Hello,
My fiance and I will be taking our 12 day honeymoon in mid-November and have some issues.
- we are U.S. but only have birth certificates, no passports.
- want to go somewhere w/ amazing beaches and want to have a semi-luxurious time.
- Have to mayble rule out U.S. Virgin Islands, he's already been there.

I think we can go Turks & Caicos w/out passport but I've read that the snorkeling is hard to get to and there's alot of cactus everywhere. We don't want a desert looking island. What do you think? Any advice? THAnkyou!

hi lily, first as your honeymoon is only a month away i would say that you need to find a travel agent and let them deal with this. nov is a very busy time in the caribbean and i suspect you could have difficulty finding air or accomodations. you do not have a lot of time to do research.
t&c does not have cactus everywhere but it is a coral island. grace bay beach is spectacular, but the island is flat as can be and not lush. there is excellent snorkeling directly off the beach in several places.
st.lucia is definetly lush and hilly. it is a volcanic island. the beaches/ snorkeling are not as good. but it is gorgeous and very romantic.
even though finance has been to usvi i would try st. john. its lush and has great snorkeling. westin and caneel bay are the major hotels but there are tons of villas. unless he stayed a very long time i can't see how a return trip would be too awful?
or perhaps you could try the maya riveria. lots of ai resorts for pampering. good beaches. jungle. snorkeling. ruins. eco/marine parks.
and just in general i would strongly suggest you go to an expediated passport source and get them. you will need to carry you license (wedding) too i think? with all the crazy stuff happening everywhere i would no way leave the states without.

Thank you so much Virginia. Your response is so imformative and helpful.

Turks and Caicos is a dry island/desert looking. Also 12 days on on island may get boring. You may want to split your time between Tortolla (lush and hilly with beautiful views) and Virgin Gorda (mor dry but nice beaches) or Jost Van Dyke (small and nice beaches) in the BVI. Most islands with amazing beaches tend to be drier. I think BVI has pretty nice beaches and are somewhat lush. St Lucia is very lush but the beaches are ok not fantastic.

I spent a small fortune to go to provo laste year. we also went to Middle caicos which was nice ( very remote..brought our own food). i found Turks and caicos to be devoid of any culture and quite boring. You may as well go to Florida. The beach however is Gorgeous. I probaly wouldn't go back. Get your passport and go to jamaica or for a europena experiemce the french influenced St barths in a villa! T&C h=just was not worth the $$ I felt.

excuse the typos!

We visited Provo in August - click on my name and you should find my trip report.

We visited so our son could have a 'lie on the beach' vacation and we could snorkel, we found a week was enough.

Would we go back? Probably not but then we really enjoyed Aruba and Negril but probably wouldn't go back there either since there are so many places in this world that we will never visit (Tibet for example) that we wouldn't want to spend time re-visiting any caribbean island.

I'm wondering if St John's is a good idea for next year but I'd love to stay at Ladera on St Lucia.

The best idea would be to apply for expedited passports. Very soon everyone will be required to have a passport to return to the US.They are valid for 10 years, so well worth the cost.
Our family has been Provo 3 times since 2001; we always stayed at Coral Gardens at one end of Grace Bay which has a wonderful small reef right off the beach at the resort. We love Coral Gardens and think the island has many interesting places to visit and beaches to try. If you rent a small car, there are many wondeful restaurants to try in all price ranges.There is not a lot of shopping like there is on Grand Cayman, but Provo is a great place for a semi-luxurious vacation, relaxing and beautiful beaches.
We have been to Ladera in St. Lucia - it is really lovely. We were upgraded to a 3 bedroom "villa" with its own plunge pool right on the edge of the moutain. One half of the villa was open to the outside with incredible sea views; even the shower in one bathroom had one side open to the outside. Yet there was absolutely complete privacy in the villa. It was a very relaxing and lovely place. But snorkeling in St. Lucia is not very good, and the roads are very steep and narrow; unlike Provo where it is very easy to drive everywhere, St. Lucia would be a real driving challenge.
We have sailed many times in the BVIs and USVIs. St. John is a very nice island, but the snorkeling does not compare to the Turks and Caicos. The good snorkeling and beautiful beaches are really only accessible by boat - which is easy to do if you are staying on a VI resort.
Almost any Caribbean island you choose will have its own charm; now they all have spas and nice restaurants; many have golf courses, snorkeling trips, and some offer duty-free shopping. You will have a wonderful honeymoon wherever you go- you really can't go wrong in the Caribbean.

Lily83,

We went on our honeymoon to Turks and Caicos in May, and I completely agree with Kelbo's assessment. Don't get me wrong- Provo has amazing beaches which would stack up well against virtually any other beach. However, the wow factor or that special thing that makes a place unique was not, in my opinion, apparent in Provo.

There is a lot of construction going on. The island is desert like, which I was aware of previous to us going. If you are an avid snorkeler or scuba diver and that will occupy the bulk of your honeymoon then by all means go. But I think you may disappointed in the island beyond Grace Bay. In retrospect, I wish we would have went somewhere more unique like St. John, the BVI's, or St. Lucia. We really enjoyed the trip, but like other posters we wouldn't go back for the reasons stated above.

I just reread your original post which stated that you're going for 11 nights. You will most likely get bored and I second the recommendation to do a split in the BVI's or stay in the BVI's and then hop to St. John. I don't know your budget but one of my friends went to Peter Island in BVI and found it amazing. I also know of someone who went to Sugar Mill Hotel in Tortola (which is more affordable than Peter Island) on his honeymoon and really enjoyed it (Sugar Mill has some specials going on right now I believe; their website is sugarmill.com as I recall). I hope this is helpful to you.

Lily83,

I forgot to add that Provo seems to be more family oriented than honeymoon or couples oriented. When we went there were many, many small children. Nothing wrong with that but that's not exactly what you're looking for on a honeymoon. Parrot Cay, which is a short boat ride from the Provo airport, is known as much more of a place to go for romance. They have some good packages that you could take advantage of, and I think that they include food and drinks in the price but I'm not positive.

Sorry but I keep thinking of pertinent information after I hit the post button. I wouldn't panic at all if I were you as to your short window of time to book. It's the low season and you'll be in a good position to get good deals. Look on travelzoo.com for deals that are for last minute travel.

Another option- have you considered going to the Riviera Maya area of Mexico? There are many luxurious hotels (Royal Hideaway in Play del Carmen comes to mind) which you can find good deals on (see travelzoo or skyauction ). There are beautiful beaches, snorkeling, and many interesting sites to explore (Tulum ruins, etc.). Apple vacations (apple.com) often have good last minute deals on the Riviera Maya area, as does Liberty travel (libertytravel.com).

Although shore snorkeling is limited in Provo, there are a couple of good spots, and plenty of great boat trips.

We were particularly impressed by the quality of the corals.

Keep in mind that most of the best-regarded snorkeling locations are not very attractive islands - e.g. Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Cozumel.

The VI (US and British) are a good compromise for people who want decent snorkeling and nice scenery.

What is your budget. I would suggest St. Barts for a great honeymoon. The Turks are beautiful but very rugged. Not like other islands where the snorkeling is easy to get to. And the boat renters are very high.

just tossing in another 2cents worth. i am going to provo for the 3rd time in march. staying 2 weeks in a villa near turtle cove marina that i've rented before and wishing it was for 3 weeks. i snorkel a couple times every day, ususally in 1 of 3 off the beach spots (have now found a 4th place to try). i read a slew of books, eat really well and enjoy happy hour on "my beach" every afternoon. we don't go out to party but once or twice. of course all this is our choice...