- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
![Something Blue Polish! So pretty =]](http://boards-static.weddingbee.com/images/right-loop-button-on.gif)
Ok so the beach is SUPER expensive. Jamaica, Riviera Maya, etc. Dec 26-31 is way too pricey for us. $3,300 and up is too much for a mini vacation.
Leaning towards: a Carnival cruise or a totally different option. But what?
I don't know...we want to get away and relax and not spend a fortune. We don't ski, either.
Got any off-the-beaten-path ideas??? Thanks!
Would you be willing to book something last minute? I have had good experiences with site59 (now lastminute.com). But for the week between Christmas and New Year's, it might be a little risky...
Sign up for Travelzoo top 20 and newsflash today. You will find your perfect honeymoon/vacay/whatever. And from STL there are always deals. The recession has definitely put travel within reach. PM me if you want more travel advice.
Hawaii is WAY up there. Not to mention the travel time from St Louis makes it a really long trip.
I'll keep in mind the last minute thing if we decide to wing it.
We're going to Disney World and staying in their Carribean Beach Resort :-)
The biggest cost at that time is probably the airfare, it's so high that time of year unless you wait for the last minute deals (if there are any). What about Florida or the Keys?
Sign up for Travelzoo, Sherman's Travel and Kayak's weekly emails.
We got airfare and hotel in Bermuda for under $2000. Have you thought about renting a house on the Outer Banks in North Carolina? That can be fun!
Your biggest obstacle is that you're traveling during peak holiday season (especially for Europeans) to a beach destination (most people want to go to warmer places for the winter).
To score a deal, you're either going to have to change your dates, risk it at the last minute, or change your destination to some place that isn't as popular in the winter. Is your heart set on the beach?
I went to New Orleans one time in January, and it was fun. It was still warm (ok, warm for me!) and there's lots to do. You couldn't do the laying-on-the-beach type of vacation, but you could go on swamp tours, stay at a plantation, hit jazz clubs etc...
Also, you could check into Las Vegas. Sometimes really awesome travel packages come up so that you can get tickets, hotel stays, and even dinner coupons for dirt cheap. One of my co-workers found a deal last year for a round-trip flight from Montana, three nights at Ceasar's, and a dinner/show package for $400/person right afte the new year! :) And here's a website I found to do Vegas on a budget: http://www.cheapovegas.com/index.php.
That's definitely a peak (read: expensive) traveling time due to being right during the holidays. Are your dates flexible?
I can't wait to hear the responses for this, except we are hoping to go somewhere around this time next month.
Hawaii would also be ridiculously expensive at that time. Christmas and 4th of July are the busiest times there!
Look into a cabin somewhere? That would be fun! You could make each other hot cocoa and snuggle!
Sign up for the newsletter at quantas.com. They fly to Australia and right now they have 6-day luxury packages in Sydney Australia including airfare from LA for $1299 per person! That's cheaper than the normal price of airfare alone.
No, dates are not flexible. My husband is getting out of the Army and hopefully starting a new job. This is when he has leave and it is a "safe" time for us to travel.
Traveling in Feb or March or a less expensive time of the year won't happen--he won't have vacation and doesn't want to take time off in a new job.
Ahh, sooo poopy. The problem is that we aren't "go, see, do" kind of people. We are lazy and like to read and be bums.
I'm open to other ideas. I'd prefer something warm, but I would also prefer a nicer vacation in a less warm place than a cheapo hotel with sucky food in a nice place.
I have family in Vegas and I've been like, 5 times a year since I was a kid. It's a good place for most people, just not me.
And we used to live in Savannah, so we've done a lot of the east coast atlantic ocean kinda stuff.
I was toying with the idea of renting a condo in miami, but he was all, "oh so we're going to cook for ourselves?" followed by a frowny face. His dance moves aren't so good, lol. That'd be fun for a group of friends for sure though!
Will you be going right after your wedding? What about Bermuda? I hear it's really nice and not horrible (and not that far)?
