Good Honeymoon Advice...PLEASE...

[wacdiver]

My fiancee and I are going nuts trying to find the best locale for our honeymoon in Nov this year.
We know we want to go somewhere in the Carribean but are having a real hard time choosing which Island.
We have looked at just about every island and have found pros and cons for each I just need some 1st hand advice from some that have been to some of these places asto what we can realy expect. It is our honeymoon so I want it to be the best possible.
Here are the specifics.
We have 7 days around the 1st week of November (getting married on the 3rd)
I am a diver she is not. (I also need realitively easy diving as I have MD and need some assistance- A DM or god buddy, No big currents, not too deep)
She wants to stay somewhere not too big/touristy as far as the accomidations. Resort or All Inclusive are OK but we don't want to be in the hotel with 100 other rooms.
She wants to stay ON the beach (water view at the least).
We want something romantic but have options as far as activities/nightlife.
Our Budget is around $2000-$2500 total for airfare and hotel
and She would prefer to not have to be traveling for 10 hours just to get there (but if we have to we will)
ANY HELP or suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated
THANKS

 

[Doc]

You really can't do this, as described, for $1250 each with air from NYC

See http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=148099

 

[Rick Murchison]

My fiancee and I are going nuts trying to find the best locale for our honeymoon in Nov this year.
We know we want to go somewhere in the Carribean but are having a real hard time choosing which Island.
We have looked at just about every island and have found pros and cons for each I just need some 1st hand advice from some that have been to some of these places asto what we can realy expect. It is our honeymoon so I want it to be the best possible.
Here are the specifics.
We have 7 days around the 1st week of November (getting married on the 3rd)
I am a diver she is not. (I also need realitively easy diving as I have MD and need some assistance- A DM or god buddy, No big currents, not too deep)
She wants to stay somewhere not too big/touristy as far as the accomidations. Resort or All Inclusive are OK but we don't want to be in the hotel with 100 other rooms.
She wants to stay ON the beach (water view at the least).
We want something romantic but have options as far as activities/nightlife.
Our Budget is around $2000-$2500 total for airfare and hotel
and She would prefer to not have to be traveling for 10 hours just to get there (but if we have to we will)
ANY HELP or suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated
THANKS

The closest I can think of would be to rent a small villa in COZ for the week; if you can find decent airfare and don't mind fixing your own meals, and you don't mind being a couple blocks off the beach. The last time I was down there we got a villa for 10 for $1100 for the week. But that was pre-Wilma - I don't know how that's affected prices or availability.
But if you want to eat out, be on (near) the beach and fly there and back, you'd best budget right at three times what you have posted - and that's the "economy" rate.
As for good honeymoon advice... rub her feet.
Rick

 

[mikerault]

The Osprey on Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos sounds like it would fit the bill...or one of the B&Bs along the beach...or even Bohio on Grand Turk.

 

[Eagle-scuba]

Try Anthony`s Key Resort, in Rotan Hondurras...you can find them on the web... they have all types of cabannas on the water, all inclusive packages, and lots of diving and snorkling...they do the international dolphin studies there....I`ve been twice and loved every minute. see ya` under

 

[cstreu1026]

My wife and I spent a week at Buddy Dive in Bonaire and a week at Sunset Waters for our honeymoon. I really think the later might fit the bill. Its a pretty quiet resort with a decent beach. The dive-op (Sunset Divers) is top notch, extremely helpful, and will go out of their way to make sure you have a great time. If you want shopping or a busy nightlife you can always go into town. Their rooms aren't extremely luxurious but they are clean and ours was atop a cliff that overlooked the water. I think we paid about $1250 a person for an all-inclusive package with diving. The only real hang up price wise for you is going to be the airfare.

 

[bjpell]

I went to Belize for my honeymoon last year. Airfare was like 700 pp and the hotel and dive package for 2 weeks was about 700 each also. Then you have food and trinkets-and-trash to buy so I'm not too sure where you could go that is not local with that budget. Ours came to about 3500 when it was over with and we never had any alcohol.

