Honeymoon Nov 2011-ideas?

toby2111

Getting married early Nov this year,got 2 weeks for honeymoon.Looked at Maldives,way too expensive,our budget about 4 or 5k max.Also looked at 5 days in Orlando,followed by 7 day Caribbean cruise which would be pretty cool.It was reasonably priced so its an option.
So,we're just looking for other ideas,we would like a combination of beach/lazing around and sightseeing/exploring in a sunny,warm place.Or 1 week in some place,followed by another somewere else.

Theboinkmaster

I'm actually getting married early November too and will have 3 weeks off. I've been into trailfinders and done some preliminary research:

- Maldives looks perfect but we'd want all-inclusive and the nice resorts seem €10k+ so may be too expensive. We could afford a 4* place however when looking at the hotel pictures it just doens't seem worth the money at all.

- Mauritius looks good, cheaper version of Maldives and recent events wouldn't put me off (though i wouldn't stay in legends). Again for the money I'm not sure it's worth it.

- Antigua and St Lucia seem nice and good weather at that time. Cost seems about the same as Mauritius so need to look into that.

- South Africa looks great though I've been there before. We might go there for 3 weeks or perhaps 10 days there and 10 days Mauritius. I like the look of the wine regions

That's about it, I guess we're limited by the time of year. Might look into Florida actually....

I looked into a cruise last year but decided definitely not for us, though some people seem to love them. Best of luck with the planning.

toby2111

Hi boinkmaster-Thanks for all your tips re:engagement ring in NYC,got a super ring in Hannikens for great price,appreciate your help.I meant to PM you,saw your post above which reminded me.Kinda hard to forget your name!!

Looked at Maldives/Seychelles/Mauritius also but they're all way above our budget.We've done a Med cruise before and really enjoyed it so thats why its an option for us.Also looking at 5few days Orlando,followed by a week in Bahamas.Its only 90 min flight from Orlando but not too sure how good/bad it is.Get a feeling it could be the Las Vegas of beach resorts!Also,maybe a trip to Cancun?Again,dont know a whole pile about it

tfak85

would you consider going somewhere like beijing/hong kong/shanghai/tokyo for a week and stopping for 4 days on your way there, maybe in abu dhabi/dubai... the weather in november would be really nice, lovely and sunny, not too humid..

you could do all/most of your flying with etihad and just take an extended stopover so it wont cost you any more than just a regular return flight and i don't know if you've flown with them before or not but they're incredible... we have become completely biased towards them now!!

the flights are not too over the top either, we're flying to tokyo with them, and the return is only €750!!

Aln_S

Going on our honeymoon in May. We have Cancun booked for a week then a western Caribbean cruise for a week.

We were going to stay around Florida area before the cruise but got the impression that there would not be much to do.

I have been on a cruise in the Eastern Caribbean before and loved it, really not what you expect. Expensive but worth it imo.

Diddler1977

Personally I would choose the Florida Keys over Orlando for my honeymoon. I think Orlando is more of a family holiday spot while there are much more opportunities to find a nice romantic spot in the Keys. It is also close to Miami to take a cruise from.

dos30

We're going on honeymoon in July and booked a really nice 4* resort in the Maldives.
http://www.chaayamaldives.com/hotel.cfm?ghid=261091

"Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo in the Maldives has won the coveted TripAdvisor 2010 Travellers Choice award and is in the fifth position of the top 10 resorts in Asia in the Romance Category."

We booked through http://www.thomson.co.uk and got all inclusive for 2 weeks for around €1900 pp. Just have to book return flights to Gatwick now, should cost around another €100pp.

DM addict

It'd be a good time of year to look at going to Australia/New Zealand.

Diddler1977

dos30 wrote: »

We're going on honeymoon in July and booked a really nice 4* resort in the Maldives.
http://www.chaayamaldives.com/hotel.cfm?ghid=261091

"Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo in the Maldives has won the coveted TripAdvisor 2010 Travellers Choice award and is in the fifth position of the top 10 resorts in Asia in the Romance Category."

We booked through http://www.thomson.co.uk and got all inclusive for 2 weeks for around €1900 pp. Just have to book return flights to Gatwick now, should cost around another €100pp.

Make sure you arrive in Gatwick with plenty of time to catch your flight. Perhaps even head over the night before.

Because you didn't buy the ticket to Gatwick along with your flights to Maldives, if your flight is late over to Gatwick and you miss your flight to Maldives nothing can be done by your travel agent.

Diddler1977

DM addict wrote: »

It'd be a good time of year to look at going to Australia/New Zealand.

I wouldn't advise anyone to travel this distance for 2 weeks particularly on their honeymoon.

carwash_2006

We were in South Africa for November just gone. While we had more rain than is normal for them, it was brilliant. Even with the rain the temperature was good and there are so many things to see and do. Food and drink are dirt cheap and at that time of year accommodation is still reasonable.

