Where or Where NOT to Honeymoon

bearman, I wrote this reply in another thread about vacation ideas...hope it helps. Also, I just spoke with a new girl at work who also went to this Sandals, albeit years later, and she said the same thing--and noted especially how filthy it was:

...I'd thought I'd warn you about a place we HATED--Sandals.

We asked for a no-kids, relaxing, no stress vacation and were sold a trip to Sandals on St. Lucia. It was horrendous. I could write a 50-page post. It was dirty; the food STUNK. The room was horrible--we paid hundreds of extra dollars to have a "caribbean front suite" and if I walked out our front door and stood on my tippy tippy toes and craned my neck, I could see a patch of blue that I suppose was the sea.

We did complain and they moved us to their other, larger resort but it was mediocre at best, and everyone was obsessed with these stupid activities and contests. Needless to say, we will not be going back ever.

Ironically, we literally have met a dozen couples over the last few years who also had gone to the same resort and EVERYONE--I'm not kidding-- said the same things about how horrible it was. We all bonded over it. I'd be very wary of the all-inclusives...through this experience and a lot of hearsay from friends, I've come to think they are not first-rate places to stay.

Nantucket

A cruise w/ a room w/ a balcony. All inclusive for the most part. Some cruise ships leave from Baltimore & Norfolk to the Carribean.

Tide's Inn in VA.

I know it's a rather long flight but how about French Polynesa/Tahiti? Different travel agencies have different special/value packages and you can get them to price match and compete.

click here

Click Here

Click Here

Click Here

If you are looking for an All Inclusive Honeymoon in the carribean an excellent, extremely romantic, place is Couples Swept Away Negril. It is amazing. The food is very exceptional, and the property is very private and beautifal. I have been to many high end resorts as well as some low end, and All Inclusive can be tricky, but I would return to Swept Away any day. In fact I want to elope with my boyfriend there, if he would only let me!

I've heard good things about the Westin on St John...
Would anyone recommend (or not) the above?
Has anyone stayed at Caneel Bay (also on St John)?
I'd luv to know what you thought about it.... thnx

We are going to Disney World. I am not particularly thrilled with is, but we have no choice. We moved the wedding back from March on 05 to Nov of 04, and we were scheduled to do Disney at the end of May 04. We can't afford 2 vacations 6 months apart, so we transferred our Disney trip to be our honeymoon.

St. John's Westin is LOVELY as is Caneel Bay, but be prepared to drop a lot. It IS pricey.

For something affordable and all inclusive, we went to St. Thomas recently and stayed at the Wyndham Sugar Bay. It was nice, and all inclusive, but the better place to stay we heard was the Marriot Frenchman's Reef.

I TRULY recommend St. Thomas and St. John as a Carribean destination. It's phenomenal.

Here's the St.Thomas Thread

Here's the details of the trip, with some pics: St. Thomas, Wyndham Sugar Bay

Also, I suggest a rental car while in St. Thomas. Getting used to driving on the left side isn't bad at all...it's coming back to the right side in the US that gets tough!!

Lots of things to do there, like Scuba, snorkle, take cruises to other Islands, Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, the Baths at Virgin Gorda, sailing for the whole day (which we did through New Horizons) ans was GREAT! Just make sure they don't have A LOT of people on the boat with you. We had 12 and it was perfect!

Note that St. Croix and St. THomas are more buys, whereas St. Johns is very much a quiet land preserve, so it costs a bit more to stay there. Also, if on St. Thomas, see Magen's Bay, it's GORGEOUS and Sapphire Beach is fun!

Thank you so much for all the info Nicrez
I've been to all the places you've mentioned, but not in the past few years...
I only went to St John for a day & have been meaning to go back... I remember thinking it would make a luvly honeymoon spot, so serene & beautiful.

My fiance & I are torn btwn Kauai & St John for the wedding-moon. We both love Kauai but it's a bit of a haul from NYC...
I've seen the prices for St John but we'd really like to go all out this once. Just want to make sure if we do go to Caneel or the Westin, that we're not disappointed....

Okay, we may be in the minority here, but we ARE planning to head to an all-inclusive resort for our honeymoon. ...but it's a little different from most. We're headed to Hedonism III in Jamaica. We've heard great food, nude beaches and beautiful scenery! We figure there's no other time we'll be able to do it!!

Not all inclusive...but man oh man, did I love Atlantis, Paradise Island. We went to Disney (I had never been) for 4 or 5 days and a little more than one week to Paradise Island. oh ma god, was that awesome.

and the grand floridian is worth every stinkin penny...

Grand Lido Negril in Jamaica is top-notch. My girlfriend and I spent a week there in 2001 on the Presidential Perks Package and it was, in a word, perfect. We're not (quite) engaged yet, but already plan on having our wedding there.

Some of the highlights:

We had the best food (amazing buffets - with live music, and 24 hour room service...no tipping allowed).
The rooms are literally feet from the beach
Private gourmet dinner on our patio (with 2 attendants there to meet our every need)
Flower petals arranged on our bed every day.
Private patio jacuzzi
Extremely friendly & helpful staff.
Premium liquor (a lot of all-inclusive places only serve cheap brands)
Excellent spa
Sunset cruise on the M/Y Zein

Plus a lot of little things that are hard to define. Really, if there was anything that we wanted, all we had to do was ask. It's not crowded, there are no kids... This place is amazingly romantic. I can't imagine a better resort.