Honeymoon Budget?

veijes · February 2010

I know money is a touchy subject but would anyone be willing to share what they spent or plan on spending for their honeymoon? We would love to go somewhere in the Carribean...possibly St. Lucia, Belize, or Turks and Cacois.....but I don't know what a reasonable honeymoon price is. My brother spent $2500 for both airfare and AI at RUI in the Dominican but that seems like a super good deal and I can't find anything like it! We were looking at Sandals, Secrets, Excellence, etc. and they seem like they are in the $3000-5000 price range, even when on sale excluding airfare. Is that pretty average?

We aren't going until November and FI's parents are helping us with first class airfare and since we are going later we can use some of our wedding money and some of the money we have saved. So money isn't a huge issue but at the same time, I don't want to regret spending a ton of money. Also, is it totally worth it to upgrade to a suite with ocean view? Or would be not be in the room enough?

drdifabio · February 2010

Our HM is about $4300 for a 9 day 8 night trip to Disney. That includes air, hotel, and their higher level meal plan so we wont spend much more than that while we are there. Disney also comes out with promotions once it gets closer to your travel date so the cost may come down some depending on the promotion we get. We also booked through a TA who will book all our meals and help give us a inside look at the parks so it was a bit more expensive with her fee than if we had booked ourselves.

izzyjenni · February 2010

We are in the process of booking our honeymoon to maui and we are thinking we'll be spending almost $4000 on both airfare and hotel. We are doing a honeymoon registry and hoping that some people will contribute to that. I think anywhere from $2000 to $5000 seems reasonable depending on where you are going and of course, the time of year. That's my two cents, but it really takes a lot of searching around on the net for a good deal. Try http://www.ytbtravel.com/home.aspx?wa=mimi

Bimbi284 · February 2010

Thanks for posting this Jess! FI and I have been starting to think about this too. Since I'll have summer classes, we won't be able to do a HM right away, so we're trying to figure out how much we'll need to save and stuff...so good call! We were kind of estimating in the $4000 range, but we still don't even really know where we would go haha.

theophania · February 2010

FI and I are going to Fiji in May, just a couple days after the wedding. We are booking everything ourselves to save money, and we want to move around to a couple different resorts during our 8 days, and most packages didn't offer that flexibility. We got a good deal for flights ($800 round trip each), and our overall budget is about $4000 (including airfare, meals, everything), which will put us in mostly mid range resorts, which we are in the process of booking now. We'll probably end up splurging for 2-3 nights to stay somewhere really nice and stay somewhere more budget friendly for the rest of the trip.

NuggetBrain · February 2010

We're spending a little under $3,500 for 12 days in Costa Rica. That's including airfare, higher range boutique hotels, transportation and some meals/activities.

hkiesling · February 2010

We decided we didn't really care where we went on our minimoon (still planning the big official honeymoon trip to New Zealand), so we just went wherever we got the best lastminute deal. We ended up going to Washington DC and had a blast. Tickets and hotel for Thurs - Sun were about $350 each.

emilyj77 · February 2010

We went to St. Lucia Sandals Regency the beginning of January, right after our wedding. We went through a travel agent and paid about $4,500 including air and a $250 spa credit. Which allowed us to have a couples massage - Fantastic!

It was a lot of money to spend, and we're not usually that extravagant, but it was worth every penny! We felt that this was the only time in our lives that we felt we could justify spending that much on one trip.

I highly recommend going the all inclusive route, especially after all of the stresses that wedding planning entails. And I highly recommend leaving ASAP after the wedding.

If you want more details about Sandals resorts or St. Lucia, just let me know!

kristigiles · February 2010

we're going on a seven day cruise in southern carribean. The cruise itself is about $1000 plus whatever airfare will be to fly to Puerto Rico!

AmberDerek · February 2010

We spent about $5,500 for 8 days 7 nights at Sandals Montego Bay in Jamaica. We had a room right on the ocean with a butler. There were only 3 rooms nicer than ours. We really wanted to splurge and be treated like royalty. It was worth every single penny. We also brought spending money to do excursions and go to the spa.

