Honeymoon Recommendations?

[JEDIYoda]

So i'm getting married next year and the fiancee has put me in charge of the honeymoon planning. We're saving up some cash on the wedding so we can hopefully splurge a bit on a nice vacation. We're looking to go to places that have beautiful resorts but also a healthy dose of activities. Neither of us are the type of people who can just sit on a beach for a week straight. We're also looking for places off the beaten path so we can do things like hiking or water activities or both. I'd personally like to go somewhere with a lot of natural beauty, wildlife or something just really unique. One suggestion I got is to maybe fly to the maldives for 3-4 days and then spend some time in Africa (Zanzibar specifically).

Does anyone have any similar experiences or recommendations?

Castroville, California... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castroville,_California

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/castrov.html

A Honeymoon you will never forget!!

 

[BurnItDwn]

I've taken my fiance on a cruise as well as a number of road trips, and this year we are taking another cruise. Wedding is planned for May of next year. She is afraid to fly. I don't want to make her fly just yet.

For our Honeymoon next June, we are planning to buy 15 day Amtrak Railpasses and to travel to Glacier National Park, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Denver ... essentially spending 2 days at each spot. Might be boring on the train, but, should be awesome going through the mountains. Neither of us has been to any of the destinations.

Neither of us has taken a rail trip before.

I have been to Alaska (went for 2 weeks, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Al-can highway on a tour bus as a teenager with grandparents). I would like to take Stephanie there, but, she's not ready yet for flying.

 

[Ns1]

We did 12 nights in French Polynesia. 2 in an over water bungalow and 10 on a cruise of 5 islands. We snorkeled, hiked, jet skied around Bora Bora, ATVs around one island, did jeep tours of islands, etc.

Best vacation ever.

this sounds awesome

 

[alkemyst]

Paul Gauguin Cruises are very couple friendly and sort of still reasonable.

 

[AMDZen]

This time of year, Alaskan cruise

 

[Jeeebus]

Paul Gauguin Cruises are very couple friendly and sort of still reasonable.

The Paul Gauguin Tahiti cruise was super pricey. We did the Tahitian Princess, and it was probably 1/4 the cost of the same Gauguin cruise (we did the mini-suite with balcony). Gauguin has the benefit of all-inclusive (drinks, activities, etc.), but since we don't really drink and book all our own activities, it made a lot more sense to do the Princess cruise.

 

[Ns1]

The Paul Gauguin Tahiti cruise was super pricey. We did the Tahitian Princess, and it was probably 1/4 the cost of the same Gauguin cruise (we did the mini-suite with balcony). Gauguin has the benefit of all-inclusive (drinks, activities, etc.), but since we don't really drink and book all our own activities, it made a lot more sense to do the Princess cruise.

hm what's this?

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[alkemyst]

The Paul Gauguin Tahiti cruise was super pricey. We did the Tahitian Princess, and it was probably 1/4 the cost of the same Gauguin cruise (we did the mini-suite with balcony). Gauguin has the benefit of all-inclusive (drinks, activities, etc.), but since we don't really drink and book all our own activities, it made a lot more sense to do the Princess cruise.

Well, when I say sort of reasonable; they are going to be MUCH higher than many of the large cruise lines...in return many don't allow children and have much smaller capacity with much larger crew vs passenger ratios.

Oceania, Seaborne and the like are very expensive cruises with usually everything a la carte.

This is a nice list for the ships/lines that cater to couples rather than families.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=182

Edit: Gauguin is doing east coast excursions now. They are much lower cost than the west coast ones.

 

[TraumaRN]

I'm hoping this link works because I'm posting on mobile but here is a photo of where I stayed on Bora Bora and also if you explore the rest of the album a few of the highlights of the trip.

And as a side note all those photos are minimally touched up. It is that beautiful down there.

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/p...9233&sparm=cbp=h8222lk4o0ty&sview=20&pgpnum=3

 

[Chaotic42]

Well, when I say sort of reasonable; they are going to be MUCH higher than many of the large cruise lines...in return many don't allow children and have much smaller capacity with much larger crew vs passenger ratios.