Or I read another blog where someone went to one of th islands off Washington state? Just a thought.
Mexico really isn't terribly expensive either, and lots of people have really nice honeymoons there (hopefully minus swine flu!)
We already got married. We just want to sneak in a few vacations before we try to have kids. So we're doing one in December, then one in June, then it's no more vacations for us for at least a year or so.
You mean Port Townsend area? When i was in Seattle we were there, but it's freakin' freezing in December! Shoot it was cold in August.
Riviera Maya's an option but the one we thought was decent was like $3,000. We wanted to try to save that $1,000, cuz once we get into the $3,000, we might as well do $3,300 and do a Couples Tower Isle or something fancy.
Where's the line between "budget friendly" and "so cheap I regret it?"
Did you try St. Thomas? We went there a couple of years ago, and it was about $2,000 for both of us for 5 nights I believe it was. This was in April which is prime season there. We stayed at the Wyndham Sugar Bay, but did not do all inclusive.
DUH. Sorry, my brain is fuzzy today, ejs! And if I didn't remember, of course it's next to your name. *smacks head* And I obviously didn't read the posts thoroughly! Yeah December near Seattle would be a tad cold!
OK, good idea. It's hard to do the whole cheap cheap vs. budget friendly decision.
Hm. I don't knwo how much Costa Rica costs these days. Probably more than $2K. Too many people go now!
What about Key West? Not Miami dancing fever, still US, and has good food I hear. Or, we went to Sarasota last December and it was really nice! And not terrible! I can even give you the name of the cute cabiny type place we stayed at!
i've noticed a lot of decent priced options in "brides" magazine. i've been intrigued by their domestic hotel reccomendations a few times. think miami, napa, coronado. you can a nice vacation you wouldn't regret if you stayed in-country. have you considered that? if so let me know and i'll shoot you a couple options from the magazines i have.
If you do consider a cruise you might want to check vacationstogo.com I worked for them a few years ago and they sell very discounted cruises especially 90 days out. They also do all inclusive packages. I don't have much else to suggest other than that. Sorry! I do hope y'all find something enjoyable though :-)
Well, the good thing is you can read and be a bum at just about any nice hotel. :) Think of a city that has somethings you would be interested in, since it seems like your fiance wants to eat out alot, then choose a foodie city with great restaurants. I think the honeymoon is not necessarily about going somewhere exotic, just somewhere you and your new husband can enjoy each other's company.
If all else fails for us, we are going to do a Texas wine trail honeymoon and hit up some local wineries. Oh and of course, Shiner too!
Maybe Texas? I hear good things about Austin... but having never been there myself I have no clue how warm it is in January. I would imagine it's warm?
I think if you set a budget you should stick to it. If $2000 is what you have to work with, then that's what you have to spend. The important thing is just getting away with your husband, right? So maybe that means staying a little closer to home at a local B&B or going somewhere warm and cooking your own meals, but it's definitely doable. It's just a matter of adjusting your expectations to what you have to work with. If you will feel like you will regret the vacation, though, maybe it would be better to have a "stay-cation" and save up that $2000 for the June trip instead?
We got an awesome deal to New York on hotels.com. It's costing about $1500 for air fare and a super nice hotel for two for 7 nights. I know that takes up a big chunk of your budget but I can't remember how long you are looking at staying.
Vegas is really cheap. We booked our room in February and FI noticed that the rate had gone down by almost $300 for our entire stay. He called them and they lowered the rate no problem. You can get into a really nice four or five star hotel for peanuts.
I think you should go for the cruise. It's the most "bang for your buck". I just checked the vacationstogo website and found several 4-5 night cruises to the bahamas and the caribbean leaving from Texas, Florida and New Orleans. They each cost about $500-650 per person.
Here is one possibility:
Fly to New Orleans on December 26th ~$340/person (return) -quick travelocity search
5 night Cruise to Mexico from New Orleans - $549/person
Thats just under $900 each and all of your food and accomadations have been paid for.
I think I remember an old post on military discounts, have you looked into that option?
