Need Honeymoon Advice

[IndyGunworks]

So my wedding is in a year and I will be marrying my high school sweet heart so please NO DONT DO IT's.... its a done deal, its happening so lets just work with what we got.

Problem comes to the honeymoon.... cruises are pretty expensive and when i came home from iraq i promised myself that i would NEVER leave this country again and i plan to stick with that....

we are looking into resorts but want something all inclusive.... this means three meals a day or is cheap enough to go out to lunch and dinner every day.... 4-6 nights depending on price..... i for the life of me cannot find any honeymoon resorts.... or any resorts for that matter that offer all inclusive packages...

does anyone out there have any good ideas or links to good deals?

 

[Disposable Heart]

Congratulations on that. Who knows, you may end up being the couple that stays together for a lifetime, a VERY hard thing to find anymore. I wish you the best of luck in your joint ventures.

I would call up a variety of travel agencies. From what I have heard (and experienced) the all inclusive resorts (some like Beaches and crap) really suck. They are sometimes overcrowded or very pedestrian (terrible food, unclean facilities, as opposed to what they depict in the pictures). Find an agent and sit down with them. Plan it out. Sometimes the best vacations (honeymoons included!) are ones that are built by the people going on them, as opposed to some outfit that forces their vacation upon you. Do something you want, not some package deal thing. Hell, you may even save a few bucks too! Explain to them what YOU want.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Oh, forgot to mention: I am not terribly sure of what you want in the idea of climate, but places like the NE US are beautiful and scenic. I visited Maine a few times and it is wonderful this time of year. Plenty of places to visit and lots of places that one could spend time with the new misses. May not be sand and surf, but arent you tired of sand after Iraq?

 

[ryanbr]

Sounds like there may be alot of Hawaii deals going on right now. I know 3 couples who have just got married who have went there on there honeymoon. It is still part of the US too!

 

[joslar15]

My wife and I flew to Hawaii and did 7day cruise and 5 ports. I haven't looked in depth lately, but seems like I've been seeing similar deals from around $2.5-3k. With booze, car rentals, booze, luaus, shore excursions and booze including Ring of Fire helicopter tour and booze, ours was around $5k.

Don't let anyone tell you differently, love of a good woman can't be beat! Oh yea, booze was extra!

EDIT: We booked ours through AA, no that was AAA

 

[techres]

Congrats on the marriage! Nothing better in this world, nothing.

+1 on the weather thing. It will decide alot for you. You like cold, heat, or midrange?

 

[hornadylnl]

Saw your title and was going to say my advice is not to get married and then your post spoiled it for me. Have you thought about Disney World? I thought it would be totally lame for adults and I had a blast. There were lots of newlyweds with micky and Minnie ears that had veils and top hats on them. I hope to go back with just the wife someday.

You can get hotel and food packages straight through Disney, I believe. It can be much cheaper if you stay in a non Disney resort if you drive there. If you fly and stay in a Disney hotel, they have shuttles to take you everywhere you need.

 

[Scutter01]

You can do the old Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge thing. Lots of fun things to do there, although it's touristy. We camp in Cherokee, NC, right over the mountain and spend the day in Gatlinburg.

 

[MoparMan]

If your still in the Military you can use Armed Forces Vacation Club. If not, i agree with Scutter, we go to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinbug area at least once a year. The people are really friendly and just a cool area. Highly Recommend!

 

[chubbs]

my home away from home. Myrtle Beach south carolina

 

[IndyGunworks]

Thanks for all the advice so far.... for some reason she has ocean on her mind and i have never been to a place like gatlinburg/pigeon ford to even try to talk her into that..... so far she has been frustrated with me not wanting to leave the US and tried to fight it but i listed off what must have been a thousand reasons why and she is working with me a bit now.... she saw the sandals resorts thing and got stuck on that idea..... anybody got any links to the gatlinburg/pigeon forge place? what is there to do there for newly weds? i wouldnt mind eating out for lunch and dinner everyday as you would get some pretty tastey meals and if the trip could be planned right it could end up being more fun than a cruise....

if it helps i am trying to keep total cost tax tip booze food and travel included for less than 3.5-4 thousand.... its my goal to be out of debt both her and I within our first year of marriage so we can move out of my current house into the country before we have kids. every little bit counts here and i dont want to plan the honeymoon so tight that we can be a little frivilous on meals and hotel room and such.

 

[public servant]

Hawaii...and I'm not talking one of the tourist packed resort cities. Go to the big island and spend your honeymoon on top of a volcano. We went 3 years ago...and it was great. It was amazing. We stayed in the small volcano top town of Volcano Village. If you want a beach...you're just minutes from being sea side in Hilo, Hawaii. Kilauea Volcano has been erupting for years. You can drive over at night and watch the orange glow from the moving lava fields. And as an extra added bonus...there was an earthquake while we were there.

There was soooo much to do. Volcano National Park, Mauna Kea Observatory, black sand beaches. You experience every climate from rain forests to deserts...even snow. The native plant and animal life is amazing.

Volcano Village , Volcano eruption photos and visitor information, Volcano Village, Hawaii

If you're interested...I'd contact this lady about lodging. She was great!! We stayed in this cottage...but she has 3 more linked to her web page.

