Hawaii, Antigua, Grenada or St Martin???

love1229

Looking for honeymoon recommendations please!

We are getting married in late May 2015 and planning a honeymoon for 7-8 nights in June. We are most interested in Hawaii (Oahu/Maui), Antigua (Sandals), Grenada (Sandals) or St. Martin. 

Can anyone tell me from their experience about Antigua/Grenada/St Martin? Which of those did you like the most and why? I love Hawaii but we're exploring all of those options. We are also open to other recommendations! Thanks!!

We're planning to have this trip be our one big trip for awhile. Our budget is around $6,000 but flexible. We're flying out of the Midwest.

Jells2dot0

A big difference is Sandals will be all inclusive and anything you have in Hawaii will not be. Also, Hawaii is the type of place where you rent a car and explore. If you go to a Sandals, you won't want to leave the resort too often because you paid quite a bit of money for the all inclusive experience. 

mlg78

For the reasons Jells mentioned above, I'd go for Hawaii.  I'm not much of a sit-my-ass-on-a-beach-and-just-drink kinda gal.  I'd much rather explore where I am.

OliveOilsMom

If you do choose Hawaii, I would only pick one island for the week.  I've been a few times and feel like each island you can explore for a whole week and still not see everything.  If you do choose to go to Hawaii, I would either skip Oahu or only go for 2 days.  I feel the other islands have more to explore and Oahu is just a very busy place.  I have no inclination to go back to Oahu, but give me Maui or Kauai any day of the week!

kimberly0315

I agree with OliveOilsMom 100%! Have fun and good luck with the planning.

als1982

From the Midwest, I'd chose somewhere in the Caribbean, especially if you only have 7-8 nights.  Hawaii just seemed really far to fly for an experience you could replicate with a shorter flight closer to home.  But that's just my two cents...

love1229

Thanks! I've been to Hawaii (Maui) and my fiance has not. We've never been to Oahu and he wants to see Pearl Harbor. It seems like everyone who has been to Sandals absolutely loves it but while we aren't super outdoorsy, I think Hawaii sounds more our style. I do know Hawaii isn't all inclusive, so we were planning on renting a condo and cooking some dinners ourselves, which we don't mind. Thanks everyone for all of your advice!!!!

mlg78

als1982 said:

From the Midwest, I'd chose somewhere in the Caribbean, especially if you only have 7-8 nights.  Hawaii just seemed really far to fly for an experience you could replicate with a shorter flight closer to home.  But that's just my two cents...

I'm also from the Midwest and I can't disagree with you more.  While the Caribbean is nice, Hawaii cannot be replicated in the continental US.  Yes, there are some more "tropical" areas of the US but it's simply not what Hawaii has to offer.

emz101

I have been to St.Martin, I would not go there again. Unless you are doing an all inclusive resort or sticking to strictly tourist spots, I was saddened by all the poverty and stray animals. However I am not a beach person and prefer to explore areas, if you are sticking to the beach and the hotel, you might like it.

OliveOilsMom

love1229 said:

Thanks! I've been to Hawaii (Maui) and my fiance has not. We've never been to Oahu and he wants to see Pearl Harbor. It seems like everyone who has been to Sandals absolutely loves it but while we aren't super outdoorsy, I think Hawaii sounds more our style. I do know Hawaii isn't all inclusive, so we were planning on renting a condo and cooking some dinners ourselves, which we don't mind. Thanks everyone for all of your advice!!!!

The only reason H & I went to Oahu on our honeymoon was to show H Pearl Harbor (I had already been.) But after a week on Kauai, H HATED Oahu (specifically Waikiki). I recommend making your own day trip to Pearl Harbor from whatever island you go to. From Kauai, we could have booked a package that included airfare and transportation to Pearl Harbor for $350 pp. But you can do that yourself much cheaper. Book an early morning flight out of your island to Oahu, rent a car for a day, then take a return trip back to your original island the same day. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ You can book your Pearl Harbor tickets online now too. Since you will probably have the time, I would take a tour of the Missouri. There is a fee for the Missouri tour, but its very much worth it! After Pearl Harbor, depending on how much time you have left, you can take a drive across the island and drive around the North Shore before heading back to the airport. All depends on your flight schedules, but you won't have to worry about checked bags, etc.

Jells2dot0

emz101 said:

I have been to St.Martin, I would not go there again. Unless you are doing an all inclusive resort or sticking to strictly tourist spots, I was saddened by all the poverty and stray animals. However I am not a beach person and prefer to explore areas, if you are sticking to the beach and the hotel, you might like it.

Most Caribbean island nations are poor and many of the most exclusive and exotic destinations in the world are also quite poor and have stray animal issues. While there may be deeper human rights issues in some of these locations, they all rely heavily on tourism dollars.

daria24

emz101 said:

I have been to St.Martin, I would not go there again. Unless you are doing an all inclusive resort or sticking to strictly tourist spots, I was saddened by all the poverty and stray animals. However I am not a beach person and prefer to explore areas, if you are sticking to the beach and the hotel, you might like it.

