Honeymoon Sept - Where to go?

blondie29

Hi all

Have provisionally booked the 7th sept 2013 for our wedding day.

Just got me thinking are we limited as to where to go on our honeymoon seeing as alot of hurricanes are sept/oct time??

We would like a luxury holiday, once in a lifetime! I was thinking originally of flying to America, visit a city or west coast then fly to Hawaii but from checking here alot of people say its very expensive and americanised etc.

Also the last weekend in sept is free date for our venue and first two weeks in october. Would it make much of a difference for honeymoon by having wedding bit later? Sept & Oct are only months as we dont want to get married in winter months here.

We love beachy holidays with yummie food! We were in the Dominican Republic few years ago in Nov which was fab.

Where would fellow boardsie's recommend with lots of sun in sept?

mrshopkeeper

Eight years ago next october(late oct) I was in Aruba for honeymoon. Very enjoyable - can't take the credit for choosing the desitination - mrsshopkeeper insisted on taking that job out of my hands. from what i remember it was sold to us on the basis that its outside the hurricane belt.

Aruba is probably similar to many other caribbean destinations (although admittedly I've been to no other carribean island) except for its affluence. It seems that its governed properly and there is no abject poverty evident on the island.

I don't usually go for beach holidays which is what the honeymoon turned out to be, but enjoyed it thoroughly

PCPhoto

we're getting married 2 weeks before you ... have also had the same dilemma .

A friend of mine suggested South America(Brazil) , my fiancee suggested Oz ...I suggested something waaay out there ...Bora Bora.

Oz average temps will be early/mid 20s ..... Bora Bora will be mid/late 20's or early 30s..... have not checked Brazil as it doesn't interest me.

other options in south america...inca trail, Colombia, Argentina etc

if you have the money Galapogos Islands

PS. Congrats on your engagement !

totallegend

We went to St Lucia last August- it's far enough south that it doesn't get hit by hurricanes and while we got maybe half an hour of rain every day, the weather was otherwise perfect, temperature in the high twenties every day.

Stayed here and couldn't recommend it highly enough
http://www.jalousieplantation.com/
Not cheap though, but we got a good deal with Tropicalsky.ie

blondie29

Thanks for replies guys and congrats to u too pcphoto!

Don't think south America is for us unless Mexico. Really undecided where to go now..has anyone been to Maldives around that time? Or maybe Thailand. We really want luxury and sun (not too expensive either!)

Let me know where you book pcphoto!

Any other options???

PCPhoto

Thailand is rainy season (in sept) ... so you could face very heavy rain (possibly like last years floods which hit bangkok) ....I would rule that out !

(ps. its a fantastic place was there in April did the Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Bangkok holiday that the travel agents push for couples/honeymoons)

Also April has the Thai new year - which is a huge waterfight !!...2/3 days of non-stop waterfighting.

Gatica

We're heading to Thailand this September. I know it's wet season and the floods last year. It's highly unlikely that something that happens once in 50 years would hit the same area two years in a row.
We're taking a chance that it may rain more than the usual couple of hours each afternoon, but fingers crossed they'll have a milder spell...

PCPhoto

fingers crossed it works out well for you !

traditionally the weather (rain) is very heavy (when it does fall), we had a shower in Chiang Mai last April ... approx 1hr .... turned the road into a river, water was halfway up my shin crossing over to the shops on the other side of the street (after the rain) - it drained off reasonably fast.

Gatica

thanks...

yeah, it's probably like in South America during wet season. We used to get those rivers from the rainfall but thanks to the heat it dried up fairly quick...

Senna

We got married late September and went on a south Caribbean cruise, which misses the Hurricane paths. The ships can change itinerary if there is a Hurricane coming but there was no bad weather our trip.
I still think the cruise is one of the best honeymoons for people that dont want a beach holiday but still want to be lazy.

ronjo

We went on honeymoon in early September to New york, Las Vegas and Hawaii.... I would totally recommend it.

Tango One

We booked 4 days in San Francisco onto Hawaii(2 day in Oahu to see Pearl Harbour 7 nights in Maui) and then back to Vegas fot 7 nights. Just booked our hotel on priceline for Maui got a great deal 60% off the price on any site I checked.
Aruba is a nice spot to go too been there a few times and loved it.

blondie29

Tango One wrote: »

We booked 4 days in San Francisco onto Hawaii(2 day in Oahu to see Pearl Harbour 7 nights in Maui) and then back to Vegas fot 7 nights. Just booked our hotel on priceline for Maui got a great deal 60% off the price on any site I checked.
Aruba is a nice spot to go too been there a few times and loved it.