Volcano Places - Accommodations - Kate's Volcano Cottage

This may not be what you're looking for...it's not all inclusive...but it's something you won't regret...and is truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Let me know if you want any more info and I'll send you what I have.

Oh...and while I'm a big coffee drinker (2-3 pots a day), Hawaiian Kona coffee is GREAT...but when you open the package...it smells like dirty feet. Don't ask me how something that smells so bad before you brew it can taste so good after.

 

[Disposable Heart]

my home away from home. Myrtle Beach south carolina

Damn fine idea! I visited north of that place (the Barrier Islands of North Carolina). Both areas are VERY nice, but the Barrier Islands are a bit more off the beaten path (less tourists and less packed hotels). Very scenic, good food, awesome hotels, all can be had under your proposed price Indy.

The mid America exposed area to the Atlantic is a bit nicer IMHO. Less heat, sun doesnt seem to beat down as hard and less tourists/visitors. The Atlantic ocean scared the hell out of me as a kid, the immensity of it. I can see why your misses has ocean on the mind. The majesty of it just brings great feelings to me, I am going to sleep well tonight!

 

[MoparMan]

Gatlinburg, TN - Gatlinburg Tennessee - Official Site, Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce. There are places that do packages for honeymoon's. I like it because its a quiet break away from the type of work we do. There's tons of stuff down there to do.

 

[bouncerclub]

Im not sure why you feel a cruise is out of the question? It sounds like your budget fits. Ive not priced things today but i was looking at a cruise on carnivals newest ship that hit 3 ports in mexico Cabo pureto vareta? no idea how to spell it. Anyway the point is i looked at going in september for our honeymoon and i was only looking at 799 a person for a balcony room.

Personally ive been on carnivals valor and went to Nassau, St thomas, and St Martin. Loved it did it for under 2k. (I dont drink though)

 

[techres]

Im not sure why you feel a cruise is out of the question?

You may have missed:

...and when i came home from iraq i promised myself that i would NEVER leave this country again and i plan to stick with that....

I get that 100%!

 

[IndyGunworks]

Im not sure why you feel a cruise is out of the question? It sounds like your budget fits. Ive not priced things today but i was looking at a cruise on carnivals newest ship that hit 3 ports in mexico Cabo pureto vareta? no idea how to spell it. Anyway the point is i looked at going in september for our honeymoon and i was only looking at 799 a person for a balcony room.

Personally ive been on carnivals valor and went to Nassau, St thomas, and St Martin. Loved it did it for under 2k. (I dont drink though)

Look up cruises that are in the UNITED STATES.... they are more expensive.... and 799 would be for one person.... with just that you are starting out with almost 2,000 not including travel.... but that does include food..... i might look at a cruise in hawaii still the US and can still see a volcano!!!

 

[ATF Consumer]

Virgin Islands is quite nice. My wife and I spent our Honeymoon at an all inclusive resort in St. Croix for a week. Absolutely beautiful and completely relaxing. We rented a jeep and drove all over the island, just taking in the scenery.

 

[glock34]

Married in Pigeon Forge area and went back 10 year later. Here in the picture from our cabin last fall. Cabin has hot tub and works.

 

[Pami]

Im not sure why you feel a cruise is out of the question? It sounds like your budget fits. Ive not priced things today but i was looking at a cruise on carnivals newest ship that hit 3 ports in mexico Cabo pureto vareta? no idea how to spell it. Anyway the point is i looked at going in september for our honeymoon and i was only looking at 799 a person for a balcony room.

Personally ive been on carnivals valor and went to Nassau, St thomas, and St Martin. Loved it did it for under 2k. (I dont drink though)

September is kind of the start of hurricane season for that area, isn't it? Future reference, it's Puerto Vallarta. I did a cruise similar to that with my Girl Scout troop a few years ago during their Spring Break and it really was awesome.

Also a +1 on Gatlinburg. It is very touristy, but it has its moments of awesomeness. Lars & I got married there. We had a package deal for the wedding & 3 nights in a cabin for cheap. The cabin was up on the side of the mountain, and it felt like it was the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't that far off the main drag. If you go, check out a restaraunt in Pigeon Forge called The Apple Barn -- amazing food. Unfortunately, the traffic on the main road is horrendous most of the day during the peak season, which is like September to November. Smoky Mountain National Park is right at the end of the strip. We've only driven through parts of it, but I would imagine there's some fantastic hiking there since the Appalachian Trail runs right through it. We did hike up to Clingman's Dome the last time we were there visiting friends (check out the Native American shop in the building that has the ski lift -- our friends own the shop). It was pretty neat to see icicles on the side of the mountain when it was 90*+ in the city. If your fiancee is set on beaches though, this is NOT the place for your honeymoon.

I'll also +1 Hawaii. We've actually been looking at Kauai because it's the least developed of the islands. They have some good golfing there! I haven't ever been, though, so I can't give any first-hand experience there.

If you do find someplace stateside that has an all-inclusive resort, be sure to update us. I've looked before and couldn't find anything in the States that was actually all-inclusive. Most had restaraunts, but dinners weren't included.