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**amandasw**

MacPandaMacPanda
100 Comments
in Washington-Seattle
Hi, I see you still pop in time to time so hopefully you see this.  I'm interested in a review of your honeymoon.  How did you like your resort and the Cook Islands?

On another note, I have a lot of the same inspiration pics for flowers.  I don't see your florist listed in your vendor reviews.  Who did them for you and how did you like them?

Thanks!
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Re: **amandasw**

  • amandaswamandasw member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    hey!  yeah, I like to still stop by once in a while - I miss it!  but I'm in grad school so not a ton of time to play around :) Anyway...

    the Cook Islands and the place we stayed were great, Ben insisted on going somewhere different (I liked the idea of CA or Hawaii, but he wouldn't have it) and we stumbled on this because of it's amazing ratings on TripAdvisor (it's won lots of awards in the past for "most romantic" etc).  I'll give you my reasons why to pick or not to pick it:

    pick it!
    -peaceful!  unlike lots of the resorts in the Carribbean or Mexico, no kids. seriously, the whole island is quiet couples relaxing. everyone is friendly, but no one bothers you either, so you feel like you are just on one big date alone. I think this is a big reason why it's been considered the most romantic place online

    -GREAT food, clean water (something you might worry about in Mexico... no Montezuma's revenge here!). also, almost every night of the week one of the restuarants has an "island night" where dinner includes a show of traditional dancers and music. sadly, the one we chose had our least favorite food (if Ben can remember and you end up going, I'll let you know which was our favorite place).

    -more on the 'adventurous' side, perhaps compared to some place like Hawaii. it's exotic, beautiful and a great story when you get back! you can rent scooters to go around the whole island, take scuba or snorkling trips, guided boat tours, fishing etc.

    -the hosts were really friendly and helpful like everyone said online. there was a coconut show by a native islander (all the different uses or coconuts, how to open them, fun stuff!), we had a nice little breakfast by the pool every morning and could lay around or go out depending on the mood

    Don't pick it if...
    -you want an all-includisve resort package
    -you want room service, massages etc
    -you want a short plane ride (although New Zealand Air is amazing!)

    Other things:
    -for the most part there weren't really bugs when we were there (August) BUT the one night we had that "island night" I mentioned, the dinner tables were on the sand and my legs got destroyed by sand flies :(  So, don't go on the sand at night and you'll be ok!  Otherwise, there were no mosquitoes etc.
    -August isn't their summer, so it was in the 60s-70s and sunny, which was nice, but not exactly hot swimming weather, which was a little sad. the pool wasn't heated so we only went on the few days it got really warm (maybe 80 on one day).

    Overall it was a fun trip and what we were looking for.  Good luck in the search and let me know if you have other questions :)

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  • amandaswamandasw member
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    edited December 2011
    ok, so since that was so long, I decided to make a separate post about the flowers: the reason I didn't say who did them was because it was my friend's mom and she did them free of charge, all I did was pay for the flowers/supplies (pretty awesome deal!).  She used to have a business (which is why she has a license and can get into the wholesale places), but her business partner recently passed away and she's just doing it for friends.  Sorry about that!  But if you need to know more details (like exactly what flowers she used if that's helpful) I can find out.
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  • amandaswamandasw member
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    edited December 2011
    ok, also I realized I shouldn't say that there weren't any bugs, I think that sort of comes with the territory of going to a tropical place. It's just that there weren't any during the day, which is when I think it would have bothered me.  In the evening the place is good about keeping those coils stocked and we would have been fine if it weren't for that one night on the beach (even though other nights we would walk back along the beach from dinner and didn't get bit, go figure).  Ok, that's enough from me :)
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  • MacPandaMacPanda
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    edited December 2011
    Thanks so much for sharing all of this information.  It is really helpful.  I've been struggling to figure out where we should go on our honeymoon and the cook islands is on the list.  However, I've had a hard time finding any reviews other than the few on tripadvisor.

    That's awesome about the flowers! It's great you got such a good deal on them.  Sad that I have to keep hunting for vendors though.  Oh well. :-)

    Thanks again!
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  • amandaswamandasw member
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    edited December 2011
    no problem, glad some of it was helpful :) let me know if there's anything else!
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