List of must sees:

Table Mountain
2 Oceans Aquarium - Capetown area
Cape Point

Kango Caves - Outshorn
Kango Wildlife Park

Monkey Land Plettenberg Bay
Birds of Eden
Tsitsikama National Park/Storms River

There's loads more things to do and see, but those are things I would love to go back to. If you only have 2 weeks, you won't make all of them, but you should manage one area anyway.

If you do go for South Africa, look into travelling with Etihad, much cheaper than BA.

SSFG

Snap!! We are also getting married in November! We are looking into fly drives and we got a quote for roughly €1700 each for 13 nights. We haven't decided yet, we were looking at South Africa too. I suppose you would also need to take into account where you are going, in that spending money will go ALOT further in South Africa than America. Happy hunting and if anyone has any more suggestions/ideas let me know!

toby2111

Got 2 quote on travelmoods.ie,10 nights(8-18th Nov) in Maldives(1 called Kuredu all inclusive,other called Meeru full board) for about €3400 or so for 2 of us.Seems decent enough value,reports on TA vary from excellent to average.Takes nearly a day to get there and back but,2 stops each way.

kc66

A number of people on boards have booked holidays with Marks travel in the UK in the past. There was a week all inclusive in the Maldives for around £699 a while back. They have 7 nights all inclusive in Mexico at the moment from £749.
On clubtravel.ie I see a week all inclusive in Dreams Cancun for €1099. Seems a great deal for anyone that could travel on those dates.
There are great deals with a bit of searching.

Heineken Helen

We're going to the Riviera Maya in Mexico in April for 2 weeks, 5 star all inclusive... £2,800 for the two of us with Thomson (there are cheaper 5 stars though but this one just drew us in). We looked into the American Road trip but it seemed like too much messing around after all the planning of the wedding and it's probably the only time we'll do a relaxation holiday.

I've been to the garden route and winelands of South Africa though and would HIGHLY recommend it. Although I'm not sure it's somewhere I would go just two of us. We were in a group of 40 (charity trek) and there were times I still didn't feel safe in Cape Town. But it really is an amazing amazing country, gorgeous!

SSFG

Heineken Helen wrote: »

We're going to the Riviera Maya in Mexico in April for 2 weeks, 5 star all inclusive... £2,800 for the two of us with Thomson (there are cheaper 5 stars though but this one just drew us in). We looked into the American Road trip but it seemed like too much messing around after all the planning of the wedding and it's probably the only time we'll do a relaxation holiday.

I've been to the garden route and winelands of South Africa though and would HIGHLY recommend it. Although I'm not sure it's somewhere I would go just two of us. We were in a group of 40 (charity trek) and there were times I still didn't feel safe in Cape Town. But it really is an amazing amazing country, gorgeous!

Heineken Helen,
Regarding the Thompson holiday, is that price pounds, and is it flying from London? Do they have a website?
Kind of going off the fly drive, as you'd require alot more spending money, and times are tough!
We were also considering South Africa, but I am honestly a bit scared really, it is a bit rough in spots, fiance was there before and even he tells me that.
Your day is soon, hope plans are going well!!

Heineken Helen

SSFG wrote: »

Heineken Helen,
Regarding the Thompson holiday, is that price pounds, and is it flying from London? Do they have a website?
Kind of going off the fly drive, as you'd require alot more spending money, and times are tough!
We were also considering South Africa, but I am honestly a bit scared really, it is a bit rough in spots, fiance was there before and even he tells me that.
Your day is soon, hope plans are going well!!

Yes, it's pounds and flying from London... but there were definitely cheaper... we could have gone the two of us for £2,300. And, as it's all inclusive, spending money is minimal. It's this place:

http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/caribbean/mexico/mexico-caribbean-coast/riviera-maya/hotels/grand-palladium-riviera-resort-and-spa.html

Yep, the fly drive would have cost more than the two weeks of sloth and it seemed a lot of hard work (particularly for him since I don't drive lol) but it's something we'd both like to do at some stage. I think it deserves a lot of planning on its own.

Like I said South Africa really is amazing but I'm not sure I could fully relax to be honest

Thank you everything is going quite smoothe at the moment, touch wood! Am going home next weekend so have plenty of appointments to hopefully finalise stuff.

SSFG

Heineken Helen wrote: »

Thank you everything is going quite smoothe at the moment, touch wood! Am going home next weekend so have plenty of appointments to hopefully finalise stuff.

