Honeymoon in Cozumel

Re: Honeymoon in Cozumel

• hoffse member

  

  January 2013 edited January 2013

  I have not visited this resort, but I would look into the Palace Resort Playa Mujeres on your budget, if you want to visit Mexico.  If you are open to other places also look at the Dominican Republic, PR, and Jamaica.  They all have nice resorts in your budget.

  
  

  As for the benefit of the AI experience... like you I was not even close to being convinced that they were a good idea when we started looking.  FI finally convinced me to at least be open to it and start to explore it.  He reasoned that if so many people chose it there must be a reason why.

  
  

  We eventually decided to do it for the following reasons:

  
  

  1) It was an experience we've never tried before - and we did want to do something "new" for our honeymoon

  
  

  2) The closer we have gotten to the wedding, the more inclined we both are to just collapse on a beach and emerge a week later.  And to put it in perspective, he and I both have an extensive bucket list of places we want to go in the world, almost all of which require sun up to sun down touring.  We could have done that on our honeymoon but we are exhausted from the wedding already, and there are still two months to go.

  
  

  3) Everything is included - and you can have an incredible vacation without spending a penny once you get there (other than tips).  If you get cash for the wedding, you can also book some additional things while you are there like private dinners, spa treatments, etc.  But none of that is necessary to have a kick ass vacation.  The reason I mentioned the palace resort chain is because they actually give you bonus credits to use depending on how long you stay, so some of these extras can actually be "purchased" with those credits (and you don't pay extra for them).  TripAdvisor has some great reviews about how maximize your credits without paying an additional dime.

  
  

  4) It requires virtually no planning.  I love planning vacations so much that FI teases me that if the lawyer thing doesn't work out I could be a travel agent.  But my planning instinct has been pretty tapped out from wedding plans.  Most resorts will even arrange pick up at the airport - there is literally nothing you have to think of, other than getting a passport and choosing a resort.

  
  

  5) And the absolute biggest thing?  I know exactly how much it will cost from the outset.  If you are just starting your wedding plans you will find that the budget is going to be a bit fluid.  You may come in under or you may come in over.  The wedding itself is so expensive that having enough left over for a honeymoon can be stressful if you don't have an exact invoice for what it all costs at the beginning.  FI and I were looking at places in Costa Rica that weren't AIs, and I realized I had no idea how much to budget for things like airport transfers, food, drinks, etc. - the stuff you really do need to have a great vacation.  It would have really sucked to have had to charge those items and come back from our honeymoon in debt.

  
  

  In the future we probably will not take AI vacations... but in the future we also won't be helping pay for or planning a huge wedding either.  And then it won't really be an issue if my budget is off by several hundred dollars, because we will be able to afford the difference.  During the wedding planning?  Several hundred bucks here and there adds up fast.  We will tackle our huge bucket list after we are married.

  
  

  

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• dazyabbey

  

  January 2013

  When we took our first vacation to Mexico we were debating between so many different things. We first considered a cruise but after being on cruise critic and all the other websites I decided to nix that decision because after flights, cruise, hotel and sur-charges it ended up being cheaper for us to go to an All Inclusive and actually spend the entire time in an area and explore and have fun.
  
  Unlike Hoffse above though, we are very active when we vacation. We want to do as much as possible and experience as much as we can. We were in Playa Del Carmen for a week at the RIU Palace Riviera Maya and it was amazing. We could actually see Cozumel from our resort at night. I think I would honestly prefer to stay on the main land of Mexico because there is a lot more to do and a lot more to see. If you want to take a tour of Tulum or another Mayan Ruin you don't have to get a tour group or take a ferry to the main land. Also a lot of the ecological parks or other parks like Xplor, Xcaret and Xel-Ha are all on the main land as well. Our resort was a 5 minute walk to 5th Street in Playa Del Carmen which was where the ferry to Cozumel is. The ferry was only like $3 for a round trip ticket I believe so if you wanted to spend the day on Cozumel it was really easy.
  
