Marriott points - where would you go?
 

I am planning for next year with a ton of Marriott points stacked up to take my wife to the Caribbean for our wedding anniversary.

Where would you go if you had a choice. We are looking to stay at a beach resort and looking for one that is the best in terms of having everything within the resort - food, easy or private beach and activities to do on the beach. looking for a complete relaxing vacation.

Also, we are in our 20s and looking for a relatively younger surrounding.

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated greatly!

You may want to search in the Marriott forum instead, you will get more responses.

Personally I like Grand Cayman. The Marriott is smaller and not a resort and it is not a party island, though there clubs, good food, etc. The Ritz Carlton is nice as well which should have everything you want in one resort type of palce.

The others are St Thomas which might be better for your age or maybe Puerto Rico and of course Aruba. Also is St Kitts and Curacao I think round out the bunch.

I am not sure any of these is going to have a relatively young surrounding, Marriotts are built for families though you will always find some younger couples there.

Cheers.

RC STT if you can swing the points.

My choice is Aruba, lots of water activities, casino onsite and right on the beach.

I've stayed with my wife at the Marriott Aruba and St. Thomas. Of the two I preferred St. Thomas, but would recommend staying in the Morningstar Beach portion (instead of Frenchman's Reef or whatever they call the main property). We had a room with a balcony literally right over the beach at the far end of the beach away from the main resort. We liked the additional privacy and didn't mind the small extra walk when we wanted to go to one of the restaurants in the main building.

Aruba wasn't bad; it just didn't feel as special as St. Thomas, but the casinos add a little excitement.

BTW, I'm also looking for POVs on Marriotts on islands we haven't been to yet. I'm looking at Grand Cayman, Curacao and St. Kitts. If anyone can share plusses and minuses of these it would be much appreciated!

Check the specific threads in the Marriott forum for more info, but:

Curacao - decent property, but the beaches are not that great. Interesting island, but has more of a European than Caribbean feel.

St. Kitts - nice (large) property, with a small casino. Definitely a Caribbean feel about the island (not at the resort, however), but beaches are very dissapointing in my opinion (beaches in VIs are much nicer). Proximity to Nevis is a plus.

Aruba doesn't do much for me (too Americanized), and my impression is that Grand Cayman is similar.

if you are looking to make friends and hang out with people your age, st kitts might be the best bet.

it's never too crowded, and home to ross vet school, so there are always mid 20's early 30's american crowd at the pool and hanging out and having a good time, but it's also peaceful and relaxing.