Tango one & ronjo did ye feel Hawaii was worth the spend?? Did ye find it expensive?If you had to choose between Aruba & Hawaii which one would you pick? i always thought of doing Hawaii for our honeymoon but just hoping it will be worth the trip!

Sleepy

Anywhere around the Adriatic would be lovely that time of year: Croatia / Italy. Short and relatively cheap flights so you could push the boat out on the accommodation and still not break the bank.

blindside88

Hey op, in the same position a you, we're getting married 5th September 2013. Our criteria would be much the same as yours, so far we've considered new York, las Vegas, Hawaii/Mexico. Or maybe spending 2 weeks travelling from north to south and then a final week between the amalfie coast and sicily. I'm still looking for ideas so will watch your thread with interest

Tango One

blondie29 wrote: »

Tango one & ronjo did ye feel Hawaii was worth the spend?? Did ye find it expensive?If you had to choose between Aruba & Hawaii which one would you pick? i always thought of doing Hawaii for our honeymoon but just hoping it will be worth the trip!

Only going to Hawaii in September, I nearly didn't pick Hawaii because Honolulu looked so commercial but Maui looks great. Aruba is a lot easier to get too though, KLM flys from Amsterdam diectly. Aruba would be the cheaper option I would guess.

Ballyman

I got married same time as well. We took a chance and headed for the hurricane corridor!! Everything was much cheaper because of this and we got no hurricane or wind but you are taking the chance!!

We went to Playa Del Carmen in Mexico for two weeks. It's about an hour south of Cancun and is more Mexican than Cancun is as that's very Americanised in the hotel district. It's absolutely beautiful there but it did rain on two or three days.
We went to Miami on the way home for a week and that was brilliant as well. Spent two days on the Keys which are well worth teavelling to as well.
The one thing that would put me off Hawaii or Australia is the flight times just to get to there as you would be severly jetlagged when you do actually arrive.

PCPhoto

Tango One wrote: »

We booked 4 days in San Francisco onto Hawaii(2 day in Oahu to see Pearl Harbour 7 nights in Maui) and then back to Vegas fot 7 nights. Just booked our hotel on priceline for Maui got a great deal 60% off the price on any site I checked.
Aruba is a nice spot to go too been there a few times and loved it.

you should try to get to the big island for a day (you can get close to actual flowing lava).... either by boat or by an illegal walk across "solid" lava.

its well worth it.

patsyrockem

Hi there, congrats, we are getting married in late sept this year and found it difficult to find a honeymoon destination, weather was a big issue. South Africa looked fab but would be in long sleeves at that time as its only start of summer. Thailand possibly rainy season and Carribean maybe hurricane season. We thought the states can be visited any time. We've decided on Bali, it seemed to tick all the boxes, a once in a lifetime experience we think. Four days in Kuala Lumpur first to rest up and recharge. Weather can be difficult to predict in a lot of honeymoon destinations at that time of year. I would love to hear from anyone who has been or is heading to Bali? I wish you well in finding a destination and hope the plans go well.

tatli_lokma

you could always do what a lot of people do and have a mini-moon straight after the wedding (say a long weekend or so somewhere in Ireland or Europe) and then have a proper honeymoon later in the year.
this is what we did because I had only started a new job a month before the wedding and didn't have enough AL for honeymoon as well, so we went off down the country for 4 days (were blessed with amazing weather) and had a really relaxing few days. Then a few months later we went on our real honeymoon.

A lot of people are doing this now. My mates also did a similar thing - they always wanted to travel through India. Knowing it wouldn't be cheap and wanting to take at least 4 weeks to do it, it wasn't possibile straight after the wedding, they went on a cheap mini-break to Europe for 4 days right after the wedding which was in February. Then the following September they headed to India for a month.

Just throwing it out there....if there is somewhere you really want to go, but are being put off by weather, why not do it later in the year?

ronjo

blondie29 wrote: »

Tango one & ronjo did ye feel Hawaii was worth the spend?? Did ye find it expensive?If you had to choose between Aruba & Hawaii which one would you pick? i always thought of doing Hawaii for our honeymoon but just hoping it will be worth the trip!

I dont remember Hawaii being especially expensive as it was almost 5 years ago. We were staying in a hotel on Waikiki beach and they upgraded us to a suite as we were on honeymoon which was fantastic.
We loved it there and are planning a return for our 25th when family has grown up

I think we had 2 nights in New York, 3 nights Vegas and 8 nights in Hawaii.

I dont know much about Aruba to be honest.

Tango One

PCPhoto wrote: »

you should try to get to the big island for a day (you can get close to actual flowing lava).... either by boat or by an illegal walk across "solid" lava.

its well worth it.

