Where did you go on your honeymoon?

[Mrs.Pfeiffer]

We are having a heck of a time figuring out where to go on our honeymoon. I have been reading message boards and looking at travel sites, and it seems there are always people who have bad and wonderful things to say about a place. So, I thought I would start this thread so everyone could come and post where they went on their honeymoon and it would be great if you included PROS and CONS about where you stayed. Thanks!!!! :)

[KrissyCat7]

We went to Mexico and stayed at Aventura Palace. It was amazing.

Pros:

Service was amazing
Rooms were excellent- 2 person jacuzzi was awesome
Pools were clean
Lots of activities
Food was excellent
Other guests were friendly
Tours were included
Spa services were excellent


Cons:
Didnt have a full "beach"

I really cant say enough about this place. It was amazing and we cant wait to go back.

[Mrs.Pfeiffer]

Cons:
Didnt have a full "beach"


Thanks for the info! :) I just wanted to ask if you could explain this a little? Thanks!!!

[BTB]

We went to Hawaii for two weeks. It was awesome! We chose to stay at vacation rentals and, on one island, a B+B that hosts only three couples at a time. We were aiming for more privacy and chose rentals over large hotels or resorts, but if you're looking for more socialization these wouldn't do.

On Maui: Tradewinds (I'd have to ask DH the city)
Pros:
Private backyard with a hot tub, outdoor shower, barbeque, and gorgeous view
All the amenities of home
Centrally located

Cons:
If you'd rather not cook a single meal your entire honeymoon, a place with a full kitchen and dining room would be a waste for you
Not in the midst of a super "touristy" area - this can be either a pro or a con depending on what you're looking for

On Kauai: Gloria's Bed and Breakfast - Poipu
Pros:
On Travel Magazine's Top 10 List of the Most Romantic B+B's in the country
Amazing gourmet breakfasts
Surf breaks below your balcony
near beautiful Poipu Beach, one of the Travel Channel's most beautiful beaches in the world
In the middle of Poipu, a fun and active little town

Cons: no private in-room jacuzzi
staying in a place with other folks nearby made me feel compelled to mingle

On the Big Island:
"The Treehouse": a modern apartment built into a centuries-old banyan tree, just off the main highway on the south side of the island
Pros: Close to Volcano, without actually staying in Volcano
Near the green sand beach, if you're adventurous enough to make the climb
Clear roof lets you see the treetop which is lit at night - gorgeous!
Unique and fun

Cons: in the middle of freakin' nowhere, it takes 30 min to get anywhere at all
queen-size bed = inadequate for a honeymoon ;)
same problem with cooking - why bother with a full kitchen if you want to go out for every meal?

[ginad724]

Thanks for the info! :) I just wanted to ask if you could explain this a little? Thanks!!!

We went to ASP a couple of years ago and they don't have beach access, just a man-made lagoon in addition to the pools. The surf is real rocky and not suitable where the resort is. Xpu-Ha (another Palace Resort) is a 10 minute shuttle ride and they have a beautiful beach if you really want to go. Honestly, we never missed ASP not having a beach though.

[JRPAGV]

We stayed at Royal Hideaway (http://www.royalhideaway.com/) in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (Riviera Maya). The location, resort, and honeymoon were all PERFECT. I never thought I'd want to visit the same place twice, but we would go back in a heartbeat. It's beautiful and there's so much to do.

PROS:
Gorgeous area, beaches, and resort
Lots to do (from relaxing to adventurous activities)
Great food (all-inclusive)
Friendly people
Etc.
Etc.

CONS:
Quite a few crazy drivers in Mexico :D
Going through the airport in Cancun was an annoying experience

I DEFINITELY recommend Riviera Maya and the resort we stayed at.

[tlew12778]

We went to South Africa and Mozambique. We spent 4 days at the Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge in Sabi Sands in Kruger National Park. Then we spent 4 days at the Welgelegan Guest House in Cape Town. Then we spent 4 days at the Dugong Lodge in Vilanculos, Mozambique.

Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge
Pros: The safaris twice a day, the excellent chef, the privacy/seclusion
Cons: You have to get up at 5:30AM everyday for your first safari, but it's really ok bc you end up going to bed at 11PM anyway.

Welgelegan Guest House
Pros: The personalised treatment. They knew we were on HM so they left us 2 dozen roses, a congratulatory letter, chocolates, champagne and fruit on arrival.
Cons: None

Dugong Lodge
Pros: You can have an island all to yourself for an entire day.
Cons: The manager was money-hungry and kept trying to sell everyone excursions. The food was mediocre. There was NOTHING to do when it rained and the humidity made you not want to stay in your lodge. The outdoor shower was not so nice when it was cold out.

[Tonysweetie]

We stayed at the Hilton in Cocoa Beach, FL (Our hometown) for 2 nights and then went on a 4 day cruise on the Royal Car.

Pros:

Wasn't far from home
Didn't cost an insane amount of money
It was nice to get on the boat and not have to worry about anything
Beautiful weather the whole time (no a guarentee though)


Cons:
DH was sick with an upper res. infection the whole time so we spent 4 whole days in the cabin not doing what most honeymooners would be doing ;)

[SweetRed]

We went to Iceland on our Honeymoon.

Pros:

* A beautiful, fascinating country with a perfectly slow pace after the wedding frenzy
* It was a short 4-flight from Boston -- shorter than even driving to NYC
* No one ever goes to Iceland on a HM, so we were upgraded to First Class on our flight and got lots of extra perks at the hotel
* 23 hours of daylight meant we got to really make our own schedules
* The weather in July ranged from 45-70 degrees F. It was actually a fantastic break from the 90+ degree temps we experienced the week of our wedding!
* In an unorthodox way, it was a very romantic trip. We floated around the Blue Lagoon together, had a couples day at the spa, and had a private guide to the most isolated areas I've ever seen.
* It's so cool (no pun intended) to say you went on your HM to Iceland :)

Cons:
* Expensive during the peak season
* Obviously no beach ;)
* Most hotels only have full sized beds

[eli1126]

We went to Univarsal Studios in Orlando FL and stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. I wanted a tropical beach honeymoon, but DH isn't a beach person. We are planning on going on a cruise in Feb 08 so I'll finally get my tropical get away!!

Pros:

-Staying at any Universal Hotel you get a fast pass and get to go to the front of every line. This was awesome.
-We didn't need to leave the resort although we did go to Disney World
-We had choices of dinner, movie, and Sea World tickets with our hotel package

Cons:
-The pool is always crowded
-Wasn't crazy about room service-I had to ask for toliet paper and they brought me 1 roll up....I have Crohn's Disease so 1 roll doesn't really go that far.

[Chimichanga]

We took a one week Caribbean cruise on Carnival.

Pros:
- I loved seeing a different island every day.
- Everything was included on the ship (except alcohol) so we didn't have to worry about having money for food.
- There were enough couple things we could do on the ship

Cons:
- We went during a school break week in Puerto Rico; the ship was full of kids
- We went during off season and much of the staff was in training. Overall it was good, but it was not "peak" treatment
- There was no place to go to get away from the kids (don't get me wrong, I love kids; just not on my HM)

[Asha]

we went to the islands of hawaii and molokai. quite honestly i don't remember where we stayed. :o they were smaller scale hotels. let me preface this by saying we are not your lay on the beach type of vacationers and like to stay very active.

pros
lots of activities like hiking, seeing the lava flow from a helicopter, swimming with sea turtles at the beach, the waterfalls, eating your meals by the water. hiking down and taking a tour of the former leper colony in molokai was one of the most moving and educational experiences i have had while traveling.

cons
molokai is very secluded which was a pro, but we really didn't need to spend three full days there. by the second day, we had seen everything there was to see. also, since it is inhabited mostly by locals, most things were closed on sundays. also, you couldn't swim on the beaches there bc there was a higher threat of shark attacks. i don't regret going there at all bc we saw a lot of things that most visitors to hawaii don't get to see.

