Honeymoon in Caribbean

[bigbootch]

I did some searching, but did not find exactly what I'm looking for.

My fiancee and I are getting married 3/2008, and we want to go to somewhere in the Caribbean for our honeymoon. Here is what we want:

1. Duration: 10 days, give or take. Leaving from Chicago.

2. Budget: Anything up to 10k, I'm down without a second thought. Up to 15k would also be OK, as long as we are getting something for our money. 15k-20k sounds like more of a stretch, it would have to be really nice.

3. Activities: mostly just relaxing, with a moderate amount of [whatever it is that people do there], like snorkeling or hiking or whatever. Eating interesting / good stuff and walking around will be huge.


Are these reasonable conditions?

I'm wondering, what is the best route for planning this? I can think of a couple possibilities:

1. Orbitz / Expedia it myself. This would be fine for hotel and flight, but I'm a little concerned that I would not know what local activities to try, how to book it in advance (if necessary), etc.

2. Go to a real live travel agent and tell them what I want. I guess this would be the safe route, but I'm concerned that I might get ripped off or scammed into doing really lame activities / staying at lame places.

3. Do a prepackaged thing like Club Med or Sandals or whatever. I don't know anything about this option.

4. ???


What I'm looking for is advice on how I should go about planning this (#1 - #4), and any other info that I might find useful. Thanks in advance.

-bigbootch

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

if you dont have passports, apply soon cause its backed up.

[bigbootch]

[ QUOTE ]
if you dont have passports, apply soon cause its backed up.

[/ QUOTE ]

We are both US citizens and we both have passports.

-bigbootch

[bwana devil]

i did my honeymoon in st john (us virgin island) and thought it was GREAT. it is not too touristy because it does not have a airport - you have to take a 30 minute ferry ride to get there and 2/3 of the island is a national forest so almost so much of the island is undeveloped.

i booked a private house that i found on line, rented a car myself (they drive on the left there which took a bit of getting used to becuase of the steep mountain roads), we ate at restaurants or cooked each night.

some of the best snorkeling right of the beaches. the beaches had so few people on them too. there are so many beaches w/ so few people there, it was easy to be by yourself. i highly recommend it. there are hiking opportunites there as it is very mountanous w/ some ruins from old villages there. there is no night life there because no one lives there really. so if youre going to party, that's not your place.

stayed there one week and for everything including plane tickets it cost $3k.

[kylephilly]

I have been to Barbados twice and it is a wonderful "couples" location. It has the catamaran cruises, it has different area's with bars and great food that are not spring break whatsoever. 10k would get you treated like a king there too.

If you want a hotel, they are easy to find on expedia and book yourself. If the island interests you and you have questions feel free to pm me.

google: st. lawrence gap, also there are places on the west side of the island (very rich side) with tons of places to eat that are fantastic..

I also hear Aruba is wonderful but be careful they have casinos.

[Mr_Donktastic]

I live in St. Kitts and Nevis if you have any Qs. There is a Marriott resort on St. Kitts and a Four Seasons on Nevis (very balla).

They are 2 of the least developed/touristy islands in the Caribbean so are a great place to relax, snorkel, hike, etc. And if you know where to go you can have a whole beach to yourself. OTOH they are not good for shopping and stuff like that.

Do you play $50 PLO8 HU SNGs on PS? There's a guy with a name similar to yours...

[XXXNoahXXX]

I went to St. Maarten which I think is one of the less touristy islands.

I wrote up a trip report here


I was on a non-baller student budget, but it was amazing and although I have a list of places I want to visit, since returning from St. Maarten its somehow made its way back to the top of the list.

[bigbootch]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been to Barbados twice and it is a wonderful "couples" location. It has the catamaran cruises, it has different area's with bars and great food that are not spring break whatsoever. 10k would get you treated like a king there too.

If you want a hotel, they are easy to find on expedia and book yourself. If the island interests you and you have questions feel free to pm me.

google: st. lawrence gap, also there are places on the west side of the island (very rich side) with tons of places to eat that are fantastic..

I also hear Aruba is wonderful but be careful they have casinos.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yeah, Barbados is def a destination I wanted to look into. would you recommend just doing Expedia for plane tix + hotel and then figuring out the activities on my own (with your help [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]?

[bigbootch]

[ QUOTE ]
I went to St. Maarten which I think is one of the less touristy islands.

I wrote up a trip report here


I was on a non-baller student budget, but it was amazing and although I have a list of places I want to visit, since returning from St. Maarten its somehow made its way back to the top of the list.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed your TR.

Did you find everything turned out OK with using Expedia, is that what you would recommend I use if I were to go there? Any other guidelines?

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I went to St. Maarten which I think is one of the less touristy islands.

I wrote up a trip report here


I was on a non-baller student budget, but it was amazing and although I have a list of places I want to visit, since returning from St. Maarten its somehow made its way back to the top of the list.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the link, I really enjoyed your TR.

Did you find everything turned out OK with using Expedia, is that what you would recommend I use if I were to go there? Any other guidelines?

[/ QUOTE ]

As I described the island is literally like a half hour drive from A to B. Rental car is a necessity. But location of where you are staying doesn't matter much. Given your price range, I'd probably stay on the French side as it is a little nicer and closer to the best food.

The only problem with Expedia was we booked in like June for a Jan. trip and a flight got changed, but after arguing on the phone with them for 15 minutes, I just ended up getting to arrive there a day earlier and they paid for the extra night in the hotel.

I'm not sure what other tips I could give. Feel free to post or PM me. Also, theres a guy that lives in St. Maarten that posted in my TR thread, if you're interested, maybe shoot him a PM.