  The reason I think that All Inclusives (AI's) are a good experience and a great option are because you can be as active or as inactive as you want. If you want to lounge on the beach all day you can. If you want to be active you have that option too. You can be active at the resort or off the resort too. It is entirely up to you. They have activities going on all day and classes on snorkeling and diving. They have shows every night, dances and clubs, multiple bars and restaurants. And many of them have non-motorized water sports like kayaks and catamarans. Also even though my husband and I are not huge drinkers it was so much fun to go to the bar and hang out for a little bit or to a show and try every single drink on the menu. I never would have done that if I would have had to pay $6-$10 per drink. And just having the fun of doing that was great!
  
  We have traveled to many places and that All Inclusive trip in Mexico was the cheapest one we did. I think for us the reason we loved it was because we got treated like royalty. Almost every All Inclusive includes the tips but if you give them an extra dollar here or there made it a million times better. Not that they treat you any type of bad without it, but they see you and make sure you are one of their first stops. We ended up only spending about $20 the entire week we were there. Well worth it! It is just nice to only spend the money on the resort/airfare and not worry about food, alcohol, entertainment adding up. It is just a big peace of mind.
  
  As for the reviews on Trip Advisor, take those with a grain of salt. Especially the negative ones. People tend to be very dramatic and picky. So unless you are a really picky stuck up traveler more than likely you won't have problems as long as you go to a decent resort with decent reviews.
  
  Hopefully that convinces you. And if you have any questions at all be sure to ask! We always love to help other travelers. :-)
  

  
  06.09.2012

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• hoffse member

  

  January 2013

  PP is correct - you can be as active or as lazy as you want, and frankly you might not know how you feel about that until your wedding is over.  I have a couple of friends who booked honeymoons to Europe like 7 months out, and by 1-2 months out they were regretting it because they were so stressed from the wedding.  It doesn't really make sense to fly all the way to Spain and just sit on a beach, so they exhausted themselves further by sightseeing at an intense pace.  I have others who booked the European honeymoon and were totally refreshed and ready for it.  You just never know, and you definitely won't know at the time you selecting a honeymoon destination.  I initially really wanted to go to to Prague & Budapest, but now I am so glad we aren't.

  
  

  Generally FI and I are incredibly active on vacation, but I already have the urge to just collapse on the beach for a week.  It may be that after day 3 or 4 we will want to go do something else, and we will have plenty of active options at an AI.  But we can totally play it by ear, and it doesn't cost us any extra.

  

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• dazyabbey

  

  January 2013

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_honeymoon-in-cozumel?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:1f5a6b0f-083a-4875-bb35-51ed608c263ePost:085f6221-b569-4a30-b1d2-86c6452bd293">Re: Honeymoon in Cozumel</a>:
  [QUOTE]PP is correct - you can be as active or as lazy as you want, and frankly you might not know how you feel about that until your wedding is over.  I have a couple of friends who booked honeymoons to Europe like 7 months out, and by 1-2 months out they were regretting it because they were so stressed from the wedding.  It doesn't really make sense to fly all the way to Spain and just sit on a beach, so they exhausted themselves further by sightseeing at an intense pace. <strong> I have others who booked the European honeymoon and were totally refreshed and ready for it. </strong> You just never know, and you definitely won't know at the time you selecting a honeymoon destination.  I initially really wanted to go to to Prague & Budapest, but now I am so glad we aren't. Generally FI and I are incredibly active on vacation, but I already have the urge to just collapse on the beach for a week.  It may be that after day 3 or 4 we will want to go do something else, and we will have plenty of active options at an AI.  But we can totally play it by ear, and it doesn't cost us any extra.
  Posted by hoffse[/QUOTE]
  
  This was us. We were in London for 6 days and Paris for 5. And we were active and crazy busy all days we were there but one day in Paris I was sick. We had a great time, but it is just the way we are. We weren't ever overly stressed from planning our wedding and really we were engaged for almost 2 years so it seemed almost easy. :-)

  
  06.09.2012

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• EmilyL1810 member

  

  January 2013

  Thanks everyone!
  These are really helpful responses! I think an All-Inclusive beach honeymoon will be perfect. Now to pick the right one!

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