We have never done a cruise as my sweety does not like confined spaces and being a country boy crowds are not my cup of tea. We have done the "all included " resorts, 4 and 5 star rating, but found too many loud drunken people at them. It seems that people feel they have to get their monies worth in drinks and food.
Places stayed were Puerto Plata Iberostar, Punta Cana Iberostar Bavaro, Punta Cana Barcello, La Romana Bahia Principe. We stayed one week at two and two weeks at the other two. We found that we liked more to go off resort and would usually find a local to hire for a tour of the area.
We soon tired of the resort life and started renting houses in more remote islands first rental was on Roatan, we were looking for a place to dive and also relax in an out of the way place. Listing for rental is ..
http://www.vrbo.com/130789 . Great diving and a great place to explore the inner island. We stayed here for 2 weeks and found we still didnt experience everything. Cost of living was very cheap. Truck rental was average ...you need a truck to get into the back country . People very friendly and not over crowded with tourists .
The next year we went to Cayman Brac listing...
http://www.vrbo.com/56252 Another out of the way place, shore diving was incredible much the same as Roatan. The sea life was abundant and larger than Roatan as there was less pressures from divers and not as much local fishing. Cost of living was higher than roatan about the same as here at home. The people here were incredible. We never locked anything including when we went off to dive leaving the car open with everything in it. A rental car is a must to access all the shore diving spots. We stayed here three weeks.
This next trip, we just booked the rental is to Utila. We are going for 4 weeks this time . The diving here is also rated very high. Again lots of shore diving and an amazing place to visit. No car rental needed as this place is boat access and very limited roads.We are just closing the deal on the house so I will post a picture of it as soon as it is secure.
As you can see we pretty well organize our vacations around diving and remote places away from tourists. This may not be for too many but if you have any questions feel free to contact me I will do what I can to answer any question.
P.S. feel free to correct any spelling as I went to the same school as Big Al.