Honeymoon Help?

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<p>When we stayed in St. John, we took day trips to nearby islands. You can go to other USVI, and there were also sailing trips to BSVI as well (you would need a passport). That was really fun.</p>

<p>soozievt, I tried to send you a PM about Anguilla, but your mailbox is full.</p>

<p>I suggest you sign up to get emails from a couple of travel sights, like Apple, vacations to go, etc. and watch for great deals. You may also want to look on Costco travel, because it seems like they have pretty good prices. Vacation resorts by owner, I think the site is vrbo, has personal properties people rent out. If you want a place with a kitchen you could also consider renting a timeshare from someone. There are a couple of sites that post rentals. We stayed in Grand Cayman at a place called Morritts Grand that is right next to the Reef Resort someone mentioned above. it was a pretty nice place, and we are going back there next summer, but there is not much going on on that side of the island, and you would need to drive if you want to venture beyond a couple of places for dinner. Don’t forget to factor in rental car prices if you want a car.
If you don’t have passports, make sure you apply for them well in advance.</p>

<p>Nrdsb4:
I got the notice that you tried to send me a PM but my box is full. I just can’t keep up with that box and it is one more message center to check and I MUCH prefer email. I sent you a message via the ‘send email’ option. Can you resend the message to me at my email? Thanks.</p>

<p>A few more thoughts; Hawaiian beaches are different from Carribean beaches. Carribean are more the sand you are looking for, and the warmer water. A travel agent pointed that out to me. Don’t underestimate the value of a travel agent, even in this day and age! And tripadvisor was good too, although I’ve heard some of the reviews can be bogus.</p>

<p>I don’t stay in hotels anymore, I use Airbnb or Homeaway. The savings are amazing. By occupying someone’s home or apartment while they travel, you can have the kitchen, more space, lower cost than a hotel.</p>

<p>Cautions: Since it’s a honeymoon, not just any trip, you’d need to get a sense from the correspondence that your host takes it seriously and won’t cancel out last minute. Sometimes hard to book so make sure people are keeping their calendar (scheduling) pages up-to-date. And you have to work up a good key transfer arrangement on or before your day of arrival. Research each listing, relying heavily on their photos and feedback/reviews from prior guests.</p>

<p>Vacationstogo is advertising “sales” on all inclusives today.
I think if you book earlier you will get better pricing and probably better flight choices as well.</p>

<p>The St. Lucia property and amenities look great. I suggest you look into the location as relates to downtown, restaurants etc so you can wander off property and have a variety of places to eat and window shop (if these are important to you).</p>

<p>Here are some general comments on other places that have been suggested:
Bahamas–prices will be lower here, including getting there. English is spoken.
Mexico: Cancun is VERY touristy. Isla Mujeres is less so, but will also lower opportunities for places to eat, etc. Cozumel is very nice but they really do not have the type of beaches you are looking for.
Hawaii: Beautiful, but expensive to eat out and to stay and to get there. Pacific ocean is colder than Caribbean.
Bermuda: Similar to Hawaii. Being farther north, the water will be chilly in May.
Turks and Caicos are beautiful and have beautiful beaches. If you are looking for more nightlife stay on Providenciales. Looking for peaceful and quiet, go to Grand Turk, which is harder to get to.
All Inclusives tend to have mediocre food. It’s plentiful but not always the best. Some of the better ones do have more upscale eating choices that can require reservations (and tend to fill up quickly so if you go that route, research so you know what to expect). </p>

<p>If there is any type of travel show in your area, you can go and check out a variety of locations. Write down what you want–lots of places to eat or not, quiet or nightlife, close to town, or not. You probably already have this in your head. Then you can narrow down the places that will work for you. As others have mentioned, don’t rule out a travel agent–they get their payment from the resort but it does not usually translate to a higher price for you.</p>

<p>Good luck and Congratulations!</p>

<p>We had the weirdest morning. When I first started honeymoon window shopping, I really became attached to the idea of the Sandals Grande St. Lucian-- but it’s more than twice our budget to go there so I gave up on it. I woke up today and randomly thought, “could it have really been THAT much over? Let’s just check just for fun…” </p>

