in Cancun and she definitely did some damage. I guess I was wondering whether that would be cleaned up by the spring but it''s sounding like it may not. Since I probably need to book the trip soon, it seems like Grand Bahama would be the safest bet. Looks like that''s where I''ma goin this time!
 
Firegoddess, I think you''re wise to decide on Grand Bahama Island. I''ve been to neither, but I doubt you would like the risk of listening to construction work going on during your trip. That would be so irritating. Grand Bahama Island is likely to be more idyllic until Cancun is well and truly fixed.
 
Fun!!! Speaking of the Bahamas, hubby and I went to Paradise Island and it was fabulous!!!
 
I''ve been to both places. And I liked cancun better. Stayed in really awful resort on "Grand Bahama" so that might be it. I''ve heard better things about other islands.. but my experience wasn''t good. Again, probably due to where I stayed.

Cancun -- I''d probably skip this year. Although I did have a great time the several times I went, and for a preety decent price.

Diving = BONAIRE!!!! (but really nothing else to do there but that)
 
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