[jeninef]

We went to the caribbean island of St. Lucia...and stayed at the Sandals Halycon Resort.

Pros
-relaxed atmosphere
-of the 3 Sandals resorts, this was the smallest, so you felt a bit more cozy
-all inclusive
-food was AWESOME!!
-great beach & pools
-you can be as active as you want (doing excursions, snorkeling, scuba diving), or as lazy as you want

Cons
-cloudier than I though it would have been ,but it is a rainforest!
-some people don't enjoy all inclusives...but I can't really think of any other cons, we really enjoyed ourselves and had a wonderful time!!

[Maggie8202]

Atlantis, Bahamas
We needed a place that was easy/quick (short plane ride) to get to because DH was only have to leave his company for at most 5 days, and we wanted to make the most of those days!

Pros
-We stayed in the towers in a special section of floors that were for premier guests, so we felt very special.
-Great rooms & Food
-We were able to beach it, pool it, etc. So much to do!
-Loved the aquariums
-Many side excursion opportunities (swimming with dolphins etc.)
-Quick flight from NY
-Casino for some fun at night
-Has eating plans, and a Romance Package
-Nice bars/lounges at night
Cons
-I don't know why we didn't realize there would be so many families
-limo driver to the Atlantis was CRAZY

[Sazoo]

We went to Fiji for our HM. We attended a timeshare presentation here locally (Trendwest) & while we did not buy into the whole timeshare ownership thing, we did agree to purchase a one-time weeklong trip to any of their resorts worldwide. We chose to go to Fiji because it was the most far away, exotic location they offered, & we figured it was a place we may never visit otherwise. We loved it, & hope to go back someday!

PROS
*Beautiful tropical locale - sandy beaches, ocean, tiny islands covered with palm trees, etc. Gorgeous!
*Warm, sunny weather, but not too hot or humid (we were there in early Sept.)
*English is the native language
*Not crowded (there were lots of tourists there, but it never really felt *crowded* to us. Never had to wait in lines anywhere, etc.
*The local people were SO friendly & nice! Other tourists we met were great too - there were a ton of Australians & New Zealanders. Fiji is sort of like their Hawaii; we were definitely in the minority, being from America. :)
*Lots of culture/history to learn about
*Tons of activities to do - swimming, SCUBA diving, snorkeling, boat rides, hiking, bus tours, shopping, visiting traditional Fijian villages, orchid gardens, etc.
*Fiji offers resorts on the bigger, more populated islands like Viti Levu (where we stayed), or you can be flewn or sailed out to one of the many tiny remote islands to stay at a small, isolated resort where you feel like you're practically the only people on Earth.

CONS
*Long, expensive flights (about 10 1/2 hrs. from L.A. to Fiji) - we got a pretty good deal on the airfare by using Trendwest's travel agency, but it was still expensive.
*I came down with a nasty cold halfway through the week, which made it hard for us to fully enjoy the last half of our HM trip.
*Being bombarded by taxi drivers & people trying to take us places, book us on tours, etc. when we first arrived in the Fiji airport & cleared customs - it was overwhelming & confusing to weed our way through those people & figure out who to hire to taxi us to our resort (in hindsight, I wish we'd arranged this in advance).

[wendalah]

We did two weeks in Hawaii; I'll try to be general as possible.

Pros:
--Easy flight from the west coast, lots of flights to choose from
--If coming from east coast or midwest, you can stop and spend a night or two in a fun city like Las Vegas, L.A., or San Francisco to break up the trip.
--Exotic-feeling but still America (i.e., no passports needed, no currency exchange, etc.). We chose Hawaii for this reason even though we'd been there before--wanted as stress-free as possible after 18 months of crazy wedding planning.
--Great weather
--Great mix of "relaxation" and "things to do"
--Great range of accomodations, from luxury to budget
--Ditto great range of dining choices in all price points
--Lots and lots of package deals to choose from when planning the trip
--Friendly people
--Can't beat it for destressing

Cons:
--Everyone is on their honeymoon so it's not that big of a deal. We did get room upgrades and champagne, but we were staying at pretty nice resorts.
--It's super easy to blow a ton of money. (It's also easy to stay within budget if you are careful.)
--Hawaii is a big family destination as well as honeymoon destination, which means it's pretty hard to avoid kids (well-behaved or otherwise!).