Oceania, Seaborne and the like are very expensive cruises with usually everything a la carte.

This is a nice list for the ships/lines that cater to couples rather than families.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=182

Edit: Gauguin is doing east coast excursions now. They are much lower cost than the west coast ones.

Am I crazy or do those PG cruises not have bathrooms in the suites? That seems nuts to me. Is that normal on a cruise?

 

[ultimatebob]

This time of year, Alaskan cruise

I did one of these (Norwegian Star to Sawyer Glacier) for my honeymoon, and it was awesome. Kinda expensive, though.

 

[Connoisseur]

Thanks for all of the recommendations. To give a little more detail, I think i'm planning a trip range of 10-14 days. Most of these places require something like a 20 hour flight and I didn't want to waste it on anything else. I figure it'd be 1 day travel, 2-3 days relaxing and being pampered, 3-4 days of mild exploring (i.e. day trips to hiking, scuba etc.) and maybe 3-4 days of all day exploring. This is a very tentative schedule of course but the main point is we want to do fun stuff without stressing out too much with travelling or waking up super early. You can say it's a relaxed adventure. I'd love to do scuba diving (i've only done it once before) but my fiancee wouldn't like it so i'd ideally like a combination of water and land activities. Price-wise I have no idea. I can tell that most of the tickets to the exotic locales range from 1,800-2,400 depending on when and where. With that in mind i'm guessing my trip will cost a minimum of 7-8k which i'm willing to spend. I'd preferrably like to keep the overall trip to between 7 and 10k. I'm planning on blowing all my starwoods rewards points (~100k) as much as possible so that's certainly a consideration. If anyone has a suggested itinerary to any of the locations mentioned, it would be awesome with the following items in mind:
1) Staying at a resort or a really cool non-cheap location 80-90% of the time. Willing to compromise if a really cool trip required that we stay somewhere remote for one or two days.
2) 10-14 days
3) Somewhere with Starwoods resorts preferable so I can spend the points but not necessary.
4) Mix of fun land and sea adventures. I don't want to do scuba all the time. I'd be the only one doing it and it's no fun without the fiancee on the honeymoon.
5) Considering 7-10k as price range. If I'm able to spend all of my starwood points on flights or hotels then maybe I can reduce the out of pocket cash to around 4-5k. Someone tell me if this is realistic for the kind of trip I want to have. I honestly don't know.

I did go to Vieques last year (island off of Puerto Rico) and we stayed at the W resort. It was ridiculous and an amazing time and something close to what we want for our honeymoon. Use the resort as a base of operation and travel out to the various trips.

 

[Connoisseur]

Also, I'm honestly not a fan of cruises. I feel like everything's too pre-planned and it personally just gets really dull for me. The fact that they schedule the exact times you go to specific islands and what not just doesn't sit well. I like having flexibility in my schedule. Also, on the boat I get bored really fast.

 

[purbeast0]

i recommend maui. that place is simply awesome with so much to do. i went there on my honeymoon for 12 days and i wish i had more time there.

 

[randomrogue]

IMHO, you might as well have suggested Branson, Missouri and the Golden Corral early-bird buffet. Niagra is something you do when you're in your 60s or 70s, not on your honeymoon.

Niagra Falls is actually something pretty fun when you first start dating someone. They have awesome rooms with awesome prices and there's plenty to do that's good first date material. Honeymoon? lol no.

 

[randomrogue]

