Honeymoon Advice Please!

[monkeyprincess]

My fiance and I would like a Caribbean honeymoon, but we're at a loss for where to go. Does anyone have suggestions for locations and reasonable all-inclusive resorts? If not the Caribbean, where else would you suggest? Thanks.

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

Try cheapcaribbean.com

 

[sonnyjane]

While perhaps a bit cliche, the Sandals resorts are really a pretty good deal as far as the all-inclusives go. I have several friends that went to a Sandals property for their honeymoon and were always extremely happy with the decision. In fact, DH and I spent our honeymoon in Hawaii, but based on the recommendations of so many of my friends, we are looking at booking a Sandals vacation when he gets home from deployment. I know people that have stayed at the ones in Negril, Whitehouse, Emerald Bay, and the Royal Bahamian and all loved them.

 

[sillyberry]

I'm a broken record on this, so forgive me, but I highly recommend the Excellence Playa Mujeres in Cancun. Just wonderful. Adults only, amazing rooms, great drinks, consistently good food (which for an all-inclusive is high praise in my experience), awesome romantic atmosphere.

I've been three times over the past three years and need to get planning my next trip!

 

[les12]

Date: 5/25/2010 9:53:37 PM
Author: sillyberry
I''m a broken record on this, so forgive me, but I highly recommend the Excellence Playa Mujeres in Cancun. Just wonderful. Adults only, amazing rooms, great drinks, consistently good food (which for an all-inclusive is high praise in my experience), awesome romantic atmosphere.


I''ve been three times over the past three years and need to get planning my next trip!

JUST got back from here 2 weeks ago. It was seriously amazing!! I''m from south Louisiana, used to lots of spicy cajun food, so for us the food was sort of bland but I think we are just used to more flavor. That was honestly the only "complaint" I had- and I''m certain most of the people who go there don''t share that complaint. Everything was absolutely beautiful! The weather was gorgeous. The room we booked had a rooftop terrace with our own private small pool and 2 beds for lounging around in the sun in privacy! Definitely look into this resort- it is incredible!!

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

Date: 5/25/2010 7:37:18 PM
Author: sonnyjane
While perhaps a bit cliche, the Sandals resorts are really a pretty good deal as far as the all-inclusives go. I have several friends that went to a Sandals property for their honeymoon and were always extremely happy with the decision. In fact, DH and I spent our honeymoon in Hawaii, but based on the recommendations of so many of my friends, we are looking at booking a Sandals vacation when he gets home from deployment. I know people that have stayed at the ones in Negril, Whitehouse, Emerald Bay, and the Royal Bahamian and all loved them.

Ditto. FI and I went to Sandals MoBay a couple years ago and had a fantastic time! There were lots of honeymooning couples there. That particular Sandals is one of the cheaper ones and they only get better. I''ve heard great things about the Sandals in Antigua and St Lucia.

 

[Amanda.Rx]

We went to Sandal''s Whitehouse in Jamaica and had a fabulous time! I didn''t care if it was cliche'' ... we''ve both traveled a good bit, and we both wanted something all-inclusive, easy to work with, and super chill. This honeymoon was exactly that. Sandal''s is a very reputable resort. The service was fabulous, the resort was beautiful, our room was comfortable, and the food was delicious.

They also have a lot of different price points. We ended up getting upgraded for free to a room with room service, which we utilized- a lot. It was awesome to have breakfast delivered to our balcony every morning!

However, if you LOVE sitting on the beach all day (and want a lounge chair) I''ve heard you have to get up pretty early to get one- unless you get a butler, but they''re pretty expensive. We''re not really "sit on the beach" people, so it wasn''t a problem for us. The pools were great- we spent most of our time there. I only have 2 other minor complaints First, their photographers. They take photos of you around the resort (which was fun at first), and they give you tickets with a # on them so you can go look at your photos later and purchase. However, by the end of the trip, I was really sick of having a camera stuck in my face when all I wanted to do was share time with my sweetie. We had (no lie) 75 tickets by the end of the vacation, and I think we purchased 3 photos. The second is the drive to Whitehouse. It''s about 1.5-2 hours after you leave the airport. There are Sandal''s resorts much closer to Montego Bay, but we thought Whitehouse was much more beautiful and secluded, so we chose that one.

Here''s our view of the sunset every night from our balcony:

 

[Amanda.Rx]

And the view from outside the front door of our room- the mountains in the background were very pretty. The whole resort was well-manicured.

 

[sba771]

Another sandals fan here. I have been to St. Lucia and will be doing Whitehouse for our honeymoon.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Thank you for all the suggestions! EPM looks amazing! I will try to sell J on that one, but he''s a little wary of Mexico. We had thought about Jamaica initially, but in light of instability and travel advisories going on right now, that''s no longer an option for us. But St. Lucia looks somewhat promising. Keep the suggestions coming!

