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Honeymoon Discussions
abaron3
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"Inexpensive" Beachy Honeymoons?
Unfortunately, with my fiancé's monumental law school debt and the fact that I'm still pursuing my doctorate, it doesn't seem like a super-expensive/lavish honeymoon is within the realm of possibilities. We were originally thinking Sandals La Toq in St. Lucia, but with airfare, we'd have to limit our stay to only 4 nights.
So the question: Anyone know of a nice beachy (all inclusive pref but not necessary) resort in the Caribbean where we could do luxury on a budget? Ideally, we'd be looking at about a week for $3000, including air fare. Or is this not possible?
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Re: "Inexpensive" Beachy Honeymoons?
Where are you coming from? And what time of year are you going? If you're in the northeast, often times airfares to the Bahamas or Puerto Rico are less expensive than St. Lucia. The Sandals in the Bahamas is supposed to be really nice.
Also, time of year has a large impact on the room prices at Sandals. A friend just got married in St. Lucia at Sandals La Toc, and she wanted to do it in March but found that the rooms were over $100/night cheaper in early December, so she did it then to save herself and the guests money. Generally, the summer and very early fall and then the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the first few weeks of the year are less expensive at those resorts.
That having been said, $3k might be hard if you want to do a full week at a swankier AI - but you should be able to find somehting that fits the bill. There are some in mexico that are relatively inexpensive (i've never been but some of the regulars on this board usually have great input on this).
If you were willing to put off the honeymoon for an extra week or so, it would probably get a bit cheaper. But if you/FI are still in school, i can see why that wouldn't be an option. As a general rule, any time that school is out (christmas, spring break) it's going to be the high season there. Except for the summer of course (because once the beaches are viable here people don't tend to want to pay to travel to the Caribbean).
I'm actually in Charlotte, and our flights to St. Lucia were pricey, so it's amazing to me that they're less expensive than the Bahamas for you! Our flights were over $600 each and we had to connect in Atlanta (which wasn't too annoying but it made for VERY long travel days. usually we can fly direct everywhere out of CLT, so we could just be spoiled at this point).
Not trying to be rude but really- go to a freakin travel agent. Trying to piece together stuff on your own with hours and hours of research when an experienced agent can tell you within 30 minutes "you would love this place and it's in your budget". They really know what they're doing and they don't charge you anything, they get a commission from the airline and hotel.
But generally from experience, airfare to any "ST" is more expensive (St. Thomas, St. Maartin, St. Lucia, St. John). Those resorts are also on average more expensive than resorts in Mexico, DR, Jamaica. You need to look at other less known resorts such ar Riu and Iberostar, as Sandals is likely not in that budget. I went to a wedding at Gran Caribe Real in Cancun last year with FI, 6 nights with air and all inclusive was $2,000 so it can definitely be done you just have to look in the right place. Which is what a travel agent can easily do for you.
@fiancb My mom is an agent for AAA and before that she worked at a family owned agency for 20 years. She doesn't charge any fees.
Hawaii to me personally is not worth it because it looks the same as all the Caribbean islands yet costs 3 times more. Hotels in Jamaica are $150 a night and INCLUDE everything. Hotels on the beach in Hawaii are $200 a night and don't include anything. Go for it if your heart is set on Hawaii but if you're looking for a better deal that's not it lol
I think this really depends on what you want to do. If you're just going to lay on the beach all day, then yes,I'd just do the Caribbean because it would be easier and less expensive (assuming you're not coming from the west coast at least). But when we went to Hawaii we hardly did any of that. We were out and about hiking and sailing and zip lining and sight seeing almost every day. If you want to do a fair amount of hiking, Hawaii is nice because there are a LOT of good options there, whereas most of the islands in the Caribbean are smaller and don't have as many opportunities like that.
We did just get back from St. Lucia, and FI really thought the landscape resembled Kauai, which was his favorite Hawaiian island. And there is some decent hiking there as well (which we didn't get to do because we were only there for 4 days for a wedding). So that might be a good compromise.
http://www.jewelresorts.com/resorts/dunnsriver/
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