Thanks for all of the recommendations. To give a little more detail, I think i'm planning a trip range of 10-14 days. Most of these places require something like a 20 hour flight and I didn't want to waste it on anything else. I figure it'd be 1 day travel, 2-3 days relaxing and being pampered, 3-4 days of mild exploring (i.e. day trips to hiking, scuba etc.) and maybe 3-4 days of all day exploring. This is a very tentative schedule of course but the main point is we want to do fun stuff without stressing out too much with travelling or waking up super early. You can say it's a relaxed adventure. I'd love to do scuba diving (i've only done it once before) but my fiancee wouldn't like it so i'd ideally like a combination of water and land activities. Price-wise I have no idea. I can tell that most of the tickets to the exotic locales range from 1,800-2,400 depending on when and where. With that in mind i'm guessing my trip will cost a minimum of 7-8k which i'm willing to spend. I'd preferrably like to keep the overall trip to between 7 and 10k. I'm planning on blowing all my starwoods rewards points (~100k) as much as possible so that's certainly a consideration. If anyone has a suggested itinerary to any of the locations mentioned, it would be awesome with the following items in mind:
1) Staying at a resort or a really cool non-cheap location 80-90% of the time. Willing to compromise if a really cool trip required that we stay somewhere remote for one or two days.
2) 10-14 days
3) Somewhere with Starwoods resorts preferable so I can spend the points but not necessary.
4) Mix of fun land and sea adventures. I don't want to do scuba all the time. I'd be the only one doing it and it's no fun without the fiancee on the honeymoon.
5) Considering 7-10k as price range. If I'm able to spend all of my starwood points on flights or hotels then maybe I can reduce the out of pocket cash to around 4-5k. Someone tell me if this is realistic for the kind of trip I want to have. I honestly don't know.

I did go to Vieques last year (island off of Puerto Rico) and we stayed at the W resort. It was ridiculous and an amazing time and something close to what we want for our honeymoon. Use the resort as a base of operation and travel out to the various trips.

Isn't there some crazy resort in the Bahamas that everyone raves about?

What about Santorini in Greece? I've only been to Ios but there are a lot of islands to choose from and you can surely find something pretty nice there.

I stayed on Kaye Kaulker but you might want to look into Ambergris Kaye in Belize. That way you could sneak out for the day, do the blue hole in the morning, come back and your wife wouldn't care. One of the best dives around. Treat it like skydiving, hit 40 meters, and watch your mind be blown. From there it was an easy flight and bus ride to Tikal in Guatemala a couple days later. If you can pay someone to let you watch the sunrise from the top of the tallest pyramid. Magical experience.

Hawaii isn't a bad option but it's expensive.

You could look into flying to Quito and doing some time on the Galapagos Islands. It might not be the resort you're looking for but some of those boats are pretty amazing.

 

[evident]

oops

 

[glenn1]

Thanks for all of the recommendations. To give a little more detail, I think i'm planning a trip range of 10-14 days. Most of these places require something like a 20 hour flight and I didn't want to waste it on anything else. I figure it'd be 1 day travel, 2-3 days relaxing and being pampered, 3-4 days of mild exploring (i.e. day trips to hiking, scuba etc.) and maybe 3-4 days of all day exploring. This is a very tentative schedule of course but the main point is we want to do fun stuff without stressing out too much with travelling or waking up super early. You can say it's a relaxed adventure. I'd love to do scuba diving (i've only done it once before) but my fiancee wouldn't like it so i'd ideally like a combination of water and land activities. Price-wise I have no idea. I can tell that most of the tickets to the exotic locales range from 1,800-2,400 depending on when and where. With that in mind i'm guessing my trip will cost a minimum of 7-8k which i'm willing to spend. I'd preferrably like to keep the overall trip to between 7 and 10k. I'm planning on blowing all my starwoods rewards points (~100k) as much as possible so that's certainly a consideration. If anyone has a suggested itinerary to any of the locations mentioned, it would be awesome with the following items in mind:
1) Staying at a resort or a really cool non-cheap location 80-90% of the time. Willing to compromise if a really cool trip required that we stay somewhere remote for one or two days.
2) 10-14 days
3) Somewhere with Starwoods resorts preferable so I can spend the points but not necessary.
4) Mix of fun land and sea adventures. I don't want to do scuba all the time. I'd be the only one doing it and it's no fun without the fiancee on the honeymoon.
5) Considering 7-10k as price range. If I'm able to spend all of my starwood points on flights or hotels then maybe I can reduce the out of pocket cash to around 4-5k. Someone tell me if this is realistic for the kind of trip I want to have. I honestly don't know.

I did go to Vieques last year (island off of Puerto Rico) and we stayed at the W resort. It was ridiculous and an amazing time and something close to what we want for our honeymoon. Use the resort as a base of operation and travel out to the various trips.

