Yup, that's us in front of a piece of the fuselage from Oceanic 815, being used as a tent by one of the survivors (Sawyer, we think)Well, let me tell you. It's not easy. Hawaii is one of those places where, when you get home you immediately want to go back. I can't remember the exact number, but the one tour guide told us that well over half of the people that come to Hawaii return at some point in their lives (I think it's something like 70%).
I, of course, want to try to find a place like Hawaii, a place that takes our breath away. At the same time, though, we are trying to find a place where we can sit around and be pampered for the entirety of our vacation. When we went to Hawaii, we tried to cram everything into our 5 days there. We snorkeled, went to three luaus, went on two hikes, drove around the entire island of Oahu taking pictures, went on the historic tour of the Pearl Harbor and the city of Honolulu, and went to a Polynesian theme park-type-thingy (kind of Polynesian Epcot without the actual rides -- it's more fun than it sounds). We barely had any time to actually go on the beach. Not that the beach where we stayed was particularly impressive, but it was a few notches above all of the other beaches I've been to. Basically, we had no time to relax. For our honeymoon, we want a place to relax for 5-7 days since we will be running around so much prior to the wedding.
So my first thought is... Caribbean. Neither Sezzy or I have ever been to the Caribbean and I have already heard that it's incredible. My boss tells me that St. John and Tortola are awesome. Sezzy's mom dreams of Turks and Caicos. My grandma loves St. Thomas. My boss' friend thought Jamaica was great. So how do I choose? Well, the first thing I did was perform a Google search on "best honeymoon destinations". I found an about.com article listing the "50 best honeymoon destinations." Of course, #1 was Hawaii. Dammit. I guess if we hadn't gone to Hawaii two years ago, this would be easy. Number 5 was Fiji. I had never even thought of Fiji or any of the French Polynesian islands before but I've heard they are amazing.
This place will cost you between $2000-3000 per night. At least it's all-inclusive...
I soon learned that Fiji is only a great destination if you have lots of cash to spend. Most of the places I looked at cost a minimum of $5000 for 5-7 nights, all-inclusive. I think that most of the all-inclusives in Fiji included only meals and no alcoholic beverages. Well, ok... I guess Fiji might be a location to consider for an anniversary... maybe our 25th, since that's probably when I'll actually have enough money to book a vacation there. That pretty much exhausted the options for a Pacific vacation, so it was time to look at Caribbean destinations. (I also looked at Tahiti, but the prices were comparable).
I looked at the top 50 list some more and didn't see too much that I liked. Italy was #2, but we decided that we didn't want to do Europe because we felt like we would be wasting a chance to sightsee if we just lounged around for a whole week. Anguilla was #4, St. Lucia #6, followed by Mexico, St. Bart's, Jamaica, and France. I've heard Anguilla was nice, but after further examination I learned that it's also expensive. Most of the accomodations there are privately-owned villas that, of course, are not all-inclusive (which is another thing we are looking for). We don't want to do Mexico, especially since it's going to be in summertime, when all the teens and college students vacation there. St. Bart's is the same story as Anguilla and it's even more expensive. Jamaica seems nice but the island itself seems a little crazy for a honeymoon. Jamaica is home to the Hedonist resorts (look it up but beware: some of the sights are NSFW), which kind of bothered both of us. I somehow stumbled across a link for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This place looked amazing. The Grenadines, for those that don't know, are the southernmost islands in the Caribbean. St. Vincent is located just west of Barbados and the island chain stretches south, almost to Trinidad and Tobago. I searched a little deeper and found the perfect resort: Palm Island Resort on Palm Island. Palm Island is just one island in the Grenadines, but the entire island only has one resort. The island itself is only 135 acres and 5 beaches. It's literally located in the middle of nowhere. Palm Island Resort is an all-inclusive resort that looks just spectacular.