Hawaii also has a stray animal problem, mostly dogs. The only place I've ever seen with more stray dogs was Puerto Rico. There are also areas with a lot of poverty, and Honolulu in particular has a pretty bad homeless problem. It's not the same kind of poverty that you see in the Caribbean, but it's present. 

OP, I personally wouldn't spend my week on Oahu, I prefer Kauai and the Big Island. Or Fly into Honolulu, get up early the next morning and do Pearl Harbor, and then fly to a different island. 

love1229

daria24 said:

emz101 said:

I have been to St.Martin, I would not go there again. Unless you are doing an all inclusive resort or sticking to strictly tourist spots, I was saddened by all the poverty and stray animals. However I am not a beach person and prefer to explore areas, if you are sticking to the beach and the hotel, you might like it.

Hawaii also has a stray animal problem, mostly dogs. The only place I've ever seen with more stray dogs was Puerto Rico. There are also areas with a lot of poverty, and Honolulu in particular has a pretty bad homeless problem. It's not the same kind of poverty that you see in the Caribbean, but it's present. 

OP, I personally wouldn't spend my week on Oahu, I prefer Kauai and the Big Island. Or Fly into Honolulu, get up early the next morning and do Pearl Harbor, and then fly to a different island. 

Thats a really good idea to just fly to straight to Oahu and then fly out. Thanks!!

OliveOilsMom

@daria24 H & I are returning to HI in January.  You have been to the BI, right?  I would like to book my car soon.  Do you think a Jeep is required for BI? 

We are only there for 2 full days really.  What would be the things you do if you only had two days on the BI?

Thanks in advance!

daria24

@OliveOilsMom we had just a regular sedan rental and did fine. There was one beach access road that was horrendous and I thought we were going to die out there (as did everyone we passed). It's the road to Kekaha State Park-which is the access point for The. Most. Perfect. Beach-Makalawena. Makalawena is a 20 minute walk across an A'a field though-it's not the most enjoyable walk I've done, but the beach is amazing. Sand like powdered sugar. And there is no one there. Very, very calm water, but there's no facilities, lifeguards, etc. So you can decide if you are up for the challenge. But seriously the drive was the worst part. I would walk a marathon on a'a rather than drive that road again. 

Volcanoes National Park is a must, unless the weather is going to be foggy. Hopefully the lava is visible again-if there is a visible flow on the HIlo side make the drive! It's a PITA going all the way there but if it's flowing, you can practically walk up to it, and you get to see the lava fall into the ocean (again, if the damn thing starts flowing again). Even without visible lava, there is a lot of awesome stuff in the park, drive out the end point for the petroglyphs. Also out there, even if it's rainy or foggy by the caldera, the weather is clear on the south end. 

I love love love the Green Sand Beach-only one of two green sand beaches in the world! And the stuff is disappearing fast so I don't know how much longer it's going to exist. It's about a 45 minute easy walk over dirt from the parking lot near Southern Most Point. There are always locals though willing to drive you there and back, you just need to give them some money. We walked it, but I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea. No lifeguards or facilities. And the walk down the cliff to the beach is a bit fun. But holy cow it's impressive. And the waves are full force, so you can swim but be very very careful. I had so much fun feeling the force. 

If you are REALLY adventurous, at Southern Most Point there is a spot where you will see a rusty ladder. To the right of that ladder, you can jump off the cliff. It was the most terrifying few seconds of my life but hands down the most incredible memory I have. You can climb back up the ladder, or if you swim to your right there is a very easy cliff to walk up. Seriously take the cliff, the ladder was horrible.There are usually a bunch of people jumping off down there, so you can see where to do it. 

The BI has the best snorkeling, IMO in Hawaii (no rivers on the Kona side, so the water is crystal clear). We did a zodiac tour-basically a big rubber raft that goes at high speeds. But if you are prone to sea sickness, they have catamarans that are a lot calmer. They take you to Captain Cook and some other spots to snorkel-Captain Cook has the most sea life crammed into a smallish area. And there are always dolphins around that get very close. More turtles than you can count. 

If you want something cultural, the Place of Refuge is very interesting, and there is some great snorkeling right off Kealakekua Bay right there. You can walk onto the rock and see the turtles in the tide pools if you don't want to snorkel.

If you want the "best" beach with the easiest access, facilities, the whole nine yards-Hapuna beach is the best bet.

The only thing that we did that I thought wasn't worth it was the star gazing tour on Mauna Kea. If you really want to go up the mountain, just do it yourself. Don't pay for the tour. And really I didn't think the star gazing was better than what you can see back in PA. 

OliveOilsMom

Thank you @Daria24!!!!!!!

Miclan88

we also decided not to get 4WD jeep for the BI. It really wasn't necessary. A few roads down to the beach were pretty rough, but it was fine.