We got back from our honeymoon a week ago today and we have been thinking about booking a trip back to the same resort already! It was the best time ever!

beka0404 · February 2010

If we were doing a tropical honeymoon, I would be ALL OVER this place: Bluefields, Jamaica. I just read the blog of a woman who stayed there a few weeks ago, and it sounds totally amazing. $4550 AI for a week in one of the cottages (which are larger than a resort guest room and have their own private pools). If you want to read the blogger's entires, they are here, here and here.

cltk12 · February 2010

OH THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! FI and I are having this discussion right now. As you know, we're getting married the day before you and are debating on going to a beach place in June when it's nice here. We've decided to just do it because if we don't we think we'll regret it so we're going right away in June.

Our budget for the honeymoon is $4,000. We are paying for the wedding ourselives so don't want to get carried away with the honeymoon after paying a ton. We wanted to do HI, but that is over our budget and there are no all-inclusives there, so we decided on the Caribbean looking at Aruba and St Lucia. Both places are running about $5k for all-inclusive (looked at many, but would like Sandals in St Lucia and that price gets you a standard room). Also looked at the other Sandals, but price was still pretty high.

Totally thought in June you'd be able to get a better deal than that, but I guess not. We have some friends that went to a really really nice resort in Cancun. Just built in the past few years. In the begining I was majorly againest Cancun as we know we'll go there again in our lives and I think of it more of a party place vs a romantic honeymoon place. We checked out the resort and are able to stay at this resort they stayed at for $3,200 which is all-inclisive and is one of their top rooms with butler service. I think this is what we've decided and i'm so glad others are having this same talk!

veijes · February 2010

*Emilyj77- What TA did you go through? Would you recommend them? I've been looking at Sandals in St. Lucia and it's about $4500 for the week just for the resort, no airfare included.

Also, did you use their option to travel to the other two resorts and use their facilities? And did you go scuba diving or other activites? And how was the food?

Sorry for so many questions but my mind keeps going back to Sandal St. Lucia and I feel likes it's a good fit for us!

MN_Jen · February 2010

We are probably going to be in the $4000 area for our 6 nights in Paris. We've traveled to Cozumel the last two Februarys (which I totally recommend as a less-touristy Cancun alternative!) so decided not to go the tropical route this time.

Our plane tickets to Paris were around $950 each (uhg) and our hotel for 6 nights will be around $900. The rest will be spent on museum passes, metro tickets, food, and plenty of wine! We are also doing a honeymoon registry, and will be putting the money we get back from taxes towards the trip.

This is more than we usually spend on a vacation, but we LOVE to travel only plan on going on a honeymoon once!

cltk12 · February 2010

After watching the bachelor I'm now back on a St Lucia kick!

golden1215 · February 2010

We are leaving for our honymoon right after our mid Sept wedding and we booked 8 days/7 nights at the Sandals Royal Bahamian with airfare for $4,500. Airfare isn't first class but we did get to select our seats and we're in row 8 (mpls to miami) and row 2 (miami to nassau) and the same coming back- so I'm ver happy we won't be in the back of the plane! We are having a very small wedding, so this was by far the biggest cost, but for $4500 we got a suite level room (actually cheaper than lesser rooms because they were running a "book a suite level room, get first night free deal") plus it came with a $250 spa credit to use. It was cheaper than the Atlantis Bahamas resort which us also in Nassau, so I'm super excited, even though I'm sure we'l bop over there for a day at their waterpark.

It works out to be $330 pp/pd for us... compare that to the $283 pp/pd I just spent a month ago to go to the RIU Yucatan in Playa Del Carmen (where they had no top shelf liquor, the beach was shut down 2 days into our stay and I got bed bugs) I think Sandals is a HELL of a deal.