That's the whole island, all 135 acres of it
One of the rooms at the Palm Island Resort
In a word, it looks... relaxing. Of course, it's pricey, and for two reasons: 1) it's all-inclusive, and 2) it's a pretty swanky place. The quote I got from the sales rep was $4060 for the "Palmview" room, and that includes air transfer to and from the island, accomodations, all meals and beverages (including alcoholic), and non-motorized water sports. Not a bad deal, I guess. All we would need to pay for is the flight to Barbados, which runs about $580 per person. It's still expensive, though. I asked the rep if maybe a 5-night would be cheaper. Turns out, it's actually more expensive because the all-inclusive price includes air transfer from Barbados. See, you can't fly directly to Palm Island. You have to fly to Barbados, then take a puddle-jumper to Union Island, where you are "whisked away by golf cart to the nearby dock to meet the Palm Two for the 5 minute boat ride to Palm Island." I can safely say that I've never been whisked away by a golf cart, but anyway... the problem is that the puddle jumper that takes you from Barbados to Union Island, that flight costs $412 per person! That's right, it's almost as much as the flight from Philly to Barbados. What a rip! This, of course, turned me off to the idea of Palm Island somewhat.
So I kept looking, knowing that I at least had a quote from a destination. I looked at other islands in the Grenadines, but it turns out that it's hard to find an all-inclusive resort on most of the other islands. It seems like there are a few resorts that dominate this location and the rest of the accomodations are private villas which are way expensive. The other island that I looked at, Canouan Island, is a little bit bigger and a little more industrious than Palm Island. This island has a golf course and casino to go along with its two resorts. The prices at the resorts, though, are astronomical (no surprise, since one of them is Trump-owned). Oh and neither of the resorts are all-inclusive. So I kept looking. Sezzy sent me a link to someone's blog on weddingbee that showed pics of possible resorts in St. Lucia where the blogger and her fiance would be staying. I was floored.
I never realized St. Lucia was so breathtaking. The one resort (which is out of our price range), features astounding views of the Piton Mountains and the ocean. The resort is incredible. Each unit is called a "sanctuary" and every unit in the resort has it's own private infinity pool. Take a look:
Oh yeah, it's open air too. The beds come with mosquito nets, but this one doesn't have one for some reason
There are no TVs in any of the units at Jade Mountain and cell phones must be on silent while in the resort. The resort is all-inclusive, but... it costs between $850-1000 per night for the cheapest room. They had deals where you would get your 5th night free or your 7th night free, but even then the total came out to between $4000-6000, depending on what type of room and if we wanted the "Romance Package" or not. It was tabled for a future trip. I also looked at Anse Chastanet Resort, which is owned by the same company. It was... just ok, I guess. I wasn't blown away by it, especially for how much it costs.
Not really feelin' the odd art and the feel of this room
We pretty much ruled this resort out. Another resort listed in the blog was Ladera Suites. This one is pretty nice and not too overly expensive, while still giving off a high-class feel. Check it out:
Mosquito nets required!
Each unit comes with its own private plunge pool and they have affordable all-inclusive packages as well. We like this place and it's still on our list. The last place that the blog post mentioned was Stonefield Estate Villas...
Every unit is a private villa with a...
Private plunge pool!
Wow. This place is awesome. Not only do the rooms resemble the previous two resorts I listed, but they are their own private villas and they're cheaper! The resort offers a couple all-inclusive packages, including one that only includes lunch and dinner and one that included premium beverages instead of non-premium. And it's pretty reasonable, from what I've seen. The AI Meal plan, which includes 3 meals per day and all beverages by the glass is $165 per person. If you figured that dinner would probably cost at least $50-75 per person if you got a full dinner, and that drinks average about $10 per drink, this is a good deal. We had to cut back on the drinking a little in Hawaii because we didn't have an AI plan. With this, we could just drink all day and not have to worry about running up a tab. The rates were fair, with the cheapest room coming in at $230 a night. They also offer a honeymoon package, which includes: private in-room dining (awesome); basket of local fruit and bottle of champagne; $150 anniversary coupon, a sunset cruise (eh); tour of the botanical gardens (sounds cool); tour of Sulphur Springs, the world's only drive-in volcano; Soufriere Waterfall experience (rainforest hike); $100 resort credit; full hour body massage for two; complimentary airport transfers; and all taxes and government charges. At 7 nights, it's a pricey $5958, but it can also be customized for a 5-night stay. If you go just by the nightly rate, it would be about $4250 for 5 nights, but everything would be paid for. Everything except the flight. The thing with Hawaii was that, while we paid much less than that for the actual trip, we spent the difference on food and drink and excursions.
