Honeymoon HELP

[JessesGrl]

I am getting married October 1st 2005. My wedding started out small and has grown to a wedding that is way above any budget I ever would have set. I am graduating grad school in May, Fiance graduated last May and so we are both "newbies" in the "real world"! We moved in to our own place in July and lets just say finances are TIGHT.
My parents were MORE than generous with my wedding budget but due to living in New York and the high price tag of our band and photographer...not to mention my dress, we are going to end up dishing out around 6 grand on our own. Sorry to babble....anyway! We had gone to the travel agent last month and almost booked a 10 day honeymoon in Italy that would run us around 4,000 ( on top of the 6,000 we already need to come up with) I hesitated and really want to go to an Island or mexico but all the Islands are supposedly "bad" ( rainy) in October.
HELP- I wanted to go to Mexico to club med but the adults only resort is in Cancun....fiance is against cancun...wants acapaluco or cabo...anywhere BUT cancun ( he is a big baby sometimes!)
So now I am trying to find a weather friendly, warm, ocean front place that is around 2500 including airfare....preferably all inclusive...anyone know of a place???? Sandals and Breezes only deal w/the caribbean...HELP

 

[TravelingGal]

Are you talking about going for a full week? Do you have your heart set on 7 nights, or can you sacrifice a couple of nights to get the trip price down?

Check out www.royalhideaway.com . You fly into Cancun, but it is about 45 minutes south of there, in the much more relaxed town of Playa del Carmen. The Royal Hideway is all inclusive and the liquor is all top shelf (if that kind of stuff is important to you). There are 5 restaurants onsite and it''s ala carte. The food is pretty good (although they tout it at 5 star, I don''t think so. However, it IS better than what I imagine other all inclusives serve). It''s an upscale resort, and you don''t even have to wear wristbands. If you''d like to read real person reviews of the property, check out www.tripadvisor.com and type in the name of the property.

The rate is probably around $270 per night per person. Yes, that is not cheap. However, here is a tip...

go to www.skyauction.com and search for Royal Hideaway. They routinely do auctions for this property. Register a user name, then watch the auction and bid at the last minute. I did this with no problem. Bids usually end at around 150 a night, per person. I actually screwed up my bid and missed getting it for 140 a night. But no worries, once that bid ends, another one just like it starts. However, they do add taxes $32 per person per night, so factor that in. I used them and had no problems. And if your bid wins, you get to pick the days you want to go. If the days are not available, you are not obligated to find other dates. You are released from the bid. However, do read their terms and conditions.

I think my entire vacation came out to be about $2400-2500 for the both of us. Airfare was about 400 RT per person on Alaska airlines from LAX. Transfers, in a private car is probably going to be another $100 or so, but worth it. We spent no other money at the resort (but they do offer massages, etc for a fee.) We went for 4 nights, 5 days. It was my first lounge-y beach vacation, and to be honest, it''s not my thing. But for your honeymoon, I''m sure you would want some R&R and romance, and not backpack around Europe in a grungy manner like I would wanna do!

This is very much a honeymooners resort. VERY quiet, with only one after hours bar that doubles as a disco on some nights. But the town of Playa del Carmen definitely has a nightlife and is a 5 minute cab ride away. October will still be hurricane season, so I''d advise you buy trip insurance. Still that means you are probably apt to get a bit better deal. If you do decide to look into this, feel free to PM me. I researched the hell out of it and can tell you which Villas to request for peace and quiet and other such tips (like making your dinner reservations BEFORE you get there!)

There are other top scale all inclusives now in the area; Secrets Capri and Secrets Excellence come to mind. However, their reviews aren''t as good, and they are not as close to town as the Royal Hideaway is. The beach is also better at the RH than the other two. But I think Cancun''s beaches are supposed to be better than Playa''s.

BTW, I am not an expert on Mexico, but I think the water on Mexico''s gulf side is warmer and more turquoise than on the pacific side. The rivera maya is more of an island caribbean feel...it is the mexican caribbean after all. Also, don''t let the drive to PDC freak you out...you drive through the real mexico to get to the tourist stuff.

