Honeymoon Mauritius and Dubai

cider

Hi
We are going on our honeymoon in September and are thinking of Mauritius for 9 nights and Dubai for 4 nights. We have checked a few places and i am wondering if anyone on here has been to a place called Paradise Cove, Mauritius. It looks good online but would like to hear from someone who has visited.
Also after spending 9 night on the beach we want to go to Dubai, we are thinking the city would be the place to stay. Has anyone any recommendations of somewhere to stay??
Thanks in advance

sillysocks

It wasn't for honeymoon but we stayed at Grand Hyayt Dubai a couple of times and it's amazing. There's no real city centre in Dubai, the grand Hyatt is near one of the malls (can't remember which!). There's not much by way of buses or walking from place to place in Dubai, it's mainly just hoping in taxis even for short journeys.
Grand Hyatt was fab, a gorgeous indoor pool area and outdoor pool. The indoor one opens til late in evening so was lovely to go there after a day on the go and just chill out. There's a good few restaurants in it for all budgets and like most of Dubai the service was top notch.

MrWalsh

I spent a week on honeymoon in Mauritius and wouldnt recommend it at all.

But the reason why might be irrelevant to you. The resort we stayed in was fantastic and the food/entertainment/activities/facilities etc were amazing - absolutely no complaints there.

But I like to go out for a wander in places I stay and when we did that in Mauritius the local area was just a complete shanty town. The locals were very poor and there whole area just felt like a bad place to be wandering around. I did notice the minute I walked out of the airport in Mauritius that it was full of stray dogs and in the taxi from the airport to the resort we passed through loads of places that were just horribly run down and shanty. The taxi driver assured us it was perfectly safe etc but our experience was that people were desperately trying to make any kind of money they could off tourists. Even in the resort itself where locals were not allowed come in to sell things, occasionally a local would pop up out of the sea having swam over to the private beach from a small boat and try to sell you things.

Its just not the kind of place I like to visit tbh, I dont really enjoy holidays where you are restricted to the resort and are surrounded by extreme poverty.

tinkerbell

Would you not consider the Maldives instead of Mauritius?

cider

Thanks for the replys, we are looking at Mauritius because the weather should be good there in September, the Maldives has its rainy season in September, so that's why we are looking at Mauritius.
I will check out the hotel mentioned in Dubai, thanks.
The plan is to just relax on the beach for the week in Mauritius, so we will probably just stay at the resort.

goldenhoarde

+ one on the Maldives - we stayed in kuredu in July weather was great 1 rain shower which passed quickly. I would recommend

http://www.kuredu.com/accommodation/sangu-water-villas/

we also did 4 days in Dubai on the way back


Here is the weather for Male for the year and Sept doesn't look too bad in my opinion.

http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Male-weather-averages/Maale/MV.aspx

MrWalsh

cider wrote: »

Thanks for the replys, we are looking at Mauritius because the weather should be good there in September, the Maldives has its rainy season in September, so that's why we are looking at Mauritius.
I will check out the hotel mentioned in Dubai, thanks.
The plan is to just relax on the beach for the week in Mauritius, so we will probably just stay at the resort.

The week I spent there was in August and we had 2 full days of grey rain. Although it was still warm so you could still use the pool and the sea and you wouldnt have been cold. Those were the days that we tried to go for local wanders because you wouldnt have been lying out in it and the hotel was based around the weather being good with nice outdoor facilities and not much to do indoors.

pwurple

Have been to mautitius and for the samereasons as mrwalsh would not recommend to anyone. It's five star western plonked in abject poverty. Our safety deposit box in room had stuff robbed from it, and we were warned against leaving the resort. I was generally uncomfortable the whole time.

We were there in september, was windy and grey.

Went to Maldives the start of August two years ago, would recommend.

tinkerbell

cider wrote: »

Thanks for the replys, we are looking at Mauritius because the weather should be good there in September, the Maldives has its rainy season in September, so that's why we are looking at Mauritius.
I will check out the hotel mentioned in Dubai, thanks.
The plan is to just relax on the beach for the week in Mauritius, so we will probably just stay at the resort.

Rainy season means nothing in the Maldives. It could be raining in one part and blazing sunshine in another as the islands are so spread out. You need to look at a particular atoll's weather history to get a general feel for the weather in that particular spot, not just a blanket Maldives weather history.

shane1981

pwurple wrote: »

Have been to mautitius and for the samereasons as mrwalsh would not recommend to anyone. It's five star western plonked in abject poverty. Our safety deposit box in room had stuff robbed from it, and we were warned against leaving the resort. I was generally uncomfortable the whole time.

We were there in september, was windy and grey.

Just looking at potential honeymoon destinations and having spoken to travel agents, Mauritius is on the top of the list. But.. Very interested in your comments, as being able to wander the area and get out of the resort Is an absolute must! We are looking at Constance Hotel so I think the nearest town is Belle Mar, do you know what that is like? Or the main area Grand Bay?