<p>As it turns out, they are having a sale that expires tonight and I was able to book 7 days in an ocean-view room for $4,800-- so that is what we are doing! We spent a long time on the phone with the resort today and they assured me my allergy would be no problem and I can eat at any of the restaurants at any of the three St Lucia Sandals resorts. And when you look at the prices for those cottages we were looking at, after you add in transportation costs, food, and activities or excursions I think we weren’t really getting very much savings. The flight is going to end up being $1300 so a bit more than I wanted, but we can swing it.</p>

<p>Now I have 7 days to decide whether or not I want to spend an additional $200 more than I wanted on the trip insurance they offered. Being already a bit overbudget on the flight I am reluctant, but if the coverages are good it seems like it might be wise.</p>

<p>Sounds awesome!</p>

<p>Emaheevul07, if you go to [InsureMyTrip:</a> Travel Insurance - Compare & Review](<a href=“http://www.insuremytrip.com%5DInsureMyTrip:”>http://www.insuremytrip.com), you can compare prices of various trip insurance plans. You may well be able to find one for less money.</p>

<p>I was just at St Lucia earlier this year. The hotel was beautiful, but we were bored (maybe for honeymooners it is fine). No one mentioned Dominican Republic (DR). You can get a lot of bang for your bucks there and easy access. I also think Mexico is a great bargain and has some beautiful beaches. We are great fans of Club Med, all inclusive and they own some beautiful beaches (all food, drinks, sports, activities are included and no tipping). If you want to do Club Med, I would consider Columbus Isle (Bahamas, secluded, only resort on the island) and Cancun. You should be able to get some great bargains in May. Another place to consider for great beaches is Bermuda. Costa Rica is nice too.</p>

<p>Ema, it looks like a good place. Two minor things: a)Sandals always have some sort of a sale and b) make sure the ocean view room you booked is actually an ocean view room (hotels are notorious for labeling rooms that overview a parking lot but offer a glimpse of the water as “ocean view”).</p>

<p>congratulations! Watch airfares, the fluctuate all the time, so you may catch it on a lower priced day (look mid-week for pricing). I have a friend who loves the Sandals resorts! Glad to hear you got a good deal in your planned destinations!</p>

<p>Congratulations. It may be too late, but it is often cheaper to book airfare and an all inclusive as a package. if you have something refundable, I suggest you just call Apple or Vacations to go to make sure you got a really good deal. It will be wonderful.</p>

<p>Sign up at Kayak and get daily email alerts for your flight …</p>

<p>One other thing if it is not too late. Since someone mentioned that Detroit is a Delta hub, you may be flying that airline anyway. So why not take a look at Delta Vacations and compare the flight+ Sandals Grande St. Lucian package and see if it is worth it to switch.</p>

<p>Bumping this because I have another question. What about travel insurance? Have you ever purchased it and through who? Sandals offered us a policy through Trip Mate but I declined it because the company had very poor reviews, but it got me thinking. Of the things one might need insurance for, I’m mainly only worried about trip cancellation (if one of us gets sick or dies, if a hurricane is headed to the area, etc) and if anything medical should happen while we are there. I am waiting to hear from my health insurance provider but I assume my coverage will be useless overseas. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>We do a lot of travel, even when kids were little, and never had to cancel a trip. The only time I had to cancel a vacation was when my father passed away. I didn’t have insurance, but I got full refund from Delta and the hotel. I booked it through Expedia and they helped us to get the refund. We also got a full refund this year when our flight was cancelled due to volcano ash (explosion) in Mexico. As far as health insurance, our insurance covered us whenever one of us was sick overseas (not sure if it’s the case for all insurance).</p>

<p>When Dd was abroad for a semester we planned to go with my parents between mom’s chemo treatments; bought the insurance through TravelGuard. Got the Gold plan which covered all our possibilities, particularly cost of any sudden return flights. It was our good fortune not to have to make a claim.</p>