honeymoon??!!!

[laughwithme]

This decision should be fun, but so far I am clueless!

I think we pretty much have decided on Caribbean/NE Mexico.

We are stuck between a cruise versus all-inclusive resort. Cost is not really an issue (within reason)...we are fortunate that his parents are taking care of the honeymoon.

For cruise, we''re thinking the 7 day Royal Caribbean western caribbean cruise - 2 days at sea (perfect for FI who wants to lounge/drink) and 4 days on different islands - perfect for me since I love beaches/snorkeling/adventure. We''ve cruised once before with RC and it was the best five days of my life - food, service, everything. But could our honeymoon end up being a spring-break repeat, since we cruised last year? Would it be romantic and focused on one another, or just making it to the next destination?

For resorts, well, we''re all over the place with that. I seriously think I''ve checked out over forty AI caribbean resorts. Important to us = beautiful beaches with at least access to some that are secluded. Good food (5+ restaurants,) preferably adults only or at least not a super family-oriented place. Decent rooms, great service. But mostly, the beaches. I also love the more mountainous islands like St. Thomas, Antigua, etc...we would love hiking/rainforests/etc. I have spent much of my time checking out resorts near Playa del Carmen/mayan riveria, and I just feel like we would wake up each morning and say, ok, let''s head to the pool/beach...again...and again....

Either way, mid-range for us would be best...trying to stear clear of Sandals/Breezes due to reputations, but don''t want to go quite as high as, say, St. John Westin - esp. since its not AI - thought it is EXACTLY what we''re looking for.

PS wedding is June 26, 2010 - so not quite into hurricane season.

How did you all choose your honeymoon spot? Where are you going? Any advice for me?

 

[CNYHopeful]

Great thread, laughwithme!
Sounds like you have narrowed it down to two really good types of options. That''s defiinitely a start. My suggestion would be that you two sit down and make a list of your dream HM options. Then look through the various resorts/cruise packages in the areas you''re considering and see how they match your ideal honeymoon and then the pros and cons of each.

FI and I are going to Ireland. We''ve talked about various trips we''d love to take together long before we got engaged and that was always our top choice for our first major trip together. I''m Irish American and FI has a fascination with Irish history and culture (although he''s of German Italian descent). We looked through travel guides and discussed the sites we''d like to visit. We''re going to rent a car arrange our personalized itinerary through a travel agent. We hope to stay at a manor house in Cork our first night and visit the local pubs, kiss the blarney stone, and spend the next night at Waterford Castle (a luxurious castle hotel). We''ll stop at some ruins along the way to Dublin. In the capitol, we hope to catch a football or hurling match, and spend a couple of days taking in the city and just enjoying married life. Our last few nights, we''ll drive out to the country and spend a few nights at an B&B near county Roscommon where my family is from. We''ll go hiking and just enjoy our new lives together before traveling back to either Dublin or Shannon. Somehow, we hope to tall all of this in in 9-10 days

Either way, we''re excited. We get married on May 22, 2010 so we''re about the same stage of planning. We''ll sit down to formalize plans with the travel agent in early August. Best of luck!

 

[Haven]

We honeymooned on St. John, and stayed at the Westin resort. It was amazing, I could not recommend any location more. I would strongly advise against going to St. Thomas, it is not a nice place at all, especially when compared with St. John.

There other resorts on St. John, I wonder if anything is more reasonable?

 

[AsscherNut]

My FI and I wanted to do a "trip of a lifetime" for our honeymoon, so we made the decision to not have the wedding and use that money towards our dream vacation and house renovations.

We are eloping and then taking a 17 day tour of New Zealand.


FI and I went to Rivera Maya this past winter and stayed on the Excellence Playa Mujeres. It''s in all adults only and very nice. It is also secluded from the rowdy crowds in Cancun and it''s the only resort there so far. They have hammocks in pool and beach beds....very nice! There is also Secrets Maroma Beach that has a really nice beach...supposedly one of the nicest in the world! It is also Adults only. These properties are also one or two years old. Let me know if you need any more feedback