We're renting a cabin outside of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It's about a 8-10 hour drive from where we are getting married (where I live) so we are breaking up the drive. We are getting married on a Saturday morning at 11 am, having a brunch reception, driving to Toccoa, GA and spending the night at a B&B. That drive puts us half way there. B&B breakfasts are kind of early (9am) so we'll eat breakfast and then drive the rest of the way to Pigeon Forge. Our cabin rental for the week (arriving Sun, departing Sat) is right at $800-note-we are honeymooning at peak leaf season. We wanted a secluded location-so we got that-overlooking Smoky Mountain National Park-fireplace, hot tub on the deck, spa bath-Pigeon Forge can be touristy, but we have dinner reservations for a couple of nights, planning on visiting the aquarium & maybe taking an off road Hummer tour-but aside from that, a couples massage at a local spa and lots of fireplace time is about our speed.
My fiance & I went to an amazing place called Holbox Island last year. It is totally off the beaten path & you have to have a sense of adventure, but it is dirt cheap. We stayed in a beautiful cabana on the beach for about $70 a night. The food was amazing - we ate in people's homes!! You fly into Cancun (so you could even stay there a few nights or Playa Del Carmen if you wanted, which we did) , then drive a couple of hours (our hotel arranged a car for us), take a ferry & then you're transported to this amazing island that is beyond stunning. If you want more info, PM me. We had a great time.
Turks and Caicos? I'm not sure of the price in December, but when I was looking, it was a quick cheap flight from NYC (but I was also looking in May)
Do you want a beach that's warm? Seaside, FL is a great place to relax and while it won't be warm enough to get in the water, it won't be freezing and they have a heated pool. They have these darling honeymoon cottages right on the ocean that have hot tubs on the porch and some have wood burning stoves. So romantic.
I don't know where you live, but there has to be a fun/cool town/state that you have'nt been to in your area. You could stay in a cute little hotel and just be away together. Like I live in NYC, and I have yet to see Niagara Falls. It does'nt need to be far.
I think you'll probably get the most for your dollars in Mexico, if you can find a reasonable airfare...I like Yoha's suggestion.
I don't know too much about Carribean spots. It's always been prohibitively expensive for me, but that's coming from the West Coast. I guess San Diego is another option, but you can't always guarantee good weather in CA in Dec.
A lot of people hate Carnival cruises, but it's the only line I've ever been on. I've been on 3 cruises, and had a great time each time. And it's nice to get to sample a bunch of different isands, then you can see which one you like best, and go back there!
My fiance and I are spending our honeymoon in the Riviera Maya and we only paid $2,500 for four nights at Secrets Capri - including airfare! Our dates are December 27 - 31 too!!! We booked on Orbitz.
Check out the resort! - It is NOT a cheapy hotel. It's is all inclusive and adults only - which was VERY important to us.
http://www.secretsresorts.com/capri/
Another bee - can't remember who right now - actually highly recommended it to me b/c she went there for her honeymoon. PM me and I will look for her name so you can talk to her as well.
Let me know if you have any questions!
how about belize? we went there a few years ago and it was pretty cheap and beautiful!!!
Oh - and you also mentioned Miami. My dad just went there on his honeymoon (yes, akward I know), and he called me to tell me how awesome it was and that I should definitely go there for my next vacation! He LOVED it!
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| MissBoPeep | 93 |
| beargoose | 55 |
| hisgoosiegirl | 51 |
| ndreighton | 51 |
| Mrs.KMM | 46 |
| BetterSherm | 42 |
| akp0702 | 41 |
| stardustintheeyes | 36 |
| MrsPom | 36 |
| Beckster329 | 36 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| mavideniz | 4 |
| jajabinx89 | 2 |
| mpc87 | 1 |
| j_jaye | 1 |
| AstoriaKatie | 1 |
| RahlyRah | 1 |
| mags2233 | 1 |
| StaceyA | 1 |
| Sim092012 | 1 |
| smiles4jo | 1 |
