Honeymoon

sdg2502

I know there is a honeymoon section, but I'm curious what people are planning if they are going on honeymoon straight from Vegas. We had originally considered a week in Mexico since its a relatively short haul flight from Vegas. However, we have started wondering about a driving tour of the west coast. We're spending a week in Vegas for the wedding but after that we could take another ten days to explore. Is anyone else going on honeymoon immediately from Vegas and if so, where?

missmo14

We are actually going to Disneyland for a few nights as a stop over on the way back to Australia. We will have my 6 year old son with us. Back in Australia we will have our official honeymoon in a rainforest retreat cabin in July (our winter) with a fireplace and floor to ceiling windows. We just cant wait!

sdg2502

Wow, that sounds amazing! What sort of weather do you get in Australia in July? I have a few friends living out there right now, it sounds incredible and I'd love to just pack up and move but it's so far away!

spoon1984

Quite similar plans to you we've booked a week in Vegas (I'm in Glasgow) we get married on the third day of our trip then we've got a week in LA and San Diego (driving). Then we're back in Vegas for four nights. Some of my family are going to Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. Whereabouts in Scotland are you?

cbrandtwright

Hitting up Amsterdam on our way back to Qatar.  I also can't wait!  

sdg2502

@spoon1984 Ayrshire, where are you? The idea of the driving holiday is certainly beginning to sound really appealing! Are you going to just check into hotels as you go along, or plan in advance?
@cbrandtwright I haven't visited Amsterdam but I'd love to. That will be great!
@missmo14 I just suggested a stop in at Disneyland to FI...I'm one of these adults who'd happily go a two week holiday to Disney with no kids

spoon1984

I'm in Glasgow We've already booked hotels but I do think it would be great to play it by ear and see where you end up, but we're both planners so that was never going to work!  We've booked 3 nights in LA and 4 in San Diego. I can definitely see the appeal and would like to do a holiday like that one day but at the same time I do like all the planning before a holiday. It also helped to plan how much money we needed! My parents haven't booked hotels for their second week. They plan to hire a car and see where it takes them, they are much more easy going than me!

We're also planning to spend a day at Disney and Universal!

sdg2502

Oh you're really close then, I work in Glasgow! I'll need to remember that so I can pick your brains for good wedding shops and stuff
I think if we do the driving holiday, I would want to be semi organised, but not booking hotels would give us the flexibility of being to stay an extra night or two if there was somewhere we really loved.
On my list would have to be Monteray Bay (I'm desperate to visit the aquarium there), San Fran (my gf spent a summer living there when she was at uni and it sounds awesome) and LA. Maybe even Yosemite if we had the time.
I'd love to go to a baseball game in San Francisco, I'll need to check if baseball season has started by then. The view from the Giants stadium looks incredible and baseball is such a distinctly American thing.

Sugar Rush

We were originally going to do Hawaii, by driving from LAS to LAX and then flying direct back to Chicago, but we really want to do Italy next year so we *think* we are going to fly up to San Francisco and spend a few days there and about 4 days in Napa Valley, since we do love our wine.  

sunni96

Not sure if you have been to San Francisco before but take some warm clothes. I was there in July one year and brought only shorts and tank tops (I was living in Arizona at the time) and I had to go out and buy jeans and jacket. It was chilly. I was shocked. It was JULY! Lol. Just a thought.

AllyIdo

OMG, DISNEY! I am a WDW fanatic.

We are going to take our honeymoon next fall/winter next year, just seemed like a lot traveling from Boston for the wedding to do it at the same time. I was thinking we could spend a few extra days in Vegas after everyone left, somewhere super nice, or maybe at Red Rocks or something.

But now the thought of renting a convertible, driving to Anaheim, and staying at DL for a few days sounds AWESOME to me. Now to convince the fiance....

eilis1228

Sugar Rush said:

We were originally going to do Hawaii, by driving from LAS to LAX and then flying direct back to Chicago, but we really want to do Italy next year so we *think* we are going to fly up to San Francisco and spend a few days there and about 4 days in Napa Valley, since we do love our wine.  

I've been playing with the idea of Napa for a honeymoon too. We're still in the VERY early stages of planning and are trying to figure out a budget. Napa looks like a nice, romantic, boozy honeymoon

vegasgroom

We did a Napa day trip from San Fran last fall; we visited three wineries and did indeed pass out in the limo on the way back to the hotel lol.  It can quickly cost more than you might expect so just budget accordingly.

