Secrets Mexico vs Sandals St. Lucia? Advice?

peach5757

Hi Everyone,
We are struggling with deciding on the best option for our Honeymoon.  Secrets Maroma looks beautiful and seems to be a great price for an AI.  We can get airfare and a concierge room for less than $4,000 total.  It's a fairly new resort and that appeals to us.  We are also considering the Sandals Grande in St. Lucia, which is more expensive (closer to $6,000).  We can afford it, but are thinking if we can go somewhere less expensive and have it be just as nice why spend the extra money?  I've read a few reviews that say there is more to do off the resort in St. Lucia.  Is this true?  Are there things to do off the resort in Mexico?  How is the night life at either of these resorts?  Any advice or comments on either of these resorts would be sooo helpful!
Also, can anyone weight in a on the differences between Secrets Maroma and Secrets Capri?  I know Maroma is newer.
Thanks so much!!

shauni27

I am going to Secrets Capri, it looks great, a friend just got back and loved it, we got a major deal ($2500 including airfare AND the honeymoon package/deluxe oceanview room for a week), and there is so much to do in the area.  There are the ruins that you can go explore, great snorkling (best in the world) and scuba diving, zip lines, river boat tours, the ferry over to coumel, the cute little downtown area of playa del carmen, etc.  I do not think it would be worth spending the extra money to go somewhere else if you know that the more affordable option is just as nice AND has fun stuff to do in the area.  but either way, I am sure you will be happy, relaxed, and have fun at any of the Secrets or at the Sandals in St. Lucia. 

jrtool4

hmm, I am going to side with St. Lucia.  I just feel you can go to Mexico at almost anytime as it is not too pricey and for your honeymoon I think the more exotic the better as this is the big vacation you have always dreamed about...if you have the money!  Right?

hibiscusgirl05

We were literally considering those same two resorts for our honeymoon in November.  I did all the research, and showed my fiance what I found and the resort websites, and he decided on Secrets Maroma Beach - and we booked it today!!  We found a great deal on Apple Vacations.  I think we would have been happy at either, but he liked the excursions offered in Mexico better, plus we could upgrade our room for cheaper at Secrets than we could at Sandals.  The Riviera Maya is sooooo pretty and it may not be as "exotic" as St. Lucia but Maroma Beach is rated one of the world's best beaches.  Go on tripadvisor.com and you'll see how much people love this resort.

It's really up to you guys, but personally we opted for the less expensive honeymoon (but still super luxurious) because we're spending more than enough money on the wedding and we'd like to buy a house at some point  

veijes

We were looking at the two of those resorts and a cruise. We pretty much ruled the cruise out since there are always such good deals that we can go anytime.

The one thing that is making me lean towards St. Lucia is that all Sandals resorts include unlimited scuba diving and more water activities than Secrets. My fiance loves to dive and we would probably go twice a day and there are 3 Sandals resorts in St. Lucia that have free ride transfers to each other where you can dive and eat and everything there. Also, I'm sure we will go to Mexico a few times in our life.

BUT, it would be nice to spend less money so it's a tough one! Especially if you know you aren't going to do the more extensive water activities. Secrets is newer too....

erickskd

Ditto what everyone is saying - we were between Secrets Maroma and small boutique resort in St Lucia.  We felt for less money we could get more luxury in Mexico.  St Lucia looks aaaamazing and definitely want to go but maybe next year when we don't have as many wedding expenses on top of a honeymoon.

peach5757

Thanks everyone for the great advice!  We decided on Secrets Maroma and Riviera Maya and just booked everything for our honeymoon in October this morning:)  We are getting a preferred club swim out suite!   It came down to the fact that we could get more bang for our buck at Secrets rather then St. Lucia.  Also flights for us to St. Lucia were $500 more than the flights to Mexico.  We are getting married in Harrisburg, but live in Wilmington, NC so we are flying out of BWI and then had to get a return flight to Wilmington.  I think that made flights more expensive.  Anyway...thanks again for the help!  If anyone that is going to Secrets (or has already been there) finds out info on various tours/excursions I'd love to hear about it:)

hibiscusgirl05

Peach - super exciting!  We did choose Secrets for those reasons - although Sandals included the scuba diving, the flights were way more expensive and the resort was more expensive, so it wasn't much of a savings.  I've got some info on tours and excursions so PM if you want