So while we are still deciding, we have a couple of places in mind. We have plenty of time to make reservations and it's not even possible to book a flight that far in advance at this point. I really shouldn't have started this whole process so early because now I'm going to be neurotic about it for the next 15 months but oh well, what can you do? I'm sure I'll have a follow-up to this post in another couple of months when I find a different place that I want to go.
I, of course, want to try to find a place like Hawaii, a place that takes our breath away. At the same time, though, we are trying to find a place where we can sit around and be pampered for the entirety of our vacation. When we went to Hawaii, we tried to cram everything into our 5 days there. We snorkeled, went to three luaus, went on two hikes, drove around the entire island of Oahu taking pictures, went on the historic tour of the Pearl Harbor and the city of Honolulu, and went to a Polynesian theme park-type-thingy (kind of Polynesian Epcot without the actual rides -- it's more fun than it sounds). We barely had any time to actually go on the beach. Not that the beach where we stayed was particularly impressive, but it was a few notches above all of the other beaches I've been to. Basically, we had no time to relax. For our honeymoon, we want a place to relax for 5-7 days since we will be running around so much prior to the wedding.
So my first thought is... Caribbean. Neither Sezzy or I have ever been to the Caribbean and I have already heard that it's incredible. My boss tells me that St. John and Tortola are awesome. Sezzy's mom dreams of Turks and Caicos. My grandma loves St. Thomas. My boss' friend thought Jamaica was great. So how do I choose? Well, the first thing I did was perform a Google search on "best honeymoon destinations". I found an about.com article listing the "50 best honeymoon destinations." Of course, #1 was Hawaii. Dammit. I guess if we hadn't gone to Hawaii two years ago, this would be easy. Number 5 was Fiji. I had never even thought of Fiji or any of the French Polynesian islands before but I've heard they are amazing.
This place will cost you between $2000-3000 per night. At least it's all-inclusive...I soon learned that Fiji is only a great destination if you have lots of cash to spend. Most of the places I looked at cost a minimum of $5000 for 5-7 nights, all-inclusive. I think that most of the all-inclusives in Fiji included only meals and no alcoholic beverages. Well, ok... I guess Fiji might be a location to consider for an anniversary... maybe our 25th, since that's probably when I'll actually have enough money to book a vacation there. That pretty much exhausted the options for a Pacific vacation, so it was time to look at Caribbean destinations. (I also looked at Tahiti, but the prices were comparable).
I looked at the top 50 list some more and didn't see too much that I liked. Italy was #2, but we decided that we didn't want to do Europe because we felt like we would be wasting a chance to sightsee if we just lounged around for a whole week. Anguilla was #4, St. Lucia #6, followed by Mexico, St. Bart's, Jamaica, and France. I've heard Anguilla was nice, but after further examination I learned that it's also expensive. Most of the accomodations there are privately-owned villas that, of course, are not all-inclusive (which is another thing we are looking for). We don't want to do Mexico, especially since it's going to be in summertime, when all the teens and college students vacation there. St. Bart's is the same story as Anguilla and it's even more expensive. Jamaica seems nice but the island itself seems a little crazy for a honeymoon. Jamaica is home to the Hedonist resorts (look it up but beware: some of the sights are NSFW), which kind of bothered both of us. I somehow stumbled across a link for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
This place looked amazing. The Grenadines, for those that don't know, are the southernmost islands in the Caribbean. St. Vincent is located just west of Barbados and the island chain stretches south, almost to Trinidad and Tobago. I searched a little deeper and found the perfect resort: Palm Island Resort on Palm Island. Palm Island is just one island in the Grenadines, but the entire island only has one resort. The island itself is only 135 acres and 5 beaches. It's literally located in the middle of nowhere. Palm Island Resort is an all-inclusive resort that looks just spectacular.
That's the whole island, all 135 acres of it
One of the rooms at the Palm Island ResortIn a word, it looks... relaxing. Of course, it's pricey, and for two reasons: 1) it's all-inclusive, and 2) it's a pretty swanky place. The quote I got from the sales rep was $4060 for the "Palmview" room, and that includes air transfer to and from the island, accomodations, all meals and beverages (including alcoholic), and non-motorized water sports. Not a bad deal, I guess. All we would need to pay for is the flight to Barbados, which runs about $580 per person. It's still expensive, though. I asked the rep if maybe a 5-night would be cheaper. Turns out, it's actually more expensive because the all-inclusive price includes air transfer from Barbados. See, you can't fly directly to Palm Island. You have to fly to Barbados, then take a puddle-jumper to Union Island, where you are "whisked away by golf cart to the nearby dock to meet the Palm Two for the 5 minute boat ride to Palm Island." I can safely say that I've never been whisked away by a golf cart, but anyway... the problem is that the puddle jumper that takes you from Barbados to Union Island, that flight costs $412 per person! That's right, it's almost as much as the flight from Philly to Barbados. What a rip! This, of course, turned me off to the idea of Palm Island somewhat.
