Honeymoons

StephB22 · September 2010

I am trying to get ideas for honeymoons, I think we are probably going to go to Hawaii, but I am not sure how to go about the planning. SHould I use a travel agent or do the planning myself? ANd if you say travel agent, who do you recommend?

TIA

Chasity08 · September 2010

Yeah I've heard awful reviews about Enchanted Honeymoons, so I wouldn't use them. If you're going to use a Travel Agent, I would suggest Travel Leaders (off 84th and Center). They're the best I've found, but I've also found that I don't necessarily like travel agents. Here are my reasons:

If you're going a cruise, get a travel agent. They can make it so that you can make payments on both your airfare (although the rate wont be locked in for airfare until you've paid that part in full, so it is subject to rise and fall until you've paid for that portion in full and get it locked in) and your cruise portion, and since you're making payments on the cruise portion, up until you have it paid in full, if the price of your cruise drops, you can get your travel agent to haggle with the cruiseline to get you room upgrades and money off your trip. I stalked the Royal Caribbean website everyday last year when I was going on a Europe cruise and I caught a 1 day sale that the price of my cruise dropped SIGNIFICANTLY (I'm talking about $800 or so) and I had my travel agent call and I got a room upgrade and $350 off my cruise price. So in this instance, having a travel agent is great, as if I had already paid in full by going through the cruiseline itself, the cruiseline wouldn't have to give me anything.

However, in any other circumstance...I'm not a fan. For 1, unless these travel agents have actually GONE to the place you're going to (which I suppose Hawaii is a place that many people have gone to so it wouldn't be so bad, but I was traveling to Europe) they can't really give you reccomendations on what to do/where to eat/where to stay/etc. I found that NOONE in the Travel Leaders office had gone to Europe really, so they couldn't do anything except go off OTHER people's reviews (online), which is the same thing I would do. Also, they say they can get "insider deals" but my travel agent really didn't save me any money. I could find the same pricing she could on everything she showed me. In fact, while she included transfers in with my package, the 3 hotels she gave me a choice of staying at were approximately $400/nt, and I could find hotels for closer to $120/nt. The hotels I stayed at were 4 star, and the ones I'm looking at are 2-3, but all I did was sleep in that room. It was quite the waste in my opinion. But it is what it is. But in regards to teh airline and cruise itself...she didn't get any type of deal at all (besides getting me an upgrade when the price dropped). I could get the exact same price by going on royal caribbeans website.

So here's my opinion, if you don't want the hassle of planning and searching for good deals, definitely get a travel agent. They're free and do all the grunt work for you. HOWEVER, if you don't mind putting a few hours in to researching, definitely do it yourself. My reccomendation, go to TripAdvisor.com. Search for Hawaii. Click on "hotels" or "bed & breakfast" or whatever you're looking for. Then on the left hand side there should be a bar saying what price range you're searching under, put in your price range (like say...$0-$150 [per night]), and it'll automatically sort the hotels from best rated to worst rated in that price range. I trust Trip Advisor with all of my hotel choices as most of the hotels have THOUSANDS of reviews. You can also search for Hawaii (or Oahu I suppose in your case if you want it more specific to that location), and there should be a choice that has things to do that list different things to do in that area, that were also rated by reviewers.

For airfare I would check out orbitz or priceline, and you can do things like "airfare watchdog" or "bing" to watch to see if airline prices look to be dropping or rising.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

StephB22 · September 2010

Yeah I think I will probably let them do the legwork for it, My sister had a bad experience with Enchanted Honeymoons too for her honeymoon to Jamaica. I think I will try and look around a little myself to make sure I dont get hosed. I have so much going on with work and school and then planning the wedding in general that it might just be easier to let someone else help me on this haha.

Thanks for the advice!

StephB22 · September 2010

Also Chasity08 did you end up figuring out a place for your ceremony??

Chasity08 · September 2010

I sure did! I found two different churches in omaha that allow you to have your ceremony there if you're not a member. They're both kind of pricy in my opinion, but it is what it is I suppose.

The two churches are Christ Community Church in Omaha, and Peace Presbyterian in Elkhorn. CCC is $430 to rent the chapel as a non-member, and somewhere around the $700 range for their sanctuary. PP charges around $550 to rent out their chapel.

I personally went with the chapel at CCC. It is pretty plain, which I like, because I can just decorate it to match my ceremony. HTH! =]

StephB22 · September 2010

I am glad you got it figured out! Thats actually who I am using as well, CCC, in fact I suggested it to you thats why I was wondering lol

LindsaymR, thanks for all the info, idk what I would do if I didnt have the knot to ask my many questions!! ha

Chasity08 · September 2010

Haha. Well then thank you for suggesting it!!! One fact I'll throw out there....worst memory ever. Right here. haha. But really, thank you. I'm so glad you told me about it because I LOVE it =]

StephB22 · September 2010

HAHA Well good Im Glad

Chasity08 · September 2010

Yeah the pastors/ministers we've been in contact with so far have all been in the $150 range. It all just adds up so quickly. ugh...I do have a family friend who is an ordained minister however, so we're looking in to seeing if he'd be able to do the wedding. I hope so. family friend=free. haha =]

lisac113 · September 2010

I love enchanted honeymoons. I am on my 4th trip to Jamaica with them booking it.
They have always been nothing but wonderful! One year, we were traveling over Christmas, and our flight was cancelled out of Omaha. They were able to move us to fly the next day and extend the trip by one day, so we didn't lose any time.

karebear79 · September 2010

I am using Enchanted Honeymoons for my destination wedding and honeymoon and they have been wonderful to work with. I priced out a few travel agents and they had the best prices, too. I didn't try the one that was recommended in this thread, though. I guess what I'm saying is price out a couple of TA's for your trip, and check online, too. Then decide what's best for you. Good luck and have fun!!

alexchristine2011 · September 2010

We are going to Hawaii as well... and just booked everything ourselves!

dazyabbey · November 2010

We went to Mexico on vacation a couple months ago and we actually went through Enchanted Honeymoons. They were amazing to work with. I actually did all the research myself and priced out what I wanted then I went to them with my prices and they got me a better resort for the same price and it included insurance as well. That was where we got engaged.

Andy was our agent as well. I would highly reccomend them. And when we plan our honeymoon we are going back to them. :-)

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