how far in advance should you book a honeymoon

soccerchica604

I know you may see my countdown and think "wow honey...youre a little behind" LOL but were not doing our honeymoon right away. We want to have some time to settle down after the wedding and maybe do it a couple months later. Plus FI may be switching posistions at work and will not be guaranteed time off right away.

Anyways, we are looking St lucia through sandals and I was just curious if I should do this through a travel agent or on my own. Are travel agents free? Also, how far in advance should I book? Fi insists that if we book last minute we will get better rates, I tell him he's wrong (and that we wont get the option of what we want because we will have to settle with whatever is available) but he's a guy so of course he's not

What do you guys have to say? Our wedding is March I am thinking we would maybe go in may or june???

morenachica110

I would probably go ahead and book it, but I'm no expert, I just like to have things done. lol I'd definitely talk to a TA agent, though. They know what the best deals are and can recommend what would be most fun for you guys.

[Deleted User]

I book all our trips a year out and our flights at 331 day out. If you want a specific room type and a specific flight it is best to book as early as possible.  Sandals has deals all the time and it's the same ones all the time. Flight prices are constantly changing and not always for the better.

We are heading back to Sandals Grande in 8 weeks (we hm'd there 4 yrs ago) and I'm glad I booked it a year out. The room type we booked is completely booked up now and as for the flight (there aren't really to many good options out of Philly), it's gonna be a full flight there and almost full on the way home. ( booked our flight 331 days out and the flight price now is MORE than what we paid when I booked it. It's been steadily climbing since I booked it actually.

As for a TA.  They are free. I've used one once and got no better of a deal than I could and have gotten on my own just by doing my research.

lyndausvi

We went to a private lodge in South Africa and had to book that 9 months out (only had 10 rooms).  We booked flights about 4-5 months out.

That all said, we normally book our vacations only 4-6 weeks out.  Sometimes even less, we rarely have a problem when we book like that.  

Jells2dot0

Lynda has a good point- we travel frequently to small resorts- places like the Seychelles, islands in Tahiti, etc. The island where we're holding our DW only has 6 rooms, so we had to get that booked ASAP. Seasonality also matters as well- places will be booked up during the holidays or during peak travel times. However, with a property like Sandals, unless you want a very specific room category, booking far in advance doesn't really matter. Some resorts are big, but only have maybe 4 rooms that fall within a particular category, so do some research to see what room best fits your needs and see if they have a limited inventory of them. As for air, I travel almost every weekend and I never have issues with availability, but if you want the best value, do not wait until the last minute. You'll get the best deals 3-6 months out, depending on the route and airline. With St. Lucia, I think the 3-6  month mark should work.

alithebride

i would wait to book until you find out when he has off for it.

just in general though-i book as soon as I can