So I kept looking, knowing that I at least had a quote from a destination. I looked at other islands in the Grenadines, but it turns out that it's hard to find an all-inclusive resort on most of the other islands. It seems like there are a few resorts that dominate this location and the rest of the accomodations are private villas which are way expensive. The other island that I looked at, Canouan Island, is a little bit bigger and a little more industrious than Palm Island. This island has a golf course and casino to go along with its two resorts. The prices at the resorts, though, are astronomical (no surprise, since one of them is Trump-owned). Oh and neither of the resorts are all-inclusive. So I kept looking. Sezzy sent me a link to someone's blog on weddingbee that showed pics of possible resorts in St. Lucia where the blogger and her fiance would be staying. I was floored.
I never realized St. Lucia was so breathtaking. The one resort (which is out of our price range), features astounding views of the Piton Mountains and the ocean. The resort is incredible. Each unit is called a "sanctuary" and every unit in the resort has it's own private infinity pool. Take a look:
Oh yeah, it's open air too. The beds come with mosquito nets, but this one doesn't have one for some reasonThere are no TVs in any of the units at Jade Mountain and cell phones must be on silent while in the resort. The resort is all-inclusive, but... it costs between $850-1000 per night for the cheapest room. They had deals where you would get your 5th night free or your 7th night free, but even then the total came out to between $4000-6000, depending on what type of room and if we wanted the "Romance Package" or not. It was tabled for a future trip. I also looked at Anse Chastanet Resort, which is owned by the same company. It was... just ok, I guess. I wasn't blown away by it, especially for how much it costs.
Not really feelin' the odd art and the feel of this roomWe pretty much ruled this resort out. Another resort listed in the blog was Ladera Suites. This one is pretty nice and not too overly expensive, while still giving off a high-class feel. Check it out:
Mosquito nets required!Each unit comes with its own private plunge pool and they have affordable all-inclusive packages as well. We like this place and it's still on our list. The last place that the blog post mentioned was Stonefield Estate Villas...
Every unit is a private villa with a...
Private plunge pool!Wow. This place is awesome. Not only do the rooms resemble the previous two resorts I listed, but they are their own private villas and they're cheaper! The resort offers a couple all-inclusive packages, including one that only includes lunch and dinner and one that included premium beverages instead of non-premium. And it's pretty reasonable, from what I've seen. The AI Meal plan, which includes 3 meals per day and all beverages by the glass is $165 per person. If you figured that dinner would probably cost at least $50-75 per person if you got a full dinner, and that drinks average about $10 per drink, this is a good deal. We had to cut back on the drinking a little in Hawaii because we didn't have an AI plan. With this, we could just drink all day and not have to worry about running up a tab. The rates were fair, with the cheapest room coming in at $230 a night. They also offer a honeymoon package, which includes: private in-room dining (awesome); basket of local fruit and bottle of champagne; $150 anniversary coupon, a sunset cruise (eh); tour of the botanical gardens (sounds cool); tour of Sulphur Springs, the world's only drive-in volcano; Soufriere Waterfall experience (rainforest hike); $100 resort credit; full hour body massage for two; complimentary airport transfers; and all taxes and government charges. At 7 nights, it's a pricey $5958, but it can also be customized for a 5-night stay. If you go just by the nightly rate, it would be about $4250 for 5 nights, but everything would be paid for. Everything except the flight. The thing with Hawaii was that, while we paid much less than that for the actual trip, we spent the difference on food and drink and excursions.
So while we are still deciding, we have a couple of places in mind. We have plenty of time to make reservations and it's not even possible to book a flight that far in advance at this point. I really shouldn't have started this whole process so early because now I'm going to be neurotic about it for the next 15 months but oh well, what can you do? I'm sure I'll have a follow-up to this post in another couple of months when I find a different place that I want to go.
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