 

[winelover23]

Date: 5/25/2010 5:47:35 PM
Author:monkeyprincess
My fiance and I would like a Caribbean honeymoon, but we''re at a loss for where to go. Does anyone have suggestions for locations and reasonable all-inclusive resorts? If not the Caribbean, where else would you suggest? Thanks.

I have no experience w/ the Caribbean or Mexico but just wanted to show you where we are going because it is very budget freindly.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g499455-d220209-Reviews-Catalonia_Royal_Tulum-Xpuha_Yucatan_Peninsula.html

It is all-inclusive and I did a TON of research before booking. For 7 nights w/ airfare from Seattle our total package was $2300 and that''s w/ tax, service charges and insurance.

 

[Amanda.Rx]

Date: 5/26/2010 10:02:10 AM
Author: monkeyprincess
Thank you for all the suggestions! EPM looks amazing! I will try to sell J on that one, but he''s a little wary of Mexico. We had thought about Jamaica initially, but in light of instability and travel advisories going on right now, that''s no longer an option for us. But St. Lucia looks somewhat promising. Keep the suggestions coming!

OOOhhh yeah! Forgot about that. That happened post-honeymoon for us (thank GOODNESS!) I would be cautious too. Pictures from St. Lucia look GORGEOUS! That''s where I wanted to go, but we didn''t want to put up with a 6 hour plane trip. Jamaica was much closer.

Really, all of the Virgin Islands are beautiful- St. Thomas and St. John are lovely too! I don''t have any suggestions on where to stay- we just stopped by both islands on a cruise ship.

 

[labellavita81]

We got married and had our honeymoon in Jamaica. The first week we stayed at Sandals Dunn''s River and we loved it. Then for the second week we drove to the other side of the island and went to Sandals White House.... Both hotels were stunning and the food was really good. I LOVED Jamaica and would go back there in a SECOND!!! So there is my suggestion, Jamaica and a Sandals. While its not cheap per se, you get what you pay for.

 

[LadyJane83]

First, when is your wedding date? If you are going on your honeymoon during hurrican season you should look into getting insurance. I have some all-inclusive recommendations if you are going that route. I have traveled with applevacations.com 4 times and find them to be reliable and have the best prices.

People rave about the Couples Resorts in Jamaica. They have resorts in Negril and Ocho Rios. One of the resorts in Ocho Rios has a smallish beach though. Negril has a stunning beach, it comes up often on top 10 beaches lists.

In Mexico, I would look into the Secrets resorts. People rave about the servcie and the beach at Secrets Maroma is beautiful. These resorts in the Cancun/Playa del Carmen area also get consistently good reviews:

Iberostar Grand
Le Blanc
Zoetry
Valentin
The Royal Playa del Carmen
The Royal Cancun

Also, I don''t know if you are familiar with trip advisor, but it is an excellent resource. I always read the reviews and look at the pics of the resorts to get a feel for the quality of the beach and the ocean color. There are also forums where you can post questions for your destination.

 

[wannaBMrsH]

We got married in the Dominican Republic and it was AMAZING! We stayed at the Iberostar Punta Cana because it had a lower price point and we wanted to stay with our wedding guests, but the Iberostar Grand Bavaro is FANTASTIC! Adults only, all-inclusive, excellent restaurants, etc.

There are also other very posh resorts in the Dominican and your money goes a tad farther than in Mexico and Jamaica.

If you go the Jamaica Route, try Sunset Beach Resort & Spa in Montego Bay...

They also just opened an all-inclusive Beaches in Turks and Caicos and that''s on my list of places to visit...

Good luck planning your honeymoon!

 

[laughwithme]

Date: 5/26/2010 10:02:10 AM
Author: monkeyprincess
Thank you for all the suggestions! EPM looks amazing! I will try to sell J on that one, but he''s a little wary of Mexico. We had thought about Jamaica initially, but in light of instability and travel advisories going on right now, that''s no longer an option for us. But St. Lucia looks somewhat promising. Keep the suggestions coming!

Another vote for EPM here - we''re headed there in about 26 days for our honeymoon. We chose this resort due to its consistently good reviews. The pictures on TripAdvisor will make you ache - it looks too good to be true and I am counting down the hours until we arrive.

Don''t be wary of Mexico - the resort areas are perfectly fine. Actually, the tourism issues related to swine flu and drug cartels can work in your benefit right now - we received 25% off so we feel that we totally scored an awesome deal. Depending on what month you are visiting, their website still reflects rates of 15-25% off and most travel agents will beat that.