Honeymoon Trip in Beginning of October
 

Hi all,

Me and my fiance are planning our honeymoon and looking for help. We will be leaving on Oct 8th, 2007 for approx. 7 days/8 nights (this is flexible though). We were mainly looking at the Caribbean but are definitely interested in Hawaii as well. We would very much like to avoid going to Mexico just so we can do something a little more exotic.

Our budget is in the $3,500-$4,500 range and we want this to include our flight, hotel and food/drinks. We really would love to do the all-inclusive since we did this in Nueva Vallarta Mexico at the Occidental Hotel and found it to be incredibly fun. We love the whole swim-up bar idea!

We want to stay at a place that has the very clear water, white sand beaches and a beautiful bedroom. The Occidental Nueva Vallarta didn't have any of those. We also want to have the option to do about 2-3 fun day trips during our stay (e.g. rainforest, snorkeling trip, volcano, ruins, etc...) It seems like Mexico has a lot more of these types of trips than the Caribbean though. Hawaii does seem to have tons of great trips but I don't know if we can swing it for $3,500 - $4,500.

We have looked at the Bucuti resort in Aruba which seems to have a perfect beach but it seems like Aruba doesn't have too much for day trips. The Bucuti's Tara Beach Suite is an absolutely ideal type of room though! The main issue with Bucuti is that it isn't all-inclusive which is a huge bummer to us. We loved having a drink or snack whenever we want it!

Does anyone have any specific resort and/or island recommendations that could cater to all of our needs? I know the hurricane thing might limit us, but we would probably be willing to risk it and then get the travel insurance.

Bottom line...we're looking for:

1. Beautiful, clear water and white/pink sand beaches
2. All Inclusive resort
3. Beautiful room (e.g. Bucuti Tara beach suites)
4. $3,500-$4,500 TOTAL price range for flight, hotel, food/drinks (if it was the greatest sounding thing in the world we would MAYBE go higher)
5. 2-3 day trip options

Thanks in advance for any recommendations or tips! I'll post back on here what we decide for anyone else that has a similar situation.

Rainforest and volcano trips are hard to find on the islands that sport white/pink sand beaches. If you want long wide white sandy beaches you need to narrow your search to flat coral islands. If it's the rainforest/volcanic islands you are ISO those would be the mountainous islands.
For the price range you quoted and the fact that your honeymoon is during hurricane season in both Hawaii and the Caribbean you should be able to find some excellent choices.
Here's some suggestions:

Puerto Rico, nice beaches, mountains and rainforest.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines mountains, rainforest, some very upscale resorts and opportunities for many day trips to Bequia, Mustique(David Bowie and Mick Jagger have estates here) Young Island and Palm Island(private resorts) come to mind. Sometimes they run a special for that time of year. FYI Johnny Depp stayed at Young Island while filming Pirates of the Caribbean. An added bonus of SVG is for the most part not in the usual hurricane path.
St. Kitts and Nevis, St Maarten/Martin, Barbados. There are so many I strongly suggest doing a google on each and compare. Caribbean Travel Forum is a great resource which has numerous links for all the islands including pictures etc.

guadaloupe has snorkeling, rainforest, volcano. every island has excursions.

Swim up bar?

OK
Bolongo on St. Thomas.

Otherwise...Caneel Bay SDt. John...swim up to private beach and have a beach attendant bring you your drink...simply awesome.

Hi Bluesphee.....

If I look at the criteria for what you're looking for in a honeymoon....(rainforest, snorkeling, ruins,exotic, etc.)....plus add in your desire for an AI, and budget, the closest place I can think of to recommend is in Belize. It's the Kanantik Jungle & Reef Lodge in Belize. Here is the link for you....http://www.kanantik.com/

Only thing, is it doesn't have the swim-up bar :-(

Thanks for the Belize suggestion. We were both really excited about it but it turns out it's closed in November and October. We're still searching! One place that looks great is the Royal Hideaway Playacar in Playa Del Carmen. I didn't want to go to Mexico just to try something different, but this place does look gorgeous. I'm not sure about the beach there though because of Hurricane Wilma, so we're still researching it.

We ended up at Bucuti in Aruba. I've posted some other responses about that on other posts.