[southerner]

DH and I drove to Canada and stopped at Niagra Falls on the way. We stayed at Bear Trail Couples Resort (http://www.couplesresort.ca/) in Algonquin Park. We're into outdoors activities and wanted to relax and explore that area. This place was a perfect balance. We spent five days there.

Pros:
Relaxing
Great food
Great weather
Great outdoor activities and services to choose from on or very close to the resort itself.
Great service and comfortable amenities. We loved the rustic look and feel to it.

Cons:
Kind of expensive
Only couples there
Far drive (kinda the middle of nowhere)
Expensive bar bill ;)

[Hello Kitty]

Here's another thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3241&highlight=) that may be helpful.

We went to Italy and Crete [Greece] for our one year anniversary as we did not take a honeymoon immediately after the wedding.

Italy, was pretty standard, not to sound blase about it, but DH and I had both been there before, and there are tons of other recaps on it. We stayed at Soggiorno Comfort in Rome, which was just perfect - location, price, service. We stayed at a friend's in Milan.

We stopped by Athens so I could take DH around. That was worth him seeing, but we were both glad to go after a day and a half. I don't remember my hotel name but that's for the best as it was cheap and creepy and in not the best area. ;) I think there's a good amount to do there, but it's all relative and depends on how interested you are in Athenian culture and history.

Crete was amazing. ILs rented us a villa in a tiny village outside of Chania, which completely added to the magic of the experience. I think the con is that you have to rent a car and driving can be utterly confusing and dangerous, but it allows you to experience so much. You do need to have a good sense of direction and adventure. Also, the island is huge, which gives you plenty of things to do no matter what you are interested in, but I was just surprised that we couldn't do/see everything. The food was delicious - and you could find a lot of traditional fare if you saught it out. The people were just fantastic. I loved it and in a way feel that it's a highly underrated destination, but for me, that just keeps it more unspoiled.

[kk junebug]

we stayed at the RIU Palace in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

pros:
all-inclusive, didnt have to carry cash for booze, food, etc.
HUGE resort, so it never felt that crowded
relatively inexpensive, compared to the caribbean
resort was right on the beach
MARGARITAS!
food was pretty good, wide-variety. had to get creative towards the end to mix things up a little though
downtown Cabo has a great nightlife and fun shops!
we could be as lazy or as active as we wanted....we were pretty lazy :D

con's:
$10 cab ride from downtown (we'll stay closer downtown next time we go)
the beach has a steep slope and a pretty killer riptide, so swimming was a challenge
being hassled by timeshare sales reps. we didnt let them bother us much since we have no problem telling people NO..but it could be annoying for some.

CABO RULED! :cool:

[pocahontas]

We went to gorgeous Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles (otherwise known as one of the A,B,C islands...Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). I was surprised so many girls on 2 other boards I was on planning my wedding had never heard of it (but this helped SEAL the DEAL in my mind for a honeymoon there because I wouldn't have done well with a "touristy" place and the less folx that had heard of it the better!) Honestly, it was beautiful and DH and I would love to go back. It is the Southern most island in the Caribbean as close as you can get to South America with out being there. LOL :) And because Venezuela is just a stone's throw away we watched the freighters going there in the distance while laying on the beach. I just talked about our resort, Beaches Curacao in another thread...so I will cut and paste.

