Recommendation - Adult Only Family Christmas Trip

Hello AI fam,

Organizing a trip for my adult family for Christmas 2027.

The travel group will be my parents (mid-60s), my wife and I (mid-30s), my sister and her husband (early 30s).

Looking for mid-size resorts with a good range of activities for our age groups and CLEAN (my mom is a highly sensitive neat freak). Group are all adventurous travellers (most of South America, all of Europe, most of Asia) but wanting AI for this excursion. Anticipating 1-2 excursions off-resort max for this trip. Planning 2 weddings in two years will have left everyone exhausted and not wanting to do the big 2 weeks of hosting push around Christmas.

Our last two AIs were Princess Platinum Yucatan in PDC (family Xmas 2015) and Dreams Onyx (my wedding, October 2025).

At Princess we loved that we could all do our own thing but it was small enough we bumped into each other. Food was pretty good if you knew what to look for. The Princess activation team was also great. I returned on a last minute in March 2025 between jobs and had a similar experience as I did 10 years prior. My dad also liked that it was attached to a larger resort for walking around and such.

At Dreams we loved the all-ages waterpark, the beach was pretty good, and being attached to Breathless was great. Did not find the food as good at Dreams. But the Adults Only club pool was incredible.

My wife and I also visited Barcelo Bavaro (too biiiigggg), Iberostar Waves (weird layout but good restaurants and features), Dreams Macao (not a good beach, good service), and we stayed at Majestic Colonial (good DR/Mex food and serviceable buffet, good layout, amazing beach) while touring for our wedding resort.

Mexico is off the list for 2027 so we are looking for recommendations in Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Bahamas, elsewhere within 4-5hrs of YYZ.

Looking to go slightly higher end for this trip. For DR we would be looking at options in Cap Cana, La Romana, or a new resort in the Bavaro Beach Area.

Preference for livelier resorts with dancing (my parents compete in ballroom and LOVE dancing/live music) versus quieter resorts like Couples.

I’ve been told that Sandals Negril or Dunns River are likely good choices for us. Tapping in the hive mind for options!