Have you considered The Keys??? Such as Key Largo? or Key West? What about the beach off of Ft. Lauderdale Florida, great night life all week long and you can find some cheap hotels if you don't mind walking across the street to get to the beach?? Stay at a place near Las Olas BLVD and A1a and there is LOTS to do.

Now a-days if you thinking on leaving the country you kinda need a grand more then that. How about a cruise???? They are a bit cheaper and all inclusive. You can get a 7 day cruise for a pretty good price with food included around a grand each.

Good luck buddy! I hope you are able to find what you’re looking for. I was married last year in June and I know about the stress of finding a place that is somewhat secluded and romantic with a non-diver wife. You might have to skip the idea of diving for her sake cause that will be expensive if your renting any gear. If you come to Ft. Lauderdale I could take you on a few beach dives if you like and suggest many other fun things to do while you’re here. Let us know what you choose ok?

Good luck and happy hunting,

-=ben

 

[divingjd]

All right, I have a suggestion that meets most of your requirements. The one this misses is the size of the property. It would be a bigger hotel, but not massive. I just ran a search on Apple Vacations and they have packages to Cozumel, Mexico for the price range you are looking for. When we go to Coz, we usually stay at the Fiesta Americana. It's bigger than you are looking for, but it's by itself, so it's not like Miami Beach or Cancun. It is right on the water. You are close enough to town to make it relatively easy to go do things. There are some things to do in Coz, without being too touristy. The Apple package is under $900 per person for air and hotel (including airport transfers). For a little over $1000 per person, you can add the all-inclusive option. IMHO, the all-inclusive is worth it just for breakfast and beers. Eat lunch at the hotel after diving and you are practically stealing the food. Eat at the hotel for dinner or go to town and have fun there. The AI is so cheap you don't have to feel bad about blowing off dinner. The dive shop at the Fiesta is Dive House, which is a good operation. Contact them to ask about your diving needs. Their email is dive@divehouse.com.

There are also lots of good places in Playa del Carmen, just across the channel from Coz. I don't have a place on the beach to recommend, but there are lots of good deals and you ought to be able to get good airfare into Cancun, which is the airport you use. Playa is a ton of fun and there will be lots for your wife-to-be to do.

Most of the other options I can think of would either involve a long travel day, blow the budget, or both.

 

[dvrliz1]

You can actually get to Bonaire very easy (Newark direct to Curacao, then a 15 minute flight over to Bonaire) the flight leaves at 8:30 am and you can be in Bonaire by 3pm or so! Also, check out a lot of places on Bonaire, they do special honeymoon packages. We just did an itinerary for a diver and non-diver. It all depends on what each of you want. It's your honeymoon, so do you want to dive all that much, if she doesn't? There are lots of things you all can do together and if you really want to dive, you a can do one a day and she can still have things to do during those times. Check out infobonaire.com, it is the offical tourism page for Bonaire.

 

[wacdiver]

Thanks everyone for the replies and suggestions they really do help, Im gonna look into them.

The budget I mentioned is just a GUIDELINE. we have looked at some packages and they were in that price range. Plus that budget is just for hotel and air, Not food/drinks, fun, & shopping. If I need to go higher for what we want I will but I don't want to go into debt as I still have to pay for the wedding! NY Weddings are NOT cheap! It is running me over $18,000 for the whole package (Hall, Food/drinks, DJ, Flowers, Limos, Photo/video and thats cheap!)

AKR Roatan - would LOVE to but way too expensive and Roatan itself doesn't seen to be the ideal setting for our honeymoon (I really tried but there doesn't seem like there is much to do on the surface, she doesn't dive)

FLA-KEYS - WE LOVE the keys try to do 1 trip a yr to them. (her mom is in Stuart so we go to FLA to visit her and drive to KW whenever we can) Want something alittle more exotic for our honeymoon. I'll let ya know when we are going again BJPELL as I will take you up on those dives.