PROS
ALL-INCLUSIVE!!
Drinks morning, noon, and night.
Three great restaurants included which featured Italian, Japanese and American cuisine (the American one had a breakfast buffet every morning that was YUMM!)
Nightly entertainment ranging from mariachi bands to karioke to an outdoor circus right outside OUR room! (Others had to walk over from their rooms to see it but we just sat on the balcony and watched!)
Free snorkeling
Scuba lessons w/dive afterward included! (Couldn't beat that for DH! He was set on doing this.)
Did I mention free daquiris for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

CONS
Rooms were a little antiquated...could use a little updating and fashion sense to bring them out of the 70s. LOL
Spa was extra (but I heard that is with most resorts...we paid for a couples massage, pedicure and facial regardless. So we were undaunted. )

As you can see my PROS list vastly outweights my cons and what's more is I think that list would have grown if we'd actually taken the shuttle out off the resort into the town but alas, we couldn't seem to muster the energy for all that...it was our honeymoon afterall. :D

[TriSigmaNC]

We went to Tahiti (Moorea and Papeete)

Pros:
Papeete was amazing for us, it is a city with many amenities.
It was so peaceful, and beautiful
It was quiet and romantic
The water was amazing
The French food was great
OMG the creme brulee
The weather was perfect in October


Cons:
All French speaking (easy for us though, DH is fluent)
No ice...seriously they barely have ice and I'm an ice addict.
Ants on the buffet, just once, but GROSS.........
Was topless (I'm quite the prude)
It's expensive
It's a long plane flight

[missemily]

kk junebug - we stayed at the Riu in Cabo, too! I agree with your comments, but will add that the airport was scary. We were more comfortable on the resort in general. So much to do, we didn't feel the need to leave.

[KrissyCat7]

I just wanted to ask if you could explain this a little? Thanks!!! I was going to say the same thing that was always said. The man made lagoon was awesome. It had so many tropical fish in it. We are total pool people though and spent most of our time by the pool.

[c'est la vie]

We took a Mexican Riviera cruise. It was wonderful!!!!

[tunibell]

We went to Peter Island (http://www.peterisland.com) in the British Virgin Islands. Can't think of a single con...it was really spectacular.

[Rosebud]

There used to be a really long thread on this topic. I wonder where it went? I can't find it anymore...

Anyway, we honeymooned in Europe. We went to France (Paris & the Loire Valley), Belgium and The Netherlands. It was wonderful. A thorough trip review, with lots of photos, is HERE (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10130).

Pros: Two weeks in Europe cost about $4k for us. A lot less than you'd pay for a week at many beach resorts-- and we stayed in a chateau part of the time and rented our own boat part of the time! Other pros: Amazing food, gorgeous scenery, culture, art, etc. Loved it all!

Cons: It's a long distance to travel and there were times when I got tired and grumpy. If I was to do it again, I might be a little less ambitious about how many places we went. But I'd still absolutely do it again.

[tlew12778]

Maybe this (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3241&highlight=honeymoon) thread. But it didn't really talk about pros and cons.

[DisneyGirl]

We went to gorgeous Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles (otherwise known as one of the A,B,C islands...Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). I was surprised so many girls on 2 other boards I was on planning my wedding had never heard of it (but this helped SEAL the DEAL in my mind for a honeymoon there because I wouldn't have done well with a "touristy" place and the less folx that had heard of it the better!) Honestly, it was beautiful and DH and I would love to go back. It is the Southern most island in the Caribbean as close as you can get to South America with out being there. LOL :) And because Venezuela is just a stone's throw away we watched the freighters going there in the distance while laying on the beach. I just talked about our resort, Beaches Curacao in another thread...so I will cut and paste.

PROS
ALL-INCLUSIVE!!
Drinks morning, noon, and night.
Three great restaurants included which featured Italian, Japanese and American cuisine (the American one had a breakfast buffet every morning that was YUMM!)
Nightly entertainment ranging from mariachi bands to karioke to an outdoor circus right outside OUR room! (Others had to walk over from their rooms to see it but we just sat on the balcony and watched!)
Free snorkeling
Scuba lessons w/dive afterward included! (Couldn't beat that for DH! He was set on doing this.)
Did I mention free daquiris for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

CONS
Rooms were a little antiquated...could use a little updating and fashion sense to bring them out of the 70s. LOL
Spa was extra (but I heard that is with most resorts...we paid for a couples massage, pedicure and facial regardless. So we were undaunted. )

As you can see my PROS list vastly outweights my cons and what's more is I think that list would have grown if we'd actually taken the shuttle out off the resort into the town but alas, we couldn't seem to muster the energy for all that...it was our honeymoon afterall. :D


I really want to go there...how long was the plane ride?