I think I saw that you are getting married in the Galway Bay, we are in the Westwood! Where are you getting your flowers? Have had a real quick look around Galway its a bit overwhelming, and pricy :eek:

Heineken Helen

SSFG wrote: »

I think I saw that you are getting married in the Galway Bay, we are in the Westwood! Where are you getting your flowers? Have had a real quick look around Galway its a bit overwhelming, and pricy :eek:

Ooohh we looked at the Westwood too... good choice... especially in November it will be lovely and cosy

I don't know yet. We're going to visit knocknacarra florists next week and hopefully they can do something. I just think they're way too much money for something I'm not all that bothered about but my Dad seems to think I need them

magneticimpulse

Heineken Helen wrote: »

Yes, it's pounds and flying from London... but there were definitely cheaper... we could have gone the two of us for £2,300. And, as it's all inclusive, spending money is minimal. It's this place:

http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/caribbean/mexico/mexico-caribbean-coast/riviera-maya/hotels/grand-palladium-riviera-resort-and-spa.html

Yep, the fly drive would have cost more than the two weeks of sloth and it seemed a lot of hard work (particularly for him since I don't drive lol) but it's something we'd both like to do at some stage. I think it deserves a lot of planning on its own.

Like I said South Africa really is amazing but I'm not sure I could fully relax to be honest

Thank you everything is going quite smoothe at the moment, touch wood! Am going home next weekend so have plenty of appointments to hopefully finalise stuff.

Yeah that poor British woman was murdered on her honeymoon not so long ago in South Africa. I wouldnt feel safe in alot of these honeymoon places from all the news about recent murders. The locals obviously dont get paid much and must think that honeymooners have alot of money to steal from. Very sad indeed.

iguana

magneticimpulse wrote: »

Yeah that poor British woman was murdered on her honeymoon not so long ago in South Africa. I wouldnt feel safe in alot of these honeymoon places from all the news about recent murders. The locals obviously dont get paid much and must think that honeymooners have alot of money to steal from. Very sad indeed.

If that's Anni Dewani (who was Swedish, but her husband was English), her husband has been arrested for planning her murder, so it probably wasn't a random attack.

paper cut

When you decide where you are going, join the airlines frequent flyer club before hand and get the air miles. More than likely you'll have a lot.

DM addict

Just to address the South Africa issue - I spent two months working in one of the townships in Cape Town and it's a safe city for tourists. You've got to keep an eye on your belongings and not wander into the wrong parts of town, but that's true for any major city. I wouldn't recommend Jo'burg, but Cape Town is a beautiful city and I wouldn't want people to be put off because of fear.

After all, they held the World Cup last summer and I don't recall any murders being reported.

Heineken Helen

DM addict wrote: »

Just to address the South Africa issue - I spent two months working in one of the townships in Cape Town and it's a safe city for tourists. You've got to keep an eye on your belongings and not wander into the wrong parts of town, but that's true for any major city. I wouldn't recommend Jo'burg, but Cape Town is a beautiful city and I wouldn't want people to be put off because of fear.

After all, they held the World Cup last summer and I don't recall any murders being reported.

Yep, I'm sorry... don't mean to scaremonger at all... everywhere has it's problems. Cape Town is gorgeous and there are few places I've been that are more romantic than places we stopped in the garden route. We stayed here:

http://www.buffalohills.co.za/index.html

and there was another place where we took the boat out in the pitch black and were all mesmerised by the stars and fell asleep on a giant trampoline. The wine tasting and ostrich farm tours and elephant sanctuary.... it really was a brilliant experience and we all got back safely. One woman had her bag robbed but that can happen anywhere.

magneticimpulse

I think Canada, Vancouver and Rocky Mountains sound so exciting

maryomeara

Oh god ... its so much money to spend on a holiday, like I felt bad spending money on my ring let alone a day out ... then thousands on a holiday???

But you still want to have one that you can remember forever.... aaahhhh!!! although once you mention the word !honeymoon" or "wedding" they add on a zero

Ideas of inexpensive ones?

banner gal

im also getting married in november looking at san fransisco and mexico, sunway have fairly good prices for mexico on their brochure depend on budget, im also considering south africa maybe.

Heineken Helen

maryomeara wrote: »

Oh god ... its so much money to spend on a holiday, like I felt bad spending money on my ring let alone a day out ... then thousands on a holiday???

But you still want to have one that you can remember forever.... aaahhhh!!! although once you mention the word !honeymoon" or "wedding" they add on a zero

Ideas of inexpensive ones?

How about you ask your guests to 'contribute' and then go on honeymoon later? I've a friend doing that. Or have your money ready and a rough idea of a date and keep an eye on special offers. I often see in windows a week all inclusive in Cuba for about £600. The Gambia seems quite cheap and also popular at the mo... don't know much about it though. Just figure out your budget first and then have fun googling Wherever you go, even in Ireland, will be amazing!