My husband and I are looking for a honeymoon destination--nice hotel, romantic, quiet, tropical with a pool...

We need accommodations to be no more than $3500 for the week. Can you recommend a place?

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Royal Hideaway is THE spot for honeymooners! Second choice would be the Aventura Palace.

If you need a place from May to September, I'd recommend the all inclusive Harmony Club in Bermuda. We went for our second honeymoon/25th anniversary, and thought it was wonderful.

Occidental Royal Hideaway or Secrets Resorts. The new Secrets in Riviera Maya opens, I think, in November. If it's anything like the one in Punta Cana it should be a great choice for h-mooners

Thanks for your recommendations. Bermuda sounds like a great idea, but we're getting married in March. Any other suggestions for a luxury honeymoon on a budget?

Swept Away, Negril. Fantastic place. Intimate, tropical, quiet, incredible beach. Pool at Swept Away is small but when crystal clear blue 85 degree ocean is right there - who needs a pool.

They also have the best fitness facility in the Caribbean with a 7 lane lap pool.

You can do searches for Swept Away and get opinions from others.

Turks & Caicos Club is a nice honeymoon place. It a new and small hotel right on Grace Bay Beach.
www.turksandcaicosclub.com

Does the $3500 include just accommodations? Or does it include food and activities, too? If it is just for the room expense, you can go to a lot of fantastic places for that price.

For doing a little comparative research, I'd recommend checking out the website www.luxurylink.com to get an idea of what is out there in the more luxurious categories. The site offers various vacation packages, usually at upscale resorts and hotels and it's a good one-stop place to figure out which islands and hotels you like. It offers all-inclusives and boutique hotels, packages with extras like spa treatments or sunset cruises--and as it lists the approximate retail value of each auction, it gives you a good jumping off place for price negotiation when you work with a resort directly.

One reply above mentions the Royal Hideaway, Playacar, and Secrets as well. We've been to both the Royal Hideaway (on our honeymoon) and Secrets Excellence in Punta Cana, DR. Both were fantastic, top class hotel/spa locations, adult only, great situation, good resaurant choices, beautiful beaches and surroundings and well-appointed rooms. I thought the rooms were nicer at Secrets Excellence (all have jacuzzi).

http://www.secretsexcellence.com
http://www.royalhideaway.com

The Secrets Capri in Mayan Riviera is due to open in Nov 2003.
http://www.secretsresorts.com

Good luck.

I just returned from 8 days in Punta Cana with my wife and 5 other couples. We stayed at Secrets Excellence, an all inclusive resort. I would not recommend going here. Hardly anyone on the staff speaks decent English. The food was terrible, the service was worse and you wouldn't ever know there was alcohol in the drinks. This wouldn't be so bad if you could leave to eat elsewhere, but with that not be feasible your stomach will surley pay the price!!!
We went horseback riding one night which was nice but wasn't as advertised. The quad trip is cool too. Other than the nice rooms and GORGEOUS grounds you really don't get your monies worth>