As for Italy, it''s a shame you can''t go. But the Euro is really strong right now, which hurts. $2500 wouldn''t get you very far, especially if you wanted to stay somewhere for 10 days. But can you find a cheap flight out from NYC to Italy? If so, you can eat cheaply in Italy and get lucky with decent accommodation. For a honeymoon, I''d recommend the lovely Amalfi Coast. Positano is stunning. It also gives you plenty of exercise walking around, since those roads are steep!!

Best of luck to you.

 

[marriahlyn]

Hello!
I got married in October 2 years ago and went to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. We stayed at Secrets Excellence which is an adults on resort and I believe we paid $2400 with airfare all inclusive. I''m pretty sure the rates have gone up now.

DH and I almost always book our trips thru applevacations.com. The prices are almost all with air and all inclusive but you have to double check to make sure. We went to Domican Republic this year in Jan for under $2000 for a week all inclusive. I hope there''s a charter airport close to you!!

Have fun wedding planning,
Jaime

 

[eks6426]

What about Aruba? It is far enough south in the Carribean to be mostly out of the hurricane/rain issues. There are certainly some very expensive resorts, but there are also plenty of moderate ones. The food and nightlife is good so you could economize by not doing an all-inclusive and then eating some of your meals at more local/less costly places. Just an idea. Being in NYC you should have access to some great flights.

 

[petunia princess]

I would try other Club Med spots if your fiance wants to stay away from Cancun....I have been to the Cancun & Turks/Caicos Club Meds, which are both incredible and always fill up b/c there are NO KIDS However, Club Med also has resorts in the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, etc. The other nice thing about Club Med is that all food/drinks/activities are included so you never even have to bring a purse out all week. And if you love water sports and want to eat and drink as much as you want all day, you definitely get your money''s worth.

The only downside of Club Med is that the rooms are pretty basic, but I find that if you want to be at the beach and relax all day you''re really not going to care what your room looks like. I think Club Med also has "Romance Packages" for honeymooners and such.

The website is very informative - virtual tours, geographic/weather information, searches, etc.......http://www.clubmed.com/ and http://www.clubmedplanet.com/forum/ should help you out.

Another side note - if your fiance doesn''t like Cancun, chances are he probably won''t like Acapulco...they kinda have the same party atmosphere...I went to both in college for Spring Break. And Acapulco''s water is pretty nasty so you will spend a lot of time at the pool. However, Turks and Caicos is like paradise....the whitest sand and turquoise blue water. And the nice thing about a place like Club Med, is you can be as social or as secluded as you like. There are mainly couples and chances are you won''t have many young adults in October.

Hope that helps.

 

[jenwill]

Try Costa Rica! It is affordable, beautiful and warm...perfect for a honeymoon!

 

[codex57]

We're going on a cruise. Gourmet food and you can travel to a bunch of locations and only have to unpack once. Generally pretty cheap too. We're paying $810 each for a balcony room for a 7 night trip to the Caribbeans. I'm currently searching for air fair, but as I'm about as far away as can be to the port (unless you live in Hawaii or Alaska), the total should still be under $2500.

If you go for a cruise, look at www.cruisecompete.com It's a site where you enter which cruise you wanna go on, and a bunch of travel agents e-mail you quotes.

 

[teebee]

I''m not a big fan of Cancun either so I can see where your FI is coming from... I would definitely check into Cabo. My FI and I are in a similar financial situation. Originally I was hoping to have a small wedding in Mexico but FI nixed it because his parents would not be able to afford it ~ I tried explaining that we could pay for 6 of his family members to go and stay for 3 nights at an all-inclusive for less than what we will end up paying for a wedding here... And now, even after my parents have generously offered to pay for the reception, I''m looking at having to come up with about $8000. And at one point we were hoping to have a honeymoon in Italy, but decided that after all of the wedding-related planning & financial stress, the last thing we would need was an expensive trip across the ocean to a foreign country where we don''t understand the language... So, it''s back to Mexico for the honeymoon and we''ll do Italy and Europe some other time. Aside from Cabo, I definitely think Jenwill had a great suggestion with Costa Rica!!!!!!! I know quite a few people that have spent some time there and loved it!!