Best place to honeymoon in the Caribbean? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

I've got the ring, the girl, and a wedding date. Now I need a honeymoon. This thread seems a good one to resurrect for advice. Others that looked helpful are:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=217105
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...threadid=57222

I'd like a 5 night Caribbean honeymoon cruise or all-inclusive resort starting June 25. And it must be under $2500, including airfare and most incidentals. Is this possible? Any recommendations?

 

[Jason Pancake]

You could EASILY get a 5 or even 7 day cruise + airfare for under $2500...

I'd start here...
Best Price Cruises

And then for the Airfare...
AirTran

 

[DaveF]

Jason - thanks for the link. However, that confirmed my fears. There are no 5-7 day cruises under $2000 for June 25 or June 26.

There are several 4-day cruises on Carnival. But I've been advised that Carnival attracts a younger, 20's crowd, with a strong interest in drinking, which isn't my style.

I may have to bag the cruise this year and go towards the all-inclusive resort, my second choice.

 

[SethH]

Dave, I was in almost the exact same boat. My bride and I went to the Mexican Maya Riviera just a little south of Playa del Carmen. It was all-inclusive and absolutely incredible and right at your price.

We stayed at the Grand Palladium Colonial which, at the time, was a combined resort with the Grand Palladium Kantenah. Now they have two more resorts added to the same property. You have access to all the facilities of all four resorts when you stay there.

It was absolutely phenomenal and I have no regrets for not springing for a couples only place. There were a few families and stuff there, but we just avoided family type activities. Also, my favorite part about this resort is that I could affod the nicest rooms available within my budget (roughly the same as your's).

If you decide to go there or want more info about it, shoot me a PM or email and I can give you more info.

EDIT: I just wanted to add this after reading your last post. My wife and I were also looking to avoid the party-type atmosphere. This resort is far enough away from Cancun that it's out of the party scene, yet it's still close enough that you could go there for an evening if you'd like. It's also close to Tulum and Xel-Ha (which is INCREDIBLE!). The only money we spent while there was on tips and the day trip to Xel-Ha which cost about $100 for snorkeling equipment, etc.

 

[DaveF]

Seth - Thanks for the tip. Searching Orbitz & Travelocity shows Cancun resort packages are about 30% cheaper than Caribbean. I was about to ask if Cancun was a "party" area. I'll check on the Riviera now.

Any suggestions on how to find out what the area is like, currently. Cancun, I believe, was hit hard by Hurricane Wilma. While this might provide a better price as they rebuild, I don't want to honeymoon in a construction zone.

 

[Matt Stryker]

Dave - Cancun was pretty badly hit, but the island of Cozumel shielded Playa del Carmen and many of the beaches to the south....they are in pretty good shape. Cancun itself is still in rebuilding mode according to friends who were home there over Christmas.

 

[SethH]

I'm honestly not sure what condition they're in. My wife and I went in May of 2005, so that was just before all the hurricanes. You might go talk to a travel agent. I know that sounds silly in the internet age, but I actually booked mine through a travel agent. I had a recommendation given to me of a good agent and I went to her with my Expedia package. She was able to give me right at the same price -- I think it came out to about $25 more total and that included all commissions and everything. I really liked the idea of having someone in my corner if I had any problems with my trip, so the extra $25 was worth it to me.

See if you can find a good agent in your area and talk to them very generally about that area of Mexico. If you like what you hear, then go home and find a good resort with prices from some of the online travel sites, then return to the agent with the prices you got online.

One thing about the Maya Riviera: You fly into Cancun. The ride to the resort will likely be about 45 minutes. If you ride a bus with other people who are going to other resorts, this could take significantly longer -- up to 2 hours. Our ride was just over an hour, but we were mentally prepared for it so it wasn't bad. The best part about it was that we stopped at about 6 places before ours. When we got dropped off everyone still in the bus was in awe of our resort because it was so much more beautiful than the others we had stopped at -- that was a great feeling and was worth the bus ride for me. I'm not sure how much a cab from the airport would cost -- probably $30 or so -- but that might be worth it to you if you wanted to get there faster.

 

[DaveF]

My parents are checking to see if their travel agent is still in the business. There are so many options -- 10+ locations and hundreds of resorts -- that I'm ready to work with a professional to guide me to the best choice.

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

My wife and I took our honeymoon in Jamaica in June. We went to Sandals Whitehouse, which is a new resort and on the south side of Jamaica. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun we had. It's not a big party place, pretty small actually, but it was very romantic. We actually wondered if the resort had low occupancy due to the minimal number of people we saw, but they told us it was 98% occupied. Awesome!!

I have a bunch of pictures if anyone wants to see this resort. Very new and very beautiful!!


Richard, Dunn's River was about a 3 hour drive from our resort so we didn't go, but we heard it was absolutely amazing!!!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Look into it some more before you write it off. Cruises are fantastic, my wife and I took one for our honeymoon and look forward to doing another this August.

I would think that Cancun is MUCH more of a party/drink/debauchery fest than a Carnival cruise. By orders of magnitude.

 

[SethH]

Cancun, yes. But about 30 miles south is pretty secluded and is by no means a party area.

 

[Jay H]

My sister just came back from St. Johns in the USVI, she stayed in these eco-tents in Maho bay and said it was very nice, snorkelling and hiking.

I kept thinking she was going to St. Johns, Newfoundland and thought that snorkelling in this time of year in NF was nuts... But then I found out she meant in the Virgin Islands...OK,

Anyway, her pictures she showed me showed it was a nice place, but a long trip to get there from St Thomas, ferry, taxi, etc.

Jay

 

[Kirk Gunn]

To follow up on Tom's recommendation:

http://www.ottleys.com/index.php

 

[DaveF]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am going to contact contact a travel agent shortly and see if they can help me find the right package.

I've ruled out Cancun now because of the party reputation and because the beaches don't sound as nice as I want.

Carnival isn't totally off the list, but is a secondary option right now.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

My wife and I went to Trinidad and Tobago for our first anniversary and we wish we had gone for our honeymoon.

We went in June, which is the rainy season, but really it just poured rain for five or ten minutes at a time and then cleared up again.

In Tobago, we stayed in a cottage at Man-O-War Bay. The cottage was quite literally steps from the beach. The little town had a couple of fantastic restaurants (especially Jane's, which is a little white shack on the beach that serves the best roti I've ever eaten).

http://man-o-warbaycottages.com/

In Trinidad, we stayed at Le Grande Almandier, which was certainly fancier, and got up in the middle of the night to watch baby leatherback turtles hatch, dig out of the sand and scurry into the ocean. We also saw about ten full grown leatherbacks crawl up onto the beach and lay eggs. And when I say full grown, these things were bigger than me.

Truly beautiful. It's great -- you make a donation to the conservationists and they wake you up at your hotel when they've found a turtle and take you out to have a look.

http://www.legrandealmandier.com/

Here is a gallery of a recent show I did of images from that trip, including pictures of the babies crawling into the ocean and a mother who has just laid eggs:

http://aaronreynolds.ca/gallery/TandT