[pocahontas]

It was 2 hours or so to Miami from our airport and then another hour and a half I guess to the island...something like that (sorry it's been over a year.)

[DisneyGirl]

Thanks..i was just looking for an idea. I hope to go oneday soon!

[chortles]

We went to St. Lucia and Cozumel.

Cozumel was wonderful, although we just missed a hurricane when we went there!

st. lucia was fantastic, although expensive. It did rain fairly frequently, but it was mild rain. It was lovely.

We combined a timeshare that we had in order to get to Cozumel - I wouldn't normally go to them both on the same trip, as it was a lOt of flights....

[Anna Low]

We went to London and Paris.

Pros:
I adore Paris and so does my DH
The food
The wine
The shopping
It is perhaps the most romantic city in the world

Cons:
I needed more coffee in the morning than the tiny cups
Our room was decorated in shades of yellow
It rained the entire time we were there

We go to Paris pretty frequently and it brings back nice memories.

[nylons73]

We went on an 11 day cruise to the Caribbean. We went on Celebrity and did not regret it. They really do make you feel like a celebrity! heh heh I also did a lot of research and found out that they cater much more to 'couples' rather than 'families' and that was definitely what we were looking for.

PROS
We were able to visit 6 different tropical locales without unpacking and repacking and shifting hotels. It was heaven to get off the boat, do our thing, and then get right back on the boat. Best way to travel IMO!

There was so much to do on board that on the days we didn't get off we weren't bored at all. We had a great time at the shows, the art auctions, wine tastings, etc!

Cruising was the perfect way to relax after all of the wedding hoopla, family activities, etc. It was nice just to sail away to the middle of the ocean and just re-lax. :)

CONS
11 days was a really long time! I don't know that we would ever take that long of a cruise again!

I got the dreaded 'cruise ship virus' on the second day and had to have the ship's physician and nurse visit my cabin one night to give me some heavy duty antibiotics and a shot! ouch! However, I was feeling much much better as soon as the morning after they treated me, so they must have known what they were doing!

[MandyMaloo]

We spent a week at Disney World and it was AMAZING! We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and had a blast. It was truly the most romantic things I'll ever do!

[BumbleB]

We went to Kauai for 10 days!

Pros- We had the best weather you could ask for
Not as crowded as other HI islands
Great food, easy to get around, a lot to see
Fairly easy to get to from West Coast

Cons- We had freak high tides and didn't get to enjoy the beach much



that was really the only con, it was awesome and so gorgeous!

[salysaturn]

Another Sandals Halcynon here, but when we went, they only had 2 resorts. I second everything people said about it, it was wonderful!

[meatpie]

We did Europe for three weeks. This was the vacation to end all vacations for us and we saved for more than a year for this trip. It was basically three parts. We lived in NY at the time and I had never been to Europe. It was a long process for us to decide where we were going as well, and we were planning our trip immediately after 9/11 so some things changed (i.e. we picked out a cruise that stopped in Africa, Israel, but this cruise was dropped shortly after). Anyway...

Part I - Relax
Cascais, Portugal
We ended up with a Med. cruise starting in Lisbon so we decided to find a sleepy town on the coast in Portugal for three nights before we left. This was perfect for us. It's a beautiful town, relaxing, fun (casino), and beautiful. The hotel was incredible - Hotel Albatroz. A former palace and right on the water.

Part II - Fun on the Boat
10-day Med Cruise on Nordham, Holland America
Started in Lisbon, and for 10 days hits wonderful spots such as Casablanca, Monte Carlo, Marseille, Barcelona, etc. Food great and they treated us so very well. We had a great cabin and it was a blast. Because the average traveler was more than 50, we stuck out and everyone knew us. Walked into the casino and the bartenders immediately got us a Grolsch. We ahd a blast, but we seriously partied. This was not isolated romance at all, although we both got massages and other treatments, which was nice.

