Are you bargain-hunting for your honeymoon?

[Gleam]

After doing all the diamond research, I admit, I'm a little over trying to find the best deal for anything. By nature, I am not a planner.

Thus far, we aren't planning on a wedding, just a honeymoon in Africa. I am getting quotes from an agent specializing in Africa travel, and I am astounded by the cost. Practically all the packages she's quoting us are for 6-7 days, at costs exceeding $15,000. That's within our budget, but I'm wondering if I should be doing my own footwork to find good deals or what... as obviously that is VERY EXPENSIVE!

Urgh. I've always hated planning vacations, much less something as anticipated as a honeymoon.

 

[Miya03]

You should be able to find something for much less than that. I spent 3 weeks in South Africa in luxury hotels for $5000. Granted, that was about 10 years ago, but I was in Botswana and South Africa two years ago and seriously, you don''t need to spend that much to get a really fantastic, luxurious experience. I would look into it for yourself.

Also, it depends obviously on where you go and what you want to do, but trust me you can do Africa for a lot cheaper than that. Also, I assume airfare is including in the cost?

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Hehe, we were kind of lazy about it too. My friend had just recently told us of Iceland''s bankruptcy status, so we decided to take advantage and book a 10 day luxury package there in August. I probably could have booked things myself and saved some money, but honestly, it was such a luxury to NOT have to do the research. The agency booked us rooms in the most romantic and luxurious hotels, arranged for a 4x4, gave us all the maps and things we''d need, wrote us a recommended itinerary, booked us dog sledding rides and whale watching tours, it was a nice treat to not have to look into all of that stuff myself! Personally it was worth the price differential to not have to plan it all, they gave us a cell phone, and we could call them at anytime if anything went wrong or if we had questions. It was great!

 

[MagsyMay]

I haven't started bargain hunting yet because it is too early, but we sure as heck will be once we get closer!! That might be the ONLY research I am looking forward to doing!

 

[ChemGeek]

heck yeah! I''m a natural born bargain hunter! If you belong to Costco or Sam''s or any other membership-warehouse type place, check out their travel deals, they''re pretty good, actually! Also check europeandestinations.com, vacationstogo.com, bookingbuddy.com, and travelzoo.com. Sometimes there are links to other places besides Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean, so you might be able to find a deal for Africa. I remember there being a cruise around Africa in the Costco travel book I picked up last time we were there, that included Egypt and some other locations. Good luck in your search!

 

[emeraldlover1]

We really wanted to go on a 2 week honeymoon in Africa with a safari and a trip to Mauritus. If you do a search on here for African honeymoon you should find the threads I started about a year ago. We searched for months and the best deal we got was 11k connecting thru London and not going to Mauritus. The honeymoon we really wanted the best price we got was 18k. So, there are some better prices (not deals if you want a 5* honeymoon) but you have to call a ton of agents. DH is away on business but when he gets back I''ll ask him which places gave us the best prices and get you the info.

We eventually decided on 2 weeks in Greece for a variety of reasons. Cost aside we wanted to go on our honeymoon right after the wedding and we didn''t want to pay 18k to be in Cape town when the weather was in the high 50''s.

 

[emeraldlover1]

Some good info here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/crookedrock-i-hope-you-are-around-i-want-to-talk-honeymoon.101475/

 

[decodelighted]

Travelzoo *dot* com! We did our honeymoon six months later & waited ''til we found a great deal. Most of my vacations of the last, gosh, 10 years have been Travelzoo deals. Love ''em!

 

[cakegirl]

Gleam, we were planning the EXACT same thing- Elope and get married in Kenya or Tanzania and travel for 2 weeks. The prices were incredible! For 2 weeks it would have been at least 20k, but probably much higher. Plus the wedding would be extra and the legalities fairly complicated. We would have had to do a much more budget trip than we wanted for our wedding/honeymoon.

We''ve decided to save the safari for an anniversary trip later on and are getting married in Thailand. The place we are staying for part of the trip is completely organizing the wedding and getting legally married there is relatively simple-not to mention it will be less than half as much as Kenya.

I love planning travel and have done a lot of it if you need any help or suggestions!

 

[noelwr]

as someone who goes to South Africa once or twice a year, I can promise you that those prices are ridiculous.

since you don''t like vacation planning, I would recommend the following:

book your own flights to Africa (this will be the most expensive part of your vacation)
find an African travel agency to book your travel within the continent (you can get cheaper deals if you''re on honeymoon)
just google African travel agencies that specialize in honeymoons and have them quote you prices

once you''re in Africa, it can be surprisingly cheap - unless you stay in the top 5 star hotels.

 

[cakegirl]

I was looking at Kenya and Tanzania and trying to staying in tented camps. Perhaps it is more expensive there than S Africa? I was using several Kenyan based travel agents and the prices were all similar.

The cheapest places we were looking were $500 per person, per day. The nicer places were closer to $1000.

 

[emeraldlover1]

I agree cakegirl....we talked to numerous agents and looked at booking our own flights and the cost of what we wanted was still 18k in just travel and hotel. Now, that being said....we wanted very nice hotels, safari, transportation, and another 5 nights in mauritus. We could have done the 2 weeks in just south africa for 11k however it wasn''t what we wanted.

We decided on the same thing about taking an aniversary trip there instead.

I know that you can plan this trip with a budget but it really depends on what you can live with.

 

[noelwr]

yup, I agree that South Africa is probably cheaper than Kenya and Tanzania.

but it is a beautiful country (Capetown) and you can also go to game reserves!