Honeymoon - July 2013 - Caribbean - Advice needed

bystarlight

Hi,

Getting married in July, planning a two week honeymoon in the Caribbean.

Hoping to spend the first week at a resort on an island (any except Dominican Republic) and then second week on a Royal Caribbean cruise, with a balcony cabin.

Budget is €5,000. Is this an unreasonable budget for the above?

Only received one quote from a travel agent so far and it was €6,300, which is out of our budget.

Would I be better off not going through a travel agent and booking flights, resort and cruise myself???

Thanks!

athtrasna

Can I ask why you're planning a honeymoon in the centre of a hurricane zone in the middle of hurricane season? You could be fine, or your holiday of a lifetime could be ruined. Personally I'd holiday elsewhere and to the Caribbean another time.

Have been to Puerto Rico (San Juan) and loved it. Have also been to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Both beautiful, and I'd gladly go back to either. But not June 1st-November 30th

pawrick

Cruise trips to the caribbean via Canada are very popular as are honeymoon packages from there- might be worth looking into if willing to fly there first.

Been caught by a hurricane in Cuba during October a few years back- not sure when the season begins but you should look in to it.

pawrick

some examples of a quick search I did for cost comparisons

http://cs.cruisebase.com/cs/forms/cruiseresultsPage.aspx?AG=326&Phone=1-800-563-5722&Home=%2Fcruises%2F&CD=8&DF=2013%2F08%2F02&submit.x=69&submit.y=11&submit=Search

and

http://www.usit.ie/holidays/worldwide-holidays/caribbean

ProudDUB

athtrasna wrote: »

Can I ask why you're planning a honeymoon in the centre of a hurricane zone in the middle of hurricane season? You could be fine, or your holiday of a lifetime could be ruined.

July is not the middle of the hurricane season. It is the beginning of it. Officially, the hurricane season is late July to late November, with the majority of hurricanes occurring from roughly mid August to mid October. Hurricanes occurring as early as July are not as frequent as those that occur Aug-Sep. It is something to do with water temps in the Atlantic. I used to live in that part of the world. I would always caution people against planning a holiday there in mid Aug to mid October, but not in July.

Even so, hurricanes do sometimes occur in July. So while I'd advise the OP not to avoid the Carib in July, I would still advise him/her to take out very, very good travel insurance/trip interuption coverage just in case. US airlines do not operate under the same obligations towards their passengers that the European ones do, when flights are canceled or delayed due to bad weather.

athtrasna

ProudDUB wrote: »

July is not the middle of the hurricane season. It is the beginning of it. Officially, the hurricane season is late July to late November, with the majority of hurricanes occurring from roughly mid August to mid October. Hurricanes occurring as early as July are not as frequent as those that occur Aug-Sep. It is something to do with water temps in the Atlantic. I used to live in that part of the world. I would always caution people against planning a holiday there in mid Aug to mid October, but not in July.

Even so, hurricanes do sometimes occur in July. So while I'd advise the OP not to avoid the Carib in July, I would still advise him/her to take out very, very good travel insurance/trip interuption coverage just in case. US airlines do not operate under the same obligations towards their passengers that the European ones do, when flights are canceled or delayed due to bad weather.

I was relying on Google which said Carribbean Hurricane season 2013 starts on June 1st.