Part III - Italy!
The cruise ended in Rome so we spent an additional 10 days in Italy following. Rome, Florence and Venice. It was a lot but I don't remember being really, really tired with the exception of Day 2 in Rome and the train to Venice at the end of the trip.

Anyway...we wanted to do something we would NEVER do again and we also knew we would likely be moving to CA so Hawaii and Australia were out because those places are closer to CA and we expected we would go there after we moved.

It was the trip of a lifetime and we loved it. Still talk about it.

Pros - Everything.
Cons - One big one - $$$$$. But we also used miles for the flights so it was not as terrible as it could have been. Basically there were no cons for us, but it's not for everyone. I echo what Rosebud said about her European honeymoon, however. I still would not change a thing.

[Chris~n~Jen]

PROS
We were able to visit 6 different tropical locales without unpacking and repacking and shifting hotels. It was heaven to get off the boat, do our thing, and then get right back on the boat. Best way to travel IMO!

There was so much to do on board that on the days we didn't get off we weren't bored at all. We had a great time at the shows, the art auctions, wine tastings, etc!

Cruising was the perfect way to relax after all of the wedding hoopla, family activities, etc. It was nice just to sail away to the middle of the ocean and just re-lax.


We also took a 10 day cruise for our honeymoon. ITA with everything posted above. Luckily I didn't have any sea sickness that some people encounter. I loved it! If fact we did a mini 4 day cruise for our 1 year anniversary just to sorta re-live the experience. Loved it!

[MollJay]

Not married yet, but we are planning to honeymoon in Italy. We will fly to Florence and spend 4 days there, at least one of which will be spent in the Tuscan countryside, then taking the train to Cinque Terre for 2 full days. We will spend the better part of one day traveling from Cinque Terre to Venice, where we will spend 2 days and then fly home the next morning. I cannot wait.

[skyblu]

We're getting married on the Mayan Riviera in Mexico, and after our guests leave we'll hop over to Cozumel for a long scuba-diving honeymoon!! :D

[Sashi]

We went to NYC for 3 days immediately after the wedding (we are both CPA's and had to work tax season but wanted to get married on 1/6/07). In May we went to Italy for 2.5 weeks. Venice, Florence, Rome and Positano. Hated Rome, liked Positano and Florence and Venice in that order.

Personally, I would have preferred an island but i didn't know I wasn't a good traveler until we went. It was a lot of $$$ that in some ways I regret now and some ways I don't.

[Belm]

We spent two weeks in Cancun. We loved every minute of it.

[sea74]

We relaxed for 3 days at home after the wedding.
Went to Florida for 5 days, then took a 7 day cruise.

It was relaxing and perfect :)

[AmandaLeigh]

We spent a week at home relaxing - visited some amusement parks, went to the zoo, movies, ect.

Then we took a week long cruise. It was perfect.

[rachrich]

Another one who HM'd in Riviera Maya, Mexico. We stayed at the Barcelo Maya Beach Resort and LOVED it. We were there a week.

Pros:
All-inclusive (alcohol, too!)
swim-up bars (my fave)
the beautiful beaches
lots to do on the resort grounds
local activites-shopping, sight-seeing (the Mayan ruins), food, snorkeling
learning about the Mayan history was neat!
reasonable price for everything
for being a family-friendly resort, it wasn't filled with screaming children, which was nice.

CONS:
we weren't there long enough!!
it was very humid much of the time-but we were constantly in our bathing suits at the pool or beach or snorkeling, so that wasn't a big deal.

We'd LOVE to go again. There's an adult's only resort somewhere in the R.M. that we'd like to check out. I can't remember what it's called.

[skyblu]

There's an adult's only resort somewhere in the R.M. that we'd like to check out. I can't remember what it's called.

There are several adult/coouples only resorts in the R.M., but if you mean adult-adult, sort of like Hedonism, there's one called Desire in Puerto Morelos. I happen to know that because it is near our own wedding resort.

[akacharlotte]

Aventura Spa Palace is adults only.

