From what you are saying I think the Bambu sounds ideal for you. The main thing which appealed to us was the fact that you could use the other hotels but not the Palace, so you weren't stuck in the same surroundings. It is on a white sandy beach but the sea in sometimes quite rough, but it was great fun! The hotel is fantasic and lovely and clean I have read on some reviews that people thought the rooms were a little dated but I can honestly say I thought they were fine and we really weren't in ours very much. There is plenty going on all the time and we really enjoyed the evening entertainment. Now we were there in Nov 2004 and the weather wasn't that wonderful but we had the tail end of a hurricane. It did rain everyday but it was still very hot and we all had great tans. If you can think of any other queations please feel free to ask, and i have loads of photos if you want to see some just pm me your email address!