JPCN1

tinkerbell wrote: »

Would you not consider the Maldives instead of Mauritius?

Didn't like the maldives. Not nice folk.

pwurple

shane1981 wrote: »

Just looking at potential honeymoon destinations and having spoken to travel agents, Mauritius is on the top of the list. But.. Very interested in your comments, as being able to wander the area and get out of the resort Is an absolute must! We are looking at Constance Hotel so I think the nearest town is Belle Mar, do you know what that is like? Or the main area Grand Bay?

We stayed in constance hotel. Belle mar plage. The hotel is beautiful, but we had stuff taken. This was about a decade ago... And I guess they are trying to repair the reputation of the country since that northern irish girl was murdered in her room by the staff member.

I don't know what more I can add really. My brother had been there before us and loved it, and still goes back every few years. Depends on what you do on holiday. We tend to like going out exploring the local area, so it didn't suit us. I could not go to a place and feel confined, sounds like that might be you too? If so I would not recommend.

My brother gets fully immersed in the organised activities, never leaves resort, Loves it. If you can stick to the hotel boat trips, hotel snorkling/dives, hotel entertainment (holy crap they have singers that are like bad kareoke! ) and like to chill by pool with cocktail for entire holiday, then it suits.

salmocab

I had my honeymoon in Maldives and Dubai, Maldives was great and for Dubai we stayed in the city in the Shangri La which is a great hotel nice rooms lovely pool with swim up bar and its great for getting the monorail which seems to cover nearly all of Dubai.

ardmacha

Mauritius is more prosperous than the Maldives, just on the Maldives you can be on an island with nowhere much to wander to.

dd1980

I honeymooned in South Africa and then went to Mauritius. I agree with everything mrwalsh has said about mauritius. The complex we stayed was nice but usually on holidays we would stroll around shops in the town etc. But once you we went outside the complex gate everything was awful, dirty shanty towns everywhere that you couldn't avoid these, the streets were filthy, the people were not friendly and you do not feel safe. We only stayed there for 5 nights at the end of our honeymoon and we both regret that we did not spend these extra days in South Africa instead of going to Mauritius. If I knew then what I know now I would 110% give Mauritius a miss. It is most definitely is not the pretty romantic paradise you see in the pictures

Cape View

Hello, new to the forum and thought I'd give a more informed Irish perspective on Mauritius. It's a shame to hear that people have visited and not felt able to go outside their hotel complex. It would be a pity if people were put off visiting due to some of the posted views.

Firstly, I live in Mauritius and have been visiting at least twice a year for more than a decade. I can understand a fair bit of Kreol, the local language, and speak a bit.

I live in the suburbs and also have a house just across the road from Paradise Cove hotel, which the opening poster queried. I've been there for dinner and it was some time ago but thought it's very nice. I've stayed in or visited a lot of the hotels and generally they are really good and mostly right on the beach. If you are used to large impersonal hotels in the likes of the Costas it's like day and night as a comparison.

There is poverty here but also a large middle class and some very wealthy people. For a small island in the middle of nowhere it's done, and is doing, very well. I can't post links as I'm new but I suggest searching for Joseph Stiglitz, Mauritius for an economists view.

Mauritius is a very safe place in general. Most crime is petty and you have to exercise caution as with anywhere. Don't flash expensive phones/ cameras etc. If you want to go out at night stay near Grand Baie (north) or Flic en Flac (west).

People are very friendly and a lot speak English. Quite a lot of people have done their tertiary education in the U.K./ U.S. or Australia.

To correct some of the inaccuracies above: there are no private beaches in Mauritius. All are owned by the state. Non-guests can not walk off the beach onto hotel grounds but there are licensed 'hawkers' who sell trinkets/ shawls etc on the beaches.

As a tourist you will be quoted 'prixe touriste'; a lot more than the locals. Don't be afraid to haggle. It's normal and expected.

For a few places outside the hotels I can suggest to visit:
Grand Bassin (Hindu holy lake and dormant volcano);
Caudan waterfront;
La Croisette, Bagatelle (new shopping malls);
Notre Dame Auxiliatrice church (great sea view);
Gris Gris (sea views)
There are lots more.

The countries history is brief but quite interesting for those who like that sort for thing. There are some interesting Irish connections too with Sir John Pope Hennessy and Charles Telfair making significant contributions to the island.

I hope that helps a little. Feel free to contact me directly if you need more personal information.

Jude13

If the Maldives and Mauritius doesn't suit (I wouldn't go there out of principle after the Michaela McAreavey murder, but moral issues can be raised for any location I guess) how about Zanzibar?

Similar to the two destinations above, short enough hop from Dubai, you can also head on safari in Tanzania very close by.