malcolmhelen,

May - November is the hurricane season for the Caribbean region. You may get 2 glorious weeks but then again, you maybe unlucky and have a hurricane move through. It's an unpredictable time of year. The Pacific side of Mexico is also wet at that time oy year. Neuvo Vallarta is a nice place but its a little way out from the main downtown area of Puerto Vallarta (I was there is in March). What's wrong with your original Dom Rep booking? It's a great country and weather wise, won't be any different to the Jamaica.

Darren

You can take a look at http://www.weatherunderground.com and put in the area you are interested in and it will tell you the current weather conditions. Also about half way down the page is a section called History and Almanac- put in the dates you areintrested in and it will give you a history of what the weather has been previously on those dates.
It is typically warm with 360 days of sunshine per yr all over the W.Caribbean. Then of course you can have storms.... who knows what you will get? It is very early in the Hurricane season,usually the end of August,into Sept is peak time for problems.

we are booked for the melia caribe which is a 5* but it has had terrible reviews but we thought it cannot be that bad but a friend has just come back and it is as bad as the reviews say so we have decided to cut our loses and change now while we still can.
i have checked the wether underground history for may this year and it just said it was cloudy but a review ihave read for jamaica said it rained for 2 weeks which does not show on the history???

We have been to Jamaica and Mexico in May and had very good weather both times. Occasionally there was a downpour for 15 minutes and then it was glorious again. We much preferred Mexico. We stayed in Playacar (beautifully kept resort) at the Tucan/Quetzel hotel which was fabulous and you could walk in safety to the town of Playa del Carmen. The Riviera Maya is also very nice but a little more cut off, although some of the excursion attractions are nearby.

we stayed at the sandos caracol in april this year and really enjoyed it. our room was massive the biggest we have had in the carribean. pool was great, food lovely loads of restaurants and bars. entertainment good althought we did not watch much as we were a large party of 10. our kids of 10 and 12 really enjoyed it. beach is a bit shingly but if you walk to the left it gets beautiful. plenty of sunbeds. :

Sandos Caracol reviews HERE.

Pippy

As far as safety, freedom of movement outside a resort and the sheer pleasantness of the people, easy choice- Mexico every time.

I would go with Mexico too. We stayed in Bucerias (just up the coast from Puerto Vallarta) a few years ago at the beginning of June & didn't see any rain once.

Also on http://www.wunderground.com there is a trip planner button. You enter the dates you're going & it shows you the % chance on rain, wind, temperature etc. for the particular dates.

I would chose Jamaica EVERY time. It is as safe to go outside of your resort as it is in Mexico, or London, or any big city. Don't take stupid risks and you'll be fine.

Jamaica is still far less commercialised than Mexico, and a bit more commercialised than DR.

I have never been anywhere with such wonderful people as Jamaica, we love it so much we have chosen to get married there next March.

we have decided to try jamaica so we are going to the riu negril in may, seems like a long time to wait .

great choice you have made, I stayed at the Riu Negril in April and loved it, if you would like any info do not hesitate to ask