Jiimanie

Being from the UK also (Cardiff) we are going straight into our honeymoon from Vegas which sounds like a bit of a combination of most of that mentioned above. We will be in Vegas for 6 nights, and then are having a honeymoon of another 12 ish nights, driving to Death Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Yosemite, Sacramento, Napa Valley, and San Francisco where we will fly home from, but not before taking another little trip down the coast to Monterey/Big Sur and back. I can't wait! We haven't booked anything yet but we will be booking hotels all in advance. Haven't booked our flights yet either but will most likely be flying back only a few days before our 'home' reception - we must be crazy!

thesepinkdays

we are going to be in Vegas for 5 nights, we fly home (Seattle) have our party on Saturday after the wedding, then right from the party to the air port. We cant decide between Mexico all inclusive for a week or a Caribbean cruise for a week!

Sugar Rush

weewittlewizabeth said:

I've been playing with the idea of Napa for a honeymoon too. We're still in the VERY early stages of planning and are trying to figure out a budget. Napa looks like a nice, romantic, boozy honeymoon

Yessss!!!!  Same here!  Keep me posted if you decide Napa!  My only hesitation is the time of year we are going (March 2 - 8)... I think we'd miss out on the pretty orchards but im certain the wine will put us right..

vegasgroom

thesepinkdays said:

we are going to be in Vegas for 5 nights, we fly home (Seattle) have our party on Saturday after the wedding, then right from the party to the air port. We cant decide between Mexico all inclusive for a week or a Caribbean cruise for a week!

I've done both; there are pros and cons to both.  Mexico all inclusive is likely to be much more relaxation, and if it's a nice resort, lots of things to do if you decide you want to do something.  We most recently stayed at Excellence Playa Mujeres (http://www.vegasgroom.com/vgblog/2012/06/excellence-playa-mujeres-may-2012/) and loved it.  I think you get more 'alone' time if you want it, which is nice for a honeymoon, night life that's casual, food was far better than cruise ship food unless you go to the upgrade/expensive ship restaurants, if you like to drink, AI will be a lot cheaper than a cruise, and personally, I don't feel like I accomplished anything if I go on some prearranged tour of a foreign country that lasts four or six hours, like what you get on a cruise.   When we went to Antigua, we rented a car and drove around the island all day doing whatever we wanted.

For cruises though, advantage there is of course the ability to gamble, and we love to gamble.  You typically get more of a party atmosphere, which some people like.  You do get to go to several countries and if you make use of the time wisely you can probably see some great things you're not going to see sitting around the pool at an AI in Mexico.  At this point, I'd also be nervous to leave the resort in Mexico.

I think I'd definitely go for the AI for a honeymoon; I wouldn't want to spend my first few married days in a small room or in pre-arranged cruise activities; I was glad we got to lounge around, eat and drink whenever we wanted, party when we wanted, stay in the large room when we didn't, etc.

thesepinkdays

Thank you VG we are trying to decide between Excellence Playa Mujeres  and a cruise so i think we will go with the AI!! thank you!

vegasgroom

You'll really love EPM, it's a bit of a trek from the airport (I'd recommend just doing a cab even though it's slightly more expensive), but the resort is incredible, people are super nice, and the food was dramatically better than what we got at Sandals on our honeymoon.  We're going to try some more Excellence resorts soon.  Oh, the club rooms aren't worth the added fees, and you'll probably end up making resort friends with people who are in a club room and will give you booze if you really want some bottles that the club rooms get that the regular rooms don't.  The club lounge isn't anything to write home about.  We made friends at the pool bar the first day and I was complaining about our room not having tequila, one guy was like oh just follow me back later and I'll give you our tequila bottle, they'll just put a new one in in the morning anyway lol.

thesepinkdays

Haha sweet. We aren't big drinkers so I don't think we will even notice lol. Good to know as we were going to do the club... Maybe we will spring for the roof terrace instead!

vegasgroom

The roof terrace is awesome; if you do EPM, read all the online reviews on trip advisor on which buildings have which benefits from a rooftop perspective.  We were on the north end of building 8, by request, because it's reasonably close to the main pool and across from the theater/concert hall area so there were no other buildings whose rooftops could see what was going on on ours.... :-)    Certain other buildings are at lower elevations so there's no privacy on the roof, have more or less noise vs quiet, etc.