Sounds cool will have to check it out

blondie29

Thanks for all the posts so far and all the well wishes congrats to all posting here too!

Little ted - good idea postponing honeymoon but don't think we could wait will b dying to get away!!

Was checking out Maldives & Bora Bora there..wow! Bora is a long long way away over beside new Zealand..no harm in teasing myself!

Keep the ideas coming..seems alot of couples getting married round this time!

Quirke2b

Hi all, congrats to my fellow September 2013s!! - My big day is 06/09/13 and like yourselves now have the honeymoon question. Its rainy season in Maldives so thats out (rain forecast is worse than Dublin!!) Mauritius seems fairly good and would imagine prices will be reasonable in 2013 (plse forgive me for saying so)
We have also looked at doing 7 day safari in Tanzania and then to Zanzibar for a few days but the difference in prices between travel agents is a bit scary. Also considering skipping the long haul travel and hard graft of a safari for 5* luxury in Croatia or Morocco.

cplwhisper

We got married Sept 2011, we went to Italy. Spent a night in Pisa, 1st class train to Rome then staying in Cardinal Cesi Palace, 50mtrs from Vatican.

luxury to say the least, walking distance to all resturaunts & Trevii Fountains etc.. Bus tour run from across the road and peace and quiet in hotel.

Day trip to Pompeii and Climb to mount vusuvius Crater is well worth the experience

PS..congrats in Advance

Quirke2b

Thanks Cplwhisper, that sounds just my thing, although might have to work a bit on himself!! :)

blondie29

Changed our date to first weekend in october2013 now. Still stuck with the dilemma of where to go with hurricanes generally sept/oct..going by all the posts here heading over state side may be our only option with the possibility of luxury with maybe Hawaii or Carribean.

Keep the ideas coming..love to hear all fellow married boardsie's experiences!

PCPhoto

bali is another option ...or bora bora/tahiti...any of the french polynesian islands.

Brazil should have good weather, beaches etc.

loveisdivine

I'm sept 2013 too!

We're both in love with Yosemite national park in California so were gonna head back there for a week. Big been during that time of year before so will he good to see it in a different season.

Then we wanna go somewhere relaxing and beachy for a week. Can't decide where though. I'd love jamaica but I tend to worry about crimes, hurricanes and dengue fever!

So still working on the second half.

Peanut6

We're getting married 7th Sept this year, countdown is on, starting to get really excited now! I'm organising the honeymoon so we're flying into Kuala Lumpur and then down to Borneo for 8 nights, Lombok for 6 nights, and Bali for 6 nights. Back up to Kuala Lumpur and then home. I did my research and if you stick to the east coast, (around the gulf of thailand), then the weather shouldn't be as bad.
We went into trailfinders at the start to make sure the plan was realistic and to potentially book it through them. They were very helpful but had limited hotel choices and half the budget was gone on flights! The hardest part is co-ordinating flights but once you do, you're sorted.

I am pie

Peanut6 wrote: »

We're getting married 7th Sept this year, countdown is on, starting to get really excited now! I'm organising the honeymoon so we're flying into Kuala Lumpur and then down to Borneo for 8 nights, Lombok for 6 nights, and Bali for 6 nights. Back up to Kuala Lumpur and then home. I did my research and if you stick to the east coast, (around the gulf of thailand), then the weather shouldn't be as bad.
We went into trailfinders at the start to make sure the plan was realistic and to potentially book it through them. They were very helpful but had limited hotel choices and half the budget was gone on flights! The hardest part is co-ordinating flights but once you do, you're sorted.

Going to Bali / Lombok also. Hadn't thought of Borneo ! We're travelling into Singapore then on to Bali first. We found a great selection of hotels and found expedia to be extremely helpful with flights, accomodation and even came up with a few deals on hotels.

Trailfinders couldn't match them on price, service or range of hotels, although in fairness they gave us the idea in the first place ! People advise to steer clear of the Kuta beach area, as it's likely to have a lot of end of season Australian tourists on the beer ! We've made sure we're staying quite far from it, but will go down for i night i expect to have a look around. We had some awjward requirements for flight connections, trailfinder told us it wasn't possible, expedia sorted it in minutes for a great price. (Honestly, i don't work for expedia, but we were very pleasantly surprised by the customer service - albeit an offshore call centre in India, the girl we talked to was a marvel !)

1 week in Bali (Hill Villas) , 1 week in Lombok, few days on each of the Gili islands and then 4 days in Ubud. Weather looks to be in the mid to high 20s with nice warm water on the beach.