[rachrich]

akacharlotte I think Aventura was the one. Though the resort skyblu mentioned sounds tempting! ;)

[zhannushka]

We took a week off after the wedding to hang out with out of town and out of country relatives who came to the wedding. After that, we went to Venice for a week - LOVED every second of it! I always said (even before meeting DH) that I'm going to Venice for my honeymoon, so - I got my wish! :)

[Ferris]

We went to Alaska on a 7 days cruise and then went inland for 7 more. I didn't want to go anywhere that I had to wear a bikini! I had enough stress about the wedding, I didn't want to stress about getting my body bikini ready!

We went with Princess cruises and I enjoyed it, even though most people were twice our age!

[Dizzy]

We went to Disneyworld for a week and it was absolutely perfect! The best week of my life.

Pros:
If you get a good travel agent, he/she'll plan everything out for you and you won't have to think about a thing.
There is sooooo much to do!
Great food, great rides, great night life, everybody is friendly, and the service is excellent.

Cons:
I can't think of any except maybe the fact that there are a lot of kids there. Altho, anyone who goes to Disneyworld knows that already, so it didn't bother us at all.

[imagirliegirl]

We went to Sandals in the Bahamas. We had a great time.

Some Pros:
- All inclusive - food and drinks were fantastic and always available.
- Swim up bars - loved them!
- Always something fun to do
- No kids
- The facilities are very nice
- They always have photographers around to take pictures.
- Friendly staff - they were a little slow but it was all part of the "island mentality"


Some Cons:
- The beach is right next to a public beach which I didn't like.
- Things at the gift shop were super expensive. I paid 17 bucks for a tube of sunscreen.
- You won't want to leave the resort, the town itself is pretty nasty.
- The pictures they take are very expensive to buy. I think we paid $300 for 20 on a CD.

[DaNiGaToR]

We went to Charleston, SC and it was WONDERFUL!

Pros:
--Lots of history so there were a lot of neat places to see
--Beautiful!
--We stayed in the historic downtown and were able to walk to a lot of things
--GREAT food!

Cons:
--While the food was great, dinners were VERY expensive
--There was a company who had lot of workers on the street trying to get people to listen to a talk and buy a timeshare with the lure of free tickets to do things

[mimieliza]

We went to San Francisco, and it was fabulous! We got a super deal on Hotwire - air, three nights lodging (at an incredible hotel on Nob Hill) and rental car for $800 total for both of us.

We stayed at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, spent one day in the city and one day on a whirlwind tour of Muir Woods and a few Napa wineries. The only con was our short stay and the fact that we flew from Portland with a connection in LA, so we spent a lot of time on planes and in airports.

[petdoc08]

We spent two weeks in Costa Rica and then a spontaneous extra week in Disney. Our flight was delayed in Miami so we decided to take the flight vouchers and rented a convertible to get to Orlando. We were fresh out of college and our jobs were not to start for another two weeks so we thought what the heck, let's do it!

Costa Rica Pros:
It was very affordable.
We stayed all over the country so we saw beaches, rainforest, and volcanoes.
Locals are very welcoming to turists, they are now a tourism based economy so we were their bread and butter.
Some resorts were romantic and isolated while others were in the middle of everything. Great for us because we get bored easily.
The weather was perfect- even during the rainy season

Cons:
Lots of travel once in the country and their road system is not very developed. Planes and horses!! were utilized to get us from city to city.
Costa Rican food is very simple, rice and beans for every meal.

Disney was Disney. Tons of fun, but nothing you don't expect.

[AmandaLeigh]

We spent a week relaxing at home. We were able to put all our gifts away and write our thank you notes. We did a couple local things like the zoo and amusement parks. Then we went on our real vacation - a week long caribbean cruise. We loved it. We splured for the room with a balcony, so we were able to watch beautiful sunrises/sunsets. The ports of call were great. We booked our activities through the boat to make sure we got to do the things we wanted. The food was yummy (I am a super picky eater and found tons of stuff that I liked). In the evenings and days at sea we either hit the pool/hot tubs, caught a show (actually pretty good), or lounged on deck. Oh, we got massages one day, too.