Oh, and be VERY careful going up and down the stairs to the roof if you use the hot tub and have wet feet, or better yet just wear flip flops up and down the stairs.  They have some grippy stuff on the stairs regardless but I fell right on my ass coming down the stairs one day and it left a huge bruise; could have easily been a broken hip, etc. if I was old.

thesepinkdays

VG one more question, how did you book at EPM? 

vegasgroom

She booked through http://www.allinclusiveoutlet.com/ and flights direct rather than through anyone; cheaper that way.

maibel03

We were originally thinking of doing a road trip out west as well, but planning has been so exhausting that I think I'll be happier going somewhere hot and all inclusive! As of now our plan is to stay in Vegas for 4 nights and then head to Antigua for 5-6 nights (if I can commit to the 12 hr flight from Vegas - the flight home to Boston would only be about 6 hours).

@vegasgroom - Where did you stay when you were in Antigua? We are absolutely in love with Galley Bay!

0Jilly0

sdg2502 said:

Oh you're really close then, I work in Glasgow! I'll need to remember that so I can pick your brains for good wedding shops and stuff I think if we do the driving holiday, I would want to be semi organised, but not booking hotels would give us the flexibility of being to stay an extra night or two if there was somewhere we really loved. On my list would have to be Monteray Bay (I'm desperate to visit the aquarium there), San Fran (my gf spent a summer living there when she was at uni and it sounds awesome) and LA. Maybe even Yosemite if we had the time. I'd love to go to a baseball game in San Francisco, I'll need to check if baseball season has started by then. The view from the Giants stadium looks incredible and baseball is such a distinctly American thing.

If you need advice on the weather during certain times of the year or anything I live in Oakland and spend tons if time in San Francisco!!! Yosemite is beautiful and maybe a 4 hour drive... I highly suggest it!

vegasgroom

maibel03 said:

@vegasgroom - Where did you stay when you were in Antigua? We are absolutely in love with Galley Bay!

We did that phase of our honeymoon at Sandals Antigua; five days.  If I were to do it again, I'd have booked St Lucia instead.  I booked us to Antigua because airfare was about $500 less overall for the two of us.  The Antigua airport was horrible; basically a two hour line through customs because two planes landed at nearly the same time, in an 85 degree building with staff who were about as unpleasant as you can imagine.  It was a real poor way to start a vacation when your country's main product is tourism; left a sour taste for me.  Fortunately we spent a day driving around the island which brought my opinion back up; apparently only the people who work at the airport are assholes.  Everyone else we encountered in our own journeys were super nice.

That being said, there's not a whole lot of beautiful things to photograph on the island, so between that and the airport experience, I wish we had gone to St Lucia instead.  Sandals was great, and the butler plunge pool suite was absolutely incredible, but after staying at an Excellence resort a year later, I feel like Sandals was a rip off; low quality food, high quality advertising.  We won't likely stay at a Sandals again, but we sure do miss that butler suite; you could call the butler any time any where and they'd bring you whatever you want lol.

SnowWhiteMontreal

We're flying to Las Vegas on September 1st but only getting married on the 7th and we're going to leave Vegas on the 11th. We're going to take some time to relax at the pool and sleep (most of the party stuff will be done before the wedding) before we leave to Walt Disney World in Florida where we're going to stay until the 17th! Then, back home to Montreal to enjoy a few more days off before going back to "normal life".

smrkmar

We went to Los Cabos in Mexico because we have been to Cancun and Mayan riviera many times and it wasn't that far from Las Vegas. We stayed at the Zoetry Casa del Mar for 7 days and loved it, it was the perfect honeymoon destination: relaxing, pampering, great food and an amazing all inclusive. Plus, we showed our marriage certificate and got the honeymoon package which included massages, romantic details like dinner by the beach, sunset cruise, room upgrade, etc. We are thinking of going back for the anniversary. Los Cabos is a very nice and relaxing destination, the sea is not as beautiful as the Caribbean and you can't swim in the sea because of the strong currents but the food & drinks are great and the weather is perfect.

SD210

We are spending 5 days in Vegas, then flying to Hawaii for our honeymoon.  We will be spending 8 nights on the Big Island in the Mauna Lani Terrance condos, then 3 nights in Honolulu to see Pearl Harbor and Waikiki beach.  While on the Big Island, we are scheduled to go down to the town of Volcano for one night (staying at a B&B down there) to see Volcano National Park.  We are hoping for a relaxed honeymoon after some crazy-busy time in Vegas with our family and friends.