I also really like the Sandals line because of all the kick ass water sports that are included in your stay. If you're the adventurous type it's a great way to go!

golden1215 · February 2010

P.S. good to know everyone else is spending roughly the same for their honeymoons- I hope it means we all got good deals! :-)

emilyj77 · February 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_honeymoon-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:aa8b4e65-badf-4dd1-88f9-61007a33d198Post:22329fe3-575f-483f-ba78-689197171d93">Re: Honeymoon Budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]*Emilyj77- What TA did you go through? Would you recommend them? I've been looking at Sandals in St. Lucia and it's about $4500 for the week just for the resort, no airfare included. Also, did you use their option to travel to the other two resorts and use their facilities? And did you go scuba diving or other activites? And how was the food? Sorry for so many questions but my mind keeps going back to Sandal St. Lucia and I feel likes it's a good fit for us!
Posted by veijes[/QUOTE]

We used my husbands cousins wife's company - called Bursch Travel out of Baxter, MN. We booked back in August when they were having a sale. I can get you her contact info if you're interested. We did everything via phone and e-mail, so her location doesn't matter. I would recommend them.

We did travel to the other two resorts for dinner, although I wish we would have spent the day at Grande. Their pool and beach looked awesome! It's easy to travel between the resorts.

We went on two excursions - the all day boat cruise and zip lining through the rain forest. Those were highly recommended and worth the extra money. I'd budget for $100 per person for each excursion. With the excursions and some souvineers we spent and additional $450 in St. Lucia.

The food was excellant! The protions are small, so you can have multiple courses and not feel super full at the end of the day. There are bars open all of the time, and food available all of the time.

Of the three Sandals resorts on St. Lucia I'd say that Regency was the most liveliest and had a younger crowd, it's also middle of the line as far as price goes. It's also centrally located to everything else in St. Lucia. Grande is farther away, but really nice, possibly the most expensive too. And Halcyon seemed a little older to me, in both facilities and people.

I can go on and on about Sandals St. Lucia, but I'll stop for now. I could not have imagined a better honeymoon location! We can't wait to go back. Let me know if you have more questions.

Maria92609 · February 2010

We did 15 days in Europe and spent $1200 on airfare (total for the two of us), $1500 on hotels (all included breakfast), and around $400 on train travel between countries. With insurance ($130) and food, drinks, tours, and local transportation, etc. I think we ended up around the $4500 mark, give or take.

debbieupper · February 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_honeymoon-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:aa8b4e65-badf-4dd1-88f9-61007a33d198Post:d283618c-2d4c-40d3-adfc-49d3a3bd3d34">Re: Honeymoon Budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]We did 15 days in Europe and spent $1200 on airfare (total for the two of us), $1500 on hotels (all included breakfast), and around $400 on train travel between countries. With insurance ($130) and food, drinks, tours, and local transportation, etc. I think we ended up around the $4500 mark, give or take.
Posted by Maria92609[/QUOTE]

Wow, Maria, that's a great deal! We're looking at off-season Med Cruises that stop in Greece, Italy, Spain, etc and are finding some 12-13 days cruises for around $1200pp. But HOW did you find airfare that cheap?

Maria92609 · February 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_honeymoon-budget?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:aa8b4e65-badf-4dd1-88f9-61007a33d198Post:619b8e21-b0a2-468d-98fb-4ee627007077">Re: Honeymoon Budget?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Honeymoon Budget? : Wow, Maria, that's a great deal! We're looking at off-season Med Cruises that stop in Greece, Italy, Spain, etc and are finding some 12-13 days cruises for around $1200pp. But HOW did you find airfare that cheap?
Posted by debbieupper[/QUOTE]

It was pure luck, especially considering that we were flying into Munich during Oktoberfest! We had our travel agent watching the airfare and just happened to be ready to book when it was low.

It also helped that we were willing to take an 8-hour layover in Boston (it wasn't a significant difference, but every little bit helps!) and the layover actually wasn't bad at all. 8 hours was plenty of time to leave the airport and see a few sights around the city!

samatson · February 2010

We are also working on booking our honeymoon right now--and looking into St.Lucia (especially after the bachelor last night!) All these posts were very helpful!!

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