Jessicaddc

Hello,

We are spending the first four nights of our honeymoon next September in Mauritius (to be followed by Singita Boulders and Cape Grace in Capetown). We are trying to decide between the Oberoi and the Taj Exotica. Any thoughts, opinions or the like would be greatly appreciated!

kerikeri

oberoi. much more private and better grounds for honeymooners.

Dr_Andrea

We stayed at the Oberoi last year for our honeymoon. We stayed for 7 nights in a private villa with its own pool. The food and service was very good. The beach was adequate. Definitely not as nice as beaches in the caribbean. However, the travel agent told me that so I was not surprised. The water was a little cool to swim in because it is not summer there. We had a nice time.

ACvonH

We loved the Oberoi on our Honeymoon last october. Fantastic service and we were thrilled with the food. The spa was also amazing. The pool is very relaxing- a great place to hang out. Also, since we were honeymooners, the hotel surprised us with one complimentary meal on the beach (so romantic- and delicious!) as well as a complimentary spa treatment for each of us. We thought that was remarkably generous of them, considering the prices there! Good luck and have fun!

ms_katydid

We also stayed at the Oberoi for our honeymoon. IMO, here are the pros and cons…

Pros:
I can’t say enough good things about our villa and private grounds. Simply spectacular. We stayed in a villa with pool, which was so lovely we barely left it. The landscaping is beautiful and the place was immaculate. The spa was also lovely and we got a great massage in a private “couples” area. One tip: splurge for the best suite you can get. The regular guest rooms didn’t offer much privacy. Tell them it is your honeymoon, so you can get the “perks”. (We got a private dinner on the beach – which was okay – and a massage – which was great). After dinner, they filled our tub with flower petals, which was lovely.

Cons: The beach was rocky, small and crowded. You had to get out there first thing in the morning to get a lounge chair. The staff could be rude at times. We couldn’t get service on the beach to save our lives. Water was murky.
We thought the food was mediocre at best. We lived on samosas (they were the great), but we are real “foodies” and found the menu limited, the food overcooked and incredibly over-salted.

Other tips:
If you don’t get a private villa, you may want to consider staying at the Prince Maurice instead. Here are my reasons:
-- The service there was fantastic, and the food was incredible (fresh, large portions, and a nice selection). They offered an AMAZING buffet breakfast each morning served on an outdoor patio.
--The beach was big and private. Water was warm and clear with a sandy bottom. You can raise a flag when you want service and someone comes right over.
--They have a great bar with live music.
--Perks: We told them it was our honeymoon and they prepared the nicest, private dinner you could imagine. We got to pick the 3-course menu and it was served on our private deck (which they decorated with candles everywhere). Very romantic and the service was impeccable.

Whatever you decide... I'm sure you'll have a lovely time!

J9

We had almost your identical honeymoon itinerary in January with the reverse route (South Africa before Mauritius), except we stayed at both Singita Boulders and Sweni, which I highly recommend if time permits. I have not been to Taj, but we really liked the Oberoi. The private villas are lovely and spacious. Even if you don't have a plunge pool, they each have a private garden where they serve breakfast daily if you choose not to dine in the restaurant. With a choice of pools and the oceanfront beach, it's peaceful and exclusive. The dinners are delicious, but REALLY expensive compared to South Africa. Easily $80-100/pp each night in USD. The food quality for dinner was comparable to high end restaurants in the States. Included in our honeymoon package as noted by others was dinner on the beach one night and a surprise bubble bath upon return to our suite. The dinner was ala carte so it wasn't a set meal. It was romantic. Make sure they know it's your honeymoon so they will give you some perk if this is not your package. The other thing that was pricey were the private drivers from the Oberoi to the town. They are about 3-4x as expensive as a taxi, but will wait for you wherever they transport you. Used the spa for massages and hair services. The couples massage was really nice as it was outdoors. We thought the beach was lovely, and the service attentive. We spent most of our time at the small pool and at most there were ten people. We had an odd solicitation from a bartender who asked us for $50USD to make that day's bar and lunch tab "disappear". We didn't agree, of course, for fear we'd give him cash and still see the charge on the bill. This was the only distasteful occurrence in five days. Have a great time!

J9

Jessica-
As an aside, the Cape Grace and Singita also did nice honeymoon surprises for us, too. More so at Sweni than Boulders, but Boulders had better villas. The Cape Grace had chocolates and flowers on our arrival, a half hour massage each and dinner at their restaurant one night. Sweni did a candlelight dinner on our terrace and a bubblebath with floating candles. Boulders was supposed to do that but we chose a wine tasting on the night they planned it and they didn't remember to reschedule.