I still say 20 hours on a plane is too much when you're on your honeymoon, and I'd try to keep it under 8. The costs will probably put most of the destinations with longer flight times out of your budget anyway. Save the longer trips for a 2nd honeymoon later on. The one exception to 8 hour rule would be Hawaii if you were dead set on that destination. Otherwise, 8 hours from NYC leaves open all of North America, all of central America, most of South America, Caribbean, and Western Europe. A lot also depends on how much advance planning you want to do - some people like a pre-packaged, all-inclusive vacation like to a Caribbean resort where there's almost no thinking involved, others want to plan every aspect of their trip. With that in mind, here would be some suggestions (in no particular order):

1. Costa Rica. Puntarena beaches, scuba, zipline, Monteverde rainforest, Arenal volcano, see San Jose city. Mix and match rest days, activities, and locales to your heart's content. Packaged trips

2. Peru. Macchu Picchu. Nazca Lines. Amazon cruises. Rainforest. Big city Lima. Exotic city Iquitos. Lake Titicaca. Like Costa Rica, anything you want is there.

3. West coast drive/fly adventure. Fly into Seattle/Vancouver, and make your way down to LA or San Diego stopping by Portland, Willemette Valley vineyards, San Fransisco, Yellowstone, Giant Sequoias, Monterery, and anywhere in between your hearts may desire.

4. Canada adventure: Vancouver to Banff drive. Or take train to Montreal and drive to Quebec and Maritime provinces.

5. Western Europe packaged but self-directed tour, like the classic Ireland fly/drive where price inlcudes flight to Dublin/shannon, rental car, and Bed & Breakfast vouchers you can use all over the country. Go wherever you like, stay as long or short as you want, etc etc.

6. Caribbean. Whether a packaged all-inclusive resort, or self-directed island hopping there's plenty of variety here.

7. Western Europe explorer. Fly into a major city like London, Paris, or Frankfurt. Stay for desired duration, then buy a Eurail Global or Select Pass. Travel to another city. Rinse and repeat for duration of honeymoon.

 

[Midwayman]

Also, I'm honestly not a fan of cruises. I feel like everything's too pre-planned and it personally just gets really dull for me. The fact that they schedule the exact times you go to specific islands and what not just doesn't sit well. I like having flexibility in my schedule. Also, on the boat I get bored really fast.

Some places it just makes sense. Its a great way to see French Polynesia. FWIW they also have little catamaran rentals out of Tahiti that you can do. You can get a captain, and a boat to yourself for not a whole lot of cash. I never really researched it, but say them when we pulled in Tahiti.

 

[Midwayman]

2. Peru. Macchu Picchu. Nazca Lines. Amazon cruises. Rainforest. Big city Lima. Exotic city Iquitos. Lake Titicaca. Like Costa Rica, anything you want is there.

This was one of my all time favorite trips. Peru is friggen awesome. Its a more active adventure type trip, and not the normal honeymoony trip. We did a tour with GAP and it was great.

 

[Connoisseur]

This was one of my all time favorite trips. Peru is friggen awesome. Its a more active adventure type trip, and not the normal honeymoony trip. We did a tour with GAP and it was great.

It's a great suggestion and I definitely want to do it once in my life but, like you said, it's not a honeymoon destination for us. The fiancee and I definitely want a good portion of it to be beautiful locale/lounging but we want to have adventure-y things to do in between.

 

[TraumaRN]

It's a great suggestion and I definitely want to do it once in my life but, like you said, it's not a honeymoon destination for us. The fiancee and I definitely want a good portion of it to be beautiful locale/lounging but we want to have adventure-y things to do in between.

I'm still suggesting French Polynesia. 8 hr flight from LA. Plenty of adventure. Plenty of lounging around. Exotic beautiful locale and very safe.

 

[Rudee]

Tamarindo Costa Rica

 

[Midwayman]

One out of the way place that might work for you is the Canary Islands. There is quite a lot of variety among them. You could ferry from island to island as you got tired of each one. Went there a couple years back and it was an interesting trip. Very different feel from the Carribean islands. You could even pop over to Morocco while you're there (been twice and really enjoyed it as well)

 

[Mixolydian]

Branson, MO.